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BLESSED  VIRGIN  Ml 


THE  LIFE  OF 


THE 


<S£ 


t&f 


MOTHER  OF  GOD, 


AND  A 


HISTORY  OF  DEVOTION  TO  HER. 


DEVELOPED  FROM  ORIENTAL  TRADITIONS,  THE  PATRISTIC  WRITINGS, 

AND  DOMESTIC  HEBREW  HISTORY. 


•r y\S~“ 


/T 


m£ 

'&M* 
",  V  . 


BY  the  ABBE  M.  ORSINI, 

Honorary  Vicar-General  of  Gap,  Member  of  the  Historic  Institutes  of  France  and  Brazil, 

Knight  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  LAST  PARIS  EDITION,  G,  /A  r  <T\ 

•  :'U  L.  >  a 


WITH  TnE  EXCLUSIVE  SANCTION  AND  ADDITIONS  OF  THE  AUTIIOB. 


.4 


'Oa 


^  K  # 


NEW  YORK: 

MoMENAMY,  HESS  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS, 

735  BROADWAY. 


\ 


\\ 

B 

n 


— — * 


1874. 


BOSTON  COt_UG£  tjeRAWr 
CHESTNUT  MIU..  MASS. 


co<; 

ib'jiw 


60970 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1370.  by 
FARRELL  &  SON, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  fui  tho 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  PRESENT  EDITION. 


For  the  first  time,  the  remarkable  work  of  the  Abbe  Orsini  is  here  presented 
in  English,  complete,  and  with  the  sanction  and  encouragement  of  the  distinguished 
Author  :  who  has,  moreover,  enriched  this  edition  with  matter  not  yet  published  in 
France. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  more  to  advance  the  claims  of  this  edition  to 
support  and  hearty  welcome,  as  it  must  at  once  strike  all  that  it  is  actually  a  duty 
to  encourage  and  sustain  the  edition  exclusively  approved  by  the  distinguished 
Author,  and  the  only  one  that  will  make  him  any  return  or  equivalent. 

As  our  volume  itself  shows,  we  have  spared  no  pains  or  expense  to  render 
it,  in  point  of  typographic  beauty,  worthy  of  the  genius  of  the  Author,  and  fitting 
to  the  theme  so  eloquently  treated  in  its  pages. 


— 


TO  THE  RIGHT  REVEREND  BISHOPS 


AND  THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CLERGY  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


It  is  from  the  East  that  the  divine  light  of  the  Gospel  has  come  to  us.  It 
began  to  rise  on  the  horizon  of  the  tall  woods  of  palm  and  the  vine-clad  hills  of  Syria  ; 

the  extreme  East  had  remained  in  shadow  when  the  Apostles  and  their  disciples 
had  already  enlightened  the  remotest  parts  of  the  Old  World.  Now  the  countries 
on  the  Levant  are  in  their  turn  plunged  in  darkness,  while  the  sacred  lamp  of  Sion 
is.  rekindled  amid  the  boundless  prairies  and  immense  rivers  of  America,  by  the 
unwearied  zeal  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy. 

Your  kindness,  Messeigneurs,  has  been  extended  like  a  mantle  of  honor  over  the 
earlier  editions  of  my  Life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  I  venture  to  hope  that  this  new 
edition,  alone  approved  by  me  and  finally  corrected,  will  not  be  less  fortunate  than 
the  rest.  I  humbly  place  it  under  your  protection,  and  commend  it  to  your  indulgence. 

Since  the  publication  of  my  work,  our  Catholic  Europe  has  witnessed  an  event 
as  strange  as  it  is  deplorable — a  “Life  of  Jesus,”  perfidiously  written  with  the  aim 
of  depriving  the  divine  Son  of  Mary  of  his  title  of  Son  of  God.  In  it  the  Scrip¬ 
tural  facts  are  disfigured,  the  Messianic  prophecies  annihilated,  and  the  Gospel 
miracles  treated  as  comedies  or  fables.  The  Saviour  of  the  world  is  denied  even  a 
Davidic  origin,  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  her  quality  of  daughter  of  Juda.  I  have 
met  these  blasphemies  by  a  refutation,  which  has  met.  with  some  applause,  and  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  this  little  work  written  in  the  same  spirit  as  my  book, 
would  not  be  out  of  place  as  a  sequel  to  my  Life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of  which  it 
is,  to  some  extent,  a  corroborating  document.  It  has  not  hitherto,  to  my  knowledge, 
appeared  in  America. 

I  have  the  honor  to  offer  you,  Messeigneurs,  with  the  homage  of  ray  liveliest 
sympathy,  that  of  profound  respect,  inspired  by  your  evangelical  labors. 

Your  Oredjent  Servant. 


Paris,  May  Gth,  I8G9. 


GREGORIUS  PP.  XVI. 


(Bilecte  Fili,  Salutem  et  Apostolicam  (Benedictionem  J ampridem  JVobis  dono 
miser  as  opus  gallica  lingua  a  Te  elucubratum ,  at  que  inscriptum  —  La  Vierge, 
Histoire  de  la  Mere  de  Dieu  et  de  son  Culte.  Jdunc  vero  cum  tuis  obsequen= 
tissimis  Litteris  alterum  ejusdem  operis  exemplar  libenter  accepimus,  quod  a  Te 
auctum  pulcherrimisque  imaginibus  ornatum  ac  splendidissimis  (Parisiensibus 
typis  editum  superiori  anno  rursus  evulgandum,  curasti. 

Tuum  consilium  ecclesiastico  viro  plane  dignum  vehementer  commendamus , 
quod  eo  pohssimum  s'pectat ,  ut  pietas  erga  Sanctissimam  (Bei  Geneiricem 
Mariam  in  fidelium  animis  magis  magisque  augeatur,  atque  excitatur. 

Agimus  autem  pro  dono  gratias,  ac  paternce  nostrce  in  te  caritatis  testem, 
et  ccelestium  omnium  munerum  auspicem  Apostolicam  (Benedictionem  Tibi 
ip  si,  (Bilecti  Fili,  intimo  cordis  affectu  impertimur. 

(Batum  (Pomce  apud  S.  Mariam  Majorem  die  23  Augusti ,  Anno  184 q, 
CPontificatus  nostri  anno  decimo  quinto. 

GREGORIUS  PP.  XVI. 


Dilecto  Filio, 

Presbytero  Orsini,  Luteti.*:  Parjsiorum. 


f/yitf; 


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LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN : 

DEDICATED  TO  HIS  SERENE  HIGHNESS 

PRINCE  ORSINI,  Senator  of  Rome. 


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TO  HIS  HIGHNESS  PEINOE  ORSINI. 

Your  Serene  Highness  : 

One  of  the  descendants  of  Jordan  Orsini,  Viceroy  of  Corsica  under  Henry  II.,  who 
gloried  to  have  sprung  from  a  younger  and  transplanted  branch  of  your  ancient  house, 
3omes  to  ask  the  favor  of  laying  at  the  feet  of  your  serene  highness  a  book  which  has 
cost  him  long  vigils,  and  which  he  had  already  dedicated  to  you  before  tracing  the 
first  line.  Illustrious  Patrician,  whose  glorious  line  of  ancestors  is  lost  in  the  shades 
of  the  annals  of  Augustan  Rome,  and  who  now  stands  one  of  the  noblest  pillars  of  the 
Rome  of  St.  Peter,  become  the  benevolent  patron  of  this  poor  little  work,  written  for  the 
Madonna  and  for  you. 

Humble  as  this  homage  is,  I  present  it  to  you  with  confidence  :  you  will  not 
reject,  I  trust,  the  Life  of  the  Mother  of  God ;  and  if  the  execution  falls  below  the 
magnificence  of  the  theme,  your  serene  highness  will  imitate  the  goodness  of  Mary, 
who  welcomes  with  equal  indulgence  the  diamonds  laid  on  her  shrine  by  royal  hands, 
and  the  simple  mountain  floweret  with  which  the  shepherd  of  the  Apennines  adorns  her 
rustic  altars. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  most  profound  respect, 

Your  serene  highness’s  most  humble  and  obedient  servant, 

M.  Orsini. 


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PREFACE  OF  THE  SIXTH  FRENCH  EDITION. 


This  book,  which  the  public  has  welcomed  so  kindly,  is  not  an  ambitious  effort  for  celebrity 
it  is  a  work  of  faith  and  patience,  a  flower  laid  on  Mary’s  shrine  with  the  heartfelt  simplicity 
of  a  pilgrim  of  the  good  old  days.  The  Blessed  Virgin  is  worthy  indeed  of  a  nobler  historian ; 
but  she  could  find  none  more  sincerely  desirous  of  adding  glory  to  her  name  and  extending 
devotion  to  her. 

The  history  of  the  Queen  of  Angels,  the  mysterious  Bose  of  the  New  Law,  is  in  itself  a 
theme  so  poetical  as  naturally  to  evoke  all  that  is  touching  and  graceful  in  thought  as  well  as 
all  that  is  noble  and  expressive  in  language.  It  is  an  Oriental  narrative  which  mirrors  back  the 
manners,  the  pomps,  the  scenes  of  Asia :  it  cannot  then  surprise,  if  it  be  tinged  with  an 
Oriental  hue. 

We  are  well  enough  read  in  the  Fathers  to  know  that  they  did  not  disdain  the  graces  of 
style,  and  in  this  respect  met  paganism  with  weapons  as  polished  as  its  own.  This  Saint 
Jerome,  in  his  figurative  language,  called  “  beheading  Goliath  with  his  own  weapon.”  What  can 
bo  more  poetical  than  some  descriptions  in  Saint  John  Chrysostom  ?  That  sacred  orator  is  often 
identical  in  thought  with  the  Oriental  poets  ;  thus,  in  one  of  his  homilies,  we  find  the  comparison 
of  earth  embalmed  in  the  perfume  of  roses,  which  Saadi  at  a  later  day  reproduced  in  his  Gulistan. 

The  epistles  and  homilies  of  Saint  Basil,  full  of  pleasing  pictures  which  Fenelon  has  imitated 
but  not  equalled,  have  an  aroma  of  poesy  decided  enough  to  alarm  the  timid  minds  which,  in 
our  days,  regard  poetry  as  a  spectre,  and  would  fain  expel  it  from  all  their  works. 

What  shall  I  say  of  Saint  Gregory  Nazianzen,  that  sublime  Christian  dreamer,  who  ques¬ 
tioned  himself  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  his  soul,  beneath  the  shade  of  dense  ivoods,  while  the  breezes 
of  the  air  mingled  with  the  chant  of  the  birds,  poured  down  siveet  slumber  from  the  lofty  tree-tops  where 
they  sang,  gladdened  by  the  light ;  while  the  cicadce  hidden  beneath  the  grass  made  all  the  wood  resound , 
and  while  a  limpid  water  bathed  his  feet,  gliding  gently  through  the  woods  it  freshened. — (St.  Gregorii 
Nazianz.,  Op.  tom.  2.) 

To  convert  men,  a  hearing  is  the  first  essential ;  to  recall  to  the  Boman  faith  the  masses 
tossed  in  every  direction  by  the  wind  of  evil  systems,  or  chilled  amid  the  arctic  ice  of  religious 
indifference — exposed,  moreover,  to  the  bold  attacks  of  a  sect  that  rears  its  head  higher  than 
ever,  for 

“  Deja  de  sa  faveur  on  adore  le  bruit” — 

we  must  begin  by  securing  readers.  The  preacher  who  would  strip  the  Word  of  God  of  every 
ornament  of  true  eloquence,  would  soon  leave  our  churches  empty,  and  like  the  Greek  musician, 
standing  alone  in  the  public  square,  might  exclaim :  “  Ye  temples,  hear  me !”  The  religious 
writer  who  should  affect  a  dull,  dry  style  amid  a  nation  that  prides  itself  on  its  taste  and  literary 


14  PREFACE  OF  THE  SIXTH  FRENCH  EDITION. 


acquirements,  would  fare  no  better,  and  his  book,  great  as  its  intrinsic  value  might  be,  would, 
nevertheless,  have  become  the  most  useless  thing  in  the  world ;  for  no  one  would  touch  it. 

So  convinced  was  Saint  Basil  of  this  truth,  that  he  urged  the  young  orators  of  his  time  to 
thorough  literary  studies,  so  as  to  infuse  their  beauties  into  Catholic  works.  “  The  charms  of 
literature,”  says  that  great  doctor,  “  are  like  leaves  which  serve  to  cover  and  adorn  the  words  of 
wisdom  and  truth.”  Moses  and  Daniel  were  the  two  most  brilliant  lights  of  the  synagogue,  because 
they  had  acquired  all  the  arts  of  the  Egyptians. 

And  in  fact,  as  the  sumptuous  decoration  of  altars  and  tabernacles,  has  been  regarded  even 
in  the  most  austere  ages  of  the  Church  as  a  good  and  laudable  practice,  well  adapted  to  exalt 
the  majesty  of  Christian  worship,  why  should  religious  literature  be  made  an  arid,  icy  desert, 
on  which  no  one  would  venture  to  set  foot,  for  fear  of  perishing  by  the  way  of  cold  and  exhaus¬ 
tion.  Are  the  Holy  Scriptures  thus  conceived,  which  Saint  John  Chrysostom  declares  full  of 
pearls  and  diamonds  ?  Is  not  every  kind  of  composition  found  in  the  Bible,  from  the  eclogue 
to  the  epic  ? 

The  saints  of  those  remote  times,  which  we  in  our  courtesy  choose  to  style  barbarous,  were 
far  from  wishing  to  deprive  religious  works  of  all  literary  merit.  “  What,”  says  a  doctor  of  the 
ninth  century,  “  we  enshrine  the  ashes  of  the  Saints  in  gold  and  gems,  yet  clothe  their  actions 
in  uncouth  and  barbarous  speech !  Tales  of  passion  are  clothed  with  all  the  graces  of  diction, 
and  we  describe  in  the  dryest,  dullest,  and  most  uninteresting  manner,  the  immortal  deeds  of  the 
heroes  of  Christianity !  Must  elegance  of  style  then  serve  only  to  deck  out  the  turpitude  of 
iniquity.” 

If  it  is  ever  lawful  to  scatter  a  few  flowers  of  poesy  over  a  religious  theme,  it  is  surely  when 
treating  of  the  Mystic  Eose  of  the  New  Law ;  hence  the  gravest  doctors  of  other  ages  have 
unconsciously  become  poets  when  speaking  of  that  glorious  creature.  Saint  Gregory  of  Neo 
Caesarea,  that  cold,  austere  thaumaturgus,  finds  charming  appellations  for  the  Mother  of  God, 
whom  he  styles  Source  of  Light  and  Immaculate  Flower  of  Life.  Saint  Ephrem,  that  sombre, 
ardent  solitary,  compares  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  the  golden  censer  exhaling  the  sweetest  incense. 
Saint  Epiphanius  calls  the  Blessed  Virgin  a  spiritual  ocean  containing  the  celestial  pearl ;  Saint 
Cyril  of  Alexandria,  the  unextinguishable  lamp  which  has  brought  forth  the  sun  of  justice.  Saint 
Gregory  the  Great  compares  Mary,  that  virgin  fair  and  adorned  with  the  glory  of  her  fruitfulness, 
to  a  lofty  mountain,  toivering  above  the  angelic  choirs  and  reaching  to  the  very  throne  of  the  Godhead. 
Aleuin,  that  light  of  the  Court  of  Charlemagne,  a  scholar  absorbed  in  abstract  studies,  becomes 
a  poet  for  Mary  :  “  Thou  art  my  sweet  love,”  he  exclaims,  “  thou  art  my  joy  and  glory,  0  Virgin  / 
thou  art  the  life  of  heaven,  the  flower  of  the  flelds,  the  lily  of  the  ivorld.”  Pope  Innocent  III.  com¬ 
pares  Mary  to  the  dawn :  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  to  the  “  Star  of  the  sea,  which  guides  to  port 
those  who  sail  upon  the  billows.”  “ Hail  1  noble  daughter  of  Icings,”  cries  the  learned  and  mystical 
Erasmus,  “  thou  art  more  brilliant  than  the  dawn,  milder  than  the  silver  moon,  purer  than  the  fresh- 
blown  lily,  whiter  than  the  mountain  snow,  more  delightful  than  the  rose,  more  precious  than  the  ruby, 
more  chaste  than  the  angels.” 

Encouraged  by  these  counsels  and  examples,  we  have  lightly  touched  with  the  honey  of 
Engaddi  the  edge  of  the  cup  which  we  proffer  to  the  people  of  the  world — those  spoiled  children 
who  reject  with  disdainful  gestures  every  beverage  which  does  not,  like  the  sherbets  of  the  East, 


PREFACE  OF  THE  SIXTH  FRENCH  EDITION.  15 

breathe  the  perfume  of  the  violet  and  rose.  Some  rigorists  have  made  this  innocent  device  a 
crime,  and  bitterly  reproach  us  with  having  sacrificed  to  false  gods ;  but  when  they  began  to 
cite,  they  did  so  with  no  dexterity,  unconsciously  criticising  Scriptural  expressions — that  is  to 
say,  the  very  Word  of  God.  “I  do  not  always  quote  my  authority,”  says  Montaigne,  “because 
nothing  is  more  amusing  than  to  see  Virgil,  Tacitus,  Horace,  in  a  word,  the  greatest  writers  of 
antiquity,  buffeted  in  my  person  by  men  scarce  able  to  read  them.”  Precisely  the  same  thing 
has  happened  to  us ;  we  have  heard  the  prophets  gravely  condemned  as  unclassical  by  critics, 
who  are  supposed  to  know  the  Bible  by  heart,  and  who  were  in  reality  afflicted  with  the  worst 
degree  of  ignorance  of  their  own  ignorance — which  is,  the  Orientals  say,  the  worst  ignorance 
of  all.  An  observation  has  been  made  to  us,  which  we  deem  worthy  of  a  reply. 

Few  people  are  acquainted  with  the  inner  life  of  the  Hebrews,  and  some  have  supposed  that 
we  drew  on  our  imagination  to  depict  it.  Every  traveller  who  has  visited  the  East,  every  man 
of  letters  at  all  versed  in  Asiatic  history  and  manners,  will  absolve  us  from  this  suspicion.  Our 
work  in  this  particular  is  based  on  long  and  laborious  researches, — nothing  is  drawn  from 
imagination.  We  have  not  even  taken  it  upon  us  to  invent  the  forms  of  farewell,  or  the  wishes 
for  a  prosperous  journey, — all  has  been  drawn  from  sacred,  or  at  least  authentic  sources,  which  we 
have  scrupulously  cited,  when  the  point  was  sufficiently  important.  Our  work  has  been  read, 
moreover,  by  learned  Orientalists,  who  have  found  it  correct ;  and  Israelites  of  the  highest  rank 
have  praised  our  scrupulous  fidelity  in  reviving  the  faded  splendor  of  Sion  and  the  ancient  life 
of  their  fathers. 

From  the  historian,  as  from  the  painter,  is  now  required  a  profound  study  of  local  coloring. 

If  an  artist  were  to  introduce  our  western  customs  and  our  northern  landscapes  into  a  painting, 
the  subject  of  which  was  taken  from  ancient  Asia,  he  would  not  escape  the  just  censure  of 
connoisseurs.  A  literary  work  is  equally  a  painting,  which  should  faithfully  reproduce  the 
conformation  of  the  land,  the  aspect  of  the  skies,  the  atmosphere  of  the  country,  and  the  traits 
of  the  people  inhabiting  it.  We  are  no  longer  permitted  to  throw  around  the  successive  groups 
that  appear  in  our  pages  accessories  taken  up  at  random.  The  Bomans  have  given  us  on  this 
point  an  example  for  our  imitation.  When,  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  they  struck  medals  to 
show  Judea  captive,  they  represented  her  under  the  form  of  a  beautiful  woman  weeping  beneath 
a  palm-tree. 

In  writing  the  life  of  the  Virgin  scion  of  the  kings  of  Juda,  we  have  regarded  ourselves 
bound  by  the  exigencies  of  our  theme.  We  have  deemed  it  our  task  not  to  recast  the  ancient 
manners  of  the  East  after  our  modern  customs,  or  deck  them  out,  as  Strauss  says,  in  a  Western 
masquerade,  but  to  depict  them,  as  far  as  possible,  such  as  they  were  at  the  epoch  when  Mary 
lived.  This  was  the  only  means  to  give  any  life  and  animation  to  our  narrative,  to  leave  it  its 
ancient  tint,  and  to  place  our  readers  in  the  midst  of  Jewish  society  in  the  days  of  Herod.  It 
was,  too,  the  only  means  of  adhering  to  truth. 

At  every  page  of  Scripture  we  find  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Hebrews,  to  which  Jesus 

Christ  himself  deigned  to  conform  ;  nor  is  it  doubtful  but  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  had  anticipated 
the  example  of  her  divine  Son.  Hebrew  customs  were  based  on  Scripture  or  on  the  oral 
tradition  of  the  Temple,  which  rendered  things  immutably  holy  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  nation. 

To  depart  from  established  usage  would  have  been  regarded,  not  as  a  harmless  eccentricity,  but 

1 


16  PREFACE  OF  THE  SIXTH  FRENCH  EDITION. 

as  an  insolent  contempt  for  the  holy  books  and  the  memory  of  their  ancestors.  Even  the  veil 
held  over  the  head  of  the  new  married,  the  wedding  garment,  the  chaplets  of  flowers  worn  by 
the  bridegroom  and  the  bride,  all  were  connected  with  the  patriarchal  times. 

In  a  word,  we  have  done  what  we  could  to  instruct,  to  edify,  and  to  rivet  attention.  With 
all  our  efforts  we  do  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  our  work  is  very  imperfect :  it  is  the  lot  of  human 
labors ;  perfection  is  that  mountain  of  the  talisman,  whose  summit  it  is  not  given  to  any  mortal 
man  to  reach,  and  the  author  is  further  from  it  than  any  other. 

The  French  press  has  treated  this  book  as  it  chose ;  neither  intrigue  nor  importunity  was 
used  to  win  its  favor.  This  has  not  prevented  its  manifesting  a  great  degree  of  fairness.  By 
circumstances  almost  providential,  it  has  happened  that  most  of  those  men  who  have  criticised 
our  work  were  men  of  feeling,  knowledge,  and  intellect,  and  have  acted  generously  toward  us. 
Lions,  conscious  of  their  own  strength,  often  magnanimously  spare  the  weaker  prey  :  not  so  the 
vipers. 

Happy  the  author  who  falls  into  the  hands  of  men  capable  of  examining  a  book  with  the 
probity  which  becomes  the  high  magistracy  of  thought ;  for  criticism  is  a  task  which  many 
assume,  but  few  can  execute :  it  requires  learning,  taste,  and  conscience,  qualities  not  possessed 
by  all. 

A  learned  prelate  who  had  remained  anonymous,  the  late  Mgr.  Cotteret,  Bishop  of  Beauvais, 
a  profound  theologian  and  distinguished  writer,  after  having  justified  our  use  of  Oriental  tradi¬ 
tions — “  traditions  which,"  says  the  learned  Bishop,  “  the  author  is  far  from  giving  as  articles  of 
faith," — proceeds  :  “  The  Abbe  Orsini  is  one  of  the  authors  of  our  time  who  has  most  completely 
mastered  its  language ;  he  speaks  like  a  true  disciple  of  Chateaubriand.”  This  was  conferring 
a  high  honor  upon  us,  and  one  by  no  means  deserved ;  we  have  never  had  the  presumption  to 
follow,  even  afar  off,  in  the  gigantic  steps  of  that  great  master,  and  if  our  style  have  any,  even 
a  slight  resemblance  to  his,  we  can  only  say,  as  did  an  humble  poet  of  Kurdistan,  on  a  similar 
occasion  :  “  I  have  come  forth,  like  Antar,  that  famous  poet,  from  the  garden  of  Nischabur ;  but 
Antar  was  the  rose  of  the  garden,  and  I  am  only  a  brier.” 

One  of  the  things  that  touched  us  most  deeply  was  the  approbation  of  the  author  of  the 
Genius  of  Christianity,  of  the  Pilgrim  to  Jerusalem.  To  one  who  asked  his  opinion  of  our  Life 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  the  noble  Yiscount  indulgently  replied :  “  I  think  the  book  contains  very 
beautiful  pages.” 

The  foreign  press,  especially  in  Italy,  Germany,  and  Spain,  noticed  this  Life  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  Unable  to  quote  all,  we  confine  ourselves  to  this  extract  from  a  learned  article  in  La  Cruz, 
a  Spanish  religious,  political,  and  literary  journal,  which  is  honored  with  the  patronage  of  the 
eminently  Catholic  clergy  of  Spain.  “  The  Abbe  Orsini,  in  tracing  the  annals  of  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Yirgin,  which  commenced  with  Christianity,  and  in  disinterring  testimony  which  but  for 
the  author’s  labors  might  perhaps  have  remained  unknown,  presents  to  the  reader  the  titles 
supporting  the  hyperdulia  and  the  progressive  honor  of  the  Mother  of  God,  which  certainly 
occupies  a  golden  page  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  and  revives  the  most  glorious  associations. 

Nor  is  this  all  that  the  Abbe  Orsini  has  done ;  his  book  includes  the  biography  of  our  Lord,  and 
in  some  measure  the  history  of  the  whole  globe,  which  is  inseparable  from  the  fall  of  man  and 

the  promise  of  a  Bedeemer.  In  the  work  we  commend,  there  is  profound  theology,  vast  erudition, 
judicious  criticism,  beauties  that  enchant  and  poetry  that  delights. 

The  translator,  Dr.  F.  y  P.,  has,  in  the  name  of  Spain,  added  one  diamond  more  to  the  crown 
wherewith  European  men  of  letters  have  adorned  the  brow  of  the  author  of  The  Complete  Life 
of  tJie  Mother  of  God,  and  the  Devotion  to  her.  This  book  is  a  great  epic  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
worthy  to  stand  beside  Chateaubriand’s  “  Martyrs.”  Many  Italian,  Belgian,  Spanish,  and  Ger¬ 
man  scholars  have  honored  the  Life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  with  their  encomiums.  The  Bishop 
of  Salamanca  has  nobly  protected  it  in  Spain,  the  Archbishop  of  Mechlin  has  formally  approved 
the  Belgian  editions ;  in  fine,  our  own  bishop  from  the  first  took  it  under  his  high  protection, 
as  one  who  needed  not  the  opinion  of  others  to  form  his  own,  and  who  does  not  wait  to  be  borne 
along  by  the  crowd  before  expressing  his  opinion. 

And  the  public,  that  terrible  bar,  where  so  many  new-born  or  unborn  works  have  been  or 
will  be  dashed  to  pieces— the  public,  that  supreme  judge,  whose  decisions  are  without  appeal, 
has  shown  itself  our  friend ;  the  masses  who  seldom  read,  have  read  with  pleasure  the  Life  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  not  only  in  France,  but  elsewhere. 

Prince  Orsini,  in  a  letter  accepting  the  dedication  of  our  book,  with  the  urbanity  charac¬ 
teristic  of  the  high  Italian  nobility,  closes  with  these  words  of  consolation  to  our  heart :  “  Borne 
applauds  the  eulogiums  on  your  work,  and  the  glory  you  seek  to  give  the  Mother  of  God 
redounds  on  you.” 

Since  these  encouraging  words  were  addressed  to  us,  the  Life  of  the  Mother  of  God  has 
obtained  the  greatest  success,  not  only  in  Europe,  but  in  Africa,  Asia,  and  America,  as  we  venture 
to  assert,  because  proofs  exist.  It  has  been  circulated  at  Borne  with  the  permission  of  the 
Master  of  the  Sacred  Palace,  published  in  France  with  the  permission  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris, 
and  openly  protected  in  North  America?  by  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and  Catholic  clergy  of  the 
New  World. 

Thanks  to  Mary’s  all-powerful  protection,  the  little  grain  of  mustard-seed  has  become  a 
tree  whose  branches  have  extended  afar  over  all  parts  of  the  globe. 

2 


* 


i 


- 


. 


:  "  .  _  . 


■ 


■ 


. 


• 

'  + 

A 

THE 

LIFE 

<# 

THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN 

> 

MOTHER  OF  GOD;  AND 

OF  DEVOTION  TO  HER. 

CHAPTER  I. 

UNIVERSAL  EXPECTATION  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  AND'  THE  MESSIAS. 

T  N  those  days  of  old  that  touch  the  very 

From  that  time  it  was  a  tradition,  among 

X  cradle  of  earth,  when  our  first  pa- 

the  antediluvian  generations,  that  a  woman 

rents,  terror-struck  and  trembling,  heard 

would  come  to  repair  the  evil  which  woman 

beneath  the  majestic  shades  of  Eden1  the 

had  done.  This  consoling  tradition,  which 

voice  of  Jehovah,  in  thunder,  condemning 

revived  the  hope  in  a  fallen  race,  was  not 

them  to  exile,  labor,  and  death,  in  punish- 

effaced  from  the  memory  of  men  at  their 

ment  for  their  mad  disobedience, — a  mys- 

great  dispersion  in  the  plains  of  Sennaar  ; 

terious  prophecy,  in  which  the  goodness 

they  carried  with  them,  beyond  mountain 

of  the  Creator  was  seen,  even  amid  the  ven- 

and  sea,  this  sweet  and  distant  hope,  with 

geance  of  an  irritated  God,  came  to  revive 

the  worship  established  by  Noe,  and  the 

the  dejected  minds  of  those  two  frail  crea- 

wreck  of  sciences  and  arts  saved  from  the 

tures,  who  had  sinned  through  pride,  like 

deluge.2  Later  still,  as  the  primitive  re- 

-  Lucifer.  A  daughter  of  Eve,  a  woman 

ligion  grew  weaker,  and  the  ancient  tradi- 

with  masculine  courage,  was  to  crush  the 

tions  were  enveloped  in  clouds,  that  one 

head  of  the  serpent  beneath  her  feet,  and 

of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Messias  re- 

regenerate  forever  a  guilty  race.;  that  wo- 

sisted,  almost  alone,  the  action  of  time,  and 

man  was  Mary. 

rose  above  the  ruins  of  the  old  creeds, — 

( ’ )  The  word  Eden,  among  both  Arabs  and  He- 

( * )  It  is  certain  that  the  race  of  primitive  men, 

brews,  Is  the  name  of  the  terrestrial  Paradise,  and 

which  was  wild,  but  not  savage,  were  early  ac- 

of  the  Paradise  of  the  elect.  In  Hebrew  it  signi- 

quainted  with  the  arts  analogous  to  their  wants  and 

fies  a  place  of  delights ;  in  Arabic,  a  place  suitable 

pleasures.  Scarcely  do  the  children  of  Adam  form 

for  pasturing  flocks. 

little  groups  of  men,  when  we  see  them  establish 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIX  MARY. 


20 


lost,  as  they  were,  in  the  fables  of  poly¬ 
theism, — like  that  evergreen  shrub  which 
grows  on  the  ruins  of  what  was  once  Baby¬ 
lon  the  Mighty.1 

Indeed,  if  we  traverse  the  different  re¬ 
gions  of  the  globe,  if  we  examine  from 
north  to  south,  from  west  to  east,  the  re¬ 
ligious  annals  of  nations,  we  shall  find  the 
promised  Virgin,  and  her  divine  child¬ 
bearing,  to  be  the  basis  of  almost  every  the- 
ogony. 

In  Thibet,  in  Japan,  and  in  one  part  of 
the  eastern  peninsula  of  India,  it  is  the  god 
Fo,  who,  to  save  mankind,  becomes  incar¬ 
nate  in  the  womb  of  a  king’s  young  be¬ 
trothed,  the  nymph  Lhamoghiuprul,  the 
fairest  and  holiest  of  women.  In  China, 
the  emperor  Hoang-Ti  is  reckoned  among 
the  Sons  of  Heaven ,  whose  mother  con¬ 
ceived  by  a  gleam  of  lightning  ;  another 
emperor,  Yao,  contemporary  with  the  del¬ 
uge,  had  for  his  mother  a  virgin,  rendered 
fruitful  by  a  ray  of  starlight ;  Yu,  the  head 
of  the  first  Chinese  dynasty,  owed  his  life 


public  worship,  manufacture  tents,  build  cities, 
forge  iron,  cast  bronze,  invent  musical  instruments, 
and  follow  the  course  of  the  stars.  The  history  of 
astronomy  must  date  back  according  to  Bailly  to 
an  antediluvian  people,  whose  memory  has  perished, 
and  some  remains  of  whose  astronomical  science 
have  escaped  the  general  revolution.  Lalande,  fear¬ 
ing  that  this  assertion  might  prove  too  much  in 
favor  of  the  Scriptures,  attributes  the  origin  of 
this  science  to  the  Egyptians ;  but  the  Hebrews, 
who,  as  neighbors,  contemporaries,  and  ancient 
dwellers  among  the  Egyptians,  have  a  claim  to 
decide  this  question,  declare  for  Bailly  against 
his  opponent,  by  informing  us  that  the  Egyptians 
owed  their  first  knowledge  of  astronomy  to  tra¬ 
ditions  saved  from  the  deluge. — (See  Josephus,  An¬ 
tiquities  of  the  Jews.) 


to  a  pearl,2  that  emblem  of  light  throughout 
the  East,  which  fell  from  heaven  into  the 
chaste  womb  of  a  young  virgin.  Heou-Tsi, 
the  head  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Tcheous, 
was  born  without  sullying  the  virginity  of 
his  mother,  who  conceived  him  by  divine 
operation  one  day  when  she  was  at  prayer, 
and  brought  him  forth  without  effort  and 
without  stain,  in  a  deserted  grotto,  where 
oxen  and  lambs  warmed  him  with  their 
breath.3  The  most  popular  goddess  of  the 
celestial  empire,  Schingmou,  conceived  by 
simple  contact  of  a  water-flower  ;  her  son, 
brought  up  beneath  the  poor  roof  of  a  fish¬ 
erman,  became  a  great  man,  and  worked 
miracles. 

The  Lamas  say  that  Buddha  was  born 
of  the  virgin  Maha-Mahai.  Sommonokho- 
dom,  the  prince,  lawgiver,  and  god  of  Siam, 
in  like  manner  owes  his  birth  to  a  virgin, 
rendered  fruitful  by  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
Lao-Tseu  becomes  incarnate  in  the  womb 
of  a  black  virgin,  marvellous  and  beautiful 
as  jasper.  The  zodiacal  Isis  of  the  Egyp- 


( 1 )  There  is  but  one  solitary  tree  found  amidst 
the  ruins  of  Babylon ;  the  Persians  give  it  the 
name  of  Athele:  according  to  them  this  tree  ex¬ 
isted  in  the  ancient  city,  and  was  expressly  and 
miraculously  preserved,  in  order  that  their  prophet, 
Ali,  son-in-law  of  Mahomet,  might  tie  his  horse  to 
it  after  the  battle  of  Hilla.  It  is  an  evergreen  shrub, 
and  so  rare  in  those  countries  that  only  one  more 
is  found  of  the  same  kind,  at  Bassora. — (Rich’s  Me¬ 
moir.) 

( 3 )  “  The  pearl,”  says  Chardin,  “  has  everywhere 
distinctive  names :  in  the  East,  the  Turks  and  Tar¬ 
tars  call  it  mardjaun,  a  globe  of  light;  tke  Per¬ 
sians,  marvid,  product  of  light.” 

( 3 )  We  find  in  the  Chi-King  two  beautiful  odes 
on  this  marvellous  birth  of  Heou-Tsi ;  and  the 
glosses  and  paraphrases  of  the  learned  on  these 


ADAM  AND  EVE  DRIVEN  FROM  EDEN. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  21 

tians  is  a  virgin  mother.  That  of  the 

zes,  who  lays  magnificent  garments  at  her 

Druids  is  to  bring  forth  the  future  Saviour.1  - 

feet ;  a  heavenly  light  bathes  her  counte- 

The  Brahmins  teach  that  when  a  god  be- 

nance  as  she  sleeps,  and  she  becomes  as 

comes  incarnate,  he  is  born  in  the  womb 

beautiful  as  the  Day-Star.  Zerdhucht,  Zo- 

of  a  virgin  by  divine  operation  ;  thus  Jug- 

roaster,  or  rather  Ebrahim-Zer-Ateucht,3 

gernaut,  the  mutilated  saviour  of  the 

the  famous  prophet  of  the  Magi,  is  the  fruit 

world,2,  and  Krishna,  born  in  a  grotto, 

of  this  nocturnal  vision.  The  tyrant  Nem- 

where  angels  and  shepherds  come  to  adore 

roud,4  informed  by  his  astrologers  that  a 

him  in  his  cradle,  are  alike  virgin  born. 

child,  yet  unborn,  threatens  his  gods  and 

The  Babylonian  woman,  Dogdo,  beholds 

his  throne,  put  to  death  all  the  pregnant 

in  dream  a  bright  messenger  from  Oroma- 

women  in  his  dominions.  Zerdhucht,  nev- 

verses  agree  in  explaining  them  in  a  way  which 

to  the  author  of  Mefathi  aldloum,  Nemroud  must 

makes  the  resemblance  to  the  divine  child-bearing 

be  the  same  as  Gaicaous,  the  second  king  of  the 

of  Mary  still  more  striking : — “  Every  man  at  his 

second  dynasty  of  Persia,  called  the  Ca'ianides. 

birth,”  says  Ho-Sou,  “  bursts  from  his  mother’s 

The  Persian  historians  give  him  a  reign  of  nearly 

womb,  and  causes  her  the  keenest  sufferings. 

two  centuries,  which  is  somewhat  long.  Some 

Kiang-Yuen  brought  forth  her  son  without  rup- 

make  him  a  wicked  man,  who  had  the  strange  fancy 

ture,  injury,  or  pain.  This  was  because  Tien 

to  ascend  to  heaven  in  a  chest  drawn  by  four  of 

(Heaven)  would  display  its  power,  and  show  how 

those  monstrous  birds  called  Tcerlces,  which  figure 

much  the  Holy  One  differs  from  men.” — “Having 

in  the  romances  of  ancient  Oriental  authors.  After 

been  conceived  by  the  operation  of  Tien,”  says 

wandering  about  in  the  air  some  time,  he  fell  down 

another  commentator,  Tsou-Tsong-Po,  “  who  gave 

again  upon  a  mountain  with  such  violence,  say  the 

him  his  life  by  miracle,  he  was  to  be  born  without 

ancient  legends  of  Persia,  that  it  was  shaken  by  it 

impairing  his  mother’s  virginity.” 

even  to  its  foundation.  According  to  the  Persians, 

( 1 )  “  Hinc  Druidse  statuam  in  intimis  penetrali- 

this  Nemroud  ordered  Zerdhusht,  whom  they  con- 

bus  erexerunt,  Isidi  seu  virgini  dedicantes,  ex  qua 

found  with  Abraham,  to  be  thrown  into  a  burning 

filius  ille  proditurus  erat  (nempe  generis  humani 

furnace;  according  to  others,  Nemroud  was  by  re- 

Redemptor).” — (Elias  Schedius,  de  Diis  Germanis, 

ligion  a  Sabean,  and  was  the  first  who  established 

cap.  13.) 

fire-worship. — D’Herbelot,  biblioth&que  Orientale, 

( 5 )  Juggernauth,  the  seventh  incarnation  of 

t.  iii.  p.  32. 

Brahma,  is  represented  in  the  shape  of  a  pyramid, 

The  Jews  claim  that  Abraham,  the  progenitor 

without  feet  and  without  hands.  “  He  lost  them,” 

and  founder  of  their  people,  underwent  this 

say  the  Brahmins,  “  because  he  sought  to  carry  the 

persecution  of  Nemroud,  the  honor  of  which  the 

world,  in  order  to  save  it.” — (See  Kircher.) 

Persians  give  to  Zerdhusht,  their  lawgiver.  St. 

( s )  Zer-Ateusht  signifies  “  washed  with  silver 

Jerome  relates  an  ancient  tradition  of  the  Jews, 

this  surname  was  given  to  Zoroaster,  because,  say  the 

which  declared  that  Abraham  had  been  cast  into  the 

Ghebers,  he  proved  his  mission  to  a  Sabean  prince, 

fire  by  order  of  the  Chaldeans,  because  he  would  not 

who  persecuted  him,  by  plunging  into  a  bath  of 

adore  it. — (Hieron.,  Qusest.  in  Genes.)  More  re- 

melted  silver. — (See  Tavernier,  t.  ii.  p.  92.) 

cent  Jewish  rabbis  confirm  this  tradition.  R.  Chain 

(4)  This  Nemroud,  whom  Tavernier  calls  Neu- 

ben  Adda  relates  that  Abraham,  having  met  with 

bront,  is,  as  some  say,  Nimrod,  the  famous  hunter ; 

a  young  maiden  hearing  an  idol,  broke  it  to  pieces  : 

according  to  others,  the  tyrant  Zhohac,  of  the  Per- 

a  complaint  was  immediately  laid  before  Nemroud, 

sians,  king  of  the  first  dynasty  of  the  princes  who 

who  required  Abraham  to  worship  fire.  The  patri- 

reigned  immediately  after  the  deluge.  According 

arch  very  shrewdly  replied,  that  it  would  be  more 

] 

22  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  YTTCGTX  MARY. 


ertheless,  is  saved  by  the  ingenuity  and  pru¬ 
dence  of  his  mother.1  The  Macenicos,  who 
dwell  on  the  borders  of  the  Lake  Zarayas, 
in  Paraguay,  relate  that  at  a  very  remote 
period  a  woman  of  rare  beauty  became  a 
mother  and  remained  a  virgin  ;  her  son, 
after  working  extraordinary  miracles,  raised 
hinL  A?  in  the  air  one  day,  in  the  presence 
of  his'  disciples,  and  was  transformed  into 
a  sun.2 

Collect  all  the  scattered  traits  of  these 
mutilated  creeds,  and  you  reconstruct,  in 
almost  all  its  details,  the  history  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  of  Christ.  The  Blessed 
Virgin,  notwithstanding  the  royal  blood 
that  flows  in  her  veins,  is  of  an  obscure  con¬ 
dition,  like  the  mother  of  Zoroaster  ;  like 
her  also,  she  receives  the  visit  of  an  angel 
bearing  a  message  from  heaven.  The  ty¬ 
rant  Nemroud,  who  was  the  worst  of  a 
number  of  very  wicked  princes,  may  pass 
for  the  type  of  Herod,  and  as  resolutely 
seeks  the  death  of  the  young  Magian  as  the 
sanguinary  spouse  of  Mariamne  seeks  the 
destruction  of  the  infant  Jesus :  both  see 
their  prey  escape.  Born  of  a  virgin  who 
conceives  him  during  fervent  prayer,  and 
brings  him  forth  without  stain  and  without 
pain,  in  a  poor  stable,  like  the  first-born  of 
the  noble  and  pious  Kiang-Yuen,  our  divine 
Saviour  lives  in  the  midst  of  the  poorer 
classes,  like  the  son  of  the  Chinese  god¬ 
dess  ;  angels  and  shepherds  come  to  pay 
him  homage,  as  was  done  to  Krishna,  on 
the  very  night  of  his  birth  ;  then,  after 


natural  to  adore  water,  which  extinguishes  fire,  the 
clouds  which  produced  the  water,  the  wind  which 
collects  the  clouds,  and  man,  who  is  a  being  more 
perfect  than  the  wind.  Nemroud,  enraged  at  this 


stilling  the  tempests,  walking  on  the  waters, 
casting  out  devils,  and  raising  the  dead  to 
life,  he  ascends  triumphantly  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  five  hundred  disciples,  whose  daz¬ 
zled  eyes  lose  sight  of  him  in  a  cloud,  pre¬ 
cisely  as  related  by  the  savage  hordes  of 
Paraguay. 

It  is  surely  very  strange  that  these  mar¬ 
vellous  legends,  which  have  not  been  taken 
from  4he  gospel  facts,  since  they  are  incon¬ 
testably  more  ancient,  should  form,  when 
connected  together,  the  actual  life  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Can  truth  then  spring  from 
error  ?  What  are  we  to  think  of  these  cu  • 
rious  resemblances  ?  Shall  we  say,  with 
the  sneering  philosophers  of  the  school  of 
Voltaire,  and  a  few  German  visionaries  of 
somewhat  later  date,  that  the  apostles  bor¬ 
rowed  these  fables  from  the  various  creeds 
of  Asia?  But,  not  to  speak  of  the  jealous 
care  with  which  the  books  deemed  divine 
were  in  those  times  concealed  in  the  im¬ 
penetrable  obscurity  of  the  sanctuaries, — 
not  to  speak  of  the  profound  horror  which 
the  Jews  professed  of  idolatrous  legends, 
and  their  disdainful  contempt  for  the  learn¬ 
ing  of  other  lands, — how  should  poor  ple¬ 
beians,  whose  whole  knowledge  was  limited 
to  steering  a  bark  over  the  waves  of  Gen- 
nesareth,  and  whose  nets  were  still  drip¬ 
ping  with  its  fresh  waters  when  they  were 
promoted  to  the  apostleship, — how  could 
laborious  artisans,  obliged  to  work  for  their 
daily  bread  in  the  intervals  of  their  preach¬ 
ing,  have  studied  the  sacred  books  of  the 


bold  answer,  ordered  Abraham  to  be  cast  into  the 
fire,  which,  however,  respected  him. 

( 1 )  See  Tavernier,  cited  above. 

( * )  See  Muratori. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


23 


Hindoos,  Chinese,  Bactrians,  Phoenicians, 
and  Persians?  What  likelihood  was  there 
that  Simon  Peter,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  or 
that  austere  disciple  of  Gamaliel,  who  said 
boldly  at  Corinth,  the  rich  and  learned 
Greek  city,  “  I  judged  not  myself  to  know 
anything  among  you,  but  Jesus  Christ  ;  and 
him  crucified !”  would  have  snatched  from 
that  idolatry,  which  it  was  their  mission  to 
destroy,  some  few  of  its  old  shreds,  to  join 
them  on  fraudulently  to  the  grand  and  sim¬ 
ple  life  of  Christ  ?  Again,  if  the  question 
were  only  of  borrowing  from  the  mythic  le¬ 
gends  of  nations  bordering  on  Palestine, — 
such,  for  example,  as  the  Egyptians  and 
Phoenicians, — the  accusation,  however  un¬ 
just,  would  have  had  at  least  some  color  of 
probability  ;  but  no !  these  brilliant  points 
which  rise  from  the  deep  shades  of  hea¬ 
thendom  to  form,  as  so  many  starlets,  the 
halo  of  the  Virgin-born,  come  from  the 
most  remote  and  least  known  spots  of 
earth.  To  say  nothing  of  that  Gaul,  with 
its  impenetrable  forests,  which  concealed, 
at  the  western  extremity  of  Europe,  its 
mysterious  doctrines  under  the  shade  of 
oaks  ;  of  the  Great  Indies,  so  imperfectly 
known  under  Tiberius  ;  of  that  Serica,  with 
its  porcelain  towers,  whose  distant  prov- 
•  inces  did  not  even  tempt  the  greedy  Ro¬ 
mans,1  how  could  the  apostles  have  com¬ 
municated  with  remote  America,  separated 
from  the  old  continent  by  its  green  girdle  of 
waves,  and  lost  like  a  pearl  amidst  the 
waters  ? 

But  I  will  suppose  that  the  apostles  had, 

( 1 )  It  was  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  that  the  Ro¬ 
man  people  received  the  first  embassy  from  the 
Seres,  whom  we  now  call  the  Chinese :  the  ambas- 


— no  matter  how, — a  knowledge  of  these  an¬ 
cient  myths  scattered  over  ever}*-  part  of 
the  globe.  Nay,  more,  setting  aside  the 
native  simplicity,  the  blood-sealed  testi¬ 
mony,  the  exalted  sanctity  of  these  di¬ 
vine  men,— I  admit  that,  carried  away,  as 
Rousseau  says,  by  ardor  for  their  Master’s 
glory,  it  did,  for  a  moment,  occur  heir 
thoughts  to  weave  around  the  gospel  some 
fabulous  circumstances  ;  even  so,  the  thing 
would,  after  all,  have  been  beyond  their 
power.  With  what  face,  for  example, 
could  they  have  attributed  to  that  Herod 
whom  all  Jerusalem  had  known,  whose 
glorious  and  tragical  reign  every  one  knew 
by  heart,  an  atrocious  and  improbable 
deed,  borrowed  from  some  unknown  Per¬ 
sian  monarch,  who,  perhaps,  never  existed 
but  in  the  dreams  of  the  Magi  ?  If  the 
massacre  of  the  Innocents  had  been  a  story 
fabricated  or  copied  by  the  apostles,  can 
any  one  believe  that  the  Bethlehemites,  so 
well  aware  of  what  passed  in  the  holy  city, 
whose  lofty  towers  they  saw  in  the  horizon, 
would  not  have  strongly  protested  against 
this  audacious  falsehood  ;  that  those  subtile 
Pharisees,  who  had  sought  to  ensnare  Jesus 
himself  in  his  speech,  would  have  let  it 
pass  current  without  refutation  ;  or  that 
the  Herodians  would  have  endured  with 
patience  to  have  so  black  a  stain  falsely 
imprinted  upon  the  renown  of  a  prince  of 
whom  they  had  almost  made  a  god,2  and 
who  had  loaded  them  with  riches  and  hon¬ 
ors  ?  If  all  were  silent,  it  was  because  the 
thing  was  too  certain,  too  public,  too  re- 

sadors  pretended  that  they  had  been  three  years  on 
their  journey. 

( a )  The  flatterers  of  Herod  I.,  dazzled  with  the 


24  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


cent  as  yet  to  leave  the  field  open  to  con¬ 
tradictions  ;  it  was  because,  within  two 
hours’  journey  from  Jerusalem,  were  the 
mothers  of  those  martyrs  who  had  paid 
with  their  young  lives  for  the  honor  of  hav¬ 
ing  been  born  at  the  same  time  with 
Christ ;  it  was  because  whole  villages  had 
seen  the  murderous  steel  glitter,  and  heard 
the  death-cries  ;  it  was  because,  at  the 
first  attempt  to  charge  the  Christians  with 
falsehood,  a  whole  nation  would  have 
started  up  to  exclaim,  “But  we  ourselves 
were  there  !” 1 

So  with  the  divine  child-birth  of  Mary  ; 
the  visit  of  the  shepherds  sent  by  the  an¬ 
gels  ;  the  glorious  resurrection  ;  and,  in 
fine,  with  all  the  prodigies  which  sig¬ 
nalized  the  coming  of  Christ.  The  apos¬ 
tles  wrote  in  the  very  lifetime  of  those 
wTho  had  figured  in  the  scenes  which 
they  related  ;  and,  before  they  consigned 
to  writing  those  prodigies  of  the  Messias, 
they  had  boldly  preached  them  in  the  very 
temple  of  Jehovah,  before  that  immense 
multitude  of  Hebrews  from  every  prov¬ 
ince,  who  repaired  thither  to  sacrifice,  or  to 

grandeur  and  magnificence  of  that  prince,  main¬ 
tained  that  he  was  the  Messias.  This  it  was  that 
gave  rise  to  the  sect  of  the  Herodians,  so  fre¬ 
quently  alluded  to  in  the  gospels,  and  whom  the 
pagans  knew,  since  Persius  and  his  scholiast  tell  us, 
that  even  in  the  time  of  Nero,  the  birthday  of  King 
Herod  was  celebrated  by  his  followers,  with  the 
same  solemnity  as  the  Sabbath. 

(‘)  “Neither  Josephus  nor  the  rabbis  speak  of 
<  the  massacre  of  the  Innocents,”  says  Strauss. 

“  Macrobius,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  century,  is 
the  only  one  who  says  a  word  about  the  massacre 
ordered  by  Herod.”  Strauss  is  mistaken :  the  Tol- 
dos,  whence  Celsus  derived  some  of  the  antichris- 
tian  statements  scattered  in  his.  writings,  speaks 


bring  in  the  first-fruits  ;  all  constituting  the 
most  dangerous  audience  in  the  world  for 
them  if  they  had  spoken  falsely. 

So  far  from  fearing  contradictions,  which 
would  not  have  been  wanting  in  case  of 
imposture,  St.  Peter  speaks  to  this  numer¬ 
ous  assemblage  as  a  man  sure  of  a  general 
endorsement  of  his  statement ;  he  is  not 
afraid  to  appeal  to  the  still  recent  recollec¬ 
tions  of  those  who  hear  him  ;  he  affirms 
those  miracles  which  mark  the  mission  of 
the  Son  of  Mary  with  the  seal  of  the  di¬ 
vinity,  even  before  the  great  council  of  the 
nation,  which  has  contributed  its  utmost  to 
the  crucifixion  of  Jesus.  And  the  senators 
of  Israel,  terrified  and  furious,  ordered  St. 
Peter  and  St.  John  to  be  scourged,  to 
compel  them  to  keep  silence  ;  but  as  the 
Talmud  shows,  they  do  not  deny  those 
prodigies,  which  they  stupidly  attribute  to 
magic.  Accordingly,  they  do  not  say  to  the 
apostles,  when  dragged  before  them  by  the 
keepers  of  the  temple,  “You  are  dreamers 
or  liars,”  They  say  to  them,  with  an  agi¬ 
tation  which  sufficiently  proves  their  secret 
fears,  “  Hold  your  peace  !  would  you  have 

positively  of  it,  and  the  fact  is  given  in  the  Talmud. 
Bossuet  thus  answers  those  who  deny  the  gospel 
fact,  and  never  was  answer  more  decisive :  “  Where 
are  they,”  says  he,  “  who,  to  secure  their  faith,  re¬ 
quire  notice  of  this  cruelty  of  Herod’s  in  the  con¬ 
temporary  historians  of  paganism  ?  As  though 
our  faith  ought  to  depend  on  what  the  negligence 
or  affected  policy  of  the  historians  of  the  world 
made  them  say,  or  leave  unsaid,  in  their  histories  ! 
Away  with  all  such  feeble  ideas;  human  views 
alone  would  have  sufficed  to  prevent  the  Evangelist 
from  bringing  discredit  upon  his  holy  gospel  by 
recording  so  public  a  fact,  if  it  had  not  been  so  cer¬ 
tain.” 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


the  people  stone  us  ?”  To  which  these  two 
men,  simple  in  heart,  but  great  in  soul, 
resolutely  answer,  “We  will  not  hold  our 
peace  !  God  commandeth  us  to  speak,  and 
it  is  better  to  obey  him  than  men.”  Impos¬ 
ture  is  not  thus  fearless. 

After  examining  the  acts,  the  character, 
and  position  of  the  apostles,  every  impar¬ 
tial  man  will  be  forced  to  admit  that  they 
were  neither  deceivers  nor  deceived,  and 
that  they  are  no  way  concerned  in  those 
coincidences  which  are  remarked  between 
the  gospel  facts  and  the  traditions  of  an¬ 
cient  nations,  more  or  less  alloyed  with 
fables. 

How,  then,  explain  these  analogies  ?  Is 
it  a  game  of  chance,  an  accidental  concur¬ 
rence  ? 

It  has  not  happened  by  chance  that  the 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation  of  a  God  in 
the  chaste  womb  of  a  Yirgin  is  one  of  the 
fundamental  points  of  belief  in  Asia  ;  it  is 
not  merely  accidental  that  the  privileged 
women  who  bear  in  their  wombs  this  ema¬ 
nation  of  the  divinity  are  always  pure, 
beautiful,  holy  ;  that  they  have  names  glo¬ 
rious  and  full  of  mystery,  which  signify  in 
all  the  ancient  tongues,  beauty  expected,  vir¬ 
gin  immaculate,  faithful  virgin,  felicity  of  the 
human  race,  polar  star ;  and  that  they  are 
so  like  each  other,  that  one  would  say  that 
they  were  moulded  after  some  remote  type, 
concealed  from  us  by  the  night  of  time. 
In  fine,  it  is  not  by  mere  chance  that  a  ray 
of  light  unites  the  divine  nature  with  the 
human. 

These  opinions,  where  we  recognize  the 
stamp  of  the  primitive  times,  evidently  go 
back  to  the  infancy  of  the  world.  The 


25 


antediluvian  patriarchs, — that  chain  of 
aged  men  whose  days  were  the  days  of  the 
cedar, — seeking  to  form  an  idea  of  that 
woman,  blessed  among  all  others,  whose 
miraculous  maternity  was  to  save  the  hu  • 
man  race,  portrayed  her  to  themselves 
under  the  features  of  Eve  before  her  fall  ; 
they  gave  to  her  a  majestic  and  sacred 
beauty,  which  could  create  no  other  senti¬ 
ment  in  the  souls  of  the  children  of  men 
than  that  of  religious  veneration  ;  they 
made  her  a  lovely  star,  with  a  soft,  veiled 
light,  whose  rising  was  to  prelude  that  of 
the  Sun  of  Justice. 

The  means  by  which  God  was  to  cause 
fecundity  in  that  virginal  womb,  agree  in 
a  striking  manner  among  the  different  na¬ 
tions  of  the  world.  Take  a  view  of  all  the 
ancient  religions,  you  will  see  in  them  a 
sacred  fire.  Now  fire  was,  among  the  Per¬ 
sians,  the  terrestrial  emblem  of  the  sun; 
and  the  sun  itself  was  but  the  dwelling  of 
the  Most  High — the  glorious  tabernacle  of 
the  God  of  heaven } 

The  Hebrews,  who  shared  this  belief, 
acknowledged  the  divine  presence,  or 
SheJcina,  in  the  luminous  cloud  which  hov¬ 
ered  between  the  cherubim  of  the  mercy- 
seat  ;  and  believed  that  God  was  clothed 
with  light  as  with  a  garment,  when  he 
manifested  himself  to  men  on  solemn  occa¬ 
sions.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  syna¬ 
gogue,  and  the  tradition  of  the  temple 
related,  that  in  the  midst  of  the  bush  of 
wild  roses,  which  burnt  without  being  con¬ 
sumed,  on  Mount  Horeb,  where  Moses, 

(1)  The  Persians  suppose  that  the  throne  of 
God  is  in  the  sun,  says  Hanway,  and  hence  their 
veneration  for  that  luminary. 


l 

26  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

that  great  shepherd  of  men,  was  feed- 

images,  but  by  terror,  whose  indelible 

mg  at  the  time  the  Arabian  flocks  of  his 

impression  differs  from  that  of  poetry. 

father-in-law,  a  very  beautiful  face  was 

The  bloody  sacrifice,  which  we  find  estab- 

distinguished,  resembling  nothing  that 

lished  from  the  most  distant  times  among 

we  see  here  below  ;  and  that  this  celes- 

almost  all  nations,  had  no  other  object 

tial  figure,  which  was  brighter  than  a 

than  to  preserve  among  men  the  remem- 

flame  and  more  dazzling  than  lightning, 

brance  of  the  promise  of  the  immolation  of 

was  undoubtedly  the  image  of  the  eternal 

Calvary,  as  it  is  ^asy  to  prove. 

God.1  After  this,  it  is  not  difficult  to  un- 

Worship,  that  manifestation  of  love, 

derstand  the  grounds  of  the  opinion,  gen- 

that  homage  of  gratitude,  which  Adam 

erallv  spread,  that  a  luminous  ray  was  to 

and  Eve  were  bound  to  pay  to  God  imme- 

bring  fecundity  to  the  womb  of  the  Virgin 

diately  after  the  benefit  of  their  creation, 

of  reparation,  who  was  the  expectation  of 

consisted,  no  doubt,  in  Eden,  of  mnocent 

nations. 

prayers  and  offerings  of  fruits  and  flowers 

With  this  graceful  tradition  of  a  pure 

alone.3  But  when  they  had  ungratefully 

virgin  admitted  to  celestial  nuptials,  sur- 

broken  the  precept  of  easy  observance, 

rounded  by  mystery  impenetrable,  was 

which  the  Lord  had  imposed  on  them  as  a 

connected  the  tradition  of  a  God-Saviour, 

sweet  yoke,  and  solely  to  make  them  sen- 

born  of  her  womb,  who  was  to  suffer  and 

sible  that  they  had  a  Master, — when  they 

die  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.2  This 

had  lost,  with  the  immortalizing  fruits  of 

tradition  was  not  perpetuated  like  the 

the  tree  of  life,4  their  talisman  against 

other,  by  means  of  brilliant  and  poetical 

death,5  and  they  descended  from  the  charm- 

( 1 )  Philo  Jucheus,  Life  of  Moses. 

tality  here  below  was  never  acquired  by  man  by 

( a )  This  tradition  is  found  in  the  sacred  hooks 

right  of  birth ;  every  terrestrial  body  must  perish 

of  China. — (See  F.  Premare’s  work,  entitled,  “  Se- 

by  the  dissolution  of  its  parts,  unless  a  special  will 

lecta  qusedam  vestigia  praecipuorum  Christianas 

of  the  Creator  opposes  this :  such  divine  will  was 

religionis  dogmatum  ex  antiquis  libris  eruta.” 

manifested  in  favor  of  our  first  parents.  God 

( 3 )  Porphyrins,  de  Abst.,  lib.  ii. 

planted,  in  the  delightful  garden  where  he  had 

( 4 )  God  could  attach  to  plants  certain  natural 

placed  mortal  man,  the  tree  of  life,  a  plant  of 

virtues  with  reference  to  our  bodies,  and  it  is  easy 

heavenly  origin,  which  had  the  property  of  avert- 

to  believe  that  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  had  the 

ing  death,  as  the  laurel,  according  to  the  ancients, 

power  of  renewing  the  body  by  so  suitable  and 

averts  lightning.  On  this  mysterious  tree  de- 

efficacious  an  aliment,  that,  by  making  use  of  it, 

pended  the  immortality  of  the  human  race ;  away 

men  would  not  have  died. — (Bossuet,  Elevations 

from  this  protecting  tree  death  recovered  his  prey, 

sur  les  Mysteres,  t.  i.,  p.  231.) 

and  man  fell  back  from  the  height  of  heaven  into 

( ‘ )  Man  was  never  immortal  in  this  world  in 

his  miserable  habitation  of  clay. — (Augustinus, 

the  same  way  as  the  pure  spirits,  for  a  body  formed 

Qusest.  Yet.  et  Nov.  Test.,  q.  19,  p.  450.)  No  one,  I 

from  dust  must  naturally  return  to  dust;  he  was 

imagine,  will  deny  that  God  used  a  just  right  in 

so  by  an  unexampled  favor,  granted  conditionally, 

banishing  Adam  from  the  earthly  Paradise  after 

which  exalted  him  and  maintained  him  in  a  posi- 

his  disobedience;  but  banishment  involved  the 

tion  very  superior  to  his  proper  sphere.  Immor- 

sentence  of  death  upon  man  and  his  posterity; 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  27 

ing  slopes  of  Eden  to  a  land  bristling  with 
brambles  and  thorns,  whose  virgin  soil  they 
were  obliged  to  open  and  till  for  their 
support, — to  the  wild  fruits  and  flowers, 
produced  by  the  land  of  exile  they  added 
the  firstlings  of  their  flocks.  This  point 
deserves  attention.  With  perfection  of 
form,  Adam  combined  an  intelligent  and 
exalted  soul,  in  which  the  Lord  had  planted 
the  germ  of  every  virtue  and  every  science  : 
he  could  not  be  devoid  of  humanity.  His 
fatal  condescension  to  Eve  exhibits  him  to 
us  as  loving  even  to  weakness,  and  thereby 
susceptible,  in  the  highest  degree,  of  sweet 
and  benevolent  affections.  How  could  it 
enter  his  mind  that  the  Creator  would- 
be  pleased  with  the  violent  death  of  his 
creature,  that  an  act  of  destruction  could 
be  an  act  of  piety  ? 

The  immolation  of  animals,  which  has 
not  the  most  remote  connection  with  man’s 

vOws  and  prayers,  and  which  seems  merely 
murderous  at  this  time,  when  the  primitive 
patriarchs  lived  exclusively  on  vegetable 
food,  must  have  stirred  up  in  the  head  of 
the  human  race  a  thousand  feelings  of  nat¬ 
ural  repugnance.  These  poor  creatures, 
deprived  of  reason,  but  capable  of  attach¬ 
ment,  had  long  composed  in  Eden  the  court 
of  the  solitary  monarch  ;  he  sat  with  them 
at  the  same  table,  slept  on  the  moss  of  the 
same  bank,  quenched  his  thirst  at  the  same 
fountain,  and  his  prayer  ascended  to  heav¬ 
en  at  sunrise  and  sunset  together  with  the 
warbling  of  the  birds,  who  seemed  also  to 
pour  forth  their  morning  or  evening  hymn. 

These  companions  of  his  happy  life,  in¬ 
volved  in  his  misfortune,  shared  his  exiled 
lot some,  yielding  to  savage  instincts  un¬ 
developed  in  Paradise,  fled  to  the  depths 
of  deserts  and  into  secret  mountain  caves, 
whence  they  soon  declared  relentless  war 

without  the  tree  of  life,  he  was  no  longer  aught 
but  a  frail  and  perishable  creature,  subject  to  the 
laws  which  govern  created  bodies  :  when  the  anti¬ 
dote  fails,  it  is  plain  that  poison  kills.  Again 
become  mortal,  Adam  begot  children  like  himself: 
the  children  must,  follow  the  condition  to  which 
their  father  had  fallen.  In  this,  God  did  the 
human  race  no  wrong:  we  are  mortal  by  our 
nature  ;  he  has  left  us  such  as  we  were.  To  with¬ 
draw  a  gratuitous  favor,  when  the  object  of  the 
favor  tears  up  with  his  own  hands  the  deed  which 
confers  it  upon  him,  is  not  cruelty,  hut  justice. 

( 1 )  We  know  not  exactly  how  long  Adam  and 
Eve  remained  in  the  earthly  Paradise;  yet  this 
abode  must  have  been  of  some  duration,  and  thus 
Milton  understood  it,  whom  we  do  not  quote  here 
as  a  poet,  but  as  a  profound  orientalist.  If  we 
recollect,  moreover,  that  it  was  in  Eden  that  Adam 
learned  to  distinguish  and  call  by  their  names  all 
the  birds  of  the  air,  all  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  all 

the  fishes  which  swim  in  the  waters ;  that  there  he 
learned  the  virtues  of  plants,  and  what  God  thought 
proper  to. teach  him  of  the  course  of  the  stars,  we 
shall  conclude  that  this  was  not  the  work  of  one 
day.  The  Persians  and  Chinese  make  the  first 
man  dwell  in  Paradise  for  several  centuries.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  the  opinion  of  the  Arabs  and  rabbis,  he 
remained  there  only  half  a  day ;  but  this  half  day 
of  Paradise  is  equivalent,  according  to  them,  to 
five  hundred  years;  for  one  day  of  Paradise  is  a 
thousand  years.  This  extent  of  time  is,  in  our 
•opinion,  too  long.  It  is  commonly  believed  that 

Cain,  whose  birth  is  closely  connected,  in  Genesis, 
with  the  expulsion  of  his  parents,  was  born  in  the 
year  13  of  the  creation,  which  would  fix  the  abode 
in  Paradise  at  about '  twelve  years.  This  term, 

-  though  rather  short,  would  have  sufficed  for  the 
first  man  to  establish  his  authority  over  the  ani¬ 
mals  subject  to  his  sceptre,  and  to  attach  him  to 
his  humble  subjects  by  the  bonds  of  habit. 

' :  L '  - 

28  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  YTRGHST  MART. 

against,  their  pristine  lord ;  others,  inof- 

attacked  him  in  his  strength,  at  the  time 

fensive  and  gentle  creatures,  gathered 

when  he  knew  nothing,  as  yet,  but  good,  in 

round  about  the  grotto  of  their  lord,  to 

the  most  beautiful  abode  of  the  earth,  still 

whom  they  offered  their  milk,  their  labor, 

deeply  impressed  with  the  immense  benefit 

their  fleeces,  and  their  melodious  concerts, 

of  his  creation,  free,  happy,  tranquil,  im- 

to  satisfy  his  wants  and  alleviate  his  mis- 

mortal,  and  capable  of  resisting,  had  he  but 

fortunes.  Now,  it  was  among  the  scanty 

chosen.  From  this  high  position  it  was 

ranks  of  these  humble  friends,  faithful 

that  he  fell  into  the  frightful  abyss  of  dis- 

to  him  in  his  distress,  that  Adam  chose, 

obedience  and  ingratitude.  The  justice  of 

numbered,  and  marked  out  his  victims  ;  it 

God  demanded  a  punishment  proportioned 

was  in  the  throat  of  the  heifer,  which  ex- 

to  the  offence  :  man  was  condemned  to  die 

hausted  its  udder  to  feed  him,  of  the  dove, 

a  double  death  ;  and  there  the  human  race 

which  took  shelter  in  his  bosom  when  the 

was  lost,  if  a  divine  Being,  predestined  be- 

vulture  hovered  in  the  air,  of  the  lamb, 

fore  the  birth  of  time  to  the  work  of  our 

which  left  its  flowery  pasture  to  come  and 

redemption,  had  not  undertaken  to  satisfy 

lick  his  hand,  that  he  had  the  heart  to 

for  us  all.  From  that  time  he  was  called 

plunge  the  knife.  Ah !  when  man,  as  yet 

the  Messias,  and  revealed  as  a  Saviour  at 

unversed  in  killing,  stretched  at  his  feet  a 

that  very  moment  when  the  voice  of  Giod, 

poor,  gentle,  and  timid  creature,  heaving 

“  that  voice  which  breaket.h  down  the 

its  death-throes  in  a  stream  of  gore,  he 

cedars,”  pronounced  the  sentence  of  the 

must  have  stood  pale  and  dismayed,  like 

three  guilty  ones.  “  Because  thou  hast 

the  assassin  after  his  first  murder!  This 

done  this,”  said  God  to  the  serpent  se- 

thought  came  not  from  him  ;  it  was  not  an 

ducer,  who  proudly  lifted  up  his  head  from 

act  of  his  own  choice,  but  one  of  painful 

our  ruin,  “the  seed  of  the  woman — that  is, 

obedience.  Who  imposed  it?  He  alone 

a  fruit  produced  from  her — shall  bruise  thy 

to  whom  it  belongs  to  dispose  of  life  and 

head.” 

death — God. 

Hebrew  tradition  adds  that  God,  moved 

Adam  committed  a  fault  so  enormous  by 

by  the  repentance  of  our  first  parents,  re- 

its  aggravating  circumstances  and  disas- 

vealed  to  them  by  an  angel  that  a  just  one 

trous  consequences,  that  to  express  its  full 

should  be  born  of  them,  who  should  destroy 

enormity  the  Hebrew  tradition  relates  that 

the  pernicious  effects  of  the  fruit  of  the 

the  sun  was  darkened  with  horror.1  Satan 

tree  of  knowledge,2  by  means  of  a  volun- 

( 1 )  It  is  in  memory  of  the  sin  of  Eve,  at  the 

with  this  punishment  in  expiation  of  their  sin.” — 

sight  of  which,  according  to  the  Jews,  the  sun 

(Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  13.) 

withheld  his  light,  that  the  Jewish  women  are 

( 3 )  It  is  generally  supposed,  among  Christians, 

especially  commanded  to  light  lamps,  which  burn 

that  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  an  apple-tree ;  the 

in  every  house  during  the  night  of  the  Sabbath. 

Persians,  on  the  contrary,  maintain  that  this  fatal 

“It  is  just,”  say  the  Hebrew  doctors,  “that  the 

tree  was  a  fig-tree.  In  our  days,  the  German  Eich- 

women  should  rekindle  the  torch  which  they  have 

horn  makes  it  a  species  of  manchineel.  “  Making 

extinguished,  and  that  they  should  be  burdened 

due  deduction  from  the  marvellous  which  surrounds 

\ 

chestnut 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


tary  oblation,  and  that  he  should  be  the 
salvation  of  those  who  should  place  their 
hope  in  him.1  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Arabian  traditions  inform  us  that  God, 
who  is  indignant  and  merciful,  was  pleased 
to  show  man  how  to  implore  his  pardon. 
This  worship,  revealed  by  God,  was  cer¬ 
tainly  sacrifice,  a  ceremony  at  once  com¬ 
memorative,  expiatory,  and  symbolical ;  by 
which  man  confessed  that  he  bad  deserved 
death,  and  by  substituting  innocent  vic¬ 
tims  in  his  stead,  recalled  perpetually  to 
his  remembrance  the  great  victim  of  Cal¬ 
vary. 

Thus,  then,  the  institution  of  the  bloody 
sacrifice,  which  was  no  human  invention, 
reposed  in  reality  upon  a  thought  of  the 
divine  mercy  ;  since  it  perpetuated  among 
all  nations  that  tradition  of  the  Messias, 
without  which  the  work  of  redemption 
would  have  been  a  benefit  lost. 

God  matures  his  counsels  in  the  course 
of  ages,  for  a  thousand  years  are  with  him * (*) 


the  fall  of  man,”  says  the  rationalist  writer,  “  the 
fact  remains  that  the  constitution  of  the  human 
body  was,  from  its  origin,  vitiated  by  the  use  of  a 
poisonous  fruit.”— (Eichhorn’s  Argeschichte.) 

( 1 )  Basnage,  liv.  vi.,  c.  25,  p.  417. 

(a)  Cain  is  called  Gabel  by  all  the  Arabic  au¬ 
thors  ;  this  name,  which  means  the  first,  is  per¬ 
haps  his  proper  name.  The  surname  of  Cain, 
which  signifies  traitor,  may  have  been  given  to 
him  afterward. — (Savary,  in  a  note  to  c.  5  of  the 
Koran.) 

( * )  Abel,  which  the  Arabs  write  Habel,  is,  ac¬ 
cording  to  them,  only  the  surname  of  that  youthful 
shepherd  who  was  the  first  type  of  Christ.  In  fact, 
it  recalls  the  sad  event  which  threw  the  family  of 
Adam  into  mourning,  and  properly  signifies,  says 
Savary,  “He  has  left  by  his  death  a  mother  in 
tears” — (Note  to  c.  5  of  the  Koran.)  Josephus, 


29 


as  one  day ;  but  man  is  eager  to  obtain, 
for  man  endures  but  a  short  time.  Eve 
apparently  concluded,  from  the  angel’s 
words,  that  she  was  to  be  the  mother 
of  this  Redeemer  promised  to  her,  and 
in  this  thought  she  showed  transports  of  ‘ 
extraordinary  joy  in  bringing  forth  Cain,2 
whom  she  took  for  her  Saviour.  Unde¬ 
ceived  by  the  perverse  inclinations  which 
he  showed,  she  transferred  her  hopes  to 
Abel,  that  beloved  son,  whose  name  recalls 
to  mind  the  mourning  and  tears  of  his 
mother;3  then  to  Seth:4  but  in  vain,  for 
the  gates  which  angels  guarded  with  fiery 
swords  opened  to  her  no  more.  The  just 
of  the  race  of  Seth,  those  pure  and  contem¬ 
plative  men,  whom  the  Scripture  calls  the 
sons  of  God,  and  whom  the  Assyrian  le¬ 
gends  transform  into  genii,  flattered  them¬ 
selves  a  long  time  with  the  same  hope  ;  for 
the  Jewish  tradition  represents  them  to  us 
as  wandering  about  the  heights  bordering 
on  the  garden  of  Eden,5  whose  giant  ce- 

in  like  manner,  says  that  the  name  of  Abel  signi¬ 
fies  “  mourning.” — (Antiq.  Jud.,  p.  4.) 

( 4 )  See  Basnage,  liv.  vi.,  c.  25. 

( 6 )  Arabic  traditions  place  the  terrestrial  Para¬ 
dise  in  that  beautiful  valley  of  Damascus  which 
the  oriental  poets  designate  by  the  name  of  the 
Emerald  of  the  Desert.  Its  admirable  situation, 
its  beauty  and  fertility,  justify  this  idea;  and  a 
learned  commentator  on  Genesis  has  not  h'esitated 
to  consider  this  beautiful  site  as  that  of  the  garden 
of  Eden,  although  the  names  of  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Tigris  indicate  a  different  situation.  In  sup¬ 
port  of  this  Arabic  tradition  there  is  shown,  at 
half  a  day’s  journey  from  Damascus,  a  high  moun¬ 
tain  of  white  marble,  overshadowed  by  beautiful 
trees,  where  there  is  a  cavern,  which  is  looked 
upon  as  the  dwelling  of  Adam,  Abel,  and  Cain; 
here,  too,  is  shown  the  sepulchre  of  Abel,  which  is 


30  life  of  the  blessed  virgin  mart. 

dars1  they  admired  with  sighs,  and  where 

world  would  be  indebted  to  the  miraculous 

they  flattered  themselves  that  one  of  their 

child-bearing  of  a  new  Eve.  At  the  sight 

just  ones  would  enable  them  again  to  enter. 

of  the  bloody  sacrifices  offered  for  the  un- 

But  it  was  not  the  name  of  a  virgin  of  the 

expiated  fault  of  their  first  fathers,  he 

primitive  times  which  was  written  in  the 

taught  his  descendants  to  lift  up  their  eyes 

immutable  decrees  of  the  Eternal ;  and  the 

to  a  more  august  victim,  seated  at  the  right 

earth,  yet  trembling  under  the  divine  male- 

hand  of  Jehovah  in  the  starry  depths  of 

diction,  stood  in  need  of  being  washed  as 

heaven,  a  victim  of  which  the  oblation  of 

by  the  ablutions  of  a  baptism,  before  the 

heifers  and  lambs  was  but  a  type.3 

feet  of  Him  who  was  to  bring  good  tidings 

The  nations  at  first  faithfully  preserved 

on  the  mountains  should  leave  upon  them 

these  primitive  notions,  which  are  con- 

their  hallowed  imprint. 

stantly  met  with  as  the  foundation  of  all 

When  the  earth  had  drunk  in  the  waters 

creeds.3  They  reared  altars  at  the  con- 

of*  the  deluge,  and  the  winds  had  dried  it 

fluence  of  rivers,  in  the  shade  of  forests, 

up,  the  new  family  of  mankind,  reviving 

on  the  summits  of  mountains,  on  the  shores 

under  favorable  promises,  were  eager  to 

of  the  green  ocean,  and  on  the  sandy 

re-establish  the  worship  practised  by  Enos. 

downs  where  the  wormwood  spreads  its 

Noe  added  to  it  the  seven  precepts  which 

leaves  to  the  desert  winds.  From  the  be-" 

bear  his  name,  without  forgetting  those 

ginning  soft  moonlight  lighted  those  rustic 

- 

historical  and  religious  traditions  which  his 

temples,  which  had  no  boundary  but  the 

long  existence  before  the  flood  had  enabled 

horizon,  no  ceiling  but  the  sky  with  all  its 

him  to  collect.  He  told  of  man  being 

stars.  At  that  remote  period,  God  was 

formed  of  the  earth,  of  his  rebellion,  his 

worthily  adored,  and  with  ideas  so  exact, 

fall,  his  future  restoration,  for  which  the 

so  sublime,  so  uniform,  and  so  simple,  that 

much  respected  by  the  Turks.  The  place  where 

from  the  earth.  The  Brahmins,  who  draw  enchant- 

the  fratricide  was  committed  is  marked  by  four 

ing  pictures  of  their  chorcam  (paradise),  place  in  it 

columns.  —  (D’Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orieutale, 

a  tree,  the  fruit  of  which  would  confer  immortal- 

pp.  772,  780 ;  Father  Pacifique,  Commentaires  sur 

ity,  if  it  were  allowed  to  partake  of  it.  The  Per- 

la  Bible.) 

sians  relate  that  the  evil  genius  Ahriman  seduced 

( 1 )  Eden’s  tall  cedars  have  remained  tradition- 

our  first  parents  under  the  form  of  a  snake.  The 

ally  in  the  memory  of  the  Hebrews,  who  have  made 

history  of  the  woman  deceived  at  the  foot  of  a  tree, 

the  terrestrial  Paradise  their  paradise.  In  most  of 

of  the  anger  of  God,  and  of  the  first  fratricide,  was 

their  epitaphs  we  read  these  words :  “  He  has  gone 

a  tradition  among  the  Iroquois.  The  Tartars  at- 

down  into  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  those  who  are 

tribute  our  fall  to  a  plant  as  sweet  as  honey,  and 

among  the  cedars.” — (Basnage,  t.  v.,  liv.  vii.) 

of  marvellous  beauty ;  the  Thibetans,  to  the  fault 

( 3 )  “  The  old  law  bears  throughout  the  charac- 

of  having  tasted  the  dangerous  plant  shimce,  sweet 

ter  of  blood  and  death,  as  a  figure  of  the  new  law 

and  white  as  sugar:  the  knowledge  of  their  state 

established  and  confirmed  by  the  blood  of  Christ.” 

of  nudity  was  revealed  by  this  fruit.  The  tradition 

— (Bossuet,  Elevations  sur  les  Myst.,  t  i.,  p.  428.) 

of  the  woman  and  the  serpent  was  equally  known 

( 3 )  The  Hindoos,  Chinese,  Peruvians,  and  Hu- 

in  Mexico,  &c. — (Roselly  de  Lorgues,  Le  Christ 

rons  acknowledge  that  the  first  man  was  formed 

devant  le  Siecle,  c.  9.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  31 

they  evidently  could  be  traced  up  to  him- 

fortress  of  refuge  against  a  new  deluge, 

self. 

which  that  race,  already  beginning  to  grow 

Nevertheless,  an  element  of  supersti- 

corrupt,  felt  that  it  again  deserved.  And 

tious  terror, — founded  upon  the  terrible 

when  the  confusion  of  tongues  forced  the 

and  recent  remembrance  of  the  drowning 

descendants  of  Noe  to  disperse, — when 

of  the  globe,  a  remembrance  of  which 

they  saw  their  precaution,  offensive  as  it 

visible  traces  are  found  in  most  of  the  re- 

was  to  the  sworn  clemency  of  the  Lord, 

ligious  festivals  of  antiquity,1  glided  like  a 

turn  to  their  confusion, — they  were  only 

principle  of  destruction  into  the  divine 

the  more  ready  to  be  influenced  by  fresh 

worship  after  the  flood.  Crowded  together 

terrors. 

on  the  elevated  table-lands  of  Caucasus, 

It  must  be  owned,  on  their  behalf,  that 

and  the  mountains  of  Armenia,  the  de- 

the  earth  presented  at  that  time  a  dis- 

scendants  of  Noe  had  long  refused,  with  an 

couraging  spectacle  ;  the  whole  economy  of 

obstinacy  which  the  authority  of  Noe  him- 

creation  was  in  confusion.  The  rivers, 

self  had  been  unable  to  conquer,  to  go  down 

turned  from  their  courses,  formed  immense 

again  into  the  plain  ;  so  fearful  were  they 

ponds  of  water  and  putrid  marshes2  in  the 

of  a  second  deluge  !  In  vain  did  the  rain- 

vast  plains  which  before  the  deluge  were 

bow,  as  of  to  remove  all  fear  from  the 

enlivened  by  the  graceful  tents  of  the 

children  of  men,  display  in  the  cloud  its 

shepherds.  The  cedars  lay  extended  along 

soft  and  benign  colors,  where  the  green  of 

the  sea-shores,  whilst  the  spoils  of  the 

the  emerald  united  with  the  blue  of  the 

ocean  were  found  on  the  summits  of  tower- 

sapphire  ;  this  happy  pi^gnostic,  this 

ing  snow-clad  mountains.  Naught  was  seen 

beautiful  sign  of  a  God  appeased,  dimin- 

on  all  sides  but  towers  levelled  with  the 

ished,  but  could  not  banish,  a  terror  which 

grass,3  and  silent,  ruined  towns.  The 

had  taken  deep  root :  this  the  tower  of 

ploughshare  everywhere  struck  against 

Babel  shows.  This  gigantic  monument  of 

bones  and  rubbish.  The  vengeance  of 

human  pride  concealed  beneath  its  insolent 

provoked  heaven  had  weighed  heavily 

defiance  an  immensity  of  fear.  It  was  as  a 

upon  the  human  race,  in  a  manner  so  over- 

( 1 )  See  Boulanger,  Antiquite  devoilee. 

flowed  incapable  of  cultivation. — (Freret,  Chro- 

( * )  History  has  preserved  us  proofs  of  this  dis- 

nique  des  Chinois,  lere  partie.) 

placement  of  rivers  after  the  deluge.  We  read  in 

( 3 )  The  tower  of  Babel,  so  near  to  the  great 

Strabo,  b.  ii.,  that  the  Araxes,  which  waters  Ar- 

deluge,  may  give  some  idea  of  antediluvian  archi- 

menia,  was  still  without  any  outlet,  and  inundated 

tecture ;  it  was  constructed  of  brick  and  bitumen. 

the  country,  when  Jason,  the  chief  of  the  Argo- 

If,  as  everything  leads  us  to  believe,  this  immense 

nauts,  opened  a  subterranean  channel,  by  which 

tower  resembled  the  ancient  and  famous  tower  of 

the  Araxes  flowed  into  the  Caspian  Sea.  In  the 

Bel,  at  Babylon,  it  was  surrounded  by  an  external 

celebrated  Chou-King  of  Confucius,  the  Emperor 

staircase,  of  easy  ascent,  which  rose  spirally  to 

Yao  says  that  the  waters,  which  formerly  rose  up 

the  platform,  and  gave  the  edifice  the  appearance 

to  heaven,  still  bathed  the  feet  of  the  highest 

of  seven  towers  one  upon  another. 

mountains,  and  made  the  plains  which  they  over- 

-  - - - 

>9. 


32  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


whelming  that  man,  whose  heart  was  still 
beating  with  fear  at  the  remembrance  of 
the  perils  which  he  had  encountered,  felt 
more  disposed  to  dread  his  sovereign  Master 
with  great  fear,  than  to  love  him  with  con¬ 
fiding  affection :  he  was  afraid  of  God ! 
He  distrusted  his  promises  and  his  good¬ 
ness.  Like  the  drowning  victim  of  ship¬ 
wreck,  he  grasped  eagerly  around  for 
something  to  help  him,  which  might  inter¬ 
pose  and  conjure  in  the  hour  of  need  that 
sacred,  but  terrible  wrath.  Noe  had 
spoken  of  a  powerful  and  divine  Being, 
whose  tender  love  for  men  was  infinite, 
who  was  to  plead  their  cause  before  the 
Eternal,  and  take  their  crimes  upon  him¬ 
self  ;  but  who  was  this  anxiously-desired 
Mediator,  this  powerful  friend  ?  He  was 
no  longer  known.  The  descendants  of  Sem 
thought  they  had  found  him  in  the  stars 
which  charmed  their  solitary  vigils,  and 
which  they  supposed  to  be  animated  by 
celestial  intelligences  d  they  implored  those 
intelligences  to  protect  them,  and  lighted 


( 1 )  It  is  a  very  ancient  belief  in  the  East  that 
the  stars  are  living  creatures:  the  Jewish  doctors 
had  fallen  into  this  error,  which  dates  far  beyond 
their  people.  Philo  avers  that  the  stars  are  intel¬ 
ligent  creatures,  who  had  never  done  any  evil,  and 
were  incapable  of  any.  According  to  Maimonides, 
the  stars  know  God  who  made  them,  know  them¬ 
selves,  and  their  actions  are  always  good  and  holy. 
—(Philo,  de  Mundi  Opificio,  de  Gigant.,  de  Som- 
niis ;  Maimonides,  More  nevochim,  pt.  ii.,  c.  4, 
p.  194,  et  de  Fundam.  legis,  c.  3,  §  11.)  The 
modern  Persians  still  sacrifice  to  the  angel  of  the 
moon. 

( 3 )  According  to  Rabbi  Bechai,  the  Saheans  did 
not  adore  the  sun  ;  they  only  lighted  fires  on  the 
earth  to  thank  God  for  the  torch  which  he  lighted 
up  for  them  in  the  heavens  ;  and  when  they  looked 


fires  on  the  heights  of  mountains  in  their 
honor.2 

This  was  the  origin  of  Sabeanism,  which 
degenerated  into  idolatry,  when  the  repro¬ 
bate  race  of  Cham,  attaching  themselves  to 
the  material  object,  adored  fire,  water, 
earth,  agitated  air ;  and,  insolently  deriding 
the  worship  practised  by  Noe,  which  was 
a  stranger  to  images,  consecrated  statues  of 
silver  to  the  moon,  and  statues  of  gold  to 
the  sun.3 

In  time  the  darkness  thickened  ;  religious 
systems  were  loaded  with  rites  ;  the  worship 
of  the  true  God  was  gradually  mingled  with 
that  of  the  stars  and  the  elements  ;  the 
invention  of  hieroglyphics  completed  the 
confusion ;  and  the  few  truths  which  es¬ 
caped  the  subversion  of  religious  belief 
were  mysteriously  hidden  in  the  recesses  of 
idolatrous  sanctuaries,  like  sepulchral  lamps 
which  burn  only  for  the  dead.  They  were 
carefully  witty]  rawn  from  the  multitude,4 
who  lavished  their  senseless  adorations 
on  stones,  trees,  rivers,  mountains,  and 


at  the  stars,  they  besought  the  angels  whom  God 
has  placed  there  to  induce  them  to  be  propitious 
to  them. — (R.  Bechai,  Comm,  in  Genes.,  c.  1.)  The 
fires  still  lighted  in  almost  all  European  countries, 
and  in  France  called  fires  of  St.  John,  are  rem¬ 
nants  of  Sabeanism. 

( s )  The  ancient  Arabs,  descended  from  Cham, 
despised  Noe  because  he  did  not  serve  images; 
they  consecrated  statues  of  silver  to  the  moon,  and 
statues  of  gold  to  the  sun ;  they  divided  the  metals 
and  climates  among  the  stars ;  they  believed  that 
they  have  great  influence  over  things  which  are 
devoted  to  them,  and  to  the  images  consecrated  to 
them. — (Maimonides,  More  nevochim,  pt.  iii.,  c.  2, 
p.  423.) 

(4)  Plato,  speaking  of  the  God  who  formed  the 
universe,  says  that  it  is  forbidden  to  make  him 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  33 


animals,  a  still  more  degrading  worship, 
and  which  ended  by  enshrining  their 
vices  and  passions  in  heaven.  Then  im¬ 
postors,  speculating  upon  human  credulity, 
confounded  or  purposely  broke  the  now 
attenuated  thread  of  patriarchal  traditions, 
and  audaciously  substituting  remembrance 
for  hope,  invested  the  origin  of  their  fabu¬ 
lous  kings,  false  prophets,  and  powerless 
divinities  with  the  wonders  of  the  incarna¬ 
tion  of  the  Word,  and  the  primitive  reve¬ 
lations  of  his  exalted  and  tragical  destiny. 

Thus,  according  to  us,  can  be  explained 
analogies  which  at  first  appear  incompre¬ 
hensible. 

All  the  nations  of  polytheism,  however, 
did  not  take  the  mystery  of  the  Messias 
for  an  accomplished  fact.  Just  before  the 
Christian  era,  the  Druids  still  erected,  in 
the  dark  forests  of  Gaul,  an  altar  to  the 
Virgin  “who  was  to  bring  forth.”  The 
Chinese,  taught  by  Confucius,  who  had 
himself  found  this  oracle  in  ancient  tradi¬ 
tions,  expected  the  “  Holy  One,  born  of  a 
virgin  and  Son  of  God,  who  was  to  die  for 
the  salvation  of  the  world,”1  in  the  western 


known  to  the  people.  The  hooks  of  Numa,  written 
upon  birch  bark,  and  found  in  his  tomb  many  ages 
after  his  death,  were  secretly  burnt  as  dangerous  to 
polytheism.  The  Brahmins,  who,  if  some  travel¬ 
lers  are  to  be  believed,  have  a  sublime  idea  of  the 
Divinity,  make  the  Hindoos  nevertheless  adore  the 
most  hideous  idols  that  ever  existed.  The  true 
religion  alone  has  treated  men  as  immortal  and 
rational  creatures. 

( 1 )  According  to  the  ancient  sages  of  China, 
says  the  learned  Schmitt,  the  Holy  One,  the  mi¬ 
raculous  man,  will  renew  the  world,  change  the 
manners,  expiate  the  sins  of  the  world,  die  over¬ 
whelmed  with  grief  and  opprobrium,  and  open  the 


regions  of  Asia,  and  sent  after  him,  by  a 
solemn  embassy,  less  than  half  a  century 
after  the  death  of  the  Man-God.  The 
Magi,  on  the  faith  of  Zerdhusht,  studied 
the  constellations  to  find  among  them  the 
star  of  Jacob,  which  was  to  guide  them 
to  the  cradle  of  Christ.*  The  Brahmins 
sighed  after  the  glorious  avatar 3  of  him  who 
was  to  “cleanse  the  world  from  sin,”  and 
implored  him  from  Vishnu,  as  they  laid 
upon  his  gem-studded  altar,  odoriferous 
tufts  of  basil,  the  favorite  plant  of  the 
Indian  god.  The  proud  sons  of  Romulus, 
those  idolaters  by  pre-eminence,  who  had 
created  whole  legions  of  gods,  read  in  the 
jealously  and  politically  guarded  books  of 
the  Cumean  Sibyl,  contemporary  with 
Achilles  and  Hector:  “the  virgin,  the 
divine  child,  the  adoration  of  the  shep¬ 
herds,  the  serpent  vanquished,  and  the 
golden  age  restored  to  the  earth.”  In 
fine,  toward  the  time  of  the  Messias, 
all  the  nations  of  the  East  were  in  ex¬ 
pectation  of  a  future  Saviour  ;  and  Bou¬ 
langer,  better  inspired  on  his  death-bed, 
after  showing  how  general  this  expecta- 


gates  of  heaven— (See  Eedempt.  du  genre  humain.) 

(’)  Abulfarage  (Historia  Dynastiarum)  says 
that  Zerdhusht  foretold  to  the  Magi  the  birth  of 
the  Messias,  born  of  a  virgin ;  he  added  that,  at 
the  time  of  his  birth,  an  unknown  star  would 
appear,  which  would  lead  them  to  his  cradle,  and 
he  ordered  them  to  carry  him  presents.  Sharis- 
tani,  a  Mussulman  author,  relates  in  like  manner  a 
prophecy  of  Zerdhusht,  relating  to  a  great  prophet 
who  should  reform  the  world,  in  religion  as  well 
as  in  justice,  and  to  whom  the  princes  and  kings 
of  the  earth  should  be  subject. 

(a)  Avatar,  the  fabulous  incarnation  of  a  Hin 
doo  divinity. 


.  ■ 

34  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

lion  was,  illogically  calls  it  a  universal 

ancestors,  might  have  repeated  them  to  the 

chimera.1 

father  of  the  faithful.  Then  it  was  that  a 

But  what  were  these  pale  gleams,  too 

mysterious  benediction,  which  comprised 

weak  to  scatter  the  darkness  of  idolatry, 

the  promise  of  the  Messias,  announced  that 

compared  with  the  stream  of  light  which 

the  blessed  germ  promised  to  Eve  should 

illuminated  the  elect  people  of  God  ?  We 

be  also  the  germ  and  offset  of  Abraham. 

are  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  sight 

To  the  primitive  traditions  succeeds  the 

of  this  chain  of  prophecy  ;  the  first  link  is 

grand  prophecy  of  Jacob.  The  dying  pat- 

riveted  to  the  cradle  of  the  human  race, 

riarch,  who  beheld  in  spirit  the  condition 

while  the  last  is  bound  to  the  tomb  of 

of  the  twelve  tribes  as  they  were  to  be  in 

Christ.2  The  menace  of  Jehovah  to  the 

Palestine,  announces  to  his  sons,  assembled 

infernal  serpent  includes,  as  we  have  al- 

round  his  death-bed,  that  Juda  has  been 

readv  observed,  the  first  Messianic  oracle. 

chosen,  among  all  his  brethren,  to  be  the 

We  have  also  said,  and  the  Jewish  traditions 

stock  of  the  kings  of  Israel,  and  the  father 

confirm  it,  that  this  oracle  was  more  par- 

of  that  Shiloh  so  often  promised,  who  is  to 

ticularly  explained,  in  the  sequel,  to  the 

be  the  King  of  kings,  and  the  Lord  of 

exiles  of  Eden,  when  they  were  reconciled 

lords.  The  coming  of  Christ  is  marked 

to  heaven  by  repentance.3  Noe,  who  was 

in  a  precise  manner :  he  shall  arise  amid 

constituted  by  God  heir  of  the  faith,4  trans- 

the  ruins  of  his  country,  when  the  shebet 

mitted  these  revelations  to  Sem  ;  and  Sem, 

(the  sceptre,  the  legislative  authority)  shall 

whose  long  life  nearly  equalled  those  of  his 

be  in  the  hands  of  the  stranger.5 

( 1 )  “A  unanimous  testimony  is  of  the  greatest 

word  shebet,  which  we  translate  by  sceptre,  equally 

weight,”  says  Bernardine  de  St.  Pierre,  “  for  there 

signifies  the  rod  which  chastises  the  slave ;  and 

can  be  no  universal  error  upon  the  earth.” — Etudes 

they  set  out  from  this  to  maintain  that,  even  if 

de  la  Nature,  etude  yiii.,  p.  398.) 

this  oracle  did  refer  to  the  Messias,  all  that  could 

( 5 )  It  is  a  tradition  taught  in  the  synagogue, 

be  concluded  from  it  would  be  that  their  chastise- 

and  admitted  as  true  by  the  Church,  that  all  the 

ment  would  endure  till  his  coming,  who  was  to 

prophets,  without  exception,  prophesied  solely  for 

deliver  them  from  it.  In  fine,  they  deny  that  the 

the  time  of  the  Messias. — (St.  Cyprian  de  Vanitate 

word  Shiloh  can  be  translated  Messias.  But  their 

Idolorum.) 

ancient  books  refute  them ;  this  prophecy  is  under- 

( ’ )  Basnage,  t.  iv.,  liv.  vii. 

stood  of  the  Messias  in  the  Talmud ;  and  the  Para- 

( 4 )  Hebr.  xi.  7. 

phrase  of  Onkelos  thus  explains  this  passage : — 

( 4 )  Christians  apply  this  revelation  of  Jacob  to 

“Juda  shall  not  be  without  some  one  invested 

the  Messias,  and  prove  from  it  to  the  Jews  that  he 

with  supreme  authority,  nor  without  scribes  of  the 

must  have  come  long  ago,  since  for  eighteen  cen- 

sons  of  her  children,  till  the  Messias  come.”  Jona- 

turies  their  tribes  have  been  intermixed,  their 

than,  to  whom  the  Jews  assign  the  first  place  among 

sacrifices  abolished,  their  political  existence  ex- 

the  disciples  of  Hillel,  and  whom  they  reverence 

tinct ;  that  they  have  no  longer  a  national  terri- 

almost  as  Moses,  translates  shebet  in  the  same  way 

tory  or  princes,  and  that  in  all  the  places  where 

by  principality,  and  Shiloh  by  Messias ;  the  Para- 

they  are  dispersed  they  submit  to  the  laws  of 

phrase  of  Jerusalem  also  adopts  this  opinion.  Thus 

foreign  nations.  To  elude  the  force  of  this  argu- 

the  most  ancient,  authentic,  and  venerated  com- 

ment,  the  Jews  maintain,  now-a-days,  that  the 

mentaries  furnish  victorious  arms  to  combat  them. 

MEETING  OF  ISAAC  WITH  REBEKAH, 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  35 

The  prophet  saved  from  the  waters, 

and  whilst  Israel  were  still  encamping  in 

who  was  divinely  called  to  collect  and 

the  desert,  Balaam,  whose  maledictions  had 

commit  to  writing  the  history  of  the  first 

been  purchased  by  a  Moabite  prince,  in 

ages  and  ancient  traditions  of  the  human 

the  Yalley  of  Willows,3  came  in  his  turn  to 

race,  traditions,  the  memory  of  which  was 

confirm  the  expectation  of  the  Messias,  and 

still  fresh  among  the  nations,  lends  the 

to  mark  in  a  clear  and  precise  manner  the 

support  of  his  imposing  testimony  to  the 

great  epoch  of  his  coming.  Standing  upon 

- 

prophecy  of  Jacob.  “  Adona'i  Jehovah — 

the  rocky  summit  of  Phogor,  surrounded 

the  Lord  thy  God,”  said  he,  speaking  to  the 

by  victims  slain  for  a  sacrifice  of  hate,  in 

people  of  God,  “will  raise  up  to  thee  a 

view  of  the  accursed  lake  and  the  barren 

prophet  of  thy  nation,  and  of  thy  brethren, 

mountains  of  Arabia,  the  soothsayer  from 

like  unto  thee :  him  thou  shalt  hear.” 

the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  moved  by  the 

(Deut.  xviii.  15.)  And  the  Lord  said : 

spirit  of  God,  beholds  a  wonderful  vision, 

“  I  will  raise  them  up  a  prophet  out  of  the 

as  with  the  eye  of  a  dreamer  f  his  expres- 

midst  of  their  brethren  like  to  thee  :  and  I 

sions,  interrupted  by  solemn  pauses,  are 

will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth,  and  he 

flung  without  order  or  art  to  the  winds  of 

shall  speak  to  them  all  that  I  shall  com- 

the  mountains,  like  fragments  of  some 

mand  him  :  and  he  that  will  not  hear  his 

mysterious  converse  held  in  whispers  with 

words,  which  he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  I 

unseen  powers  :  “I  shall  see  him,  but  not 

will  be  the  revenger.”1  (Ib.  17-19.) 

now.  I  shall  behold  him,  but  not  near. 

Now  the  synagogue  always  understood 

A  star  shall  rise  out  of  Jacob,  and  a 

this  very  clear  text  as  referring  to  the 

sceptre  shall  spring  up  from  Israel,  and 

Messias  ;  St.  Philip  applies  it,  without 

shall  strike  the  chiefs  of  Moab.”  (Numb. 

hesitation,  to  our  divine  Redeemer  when 

xxiv.  17.)  The  incoherent  words  are  fol- 

he  says  to  Nathanael,  “We  have  found 

lowed  by  a  magnificent,  but  sombre  picture 

him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the 

of  the  conquests  of  the  kingly  people.  It 

prophets  did  write,  Jesus  the  son  of 

is  not  without  purpose  that  the  prophetic 

Joseph  of  Nazareth.” 

vision  exhibits  Rome  at  the  highest  point 

Toward  the  end  of  the  mission  of  Moses, 

of  its  colossal  power  ;  then  it  is  that  Christ 

- 

( 1 )  Hence  comes  that  hope  of  a  new  law  which 

Balaam  is  very  ancient,  the  very  form  in  which  it 

the  Jews  expect  with  the  Messias, — a  law  which 

is  given  would  sufficiently  indicate  it.  Balaam, 

they  place  far  above  that  of  Moses.  “  The  law 

the  Chaldean  astrologer,  does  not  prophesy  like 

which  man  studies  in  this  world  is  but  vanity,” 

the  seers  of  Juda;  he  requires  a  vast  horizon, 

say  their  doctors,  “  in  comparison  with  that  of  the 

whence  he  perceives  at  once  the  earth,  the  sea, 

Messias.”— (Medrasch-Rabba,  in  Eccl.  xi.  8.) 

and  the  sky ;  he  expresses  himself  like  a  man  who 

( 5 )  The  plain  of  Babylon,  intersected  by  rivers 

relates  to  himself  the  things  that  he  sees  at  the 

and  canals,  and  hence  very  marshy,  abounded  in 

moment  when  he  speaks,  and  who  is  deeply  im- 

willows.  Hence  it  is  called  in  Scripture  the  “  Val- 

pressed.  This  kind  of  prophecy  somewhat  resem- 

ley  of  Willows.” 

bles  what  the  Scotch  Highlanders  call  second 

( ’ )  If  we  did  not  know  that  the  prophecy  of 

sight. 

36  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

is  to  visit  the  earth,  and  immolate  himself 

in  the  faith  of  the  Messias  :  in  default  of 

for  us  upon  the  tree  of  infamy.  The  pro- 

new  revelations,  their  very  life  becomes 

phet  depicts  this  epoch  of  blood  with  bold 

prophetic.  Political  and  religious  institu- 

strokes  ;  one  would  say  that  cities  and  em- 

tions,  local  customs  and  private  manners, 

pires  yet  unborn  rise  before  him  on  the 

all  tend  to  the  same  object,  all  flow  from 

mirage  of  the  desert.  He  beholds  the  fleet 

the  same  source,  all  are  connected  with  the 

• 

of  the  Csesars  leave  the  ports  of  Italy,  and 

generation  of  the  Saviour,  born  of  a 

direct  its  victory-loved  prows  toward  the 

virgin  of  Juda.  It  was  the  coming^  of  the 

low  shores  of  the  Syrians  ;  he  beholds  the 

Messias  that  the  prophet  Samuel  came  to 

ruin  of  that  Judea  which  is  not  to  be  in 

implore  on  his  knees,  in  the  holy  of  holies, 

existence  till  long  after,  and  where  the 

before  the  Shekina,  his  luminous  and  divine 

people  of  God  as  yet  possessed  nothing  as 

emblem  ;  as  did  also  the  high  priests,  who 

their  own  but  a  few  sepulchres  ;  in  fine,  he 

succeeded  one  after  another,  later  on,  in 

follows  with  his  glance  the  fall  of  the  Ro- 

the  temple  of  Solomon.  With  this  ex- 

man  eagle,  seven  hundred  years  before  the 

pectation  of  the  Messias  is  connected- that 

birth  of  the  sons  of  Ilia,  while  the  wild-goats 

law  of  Deuteronomy,  which  provides  that 

of  Latium  are  browsing  peacefully  upon  the 

a  brother  shall  raise  up  an  heir  to  ‘  his 

shrubby  declivities  of  the  seven  hills. 

brother  dying  without  issue,  so  that  his 

Ages  roll  on,  and  other  ages  after  them, 

name  may  be  preserved  in  Israel.  It  is 

without  any  other  promises  from  Jehovah  ; 

that  lost  hope  of  being  related  one  day, 

but  the  Messianic  oracles  are  confided  to 

more  or  less  remotely,  to  that  heavenly 

tradition,  which  retains  them  faithfully,  or 

envoy,  which  causes  that  young  and  gentle 

written  in  the  sacred  law.  Israel  main- 

virgin  of  Galaad  to  lament  on  the  moun- 

tains  an  obscure  but  incessant  and  furious 

tains  of  Judea,  who  carries  with  her  no 

contest  against  those  idolatrous  nations 

other  regret  to  the  blood-stained  sepulchre 

which  surround  and  press  upon  his  tribes  ; 

where  her  father’s  race  expires.1  To  this 

at  times  he  gives  way  to  that  strange  pro- 

belief,  so  general  among  the  Hebrews,  the 

pensity  which  draws  him  into  idolatry,  and 

Thecuite  woman  alludes,  when  denouncing 

then  the  fatal  sword  of  the  Amorrhite  and 

to  King  David  the  secret  plot  which  was 

the  Moabite  is  unconsciously  drawn  in  the 

contriving  against  her  sole  surviving  son  ; 

Lord’s  cause,  and  unwittingly  avenges  the 

she  poetically  describes  her  fears  as  a 

injury  done  to  the  God  of  Jacob.  But 

mother,  and  as  a  Jewish  matron,  by  that 

during  these  varied  fortunes,  the  people  do 

touching  sentence,  “My  lord,  they  seek  to 

not  forget  the  coming  of  Christ ;  they  live 

quench  my  spark  which  is  left !” 

( 1 )  Some  rabbis  maintain  that  the  daughter  of 

gether,  and  lament  the  daughter  of  Jephte,  the 

Jephte  was  not  sacrificed,  but  merely  condemned 

Galaadite,  for  four  days.” — ( J udges,  xi.  40.)  People 

to  perpetual  celibacy.  This  assertion  is  refuted  by 

do  not  lament  for  a  person  living.  Flavius  Jose- 

that  text  of  Scripture  which  says:  “That  from 

phus  also  affirms  the  immolation  of  the  daughter 

year  to  year  the  daughters  of  Israel  assemble  to- 

of  Jephte. — (Antiquities  of  the  Jews,iib.  v.,  c.  9.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Naught  but  the  present  incredulity  of 
the  Jews  could  equal  in  depth  the  faith  of 
their  ancestors.  The  great  concern  of 
those  men  of  ancient  times  was  the  coming 
of  the  Messias  ;  those  who  died  at  a  period 
still  so  remote  from  that  in  which  the 
divine  promises  were  to  be  accomplished, 
died  in  the  firm  persuasion  that  they  would 
be  one  day  fulfilled  ;  on  the  threshold  of 
eternity  they  hailed  that  hope  from  afar 
off,  as  Moses,  the  great  prophet,  hailed, 
with  a  sigh,  that  “  land  of  milk  and  honey,” 
whose  portals  the  Lord  closed  against  him. 

In  the  time  of  David,  and  the  kings  of 
his  race,  the  thread  of  prophecy  reunites, 
and  the  mystery  of  the  Virgin  and  the 
Messias  is  more  distinctly  declared  than 
ever  by  predictions  magnificent  and  clearer 
than  the  sun. 

The  holy  king,  whom  the  G-od  of  Israel 
had  preferred  to  the  race  of  Saul,  beholds 
the  virginity  of  Mary,  and  the  extraordi¬ 
nary  birth  of  the  Son  of  God.  “  Thy  birth, 
says  he,  not  defiled,  like  that  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  men,  shall  be  pure  as  the  morning 
dew.”  Then,  lifting  up  his  eyes  on  high, 
he  beholds  Him  whom  God  has  given  him 
as  a  son  according  to  the  flesh,  seated  on 
the  right  hand  of  Jehovah,  on  a  throne 
more  durable  than  the  heavens  and  the 
stars. 

In  the  earlier  prophecies,  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  though  always  pointed  out,  was  never¬ 
theless  a  little  in  the  shade,  and,  so  to  speak, 
in  the  background  of  the  picture  ;  but  from 
the  days  of  David,  the  radiant  form  of 
Mary  no  longer  presents  such  vague  out¬ 
lines,  and  she  who  was  to  cause  the  blood  of 
Abraham,  of  Jacob,  and  of  Jesse  the  Just 


37 


to  flow  in  the  veins  of  the  God-Man,  is  de¬ 
lineated  more  distinctly.  David  had  spoken 
of  her  virginal  child-bearing.  Solomon  de¬ 
lighted  in  tracing  her  image  with  graceful 
strokes  of  the  pencil,  which  leave  far  be¬ 
hind  the  glowing  descriptions  of  the  peris 
of  the  East,  those  smiling  and  airy  divini¬ 
ties  wliich  flash  across  the  dreams  of  the 
Arabian  shepherd.  He  sees  her  rising  up 
in  the  midst  of  the  daughters  of  Juda,  “as 
a  lily  among  thorns  ;”  her  eyes  are  sweet 
and  soft,  ‘  ‘  like  those  of  doves  ;”  from  her 
lips,  red  “as  a  scarlet  lace,”  proceeds  a 
voice  pure  and  melodious,  like  the  sound 
of  harps  rousing  Israel  to  battle  ;  her  step 
is  light  “as  the  smoke  of  perfumes,” 
and  her  beauty  rivals  in  splendor  “the 
rising  moon.”  Her  tastes  are  simple  and 
full  of  poetry  ;  she  loves  to  stray  in  the 
fresh  valleys,  “where  the  vines  are  in 
blossom,”  and  the  figs  cling,  like  emerald 
knots,  on  the  leafless  branches  ;  her  eyes 
perceive  the  red  blossoms  of  the  pome¬ 
granate,  the  tree  of  Paradise,1  and  she 
delights  in  listening  to  the  plaintive  strain 
of  the  turtle-dove.  Silent  and  recollected, 
she  steals  from  the  sight  of  all,  and  hides 
in  her  dwelling,  like  the  dove,  “which 
makes  its  nest  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock.” 
She  is  chosen  for  a  mystical  hymen,  in 
preference  to  the  virgins  and  queens  of 
all  nations  ;  a  crown  is  promised  to  her 
by  Him  “  whom  her  soul  loveth,”  and  the 
happy  band  which  unites  her  to  her  royal 
spouse  “is  stronger  than  death.”3 


( 1 )  The  orientals  call  the  pomegranate  “  fruit 
of  Paradise.” 

( a )  All  the  holy  fathers  regard  the  “  Canticle 


38  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

Elias,  in  prayer  on  Mount  Carmel,  to 
obtain  the  end  of  that  long  drought  which 
for  three  years  parches  the  earth  and  dries 
up  the  springs,  discovers  the  promised 
Virgin,  under  the  form  of  a  transparent 
cloud,  which  rises  from  the  bosom  of  the 
waters  to  announce  the  return  of  rain. 
The  blessings  of  the  people  hail  this  favor¬ 
able  omen,1  and  the  prophet,  who  pene¬ 
trates  into  divine  things,  builds  an  oratory 
to  the  future  Queen  of  Heaven.2  Isaias 
declares  to  the  house  of  David,  whose 
chief,  Achab,  trembles  under  the  threats 
of  the  stranger,  “like  a  storm-beaten  for¬ 
est,”  that  God  will  give  an  encouraging 
sign  of  the  future  condition  of  Judea,  a 

future  to  be  yet  long  and  glorious.  “A 
virgin  shall  conceive,8  and  bear  a  son, 
and  his  name  shall  be  called  Emmanuel f 
Isaias,  vii.  14  (that  is,  God  with  us).  This 
child,  miraculously  given  to  the  earth, 
shall  be  an  offset  from  the  stock  of  Jesse, 
a  flower  sprung  from  his  root.4  “  He  shall 
be  called  God,  the  Mighty,  the  Father  of 
the  world  to  come,  the  Prince  of  peace.” 

(Isa.  ix.  6.)  He  shall  “stand  for  an  en¬ 
sign  of  peoples,  him  the  Gentiles  shall  be¬ 
seech,  and  his  sepulchre  shall  be  glorious.” 

(Ib.  xi.  10.) 

The  mystery  of  the  Messias  was  entirely 
unveiled  to  the  prophets  ;  some  of  them 
see  Bethlehem  rendered  illustrious  by  his 

of  Canticles”  as  only  a  continued  allegory  of  the 
Mother  of  God. 

( 1 )  When  rain  falls  in  Palestine,  there  is  general 
joy  among  the  people ;  they  assemble  in  the  streets, 
they  sing,  run  about,  and  cry  out  as  loud  as  they 
can,  “0  God!  0  blessed!” — (Volney,  Voyage  en 
Syrie.) 

( * )  Elias  dedicated  the  oratory  which  he  erected 
on  Mount  Carmel  to  the  “  Virgin  who  was  to  bring 
forth,”  Virgini  pariturce.  This  chapel  was  called 
Semnceum,  which  means  a  place  consecrated  to  an 
empress,  who  can  be  no  other  than  Mary,  the  Em¬ 
press  of  heaven  and'  earth. — (Histoire  du  Mont 
Carmel,  succession  du  Saint  Prophete,  c.  31.) 

( ’ )  This  great  oracle  of  Isaias  has  been  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  a  long  and  perplexing  dispute  between  the 
Jews  and  the  Christians.  The  rabbis,  who  have 
commented  on  the  text  since  Jesus  Christ,  anxious 
to  alter  the  proofs  which  condemn  them,  and  ob¬ 
scure  the  words  of  the  prophet,  contend  that  the 
word  halma,  which  is  found  in  the  Hebrew  text, 
signifies  merely  a  young  woman,  although  the 
Seventy  translated  it  by  virgin.  The  fathers  tri¬ 
umphantly  refute  this  objection.  “  The  Seventy 
interpreters,”  says  St.  John  Chrysostom,  “deserve 
most  credit ;  they  made  their  version  more  than  a 
century  before  Jesus  Christ;  they  were  many  to- 

gether;  their  time,  their  number,  and  their  union’ 
render  them  far  more  worthy  of  credit  than  the 

Jews  of  our  days,  who  have  maliciously  corrupted 
many  places  of  the  holy  Scriptures.” — (St.  John 
Chrysostom,  Serm.  4,  c.  i.)  St.  Jerome,  the  most 
profound  Hebraist  of  all  the  interpreters  and  com¬ 
mentators  of  Scripture,  pronounces,  as  he  says, 
without  fear  of  contradiction  from  the  Jews,  that 
halma,  wherever  the  word  occurs  in  the  Scriptures,  , 
signifies  exclusively  a  virgin  in  all  her  innocence, 
and  nowhere  a  married  woman. — (Com.  in  Isaiam, 
lib.  iii.)  Luther,  who  made  so  deplorable  use  of 
real  learning,  cries  out  with  characteristic  fury  and 
vehemence:  “If  any  Jew  or  Hebraist  can  show  me 
that  halma  signifies  in  any  place  a  woman  of  any 
hind,  and  not  a  virgin,  he  shall  have  from  me  one 
hundred  florins,  if  please  God  I  can  find  them.” — 
(Luther,  Works,  t.  viii.,  p.  129.)  Mahomet  himself 
has  borne  testimony  to  the  virginity  of  the  Mother 
of  God:  “And  Mary,  daughter  of  Imram,  who  has 
kept  her  virginity;  and  we  have  sent  of  our  spirit 
into  her,  and  she  has  believed  the  words  of  her 

Lord  and  his  Scriptures.” — (Koran,  Surate  66.) 

( 4 )  J esse,  called  also  Isai,  was  the  son  of  Obed 
and  father  of  David.  His  memory  is  in  high 
veneration  among  the  Hebrews,  who  regard  him 
as  a  perfectly  just  man.  -r 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  39 

birth  ;  others  foretell  his  triumphant  entry 

ruin  will  be  the  work  of  a  people  come 

into  Jerusalem,  and  even  describe  the 

from  Italy,  and  the  satrap  Daniel  reckons 

peaceful  and  slow-paced  animal  on  which 

up  precisely  the  weeks  which  are  to  elapse 

he  rides.  They  see  him  enter  the  temple, 

to  that  time. 

that  sacred  high  priest  according  to  the 

“All  that  happens  in  the  world  has  its 

order  of  Melchisedech ;  they  know  the 

sign  before  it,”  said  a  man  of  genius,  who 

number  of  pieces  of  silver  which  the 

now  remains  so  solitary  and  so  formidable 

executioners  of  the  synagogue  will  drop 

beneath  his  tent.  ‘  ‘  "When  the  sun  is  about 

into  the  hand  of  the  base  wretch  who  sells 

to  rise,  the  horizon  is  tinted  with  a  thou- 

his  master  to  them  ;x  they  see  the  punish- 

sand  colors,  and  the  east  appears  all  on 

ment  of  slaves,  the  draught  of  gall  offered 

fire.  When  the  tempest  comes,  a  dull 

to  the  agony  of  a  God,  and  lots  cast  by 

murmur  is  heard  on  the  shore,  and  the 

rude  soldiers  for  the  robe,  woven  by  a 

waves  are  agitated  as  if  spontaneously.” 

mother’s  hands  ;  they  hear  the  nails  which 

The  figures  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  the 

tear  the  bleeding  flesh,  and  sink  with  a 

fathers  of  the  Church  acknowledge,  are  the 

harsh,  rough  sound  into  the  accursed  wood. 

signs  which  announce  the  rising  of  the  Sun 

And  then  the  scene  changes,  like  those 

of  Justice  and  of  the  Star  of  the  Sea.  To 

pictures  of  Baphael,  where  the  subject 

Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  belongs  power ;  to 

begun  upon  the  earth  is  continued  beyond 

Mary,  grace  and  merciful  goodness.  She 

the  clouds.  The  Man.  of  Sorrow,  the 

is  the  tree  of  life  replanted  in  the  abodes 

humble  Messias,  whom  his  own  relations 

of  men  by  the  hands  of  God  himself,  the 

have  treated  with  scorn,  whom  his  own 

earnest  of  a  happiness  preferable  to  that 

people  have  not  known,  looks  down  in 

which  our  first  parents  enjoyed  in  Eden ; 

triumph  from  the  highest  heavens  upon  his 

the  dove  of  the  ark  which  brings  the  olive 

prostrate  enemies :  all  the  nations  of  the 

branch  to  the  earth  ;  the  fountain  sealed 

earth  remember  their  God,  forgotten  for  so 

up,  the  waters  of  which  have  not  been 

many  ages !  The  nations  rally  around  the 

sullied  by  aught  impure  ;  the  fleece  which 

standard  of  the  cross,  and  the  empire  of 

receives  the  dew  from  heaven  ;  in  fine,  the 

Christ  shall  have  no  bounds  but  those  of 

frail  and  odoriferous  bush  of  wild  roses 

the  world.  Nothing  is  wanting  to  the  ful- 

through  which  Moses  perceived  the  Deity, 

ness  of  the  prophecies:  Jacob  has  marked 

the  bush  which,  so  far  from  being  consumed 

the  coming  of  the  Shiloh  at  that  precise 

by  fire  which  destroys  all  things,  was  in 

moment  when  the  Jews  shall  cease  to  be 

some  measure  preserved  by  it,  and  lost 

governed  by  their  own  laws,  which  implies 

not  a  leaf  or  a  flower  by  its  contact  with 

the  ruin  of  a  state ;  Balaam  adds  that  this 

the  heavenly  flame.2  ’ 

( 1 )  This  passage,  in  which  God  himself  states 

to  the  statuary,  a  goodly  price  that  I  was  priced  at 

the  exact  number  of  pieces  of  silver  of  this  in- 

by  them.  And  I  took  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,” 

famous  compact,  is  stamped  with  bitter  and  ter- 

&c. — (Zach.  xi.  13.) 

rible  irony.  “  And  the  Lord  said  to  me :  Cast  it 

( * )  Philo,  who  makes  this  remark,  and  who  dis- 

•  - — — - - 

40  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

1 

Like  tliat  enchanting  figure  which  an  1 

blood  of  Holophernes  ;2  Axa,  whose  hand 

ancient  painter  once  composed,  by  borrow- 

was  the  prize  for  a  conquered  city  ;  and 

ing  a  thousand  scattered  traits  from  the 

that  great  and  unfortunate  mother,  who 

most  beautiful  women  of  Greece,  the  chaste 

beheld  all  her  sons  die  for  the  law,  were. 

spouse  of  the  Holy  Ghost  repeated  in  her 

but  faint  images  of  her  who  was  to  unite  in 

single  person  all  that  the  most  celebrated 

herself  all  the  perfections  of  woman  and 

women  of  the  old  law  had  offered  to  the 

angel. 

admiration  of  their  contemporaries.  Beau- 

After  an  expectation  of  four  thousand 

tiful  as  Rachel  and  Sarah,  she  united  the 

years,  the  time  marked  out  by  so  many 

prudence  of  Abigail  with  the  courageous 

prophecies  arrives  at  last ;  the  shadows  of 

resolution  of  Esther.  Susanna,  chaste  as 

the  old  law  disappear,  and  Mary  arises  in 

the  flower  whose  name  she  bore  j1  Judith, 

the  horizon  of  Judea,  like  the  star  which  is 

whose  lily  wreath  was  sprinkled  with  the 

the  harbinger  of  day. 

CHAPTER  11. 

THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION. 

A  WOMAN  destined  from  all  eternity 

the  creation  of  the  globe,  revealed  by  God 

ii  to  be  the  means  of  saving  the  world 

himself  in  Paradise,  and  the  avowed  end 

by  deifying  our  nature,  and  to  contain  in 

of  all  the  holy  generations  who  have  sue- 

her  chaste  womb  Him  whose  “tabernacle 

ceeded  one  after  the  other  from  the  days 

is  the  sun,  and  who  bows  the  heavens  be- 

of*  the  patriarchs,3  can  be  no  ordinary 

neath  his  feet” — a  woman  expected  from 

creature,  and  must  have  prerogatives 

covers  in  this  burning  bush  a  mysterious  allegory, 

trate  into  the  tent  of  Holophernes.” — (Rabbinical 

applies  it  erroneously  to  the  Jewish  nation  by  forced 

Commentary  on  Judith.) 

resemblances.  Josephus,  who  sought  in  like  man- 

( 3 )  According  to  St.  Augustine,  the  progeny  to 

ner  to  understand  this  mystery,  succeeds  no  better. 

which  all  the  patriarchs  aspire  is  Jesus  Christ,  and 

Those  wild  roses,  emblematical  of  chaste  virgins 

Jesus  Christ  in  Mary,  tc  whom  alone  their  fecun- 

who  diffuse  their  modest  perfume  in  solitude,  and 

dity  could  extend.  “And  in  fact,”  says  he,  “if 

whom  the  contact  of  the  Divinity  causes  to  shine 

nature  iu  all  her  efforts  tends  to  Jesus  Christ,  who 

without  prejudice  to  the  holy  purity  of  their  white 

is  the  Lord  of  ages,  it  is  not  that  she  flatters  her- 

and  delicate  blossom,  are  the  most  striking  image 

self  that  she  shall  attain  the  Son  of  God  by  hei 

of  Mary,  that  mystical  Rose  of  the  new  law. 

own  power ;  the  extent  of  her  power  stops  at  the 

( * )  Susanna  signifies  lily. — (Favyn,  ii.  2.) 

humble  Mary,  who  is  to  bring  forth  the  blessed 

( * )  The  ancients  attributed  to  lilies  the  power 

germ,  not  by  the  power  of  her  forefathers,  but  by 

of  neutralizing  enchantments  and  averting  dangers. 

the  virtue  of  the  Most  High.”— (St.  Augustine,  5, 

“  Judith  bound  her  forehead,”  say  the  rabbis,  “  with 

contr.  Jul.  9.) 

a  wreath  of  lilies,  that  she  might  fearlessly  pene- 

- — 

LTFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  41 

superior  to  humanity.  The  pious  belief 

a  view  to  her  divine  maternity,  was  held 

in  the  immaculate  conception  of  Mary  flows 

back,  as  it  were,  on  the  brink  of  the  abyss 

from  this  feeling  of  reverence.  Descend- 

which  the  fatal  disobedience  of  our  first 

ants  of  an  unfortunate  head — degraded  by 

parents  opened  under  our  feet,  and  that 

our  rebellious  father,  disgraced  by  the 

her  conception  was  immaculate  as  her  life. 

sentence  which  condemns  him,  instead  of 

This  belief,  which  the  Greeks  borrowed 

receiving  from  him  the  life  of  grace,  we 

from  Palestine,  and  adopted  with  enthusi- 

have  received  from  him  the  death  of  sin, 

asm,1  led  to  the  institution  of  the  Feast  of 

and  by  a  fearful  destiny,  we  are  condemned 

the  Immaculate  Conception,  which  was 

before  we  are  born.  This  misery,  inherent 

celebrated  with  great  pomp  at  Constanti- 

in  the  human  race,  cursed  as  one  man  in 

nople  as  early  as  the  sixth  century.2  In 

.  its  origin,  is  common  to  all,  and  the  Scrip- 

the  West,  on  the  other  hand,  this  doctrine 

ture  has  made  no  exception  in  favor  of  any 

met  with  opponents,  and  powerful  ones  ; 

child  of  Adam  ;  but  the  piety  of  the  faith- 

for  St.  Anselm,  St.  Bernard,  St.  Bonaven- 

ful  could  not  bear  the  idea  that  the  Mother 

ture,  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  Albert  the 

of  God  should  be  subject  to  the  disgrace- 

Great,  and  many  other  learned  and  wise 

ful  condemnation  which  marks  us  with  the 

personages,  all  great  theologians,  and  what 

seal  of  hell  in  the  wombs  of  our  mothers  ; 

is  more,  very  devout  to  Mary,  maintained 

they  have  been  persuaded  that  the  sover- 

that  she  had  been  conceived  in  sin,  and  sub- 

eign  Judge  must  have- suspended  the  gen- 

ject  to  the  general  law,3  although  shortly 

eral  effect  of  his  severe  law  in  favor  of  her 

after  she  had  been  entirely  purified  from  it 

who  came  into  the  world  for  no  other 

by  a  special  and  surpassing  favor,  which 

purpose  than  to  contribute  to  the  accom- 

begun  her  glorious  state  of  Mother  of  God. 

plishment  of  the  most  secret,  most  incom- 

But  the  belief  in  the  immaculate  concep- 

prehensible  of  the  counsels  of  God — the 

tion  of  the  holy  Yirgin  prevailed  in  the 

incarnation  of  the  Messias.  Notwithstand- 

end  over  the  opinion  of  the  great  doctors 

ing  the  silence  of  the  gospel,  it  has  been 

of  the  middle  ages  ;  what  the  eagles  of  the 

generally  believed  that  the  Yirgin,  with 

schools  had  not  seen  was  discovered  to  the 

( 1 )  We  read  in  the  ancient  Menologies,  in  use 

manus,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  added  an  an- 

among  the  Greeks,  these  words,  which  clearly  set 

tiphon. 

forth  their  belief  in  the  mystery  of  the  Immaculate 

( 3 )  The  adversaries  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 

Conception : — “  By  a  particular  providence,  the 

tion  glory  in  reckoning  in  their  ranks  St.  Anselm, 

Lord  was  pleased  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  should 

St.  Bernard,  St.  Bonaventure,  St.  Thomas,  Alber- 

be  as  pure,  from  the  first  moment  of  her  life, 

tus  Magnus,  &c.  Great  as  are  these  names,  we 

as  it  became  her  who  was  to  be  worthy  to  con- 

must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  dazzled  by  them ; 

ceive  and  bring  forth  Jesus  Christ,  the  Word  made 

for  by  comparing  these  doctors  with  themselves, 

flesh.” 

we  find  that  they  positively  maintained  opinions 

( * )  St.  Andrew  of  Crete  mentions  this  Feast  of 

both  for  and  against,  which  shows  that  their 

the  Immaculate  Conception,  the  office  for  which 

opinion  was  not  decided  on  this  point,  or  else  that 

had  been  composed  by  St.  Sabbas,  though  St.  Ger- 

they  had  strange  distractions. 

12 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


unlearned.  The  writings  of  the  apostles 
and  doctors  were  turned  over  afresh  ;  what 
they  have  bequeathed  to  us  from  age  to  age 
concerning  the  grandeurs  of  Mary  was  more 
scrupulously  examined,  and  this  research 
caused  strong  light  to  fall  on  this  obscure 
point  of  the  history  of  the  Mother  of  Christ. 

And,  in  fact,  when  we  go  back  to  the 
apostles,  we  already  see  the  title  of  most 
holy  and  immaculate  applied  to  Mary.1 
The  apostle  St.  Andrew,  quoted  by  the 
Babylonian  Abdias,  expresses  himself  in 
these  terms: — “As  the  first  Adam  was 
made  of  the  earth  before  it  was  cursed,  so 
the  second  Adam  was  formed  of  virgin 
earth  which  was  never  cursed.” 

The  saints  and  martyrs  who  lived  in  the 
third  century,  St.  Hippolytus,2  Origen,3  St. 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,4  give  to  the  holy 
"Virgin  the  qualification  of  “pure”  and 
“immaculate.”  St.  Cyprian5  is  more  pre¬ 
cise,  and  says  plainly  that  “  there  is  a  very 
great  difference  between  the  rest  of  mortals 
and  the  Virgin,  and  that  all  she  has  in 
common  with  them  is  their  nature,  and 
not  their  fault.” 

( 1 )  St.  James  the  Great  and  St.  Mark,  in  their 
Liturgies. 

( 3 )  St.  Hippolytus,  in  a  discourse  “  On  the  Con¬ 
summation  of  the  World.” 

(*  * )  Origen,  Homily  on  St.  Matthew. 

( * )  St.  Dionysius,  in  an  epistle  mentioned  in 
the  Bibliotheca  Patrum. 

( 5 )  St.  Cyprian,  de  Hat.  Yirginis. 

( ' )  “  Virgo  in  qua  nec  nodus  originalis,  nec 
cortex  actualis  culpae  fuit.” — (St.  Ambrose,  de  Inst. 
Virg.,  c.  v.) 

(7)  St.  John  Chrysostom,  in  his  Liturgy. 

( 8 )  Commentaries  of  St.  Jerome,  on  Ps.  Ixxvii. 
“  Deduxit  eos  in  nube  diei :  nubes  est  beata  Virgo, 
quae  pulchre  dicitur  nubes  diei,  quia  non  fuit  in 


In  the  fourth  century  St.  Ambrose,  who 
compares  the  Virgin  to  “a  straight  and 
shining  stem,  where  there  was  never  found 
the  knot  of  original,  or  the  bark  of  actual 
sin;”6  St.  John  Chrysostom,7  who  pro¬ 
claims  her  “  most  holy,  immaculate ,  blessed 
above  all  creatures ;”  St.  Jerome,8  who 
poetically  makes  her  “  the  cloud  by  day 
which  never  knew  darkness  ;”  St.  Basil, 
whose  footsteps  the  defenders  of  the  Im¬ 
maculate  Conception  have  always  gloried 
to  follow,  have  never  varied  as  to  that  lily 
purity  so  applicable  to  the  queen  of  angels. 

In  the  fifth  century,  St.  Augustine10  can¬ 
not  bear  that  the  name  of  Mary  should 
even  be  mentioned  where  there  is  any 
question  of  sin  ;  and  St.  Peter  Chrysol- 
ogus11  affirms  “that  all  have  been  saved  in 
the  Virgin.” 

St.  Fulgentius,  who  lived  at  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  sixth  century,  says  that  the 
“holy  Virgin  was  absolutely  exempted 
from  the  primeval  sentence.”12  “"Wrong¬ 
fully,”  says  St.  Ildefonsus,13  Archbishop  of 
Toledo,  who  flourished  in  the  same  cen¬ 
tury,  “  do  some  seek  to  subject  the  Mother 

tenebris,  sed  semper  in  luce.” — “  He  led  them 
in  the  cloud  by  day:  the  cloud  is  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  who  is  beautifully  called  the  cloud  by 
day,  because  she  was  not  in  darkness,  but  always 
in  light.” 

( 0 )  St.  Basil,  in  his  Liturgy. 

( 10 )  It  must  be  observed  that  St.  Augustine  was 
here  defending  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  against 
the  Pelagians. 

( 11 )  St.  Peter  Chiysologus,  de  Annunciat.,  Serm. 
140. 

( IS)  St.  Fulgentius,  Sermo  de  laudibus  M arise. — 
Sermo  de  duab.  nat.  Jesu  Christi. 

( 18 )  St.  Ildefonsus,  in  his  book  on  the  Virginity 
of  Mary. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  '  43  & 

of  God  to  the  laws  of  nature  ;  it  is  certain 

maintained  the  contrary  opinion.  But  as 

that  she  was  free  from  original  sin,  and 

a  counterpoise,  the  Feast  of  the  Conception 

that  she  removed  the  malediction  of  Eve. 

of  the  Yirgin  was  established  in  several 

St.  John  Damascenus,1  speaking  expressly 

kingdoms. 

of  her  conception,  calls  her  “pure  and 

William  the  Conqueror  established  this 

immaculate  .”  In  the  ninth  century  The- 

feast  in  Normandy  as  early  as  1074  ;  and 

ophanes,  Abbot  of  Grandchamp  ;  in  the 

from  the  reign  of  his  son,  Henry  I.,  King 

tenth,  St.  Fulbert,  Bishop  of  Chartres ; 

of  England  and  Duke  of  Normandy,  it  was 

toward  the  middle  of  the  eleventh,  Yvo,2 

celebrated  at  Rouen  with  extraordinary 

one  of  the  most  brilliant  lights  of  that  time, 

solemnity.  “It  was  instituted,”  say  the 

and,  shortly  after  him,  St.  Bruno,3  founder 

ancient  chroniclers,  “in  consequence  of  a 

of  the  Carthusians,  evidently  favor  the  Im- 

holy  apparition  to  an  abbot  worthy  of 

maculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin. 

credit,  who  had  experienced  the  perils  of 

Islam  itself  declares  for  the  Immaculate 

the  sea  during  a  tempest.”  An  old  history 

Conception,  and  the  Arabic  commentators 

of  the  Antiquities  of  Rouen  adds,  that  “from 

on  the  Koran  have  adopted,  in  their  way, 

the  very  time  of  the  institution  of  the  feast, 

the  opinion  of  those  Catholic  divines  who 

an  association  was  founded  of  the  most  re- 

maintain  that  doctrine.  “Every  descend- 

spected  personages  of  the  town,  who  still 

ant  of  Adam,”  says  Cottada,  “from  the 

elect  every  year  one  of  their  number  to  be 

moment  of  his  coming  into  the  world,  is 

the  prince  of  the  confraternity,  who,  hold- 

touched  in  the  side  by  Satan :  Jesus  and 

ing  the  puy ,  or  platform  for  all  speakers, 

Mary,  however,  must  be  excepted ;  for 

in  all  languages,  gives  excellent  and  valu- 

God  placed  a  veil  between  them  and  Satan, 

able  prizes  to  those  who  most  elegantly, 

which  preserved  them  from  his  fatal  con- 

faithfully,  and  appropriately  celebrate  the 

tact.” 

praise  of  the  Yirgin  Mary  on  the  subject 

These  testimonies  in  favor  of  the  Im- 

of  her  holy  conception,  by  hymns,  odes, 

maculate  Conception  of  Mary  become  more 

sonnets,  ballads,  royal  chants,”  &c.4 

feeble  and  less  abundant  in  the  twelfth 

Thus  the  Yirgin,  full  of  grace,  presided 

and  thirteenth  centuries  ;  few  authors  of 

over  the  revival  of  poetry,  and  her  Immac- 

note  then  wrote  in  its  support,  while  many 

ulate  Conception  furnished  pious  subjects 

men  eminent  for  learning  and  sanctity 

for  the  land  of  the  minstrels. 

(l)  St.  John  Damascenus,  De  Nativ.  Mari®,  Or.la. 

Mary,  elect  and  distinguish e<?  among  Virgins,  who 

(*)  The  two  holy  bishops  of  Chartres,  Fulbert 

wast  ever  Immaculate  from  the  first  instant  of 

and  Yvo,  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  the  Im- 

thy  creation,  who  wast  to  bring  forth  the  Creator 

maculate  Conception.  Yvo  maintained  it  in  the 

of  all  holiness.” 

pulpit;  and  Fulbert  says,  in  his  Paraphrase  on  the 

( 5 )  St.  Bruno,  in  his  explanation  of  these  words 

Angels’  Salutation  to  the  Yirgin,  “Ave,  Maria, 

of  Ps.  ci.,  “Dominus  de  ccelo  in  terram  aspexit,” 

electa  et  insignis  inter  Alias,  quae  immaculata  sem- 

which  he  applies  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin. 

per  extitisti  ab  exordio  tuae  creationis,  quia  pari- 

( * )  Antiquites  et  Singularites  de  la  ville  de 

tura  eras  Creatorem  totius  sanctitatis.” — “  Hail, 

1 

Rouen,  by  N.  Taillepied,  D.  D. 

1 

/ 


4-i 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


From  Normandy  the  Feast  of  the  Con¬ 
ception  of  the  Virgin  passed  over  amongst 
the  English.  The  first  council  ot  Oxford, 
held  by  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  the  year  1222,  places  it  in 
the  number  of  holidays  of  obligation.  In 
France,  in  the  year  1288,  a  bishop  of 
Paris,  Renoul  de  Hombiere,  left  by  his 
will  a  considerable  sum  to  found  the  office 
of  this  Feast  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  which 
was  introduced  at  the  same  time  in  the 
territory  of  Lyons.  In  fine,  a  manuscript 
martyrology  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
found  in  the  library  of  the  Dominicans  of 
Dijon,  marks  the  Feast  of  the  Conception 
of  our  Lady  on  the  8th  of  December; 
“which  shows  plainly  enough,”  say  the 
learned  Benedictines  who  perused  this 
ancient  MS.,  “that  already,  in  the  time 
of  St.  Dominic,  this  feast  was  almost  uni¬ 
versally  celebrated  in  the  Church.” 

The  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Concep¬ 
tion  had  been  banished  from  the  pulpits 
and  schools  for  a  long  time,  when  certain 
divines,  who  had  been  convinced  that  this 
belief  came  down  from  the  highest  and 
purest  sources  of  Christianity,  undertook 
to  revive  it.  The  Franciscans,  who  first 
began  to  profess  it  publicly,  by  writings1 
and  discourses,  maintained  it  by  such  strong 
and  cogent  reasons  that  not  only  the  mass 
of  the  faithful,  but  the  most  learned  bodies 

( 1 )  Montfaucon,  who  travelled  through  Italy 
about  the  year  1698,  haviug  paid  a  visit  at  Pavia 
to  the  library  of  the  Chevalier  Beleridus,  renowned 
for  his  piety,  was  much  surprised  to  see  that  this 
immense  collection  of  books  was  entirely  composed 
of  treatises  written  by  the  Franciscans  in  defence 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

(2 )  The  decree  of  the  Sorbonne  is  as  follows: — 


in  Europe  adhered  to  it  with  enthusiasm. 
The  Sorbonne,  which  was  then  called  the 
“  firmament  of  science,  the  support  of  truth 
and  piety  in  the  Church  of  God,”  ordained 
that  all  who  should  be  promoted  to  the 
degree  of  doctor  should  engage  upon  oath 
to  maintain  this  religious  belief.2  The 
same  was  done  successively  by  the  univer¬ 
sities  of  Mentz,  Cologne,  Valencia,  Alcala, 
Coimbra,  Salamanca,  and  Naples. 

Among  those  religious  orders  who,  for  so 
many  centuries,  honored  France,  the  Domi¬ 
nicans  alone,  or  nearly  alone,  oppugned 
the  pious  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception  ;  but  the  learned  Benedictines, 
who  are  venerated  even  by  Protestants, 
for  their  immense  scientific  labors ;  the 
Carthusians,  the  Carmelites,  the  orders  of 
St.  Augustine,  of  Cluny,  of  Citeaux,  of  the 
Premonstratensians,  and  a  multitude  of 
others,  whom  it  would  be  tedious  to  enu¬ 
merate  here,  adhered  with  enlightened 
piety,  ardent  zeal,  and  profound  convic¬ 
tion  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception. 

Councils  have  been  favorable  to  this 
belief.  That  of  Bale,  in  its  session  of  27th 
September,  1429,  says  that,  “the  doctrine 
which  teaches  that  the  glorious  Virgin 
Mary  was  conceived  without  sin  is  a  pious 
doctrine,  conformable  to  the  worship  of  the 
Church,  to  Catholic  faith,  to  sound  reason, 

“  We  enact  that  no  one  shall  be  admitted  in  future 
into  our  faculty  unless  he  promise,  by  like  oath,  to 
defend,  at  all  times  and  with  all  his  ability,  this 
doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.”— “  Sta- 
tuentes  ut  nemo  deinceps  huic  nostro  collegio  ad- 
scribatur,  nisi  se  hujus  doctrinse  assertorem  semper 
pro  viribus  futurum,  simili  juramento,  profitea- 
.  tur.” 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  45 

and  to  Holy  Scripture.”1  The  Council  of 

the  conception  of  Our  Lady.3  This  might 

Avignon  confirmed,  in  1457,  the  decree  of 

be  taken  for  a  simple  act  of  neutrality  had 

the  Council  of  Bale  ;  and  in  their  session 

not  this  pontiff  approved  the  Office  of  the 

of  1564, 2  the  fathers  of  the  Council  of  Trent 

Conception,  composed  by  a  religious  of 

declared  that,  in  the  decree  which  they 

Yerona,  and  granted  an  indulgence  of  a 

had  made  in  1546,  on  original  sin,  they 

hundred  days  to  all  who  should  assist  at  it.4 

had  never  intended  to  include  the  blessed 

The  successors  of  this  great  pope  uniformly 

and  immaculate  Mother  of  God. 

trod  in  the  path,  which  he  had  struck  out 

Notwithstanding  the  prudent  reserve 

and  followed.  In  1506,  Cardinal  Ximenes, 

which  the  Holy  See  prescribed  to  itself  in 

with  the  consent  of  Pope  Julius  II., 

an  affair  where  famous  doctors  and  illus- 

established  in  Spain  a  confraternity  of 

trious  divines  appeared  on  both  sides,  it 

the  Conception.  The  same  pope,  by  a 

could  not  avoid  showing  to  which  side  its 

brief  dated  17th  of  September,  1511,  con- 

sympathies  leaned.  From  the  year  1483, 

firmed  an  Order  of  Nuns  founded  under 

Pope  Sixtus  IY.  had  expressly  forbidden 

the  same  title  by  Innocent  VIII.5  In  the 

any  disputation  in  pulpits  and  schools  upon 

hymns  which  Zachary,  Bishop  of  Gordia, 

( i )  a  qqiere  arisen  in  this  holy  council  (that 

clare  that  the  doctrine  which  teaches  all  this  is  a 

of  Bale)  a  difficult  question  on  the  conception  of 

pious  doctrine,  conformable  to  the  worship  of  the 

the  glorious  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  and  on 

Church,  to  the  Catholic  faith,  to  sound  reason, 

the  commencement  of  her  sanctification ;  some 

and  to  the  Holy  Scripture;  and  that  as  such  it 

saying  that  her  soul  was  for  some  time,  or  at  least 

ought  to  be  approved,  held,  and  followed  by  all 

for  some  moments,  actually  subject  to  original 

Catholics,  so  that  it  may  not  be  lawful  for  any  one 

sin ;  others  maintaining,  on  the  contrary,  that  the 

henceforth  to  preach  or  teach  the  contrary.  Re- 

love  which  God  had  for  her  extended  to  the  first 

newing,  moreover,  the  institution  of  the  Feast  ol 

moment  of  her  creation ;  that  the  Most  High,  who 

the  Holy  Conception,  which,  by  an  ancient  and 

himself  established  her,  and  the  Son,  who  formed 

laudable  custom,  is  celebrated  on  the  eighth  day 

her  to  be  his  mother  upon  earth,  enriched  her 

of  December,  both  at  Rome  and  in  other  churches, 

with  singular  and  extraordinary  graces ;  that  Jesus 

we  will  and  ordain  that  this  feast  be  celebrated  on 

Christ  redeemed  her  in  a  superior  and  quite  pecu- 

the  same  day,  under  the  name  of  the  Conception 

liar  manner,  by  preserving  her  from  the  original 

of  the  Virgin,  in  all  churches,  monasteries,  and 

stain,  and  sanctifying  her  at  the  first  moment  of 

communities  ol  the  Catholic  religion,  and  that  it 

her  conception.  Having  therefore  examined  with 

be  celebrated  by  hymns  of  praise  and  joy.”  The 

care  the  reasons  and  authorities  which,  for  several 

council  attaches  even  indulgences  to  this  solem- 

years,  have  been  adduced  on  either  side,  in  the 

nity. 

public  acts  of  this  holy  council — having,  moreover, 

( 2 )  “  Declarat  hrec  sancta  synodus  non  esse  in- 

given  attention  to  many  other  things  on  the  same 

tentionis  suas  comprehendere  in  hoc  decreto,  ubi  de 

subject — all  being  weighed  and  maturely  consid- 

peccato  originali  agitur,  beatam  et  Immaculatau 

ered,  we  decide  and  declare  that  the  doctrine  which 

Dei  genitricem.” — (Concil.  Trid.  Sess.  v.  1564.) 

teaches  that  the  glorious  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of 

( 3 )  See  the  Constitution  of  Sixtus  IV.,  which 

ci-od,  by  a  special  favor,  and  by  a  preceding  and 

begins  by  “  Grave  nimis.” 

operative  grace,  was  never  subject  to  original  sin, 

( 4 )  See  the  Constitution  of  Sixtus  IV.,  begin- 

but  that  she  was  always  holy,  immaculate,  and 

ning  with  -£  Cum  prieexcelsa _ Extrav.  commun.’"' 

exempt  from  all  sin,  original  and  actual ;  we  de- 

( 6 )  In  this  Order  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 

*v- - 

46  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

composed  by  order  of  Leo  X.  and  Clement 

trine.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  delighted  in 

VII.,  it  is  said  that  Our  Lady  was  created 

these  days  to  follow  up  her  intentions.  After 

in  a  state  of  grace.  In  1569,  Pope  Pius  V. 

having  been  fed  with  her  milk,  I  willingly 

granted  permission  to  the  Franciscans  to 

submit  to  her  decrees,  and  the  more  so  as 

celebrate  the  Office  of  the  Immaculate 

the}r  are,  as  it  appears  to  me,  the  will  of 

Conception,  attaching  to  it  the  same  indnl- 

the  Church :  she  has  a  most  honorable 

gences  as  to  the  Feast  of  Corpus  Christi. 

opinion  of  the  conception  of  Mary ;  she 

Paul  V.,  by  a  bull  in  the  year  1616,  forbid 

does  not  oblige  us  to  believe  it  to  have 

any  one  to  maintain,  in  public  lectures,  the 

been  immaculate ,  but  she  gives  us  to  under- 

opinion  adverse  to  the  Immaculate  Concep- 

stand  that  such  belief  is  pleasing  to  her. 

tion  ;  and  Gregory  XV.,  in  1622,  extended 

There  are  things  which  she  commands,  in 

this  prohibition  even  to  private  discourses 

which  we  *  make  known  our  obedience  ; 

and  conversations.  It  only  remained  for 

there  are  others  which  she  insinuates, 

the  popes  to  celebrate  this  feast  in  Rome 

where  we  may  testify  our  affection.  It 

itself,  and  this  was  done  by  Alexander 

becomes  our  piety,  if  we  are  true  children 

VII.,  in  1661.  From  this  conduct  of  the 

of  the  Church,  not  only  to  obey  the  com- 

Holy  See,  it  is  evident  that  all  its  sympa- 

mandments,  but  to  bend  to  the  smallest 

tides  are  on  the  side  of  the  doctrine  of  the 

signs  of  the  will  of  so  good  and  so  holy  a 

Immaculate  Conception.  Nevertheless,  it 

mother.”2 

las  not  chosen  to  condemn  the  contrary 

Devotion  to.  the  Immaculate  Conception 

opinion,  doubtless  out  of  regard  for  high 

of  the  Virgin  was  popular  in  Western 

and  holy  names.1 

Europe  from  the  middle  ages — that  is 

One  voice  of  immense  weight,  the  great 

certain  ;  and  since  then  it  has  made  im- 

voice  of  Bossuet,  has  been  heard  in  this 

mense  progress  :  but  be  it  said,  without 

cause ;  the  buckler  of  religion  has  been 

offence  to  France  and  Italy— those  two 

nobly  held  up  before  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

nations  so  eminently  devout  to  the  Virgin 

“  The  opinion  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 

— Spain  has  shown  the  greatest  zeal  and 

tion,”  says  he,  “has  an  indescribable 

ardor  in  the  propagation  of  this  doctrine. 

power  to  persuade  pious  souls.  Next  to 

The  church  of  Spain,  protesting  against 

the  articles  of  faith,  I  see  hardly  anything 

the  pretensions  of  the  church  of  Nor- 

more  certain.  Hence  I  am  not  surprised 

mandy,  which  claims  the  institution  of 

that  this  school  of  divines  of  Paris  should 

the  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 

oblige  all  her  children  to  defend  this  doc- 

of  Our  Lady  in  the  West,  professes  to 

tion,  each,  sister  consecrated  herself  expressly  to 

( 1 )  Rome  has  since  spoken.  The  immortal 

this  mystery  by  these  words,  which  are  far  from 

Pontiff,  Pius  IX.,  on  the  8th  of  December,  1854, 

ambiguous :  “  I,  Sister  N - ,  for  the  love  and 

in  presence  of  Bishops  gathered  from  every  clime, 

service  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  and  of  the  Im- 

defined  the  Immaculate  Conception  as  an  article 

maculate  Conception  of  his  Blessed  Mother,  prom- 

of  Faith.  For  the  Bull,  see  Appendix. — Translator. 

ise,”  &c. 

( a )  Bossuet,  Sur  la  Conception. 

,  % 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  47 

have  celebrated  it  in  the  seventh  century  j1 

Islam,  avers  that  many  of  his  predecessors 

— and  it  is  certain,  that  in  1394,  Don  John 

had  celebrated  this  feast  before  him.2  We 

T.  of  Aragon,  who  instituted  it,  by  his 

shall  not  decide  between  the  two  churches  ; 

royal  authority,  in  the  several  provinces 

but  if  the  church  of  Spain  has  only  doubt- 

of  Spain  which  had  shaken  off  the  yoke  of 

ful  claims  to  the  institution  of  this  feast  of 

( 1 )  “La  Iglesia  Espanola  fu6  la  primera  quo 

stain  of  original  sin  might  have  been  imputed  to 

celebro  la  Inmaculada  Concepcion  de  la  santisima 

her — to  whom  the  angel  of  the  Lord  sent  from 

Virgen ;  cuya  festa  tuvo  lugar  en  ella  desde  el 

heaven  spoke  these  words,  ‘Hail,  Mary,  full  of 

siglo  septimo.” — (El  maestro  Villados,  en  el  cap.  de 

grace!  the  Lord  is  with  thee;  blessed  art  thou 

los  Festiv.  Ecles.,  t.  i.,  part  2.) 

among  women !’  Let  then  those  who  speak  thus 

( * )  The  following  is  the  decree  of  Don  Juan  I., 

improperly  hold  their  peace:  let  those  who  have 

of  Aragon : — 

naught  but  vain  and  frivolous  arguments  to  pro- 

“  We,  Don  Juan,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of 

pose  against  the  privileged  and  pure  Immaculate 

Aragon  and  Valencia,  &c. — Why  are  some  persons 

Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  blush  to  publish 

astonished  that  the  Blessed  Mary,  Mother  of  God, 

them,  because  it  was  fitting  that  she  should  be  en- 

should  have  been  conceived  without  original  sin, 

dowed  with  so  great  purity,  that  next  to  that  of 

while  we  doubt  not  that  St.  John  Baptist  was 

God,  none  like  it  could  be  imagined.  It  is  indeed 

sanctified  in  his  mother’s  womb  by  that  same  God, 

fitting  that  she  who  had  for  her  Son  the  Creator 

who,  coming  from  the  highest  heaven,  and  from 

and  Eather  of  all  things  should  have  been,  and 

the  throne  of.  the  most  Holy  Trinity,  became  flesh 

should  be  ever,  most  pure  and  most  perfect,  haying 

in  the  blessed  womb  of  a  virgin  ?  What  graces  do 

from  the  beginning  and  before  all  ages,  by  an 

we  think  the  Lord  could  refuse  to  the  woman  who 

eternal  decree  of  God,  been  chosen  among  all 

gave  birth  to  him  by  the  wondrous  prodigy  of  her 

creatures  to  enclose  within  her  womb  Him  wnom 

fruitful  virginity  ?  Loving  his  mother  as  he  does, 

the  whole  world  and  the  whole  immensity  of  the 

he  must  have  surrounded  her  conception, -her  na- 

heavens  cannot  contain 

.  tivity,  and  the  other  phases  of  her  holy  life,  with 

“But  we,  who  among  all  Catholic  kings  have 

the  most  glorious  privileges. 

received  from  this  Mother  of  Mercies  so  many 

“  Why  call  in  question  the  glorious  conception 

graces  and  benefits  without  having  deserved  them, 

of  a  virgin  so  privileged,  and  of  whom  the  Catholic 

we  firmly  believe  that  the  Conception  of  this  Blessed 

faith  obliges  us  to  believe  grandeurs  and  wonders 

Virgin,  in  whose  womb  the  Son  of  God  vouchsafed 

which  we  cannot  sufficiently  admire  ?  Is  it  not  a 

to  be  made  man,  was  entirely  holy  and  immaculate. 

much  greater  subject  of  admiration  for  all  Chris- 

“  Thus  we  honor  with  a  pure  heart  the  mystery 

tians  to  see  that  a  creature  has  given  birth  to  her 

of  this  immaculate  and  blessed  conception  of  the 

Creator,  and  that  she  became  a  mother  without 

most  holy  Virgin,  Mother  of  God :  and  we  and  all 

ceasing  to  be  a  virgin  ?  How  then  can  the  human 

the  royal  household  celebrate  the  day  thereof 

mind  sufficiently  praise  this  glorious  Virgin,  whom 

every  year  with  solemnity,  in  the  same  manner  as 

the  Almighty  predestined  to  possess,  without  the 

our  most  illustrious  predecessors  of  glorious  memory 

least  corruption,  the  advantages  of  the  divine  ma- 

have  celebrated  it,  having  established  for  it  a  per- 

ternity,  conjointly  with  the  glory  of  the  purest 

petual  confraternity.  Wherefore  we  ordain  that 

virginity,  and  to  be  exalted  above  all  the  prophets, 

this  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  shall  be 

all  the  saints,  and  all  the  choirs  of  angels,  as  their 

celebrated  annually  forever,  with  great  solemnity 

queen  ?  Could  there,  then,  have  been  wanting  any 

and  respect,  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  our  obedience, 

purity  and  any,  grace  to  that  excellent  Virgin  in 

by  all  the  Catholic  faithful,  whether  religious  or 

the  first  moment  of  her  conception,  so  that  the 

secular,  priests  or  others,  of  whatever  state  or  con- 

48 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Mary,  which  was  called  in  France  and 
England  the  Feast  of  the  Normans,  she 
cannot  be  denied  the  honor  of  having  been 
the  first  to  erect  churches  and  altars  under 
the  title  of  the  Mystery  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception.  As  early  as  the  year  1525, 
the  Spaniards  in  Mexico  placed  the  splen¬ 
did  cathedral  of  Puebla  de  los  Angeles 
under  the  invocation  of  the  Immaculate 
Virgin,  whose  holy  image  glittered  with 
precious  stones  upon  an  altar  of  massive 
silver,  surrounded  by  a  forest  of  elegant 
columns,  with  plinths  and  capitals  of 
burnished  gold.  The  faithful  of  Mexico 
erected  an  altar  and  a  statue  to  her  in 
their  metropolitan  Church  with  true  Pe¬ 
ruvian  magnificence.  A  little  later,  the 


dition  they  may  be ;  and  that  henceforth  it  shall 
not  he  lawful,  and  we  even  forbid  all  preachers, 
and  all  those  who  publicly  lecture  on  the  gospel,  to 
say,  publish,  or  advance  anything,  which  in  any 
way  whatever  might  prejudice  or  be  injurious  to 
the  purity  and  sanctity  of  this  blessed  conception ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  we  ordain  that  preachers  and 
other  persons  who  have  had  opposite  opinions  shall 
keep  strict  silence,  since  the  Catholic  faith  does  not 
place  us  in  any  necessity  of  maintaining  and  pro¬ 
fessing  the  contrary  opinion ;  and  that  others  who 
hold  our  holy  and  salutary  opinion  in  their  heart 
shall  publish  it  in  their  discourses,  and  eagerly  tes¬ 
tify  their  devotion  by  celebrating,  by  the  praises  of 
the  Most  High,  the  glory  and  honor  of  his  holy 
Mother,  who  is  the  Queen  of  heaven,  the  gate  of 
Paradise ; — she  who  has  care  of  our  souls,  the  secure 
haven  of  salvation,  and  the  anchor  of  hope  of  all 
sinners  who  have  confidence  in  hei\  By  the  tenor 
of  these  presents  we  expressly  establish,  in  perpe¬ 
tuity,  that  if  it  happens  in  future  that  any  preacher, 
or  any  other  person  among  our  subjects,  of  what 
state  or  condition  soever,  fail  to  observe  this  ordi¬ 
nance,  they  shall,  without  any  other  decree  from 
us,  be  banished  from  their  convents  or  houses ;  and 


American  Cathedrals  of  Merida,  Mara¬ 
caibo,  and  Habana  were  founded  under 
the  invocation  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin, 
and  Peru  did  not  remain  behind.  This 
striking  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
conception  without  sin  was  yet  not  sufficient 
for  the  zeal  of  the  people  subject  to  the 
Spanish  sway;  in  1618,  the  Viceroy  of 
Naples,  his  court  and  army,  made  a  vow, 
in  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  the  Great,  to 
believe  and  defend  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception  of  the  Virgin.  A  memorial  column, 
surmounted  by  a  magnificent  statue  of  Our 
Lady,  with  the  symbols  of  her  victory 
over  original  sin,  was  erected  in  testimony 
of  this  public  engagement  thus  chivalrously 
contracted. 


while  they  remain  in  this  contrary  opinion,  shall 
depart  as  our  enemies  from  the  whole  extent  of 
our  kingdoms.  Willing  also  and  ordering,  of  our 
knowledge  and  mature  deliberation,  under  pain  of 
incurring  our  anger  and  indignation,  all  and  each 
of  oirr  officers,  who  are  on  this  side  and  beyond 
the  sea,  those  who  are  there  now,  and  who  shall  be 
there  hereafter,  to  keep  and  cause  to  be  kept  with 
great  diligence  and  respect  our  present  edict,  as  soon 
as  notified  thereof:  and  that  each,  in  his  district, 
shall  cause  it  to  be  published  correctly,  solemnly, 
and  with  sound  of  trumpet  in  all  the  usual  places, 
so  that  no  one  may  plead  ignorance  of  it ;  and  that 
the  devotion  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the 
most  blessed  Virgin,  which  Christians  have  long 
cherished  in  their  hearts,  may  more  and  more  in¬ 
crease  ;  and  that  those  people  of  an  opposite  opinion 
may  .no  more  in  future  be  heard  to  open  their 
mouths.  In  testimony  whereof  we  command  these 
presents  to  be  expedited,  certified  by  our  seal, 
hereto  attached. — Given  at  Valencia,  the  2d  of 
February,  the  day  on  which  we  celebrate  the  Feast 
of  the  Purification  of  this  most  holy  Virgin,  in 
the  year  of  Our  Lord  1384,  and  tlfe  eighth  of  our 
reign.” 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  49 


The  Spanish  nation,  which  has  always 
particularly  signalized  itself  in  this  devo¬ 
tion,  has  so  thoroughly  adopted  it,  that  not 
a  single  preacher  ever  mounts  the  pulpit 
without  prefacing  his  sermon  with  a  pro¬ 
fession  of  faith  in  the  conception  without 
stain,1  and  that  it  has  been  introduced 
even  into  the  familiar  forms  of  speech  pro¬ 
nounced  when  people  meet.2 

Finally,  in  1771,  while  the  destructive 
simoon  of  philosophy  so  violently  shook 
the  Christian  faith  in  France  and  many 
other  countries  of  Europe,  Charles  III., 
king  of  Spain,  instituted  an  order  in  honor 
of  the  “  Virgin  Conceived  without  Sin,” 
and  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Cortes, 
and  a  brief  from  the  Holy  See,  solemnly 
declared  her  “Universal  Patrona  de  Es- 
pana  e  Indias.” — “Universal  Patroness  of 
Spain  and  the  Indies.”3 

In  France,  in  spite  of  the  licence  and 
infidelity  which  the  flood  of  revolutions 


(')  “Alabado  sea  el  santisimo  Sacramento  del 
altar,  y  la  Inmaculada  Concepcion  de  la  Virgen 
Maria,  concebida  sin  pecado  original  en  el  primer 
instante  de  su  ser  natural.” 

O  In  going  into  a  Spanish  house,  the  first 
words  uttered  by  visitors,  before  they  wish  “  Good- 
day,”  are,  “  Ave  Maria  purisima ;”  the  masters  of 
the  house  immediately  answering,  “  Sin  pecado 
concebida,  santisima.” 

( ’ )  “  Por  la  devocion  que  desde  nuestra  infancia 
hemos  tenido  a  Maria  santisima  en  su  misterio  de 
la  Inmaculada  Concepcion,  deseamos  poner  bajo  los 
divinos  auspicios  de  esta  celestial  protectora  la.  .  . . 
Nueva  Orden,  y  mandamos  que  sea  reconocida  en 
elU  por  patrona.  .  . .  .” — (Leg.  12,  t.  iii.,  lib.  vi., 
Novis.  Rec.) 

( 4 )  “  C’est  un  fait  que  nous  sommes  jaloux  de 
constater,  et  nous  desirons  que  la  connaissance  en 
parvienne  jusqu’aux  lieux  les  plus  recules  du 


left  behind  it  as  it  subsided,  this  belief 
gains  ground,  and  penetrates  even  to  the 
most  secluded  hamlets.  The  diocese  of 
Paris  is  especially  distinguished  for  its 
zeal  in  embracing  this  pious  belief,  which 
flourishes  beneath  the  protecting  shade  of 
its  archbishops,4  and  which  is  confirmed 
by  the  supernatural  things  related  of  the 
miraculous  medal  struck  in  honor  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

If  the  tradition  of  the  apostles,  the  fa¬ 
vorable  disposition  of  the  Church,  the 
authority  of  councils,  the  adherence  of  uni¬ 
versities  and  religious  orders,  the  assent 
of  kings  and  nations,  the  dedication  of 
temples  and  altars,  the  foundation  of  of¬ 
fices,  the  institution  of  confraternities  and 
of  royal  orders,  may  be  taken  into  account 
in  a  controversy  which  has  astonished  the 
very  pagans,5  the  cause  of  the  immaculate 
conception  of  Mary,  so  long  before  the 
tribunal  of  Catholic  opinion,  appears  to  us 


monde  Catholique:  dans  notre  diocese  cette  devo¬ 
tion  a  jete  avec  le  temps  des  racines  de  plus  en 
plus  profondes,  et  les  malheurs  sont  encore  venus 
l’affermir,  l’accroitre,  et  l’etendre  avec  un  merveil- 
leux  progres.” — (See  the  Pastoral  of  the  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Paris,  on  the  consecration  of  the  Church 
of  Notre  Dame  de  Lorette.) 

“  It  is  a  fact  which  we  are  jealous  to  maintain, 
and  we  desire  the  knowledge  thereof  to  reach  the 
most  remote  spots  of  the  Catholic  world:  this 
devotion  has  in  time  struck  deeper  and  deeper 
root  in  our  diocese,  and  misfortunes  have  come  to 
strengthen,  increase,  and  extend  it  with  wonderful 
progress.” 

( 6 )  “  What  then !”  exclaimed  J ulian  the  Pela¬ 
gian,  addressing  himself  to  a  bishop  who  maintained 
the  universality  of  original  sin,  “what  then!  do 
you  subject  the  hirth  of  Mary  to  the  empire  of  the 
devil  ?” — (St.  Aug.,  lib.  iv.,  Op.  imperf.) 


- - - 5 

•50  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

0  • 

to  be  won  ;  and  we  do  not  believe  that  it 

stain,  may  have  said  to  her,  as  Assuerus 

would  be  rash  to  suppose  that  God,  pre- 

said  to  Esther,  “  This  law  is  not  made  for 

serving  his  divine  Mother  from  the  original 

m 

thee,  but  for  all  others.” 

' 

CHAPTER  HI. 

BIRTH  OF  MARY. 

nr’' 0 WARD  the  decline  of  the  religion 
jL  and  prosperity  of  the  Hebrews,  at 

Anne,  a  name  which  signifies  in  Hebrew 
gracious .4 

- 

the  time  marked  out  by  the  prophets,  and 

They  were  both  just  before  Jehovah, 

when  the  regal  sceptre  was  in  the  hands 

and  walked  in  his  commandments  with  a 

of  a  stranger,  according  to  the  grand  pre- 

perfect  heart  ;5  but  the  Lord  seemed  to 

diction  of  Jacob,  there  lived  at  Nazareth, 

have  turned  away  from  them  the  light  of 

a  town  of  Lower  Galilee,  not  far  from 

his  countenance,  for  one  great  blessing 

Mount  Carmel,  a  just  man,  named  Joa- 

was  denied  to  their  life  ;  thev  were  child- 

chim,1  of  the  tribe  of  Juda,  and,  through 

less,  and  this  filled  their  hearts  with  sad- 

Nathan,  of  the  race  of  David  ; 2  his  wife, 

ness,  for  in  Israel  barrenness  was  a  re- 

who  was,  according  to  St.  Augustine’s 

proach. 

opinion,  of  the  priestly  tribe,8  was  called 

Joachim,  who  loved  his  wife  for  her 

( 1 )  One  of  Mary’s  historians,  Christopher  de 

tions,  know  the  blessed  Mother  of  the  Holy  Virgin 

Castro,  following  the  Eabbis,  St.  Hilary,  and  other 

by  her  proper  name,  Hannah ;  she  was,  according 

fathers  of  the  Church,  maintains  that  the  father 

to  them,  the  daughter  of  Nakhor,  and  the  wife 

of  Mary  had  two  names,  Heli  and  Joachim.  The 

of  Amram. — (D’Herbelot,  Bibliothbque  Orientale, 

Arabs  and  Mussulmans  know  him  by  that  of  Am- 

t.  ii.) 

ram,  son  of  Matheus,  and  distinguish  him  from 

( 4 )  St.  Anne  and  St.  Joachim  were  publicly 

another  Amram,  father  of  Mary,  the  sister  of  Moses. 

honored  in  the  Church  in  the  early  ages.  St.  John 

— (D’Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orientale,  t.  ii.) 

Damascenus  highly  extols  their  virtues.  The 

(a)  According  to  the  Proto-evangelion  of  St. 

Emperor  Justinian  I.  erected  a  church  at  Con- 

James  and  the  Gospel  of  the  Nativity  of  Mary, 

stantinople  under  the  invocation  of  St.  Anne, 

Joachim  was  of  the  race  of  David.  Justin,  who 

about  the  year  550.  The  body  of  the  saint  was 

flourished  only  fifty  years  after  the  death  of  St. 

brought,  it  is  said,  from  Palestine  to  Constanti- 

John  the  apostle,  who  was  born  in  Palestine,  and 

nople  in  710. — (See  Butler,  Lives  of  the  Saints.) 

who  had  been  able  to  collect  still  fresh  traditions, 

Luther  was  very  devout  to  St.  Anne  before  his 

says,  in  like  manner,  that  Mary  descended  in  a 

heresy:  it  was  to  that  saint  that  he  made  the 

right  line  from  King  David. 

promise  to  embrace  the  monastic  state,  beside  the 

( * )  St.  Augustine,  De  consensu  Evangel. 

corpse  of  one  of  his  comrades,  just  struck  dead  by 

( 4 )  The  Mahometans,  inheriting  the  Arab  tradi- 

lightning  before  his  face. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VERGIN'  MARY.  51 

wonderful  gentleness  and  her  eminent 
virtues,  would  not  crown  her  misfortune  by 
giving  her  a  bill  of  divorce,  which  the  law 
at  that  time  granted  so  easily  j1  he  kept 
her  with  him,  and  this  pious  couple,  humbly 
resigned  to  the  divine  dispositions,  passed 
their  days  in  labor,  prayer,  and  almsdeeds. 

So  many  virtues  could  not  go  unre¬ 
warded  :  after  twenty  years  of  barrenness, 
Anne  conceived,  as  it  were  by  miracle,  and 
brought  forth  that  blessed  creature  who 
was  more  perfect,  more  hoty,  and  more 
pleasing  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  than  all 
the  elect  taken  together. 

It  was  about  the  beginning  of  the 
month  of  Tisri,8  the  first  of  the  civil  year 
of  the  Jews,  while  the  smoke  of  holocausts 
ascended  to  heaven  for  the  expiation  of 
the  sins  of  the  people,  that  the  predestined 
Virgin  was  born  who  was  to  repair  the 
primeval  fault.3  Like  that  of  her  divine 
Son,  her  birth  was  undistinguished  ;  her 
parents,  although  descended  from  a  long 
succession  of  kings,  were  of  low  rank,  and 

led,  to  all  appearances,  an  obscure  life  :  this 
mystical  Rose,  which  St.  John  subsequently 
beheld  clothed  with  the  sun  as  with  a 
radiant  garment,  was  to  bloom  to  the 
scorching  wind  of  adversity,  upon  a  poor 
and  despoiled  stem.4 

The  cradle  of  the  Queen  of  angels  was 
neither  adorned  with  gold,  nor  covered 
with  richly  embroidered  Egyptian  counter¬ 
panes,  nor  perfumed  with  spikenard, 
myrrh,  and  aloes,  like  those  of  the  Hebrew 
princes  ;  it  was  composed  of  flexible  twigs, 
and  swathing  bands  of  coarse  linen  com¬ 
pressed  the  little  arms  which  were  one 
day  so  tenderly  to  clasp  the  Saviour  of 
the  world.  The  children  of  kings,  while 
still  wrapped  up  in  their  swaddling-clothes 
of  purple,  see  the  great  men  of  the  state 
bow  their  heads  before  them,  and  say  to 
them,  My  lord !  The  woman  who  was  the 
Spouse  and  the  Mother  of  God  gave  her 
first  smile  to  some  poor  plebeian  women, 
who  perhaps  said  sorrowfully  to  each 
other,  as  they  thought  of  the  unfortunate 

( 1 )  Pharisees  introduced  this  abuse  of  divorce, 
so  strongly  condemned  by  our  Lord  (St.  Matt.  xix. 

8) ;  they  taught  that  a  wife  might  be  put  away  for 
the  most  trifling  causes  ;  for  example,  for  over¬ 
cooking  the  meat  for  her  lord  of  the  household,  or 
merely  for  not  being  handsome  enough.  This  was 
the  opinion  of  Hillel  and  Akiba. — (Basnage,  liv. 
vii.,  c.  22.) 

(’ )  The  8th  of  September,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Church. — Baronius  makes  Mary 
born  in  the  year  of  Rome  733,  twenty-one  years 
before  the  vulgar  era,  on  the  8th  of  September,  on 
a  Saturday,  at  daybreak.  Le  Nain  de  Tillemont 
says  that  the  Virgin  was  born  in  the  year  734 :  this 
opinion  is  most  followed. 

(’)  In  regard  to  the  birth  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
the  Turks  say: — The  wife  of  Amram  (Joachim) 

•  » 

said  to  God,  “  0  Lord,  I  have  consecrated  to  thee 
by  vow  the  fruit  of.  my  womb;  receive  it  with 
goodness,  0  thou  who  knowest  and  understandest 
all  things.”  When  she  had  brought  forth,  she 
added,  “  0  Lord,  I  have  brought  a  daughter  into 
the  world;  I  have  named  her  Miriam  (Mary),  I 
place  her  under  thy  protection,  her  and  her  pos¬ 
terity,  that  thou  mayest  preserve  them  from  the 
artifices  of  Satan.”— (Koran,  ch.  3.) 

( * )  Isaias  had  foretold  it :  saying,  “  There  shall 
come  forth  a  rod  out  of  the  trunk  of  Jesse;”  for 
this  word  trunk,  in  the  Hebrew  expression,  as  St. 
Jerome  observes  (on  Is.  c.  ii.),  signifies  a  trunk 
without  leaf  or  branch,  to  denote,  continues  this 
holy  doctor,  that  the  august  Mary  was  to  be- horn 
of  the  race  of  David,  when  that  family  had  lost  its 
splendor,  and  utterly  fallen  from  it. 

52  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIKUItf  M4TIV 


and  despised  condition  to  which  men  had 
condemned  them :  “  One  slave  more  !” 

In  Israel,  they  gave  the  child  on  the 
ninth  day  after  its  birth,  in  the  midst  of 
the  assembled  family,  the  name  which  it 
was  to  bear  among  men  :  the  daughter  of 
Joachim  received  from  her  father  the  name 
of  Miriam  (Mary),  which  in  Syriac  is 
translated  “lady,  sovereign  mistress,”  and 
which  signifies  in  Hebrew  “star  of  the 
sea.” 

“And,  surely,”  says  St.  Bernard,  “the 
Mother  of  God  could  not  have  a  name 
more  appropriate,  nor  more  expressive  of 
her  high  dignity.  Mary  is,  in  fact,  that 
beautiful  and  brilliant  star  which  lights  up 
the  vast  and  stormy  sea  of  the  world.” 

This  divine  name  conceals  within  itself 
a  potent  charm  of  such  marvellous  sweet¬ 
ness,  that  but  to  pronounce  it,  moves  the 
heart ;  but  to  write  it,  ennobles  the  style. 
“  The  name  of  Mary,”  says  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua,  “is  sweeter  to  the  lips  than  a 
honeycomb,  more  flattering  to  the  ear  than 
a  sweet  song,  more  delicious  to  the  heart 
than  the  purest  joy.”1 

Eighty  days  after  the  birth  of  a  daughter, 
the  Jewish  woman  was  solemnly  purified 
in  the  temple,  to  which  she  bore  her  first¬ 
born  child.  In  conformity  with  the  law  of 

(')  “Nomen  Virginis  Marise,  mel  in  ore,  melos 
in  aure,  jubilum  in  corde,”  says  poetically  St.  An¬ 
thony  of  Padua. 

(’ll  Macch.  iv.  57. 

( 3 )  There  were  two  sorts  of  vows’  among  the 
Jews:  the  first,  neder,  was  a  simple  vow,  after 
which  what  had  been  vowed  to  the  Lord  might  be 
redeemed  (such  was  that  of  Anne,  the  mother  of 
Mary) ;  the  second,  clierem,  was  a  vow  of  indis¬ 
pensable  obligation,  by  which  all  right  to  the  thing 


Moses,  she  then  offered  to  the  Lord  a 
lamb,  or  two  turtle-doves  ;  the  two  turtle¬ 
doves  were  the  sacred  offering  of  the  poor  : 
they  were  that  of  the  spouse  of  J oachiin. 

But  the  gratitude  of  the  nious  mother 
went  beyond  the  customarv  sacrifice  •  the 
worthy  rival  of  Anna,  the  wife  of  Elcana, 
she  offered  to  the  Lord  a  victim  more 
pure,  a  dove  more  innocent  than  those 
which  had  just  fallen  gasping  and  bleeding 
under  the  knife  of  the  sacrificing  priest : 
she  had  no  votive  crown  of  purest  gold  to 
hang  up  on  the  wall  of  the  temple  : 8  she 
laid  at  the  feet  of  the  Most  High  the  crown 
of  her  old  age,  the  infant  with  which  He 
had  blessed  her  life :  and  she  solemnly 
bound  herself  to  bring  her  daughter  again 
to  the  temple,  and  consecrate  her  there  to 
the  service  of  the  holy  place,  as  soon  as 
her  young  reason  should  be  able  to  distin¬ 
guish  good  and  evil.  The  father  of  Mary 
ratified  this  vow,  which  then  became  ob¬ 
ligatory.3 

When  the  ceremonv  was  ended,  the 

• 

couple  returned  to  their  native  province, 
a  province  so  barren  of  great  men,  from 
which  Israel  was  far  from  expecting  a 
prophet,4  and  re-entered  their  humble 
dwelling,  ever  open  to  the  needy  and  the 
stranger.  There  it  was  that  the  child  of * (*) 

promised  was  given  up  absolutely  and  irrevocably. 
Every  Israelite  might  thus  vow  what  belonged  to 
him, — houses,  lands,  beasts,  children,  slaves,  &c., — 
and  the  things  devoted  could  neither  be  sold  nor 
redeemed,  at  any  price  whatever. 

( * )  “  Can  any  good  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?”  asked 
Nathanael  of  those  who  spoke  to  him  of  Christ. 
“  Because  this  place  was  small  and  contemptible,” 
says  St.  John  Chrysostom,  “and  not  only  this 
place,  but  all  Galilee.” — (Serm.  ix.  on  St.  Matt.) 


• 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  53 

benediction  became,  from  her  earl}'  years, 

the  wisdom  of  her  words  at  a  period  of  life 

the  delight  of  her  family,  and  rose  up  like 

when  other  children  enjoy  as  yet  but  a  mere 

one  of  those  lilies  whose  beauty  Jesus  pro- 

physical  existence,  led  her  parents  to  judge 

claims,  and  which  breathe,  as  St.  Bernard 

that  the  hour  of  separation  was  come  ;  and 

poetically  expresses  it,  the  odor  of  hope — 

when  Joachim  had  offered  to  the  Lord,  for 

habens  odorem  spei.  According  to  the  cus- 

the  third  time  since  his  daughter’s  birth, 

tom  of  the  women  of  her  nation,  Anne 

the  first-fruits  of  the  harvest  and  produce 

would  feed  her  daughter  at  her  own  breast.1 

of  the  scanty  heritage  of  his  fathers,  the 

Mary’s  reason,  like  the  daylight  of  the 

pair,  grateful  and  resigned,  took  the  road 

favored  regions  of  the  sun,  has  scarcely 

to  Jerusalem,  to  deposit,  in  the  sacred  pre- 

any  twilight,  and  shone  forth  from  the 

cincts  of  the  temple,  the  treasure  which 

most  tender  age.  Her  precocious  fervor, 

the  Holy  One  of  Israel  had  given  them. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PRESENTATION. 

npHE  Cison  proudly  rolled  its  tawny 

It  may  have  been  a  desire  to  attend  the 

JL  waters,  swollen  by  the  equinoctial 

great  .solemnities  of  the  Feast  of  the  Dedi- 

storms,2  and  the  green  mountains  of  Gali- 

cation  ;  or,  they  may  have  merely  arranged 

lee  were  assuming  their  burden  of  snow, 

their  departure  to  correspond  with  Zacha- 

when  the  parents  of  Mary  began  their 

ry’s  term  of  service,  as  his  priestly  func- 

journey  to  Jerusalem.  We  know  not  the 

tions  called  him  to  the  temple  only  at 

motive  which  induced  them  to  leave  their 

specified  times.3 

native  province  during  the  rainy  season. 

Obliged  to  make  a  journey  of  several 

« 

( 1 )  In  Judea,  women  seldom  neglected  to  suckle 

while  attempting  to  force  a  passage  through  this 

their  own  children ;  only  three  nurses  are  mentioned 

river  at  its  flood-height. 

in  the  whole  Bible — the  nurses  of  Rebecca,  Miphi- 

( 3 )  According  to  the  order  established  by  David, 

boshet,  and  Joas :  it  must  be  observed,  moreover, 

the  priests  were  divided  into  twenty-four  classes,  or 

that  Rebecca  was  a  stranger,  and  that  the  others 

turns,  each  of  which  served  its  week.  Each  class 

were  princes. 

was  subdivided  into  seven  parts,  which  had  each 

( 3 )  The  Cison,  or  Kishon,  is  a  small  river,  which 

their  week  in  turn  to  officiate ;  each  part  of  this 

runs  between  Nazareth  and  Mount  Carmel;  insig- 

subdivision  had  that  portion  of  the  service  which 

nificant  and  shrunken  during  the  summer,  like  all 

was  assigned  to  him  by  lot. — (1  Paralip.  c.  24.) 

the  water-courses  in  Palestine,  it  becomes  consider- 

Zachary  was  of  the  turn  or  service  of  Abia. — 

able  during  the  rainy  season.  The  troops  of 

(Prid.,  Hist,  of  the  Jews.) 

Sisara,  the  general  of  Jabin’s  army,  were  drowned 

% 

-  — - 3 - - - - - - 

54  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

days,  during  the  inclement  season,  with  a 
still  tender  child,  the  prudent  and  pious 
travellers  did  not  bend  their  steps  toward 
the  holy  city  by  the  wild  and  rocky  road 
that  winds  amid  the  arid  table-lands,  the 
foaming  torrents,  the  deep  ravines  of  the 
Samaritan  mountains  :  there  winter  ruled 
with  all  his  frosts.  They  descended  by  the 
shrubby  slopes  of  Carmel,  into  the  charm¬ 
ing  and  fertile  plains  which  spread  out 
between  the  mountains  of  Palestine  and 
the  Syrian  coast,  a  land  happy  and  for¬ 
ward,  with  a  temperature  so  mild  that  the 
orange-trees  bloom  there  in  mid-winter,  and 
the  flowers  of  May  open  in  the  month  of 
December.1  After  leaving  behind  them  the 
rich  pastures  where  formerly  rose  the  tents 
of  Issachar,  a  tribe  of  shepherd  astrono¬ 
mers,2  whom  the  burning  breath  of  the  Al¬ 
mighty’s  wrath  had  scattered,  like  a  wisp  of 
dry  straw,  even  to  the  wild  and  mountainous 
regions  of  Media  ; — after  having  admired 
as  they  passed,  the  hills  covered  with 
palm,  banana,  and  pomegranate  trees, 
which  once  formed  the  smiling  heritage  of 
the  sons  of  Joseph — a  noble,  warlike  race, 
renowned  for  their  skill  in  archery ; — the 
Galilean  travellers  skirted  the  little  water- 

course  of  G-aas,  whose  willows  love  the 
brink  ;  passed  through  the  groves  of  Rama- 
tha,  a  beautiful  town,  like  a  cameo  dropped 
into  a  basket  of  roses,  and  at  length 
reached  the  borders  of  the  ancient  territory 
of  the  Jebusites.  There  the  aspect  en¬ 
tirely  changed :  no  more  flowers,  no  more 
verdure,  no  more  perfumed  breeze  wafting 
afar  the  sweet  breath  of  the  citron-tree : 
barren  rocks,  deep  ravines,  where  the 
wind  forced  its  way  with  sad  moanings,  ab¬ 
rupt  and  bare  mountains,  echoing  the  hoarse 
scream  of  the  eagle  :  in  a  word,  the  grandest, 
most  melancholy,  most  desolate,  and  most 
sterile  landscape  that  eye  could  rest  upon. 

The  little  caravan  had  followed,  for 
some  time,  a  stony  path  traced  along  the 
flat  summit  of  an  arid  mountain,  when  Joa¬ 
chim,  suddenly  stopping  at  an  abrupt  turn, 
stretched  out  his  arms  toward  the  south 
with  a  movement  of  religious  enthusiasm 
mingled  with  national  pride.  The  object 
to  which  he  thus  drew  the  attention  of  his 
companions  was  indeed  worthy  of  admira¬ 
tion,  for  there  was  at  that  time  nothing 
more  magnificent  or  more  extraordinary 
in  Asia.  It  was  a  city  of  thirty-three 
stadia  in  circumference,  set  in  stone,  like 

( 1 )  Volney  saw  orange-trees  bearing  fruit  and 
flowers  in  the  open  air  in  the  month  of  January,  on 
the  coasts  of  Syria.  “With  us,”  he  says,  “nature 
has  divided  the  seasons  by  months ;  there,  one  may 
say  that  they  are  separated  only  by  hours.  If  we 
are  annoyed  at  Tripoli  by  the  heats  of  July,  six 
hours’  march  transports  us  upon  the  .neighboring 
mountains  to  the  temperature  of  March.  On  the 
other  hand,  are  we  incommoded  with  the  frost  of 
December,  in  the  midst  of  the  mountains,  one  day’s 
march  brings  us  back  to  the  shore,  among  the 
flowers  of  May.” 

m 

(3)  St.  Jerome  assures  us  that  the  children  of 
Issachar  were  the  learned  men  who  calculated  times, 
and  set  down  the  feasts. — (Hieron.,  Qusest.  in  1  Pa- 
ralip.  cxii.  p.  1390,  et  in  Genes.  49. )  This  tradition 
is  conformable  to  that  of  the  rabbis,  who  affirm 
that  the  tribe  of  Issachar  applied  themselves 
assiduously  to  this  knowledge  of  astronomy. — 
(Maimon.,  in  Kiddosch.  hachodesh,  et  Zachuth,  in 
Juchasin.)  In  fine,  the  Scripture  authorizes  this 
tradition,  since  it  relates  that  the  children  of  Isss- 
char  were  expert  in  the  science  of  the  times,  so  as  to 
order  what  Israel  should  do. — (1  Paralip.  xii.  32.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  55 

a  ruby  of  Belooekistan  ;  a  town  of  marble, 

ically  regretted  on  the  banks  of  the 

cedar,  and  gold,  yet  with  its  splendor 

Euphrates  ;  the  city  of  David  and  of  the 

shadowed  by  something  sad,  wild,  and  sus- 

Macchabees  ;  this  Jerusalem  which,  in  its 

picious,  betokening  anxious  rulers,  inces- 

abject  slavery,  all  the  East  still  salutes 

sant  fears  of  foreign  powers,  and  a  state  of 

with  the  ancient  name  which  the  father  of 

affairs  full  of  contrasts.  There  were  to  be 

Mary  then  gave  it— el  Cods  !  (the  Holy). 

seen  gigantic  towers,  magnificent  as  pal- 

The  parents  of  the  Virgin  entered  the 

.  aces,  and  palaces  fortified  like  citadels.  Its 

capital  of  Judea  by  the  gate  of  Rama, 

temple,  glittering  with  gold,  which  from 

upon  which  fell  the  shadow  of  a  tower4  so 

the  narrow  plateau  of  the  highest  mountain 

lofty,  that  from  its  flat  top  were  seen 

shone  like  the  full-orbed  moon  when  it 

Mount  Carmel,  the  Great  Sea,  and  the 

kisses  the  snowy  summits  of  Libanus,1  was 

Arabian  mountains.  The  green  standard 

an  almost  impregnable  fortress,  which  kept 

of  Judas  Macchabeus  with  its  religious 

the  holy  people  of  the  Lord  in  awe  ;  while 

device  still  floated  there  ;  but  the  soldiers 

the  Antonia  tower,  from  the  top  of  its  four 

who  surrounded  it  no  longer  understood 

elegant  turrets  of  polished  marble,  watched 

it ;  for  they  were  Thracians,  Galatians, 

with  constant  and  suspicious  vigilance  over 

Hermans,  and  the  fair  children  of  Gaul, 

the  court  of  the  temple.  A  triple  enclo- 

whom  Herod,  who  feared  the  Jews  and 

sure  of  walls  of  enormous  stones,2  in  which 

depended  upon  foreigners,  took  into  his 

were  encrusted  ninety  forts,  begirt  the  sides 

pay,  and  who  were  detested  at  Jerusalem 

of  this  city,  surrounded  by  dark  valleys 

almost  as  much  as  himself. 

of  dizzy  depths  and  inaccessible  rocks.  This 

The  travellers  then  threaded  some  wind- 

proud  and  warlike  city,  which  seemed  to 

ing,  gloomy  streets,  of  heavy  square 

have  been  transported  by  magic  from  the 

houses,  without  windows,  with  terraced 

fabulous  regions  of  Grinnistan,3  beneath  the 

roofs,  which  stood  in  melancholy  lines, 

cloudless  sky  of  Palestine  ;  this  paradise 

like  citadels ;  and  they  stopped  in  the 

of  the  Jews  ( Ohangh-dix-houcht ),  so  poet- 

eastern  part  of  the  city  before  a  house 

( 1 )  The  exterior  front  of  the  temple  was  entirely 

( 3 )  Grinnistan,  which  the  marvellous  traditions  of 

covered  with  plates  of  gold,  so  thick  that  as  soon  as 

the  Assyrians  and  Arabs  place  at  the  foot  of  Mount 

daylight  appeared  it  was  as  dazzling  as  the  rays  of 

Caucasus,  and  on  the  borders  of  the  Caspian  Sea, 

the  rising  sun.  As  for  the  other  sides,  where  there 

was  the  abode  of  the  Peris — a  beautiful  and  fabu- 

was  no  gold,  the  stones  of  them  were  so  white,  that 

lous  race,  which  much  resembles  that  of  our  fairies. 

this  superb  mass  of  building  looked  at  a  distance 

These  powerful  beings  born  before  the  deluge,  dis- 

like  a  mountain  covered  with  snow. — (Josephus, 

posed  of  the  elements,  and  created  everything  that 

de  Bello,  lib.  v.,  c.  13.) 

could  afford  them  pleasure.  Their  capital  city, 

(’)  “Extrema  rupis  abrupta;  et  turres,  ubi 

which  they  had  carefully  fortified,  to  defend  it  from 

mons  juvisset,  in  sexaginta  pedes,  inter  devexa. 

the  attacks  of  the  Dives,  who  were  wicked  and 

in  centenos  vicenosque  attollebantur ;  mira  spe- 

formidable  genii,  was  of  marble,  gold,  rubies,  and 

cie,  ac  procul  intuentibus  pares.” — (Tacit.  Hist., 

diamonds. 

lib.  v.) 

( 4 )  The  tower  Psephina. 

3 

56  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

of  modest  appearance,  which  tradition 
points  out  as  the  dwelling  of  St.  Anne.1 

After  a  purification  of  seven  days,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  custom  of  those  who  came 
to  sacrifice  in  the  temple,8  Joachim  pro¬ 
vided  himself  with  the  lamb  which  he  was 
to  offer  to  the  Lord,  put  on  white  gar¬ 
ments,3  collected  together  some  of  the  rela¬ 
tions  and  friends  whom  he  had  in  Jerusalem, 
and  at  their  head  ascended  to  the  temple 
with  as  much  ardor  as  he  would  have  gone 
up  to  the  assault  of  a  fortress. 1 

This  temple  of  the  Gfod  of  hosts,  where 
the  Yirgin  then  presented  herself,  like  the 
dove  of  the  ark  with  the  olive  branch, 
had  undergone  numerous  vicissitudes. 
One  of  the  ancestors  of  Mary,  the  wise 
son  of  King  David,  had  made  it  the 
wonder  of  the  East.  He  had  lavished 
upon  it  the  gold  of  Ophir,  the  perfumes 
of  Saba,  the  cedar  of  Libanus,  the  bronze 
which  the  fleets  of  Tyre,  that  queen  of 
the  seas,  with  her  merchant  princes,  had 
gathered  on  barbarous  shores,  and  silver, 
so  common  at  that  time  that  it  had  become 
of  little  value  ;  this  splendor  had  passed 

away  like  a  vision  of  night,  thanks  to  the 
devouring  avarice  of  the  people  of  Egypt 
and  Chaldea.  Pillaged  a  score  of  times, 
but  always  magnificently  restored,  it  had 
risen  again  from  its  ruins  under  Zorobabel, 
who  had  rebuilt  it,  sword  in  hand,  in  spite 
of  the  efforts  of  a  multitude  of  jealous 
nations.  Still,  the  second  temple,  notwith¬ 
standing  its  untold  richness,  was  every 
way  inferior  to  the  first  in  grandeur  as 
well  as  in  holiness.  It  was  in  vain  that 
the  Jews  poured  out  there  with  a  liberal 
hand  the  strength  of  the  corn  and.  the  blood 
of  the  vine ;  that  streams  of  gold  flowing 
from  all  points  of  the  horizon  incessantly 
replenished  its  sacred  treasury  ;  that 
pagan  kings,  confessing  the  awful  sanctity 
of  the  God  of  Israel,  sent  thither  the  most 
magnificent  offerings.5  Naught  of  all  this 
could  compensate  the  absence  of  the  ark, 
which  had  disappeared  with  the  tables  of 
the  law — that  is  to  say,  the  will  of  God 
written  by  himself  by  the  gleam  of  the 
lightning  on  Mount  Sinai ;  the  almond- 
branch  which  had  miraculously  blossomed 
— that  most  ancient  title-deed  of  the  sons 

( 1 )  A  monastery  has  been  erected  over  this 
house  of  St.  Anne ;  this  monastery  has  been  turned 
into  a  mosque.  Under  the  Christian  kings  it  was 
inhabited  by  religious  women. — (See  Itin.  de  Paris 
a  Jerusalem,  t.  ii.,  p.  211.) 

( a )  It  was  not  merely  necessary  to  be  presented 
in  the  temple  with  the  victim :  the  law  required 
that  the  person  should  remain  outside  for  seven 
full  days,  and  be  solemnly  purified  on  the  third  and 
seventh  day  with  ashes  and  hyssop :  that  done,  they 
might  sacrifice. — (Philo,  Tract,  de  Sacrific.,  c.  3.) 

(*)  According  to  the  rabbis,  the  sacrifice  was 
of  no  avail  when  he  who  offered  it  was  not  clothed 
in  white  garments. — (Basn.,  liv.  ix.,  c.  4. ) 

( 4 )  This  was  of  obligation  *  the  Hebrews  were 

to  go  up  to  the  temple  with  as  much  ardor  as  a 
soldier  to  an  assault ;  they  found  this  pretext  in 
the  55th  Psalm,  where  David  said  that  he  went  to 
the  house  of  God  as  to  a  strong  city. — (See  Basn., 

Hist,  des  Juifs,  liv.  vii.,  c.  17.) 

( * )  In  Josephus  may  be  seen  the  detailed  de¬ 
scription  of  the  magnificent  table  of  massive  gold 
incrusted  with  precious  stones,  and  the  no  less 
splendid  vessels  which  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  gave 
to  the  temple ;  almost  all  the  princes  of  Asia  had 
enriched  it  with  their  gifts,  and  about  the  time  of 
the  Presentation  of  the  Yirgin,  the  Empress  Livia 
sent  thither,  in  her  own  name  and  in  the  name  of 
Augustus,  magnificent  vessels  of  gold. — (Josephus, 
de  Bello,  lib.  ii.,  c.  17 ;  Philo,  ad  Cajum.) 

1 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  57 

4 

of  Aaron  to  the  office  of  high-priesthoocl ; 
and  the  manna  of  the  desert,  which  by  the 
miracle  of  its  long  preservation  confirmed 
the  multiplied  prodigies  wrought  of  old  for 
the  deliverance  of  Israel.  These  precious 
relics  were  lost,  as  well  as  the  sacred  fire, 
which  the  breezes  of  the  holy  mountain 
alone  could  enkindle  on  the  brazen  grate  of 
the  altar  of  holocausts  ;  and  the  oil  of 
unction,  composed  by  Moses,  whence  the 
priests  and  kings  derived  their  noble  title 
of  the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  Still  more 
to  be  regretted,  the  Shekina ,  that  white 
cloud  which  attested  the  divine  presence, 
had  never  been  seen  in  the  second  temple  ; 
and  even  the  stones  of  the  rational ,  that 
last  and  brilliant  oracle  of  the  God  of 
hosts,  had  lost  their  prophetic  lustre.1 
This  is  what  filled  the  heart  of  the  sons  of 
Aaron  with  bitterness,  when  they  compared 
the  house  of  ^orobabel  with  the  temple  of 
the  son  of  David  ;  this  made  the  doctors 
of  the  law  say  that  the  fulfilment  of  the 

celebrated  prophecy  of  Aggeus  was  hope- 

• 

less,  unless  the  Messias  himself  should 
appear  bodily  in  the  second  temple. 

After  passing  that  magnificent  gate  of 
Corinthian  brass,  which  twenty  Levites 
could  scarcely  close  at  night,  and  which 
opened  of  itself  four  years  before  the  de- 

struction  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  great  con¬ 
sternation  of  the-  deicidal  people  whom  this 
gloomj'  presage  froze  with  terror,2  Mary 
and  her  parents  found  themselves  in  a 
vast  enclosure  paved  with  black  and  white 
slabs,  and  surrounded  by  tall  porticoes, 
which  in  time  of  war  were  as  good  as 
ramparts.3  .  A  crowd  of  strangers  and  of 
natives,  their  brilliant  costumes  of  con¬ 
trasting  colors  reminding  one  of  an  im¬ 
mense  bed  of  tulips,  were  walking  and 
conversing  in  this  forum  of  Jerusalem, 
which  was  not  reputed  sacred,  and  which 
was  called  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  be¬ 
cause  idolaters  could  not  advance  beyond 
it  under  pain  of  death.4 

At  some  distance  from  the  crowd,  be¬ 
neath  Solomon’s  porch,  the  haughty  aris¬ 
tocracy  of  Israel,  in  purple  and  scarlet,  or 
wearing  those  long  Babylonian  robes  em¬ 
broidered  with  flowers  of  gold,  awaited  the 
hour  of  prayer,  keeping  aloof  from  the 
foreigners  with  a  haughty  reserve,  mingled 
with  deep  contempt.  Joachim,  who  was 
equal  to  the  princes  of  his  nation  in  nobility 
of  race,  although  he  had  not  their  wealth, 
bent  his  way  thither,  certain  of  a  warm 
reception :  for  these  Jews,  so  disdainful 
toward  the  Gentiles,5  loved  each  other  as 
brethren,  especially  when  they  belonged 

( 1 )  God  employed  the  precious  stones  which  the 
high-priest  wore  upon  the  rational  to  foretell  vic¬ 
tory;  for,  before  the  army  took  the  field,  there 
shone  forth  from  them  so  bright  a  light,  that  the 
people  knew  thereby  that  his  sovereign  Majesty  was 
present,  and  ready  to  assist  them ;  but  when  I  be¬ 
gan  to  write  this,  the  rational  had  ceased  to  give 
this  light  for  two  hundred  years. — (FI.  J oseph.,  Ant. 
Jud.,  lib.  iii.,  c.  8.) 

( ’ )  Josephus,  de  Bello,  lib.  vi. 

( 3 )  Tacitus,  Historiarum,  lib.  v. 

( * )  Josephus,  de  Bello,  liv.  v.  et  vi. 

( 6 )  Basnage  remarks  that  at  the  time  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  Jews  regarded  the  Gentiles  as  dogs,  and 
hated  them  mortally.  “If  the  idolaters  drown 
themselves,  the  doctors  taught,  they  must  not  be 
pulled  out  of  the  water,  nor  succored ;  the  only 
favor  that  can  be  done  them  is  not  to  plunge  them 
deeper  into  the  water,  down  the  precipice,  or  in  the 
well,  if  they  have  fallen  in.” — (Basnage,  liv.  v.,  c.  25.) 

58 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


to  the  same  lineage.  Scarcely  had  they 
perceived  them,  when  a  number  of  illus¬ 
trious  ladies,  warriors,  and  great  lords  of 
the  family  of  David  advanced  to  meet  them, 
and  after  the  customary  salutations,  they 
joined  the  Galilean  family,  as  if  to  form 
an  escort  of  honor  for  Mary. 1  The 
Fathers,  who  relate  this  circumstance, 
have  piously  believed  that  these  great 
personages,  the  flower  of  the  Jewish 
nobility,  were  not  there  by  mere  chance, 
but  that  God,  designing  to  provide  a 
triumphal  entry  into  his  temple  for  the 
future  Mother  of  the  Messias,  had  di¬ 
vinely  inspired  them  with  the  resolution 

«- 

to  come. 

From  the  midst  of  the  Court  of  the 
Gentiles  arose  two  other  sacred  enclosures 
which  constituted  the  temple.  Seen  from 
below,  this  majestic  and  splendid  edifice 
presented  a  quadrangular  mass  of  building, 
the  walls  of  which,  white  as  alabaster, 
were  pierced  by  ten  superb  gates,  overlaid 
with  heavy  plates  of  silver  and  gold.  As 
the  temple,  properly  so  called,  crowned 
the  summit  of  Mount  Moria, — a  site  fitted 

( I )  “  Primarios  quoque  Hierosolymitas  viros  et 
mulieres  interfuisse  huic  deduction},  succinentibus 
universis  angelis.” — (Isid.  de  Thes.) 

( J )  The  Chel  was  a  space  of  ten  cubits  between 
the  Court  of  the  Gentiles  and  that  of  the  women. 

( ’ )  The  tepliilim  were  small  pieces  of  parchment, 
on  which  were  written,  with  ink  made  on  purpose, 
four  sentences  of  Scripture;  the  Jews  wore  them 
at  the  bend  of  the  left  arm,  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  forehead.  These  tepliilim. ,  or  phylacteries,  were 
much  in  use  at  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  they 
made  of  them  marks  of  distinction  which  drew 
upon  them  his  reproaches— (Basnage,  Hist.  Juifs, 
liv.  vii.,  c.  17.) 

(*)  The  Pharisees  walked  always  with  their 


for  the  abode  of  the  God  of  the  hills, — the 
ground  rose  gradually,  and  the  walls  were 
completely  surrounded  by  marble  steps, 
which  took  away  somewhat  from  its 
height. 

After  ascending  the  steps  of  the  temple, 
the  purified  group,  in  whose  midst  was 
that  blessed  child  now  to  be  consecrated  to 
God,  stopped  for  a  moment  on  the  small 
platform  of  Chel.2  There  the  Pharisees 
displayed  their  tephilim,3  and  threw  round 
their  inclined  brows4  a  lappet  of  their  taled 
of  fine  white  wool,5  adorned  with  purple 
pomegranates  and  little  hyacinth  cords. 
The  bold  captains  of  Herod  half  con¬ 
cealed  their  glittering  breast-plates  be¬ 
neath  their  long  mantles,  and  the  daughters 
of  Sion  enveloped  themselves  more  closely 
in  the  folds  of  their  purple,  blue,  or 
Syrian  gauze  veils,  embroidered  with 
golden  flowers,  out  of  respec^  for  the  holy 
angels  appointed  to  guard  the  sanctuary.6 
This  done,  they, entered  the  temple  by  the 
eastern  gate,  the  most  beautiful  of  all, — 
that  one  which  poured  down  its  streams  of 
molten  gold  when  the  Romans,  unable  to 

beads  down,  to  affect  a  more  humble  countenance; 
and  sometimes  even  with  their  eyes  shut,  to  avoid 
seeing  what  might  prove  a  temptation  :  thus  it  very 
often  happened  that  in  passing  through  the  streets 
they  ran  their  heads  against  the  walls. — (Basn., 
liv.  iii.,  c.  3.) 

( 1 )  Taled,  a  sort  of  square  cloak  which  the  Jews 
wore  in  the  temple  to  make  their  prayers;  some 
wound  it  round  their  necks,  others  covered  their 
heads  with  it :  this  latter  custom  was  the  most 
general. — (Basn.,  t.  v.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  17.) 

( ' )  Ideo  debet  mulier  potestatem  habere  supra 
caput  propter  angelos— (1  Ep.  S.  Pauli  ad  Corinth, 
ch.  xi.,  v.  10.) 


. 

, 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.'  59 

force  it  by  the  aid  of  iron,  opened  it  by 

vision  of  that  long-mourned  Eden,  whose 

means  of  fire.1 

golden  palaces,  overshadowed  by  lofty 

Iu  onr  cold  northern  regions,  vast  edifices 

cedars,  were,  as  the  Pharisees  thought,  the 

are  requisite  to  protect  us  from  the  injuries 

habitations  of  the  Just.3  Amid  the  marble 

of  the  weather  •  thus  we  have  immense 

columns  of  a  superb  portico,  from  which 

cathedrals,  capable  of  containing  whole 

hung  down  the  gigantic  branches  and 

populations  ;  but  in  ancient  Asia  the 

pendent  clusters  of  a  golden  vine,  was 

temples  were  almost  exclusively  for  the 

discovered  an  edifice  which  seemed  at  first 

use  of  the  priests  ;  the  people  prayed  with- 

sight  to  be  of  massive  gold,  so  strong, 

out.  In  Israel,  the  engdah,  or  sacred  as- 

beneath  the  pure  light  of  an  Asiatic 

sembly,  was  usually  held  in  the  court  of 

sun,  was  the  glare  cast  by  the  dazzling 

the  women  ;  the  second  court  was  so  called, 

plates,  covering  its  hundred  cubits  of  front. 

because  the  Jewish  women,  whom  the  old 

An  incredible  number  of  votive  chaplets, 

law  harshly  likened  to  slaves,  could  ad- 

where  ears  of  wheat,  lilies,  pomegranates, 

vance  no  farther.  Separated  from  their 

vine-leaves  formed  of  emeralds,  topazes, 

sons  and  their  husbands,  who  remained  in 

carbuncles,  and  rubies,  according  to  their 

the  area  of  the  court,  or  under  the  arcades 

colors,  intermingled,  were  hung  up  to  the 

of  the  peristyle,  during  the  ceremonies  of 

temple  by  golden  cords ;  and  when  the 

religion,  they  prayed  apart  in  upper 

rushing  wind  of  the  mountains  began  to 

'galleries,  with  their  heads  humbly  bent 

blow,  they  might  have  been  taken  for  real 

toward  the  house  of  Jehovah,  Avhose  mag- 

flowers,  such  was  their  exquisite  workman- 

nificent  cedar  roof,  bristling  with  golden 

ship  and  perfect  imitation?  At  various 

points,  they  beheld  at  a  distance.2 

points  hung  standards  rent  with  arrows, 

The  ceremony  of  the  Presentation 

and  stained  with  gentile  blood,  which  the 

certainty  took  place  in  the  court  of  the 

Asmonean  princes,  heroes  of  imperishable 

women,  and  not  in  the  interior  of  the 

memory,  had  taken  from  the  Syrian  Greeks 

sanctuary,  as  some  authors  state.  It 

in  the  glorious  wars  of  independence,  and 

opened  with  a  sacrifice.  The  gate  of 

consecrated  with  their  priestly  warrior 

Nicanor,  rolling  silently  on  its  brazen 

hands  to  the  God  of  hosts.  Herod,  a 

hinges  to  admit  the  victim,  gave  a  vista  of 

cruel  prince,  but  a  valiant  captain,  had 

the  farthest  court  like  to  a  marvellous 

added  the  standards  lately  taken  in  his 

( 1 )  Josephus  relates,  that  when  Titus  ordered 

(s)  The  Jews  believed  that  the  souls  of  the 

fire  to  be  set  to  the  gates  of  the  second  enclo- 

saints  go  into  the  garden  of  Eden,  the  entrance  of 

sure  of  the  temple,  the  gold  and  silver  ran  down 

which  is  forbidden  to  the  living  by  the  angel  of 

from  them  like  water  from  a  fountain. — (De  Bello, 

death.  They  are  magnificent  in  the  description 

c.  23.) 

of  this  locality,  where  they  place  palaces  built  of 

( a )  This  precaution  had  been  taken  in  order  to 

precious  stones,  and  rivers  of  perfumed  waters. 

prevent  the  pigeons  and  doves,  which  were  very 

In  hell,  on  the  contrary,  a  river  of  fire  falls  upon 

numerous  at  Jerusalem,  from  resting  in  their  flight 

the  damned,  who  suffer  the  extremes  of  heat  and 

on  the  roof  of  the  temple  and  defiling  it. 

cold. — (Maimonides,  Menasses,  &c.) 

. 

60  -LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


fortunate  expeditions  against  the  Arabs  ; 
and  the  sight  of  these  trophies  filled  with 
patriotic  pride  and  warlike  ardor  those 
Hebrew  hearts  who  counted  death  so  little 
when  battling  for  what  was  dearer  than 
gold,  home,  or  life — the  temple  ! 

The  priests  and  Levites  assembled  in 
the  last  compartment  received  the  victim 
of  prosperity'  from  the  hands  of  Joachim. 
These  ministers  of  the  living  God  had  not 
their  foreheads  bound  with  laurel  or  green 
smallage,  like  the  heathen  priests  ;  a  round 
mitre,  of  very  heavy  linen,  a  long,  white, 
and  narrow  tunic  of  the  same  material, 
bound  by  a  broad  girdle,  embroidered  with 
hyacinth  and  purple,  composed  the  priestly 
costume,  which  was  worn  only  in  the 
temple.  One  of  the  priests  took  the  lamb, 
and  after  a  short  invocation  of  the  God  of 
Jacob,  slew  it,  turning  its  head  toward  the 
north  ;  the  blood,  caught  in  a  brazen  vessel, 
was  poured  out  here  and  there  around  the 
altar.  When  these  first  rites  were  termi¬ 
nated,  the  priests  laid  upon  a  golden  plate 
a  portion  of  the  still  quivering  flesh  of  the 
victim,  and  part  of  the  entrails,  which  the 
Levites  had  carefully  washed  in  the 
fountain-court ;  he  wrapped  the  oblation 
in  a  double  covering  of  fat,  covered  it  with 
incense,  threw  upon  it  the  salt  of  the 

( 1 )  Whether  a  favor  was  asked  of  God,  or  he 
was  thanked  for  one  obtained,  it  was  called  “  a  sac¬ 
rifice  of  prosperity.” 

( 2 )  This  feast,  reputed  sacred,  might  be  kept  for 
two  days  together;  but  the  law  expressly  forbade 
anything  to  be  reserved  from  it  for  the  third  day, 
and  it  must  be  given,  even  to  the  last  morsel,  to 
the  poor,  for  two  reasons,  says  Philo :  the  first,  be¬ 
cause,  as  the  victim  belonged  to  God,  who  is  in  his 
nature  liberal,  it  was  his  will  that  the  needy  should 


covenant,  then,  ascending  barefooted  the 
gentle  ascent  which  led  to.  the  platform  of 
the  brazen  altar,  he  there  deposited  the 
offering  upon  the  billets  of  wood,  perfectly 
sound  and  stripped  of  their  bark,  which 
nourished  the  sacred  fire.  The  rest  of  the 
victim,  except  the  breast  and  the  right 
shoulder,  which  belonged  to  the  priests, 
was  returned  to  the  husband  of  St.  Anne, 
that  he  might  make  a  feast  with  it  for  his 
friends  and  relatives,  according  to  the 
custom.2 

The  last  sounds  of  the  sacerdotal 
trumpets  were  dying  away  along  the 
porticoes,  and  the  sacrifice  was  still  burn¬ 
ing  on  the  brazen  altar,  when  a  priest 
came  down  into  the  court  of  the  women  to 
conclude  the  ceremonial.  Anne,  followed 
by  Joachim,  and  bearing  Mary  in  her 
arms,  came  forward  with  veiled  head, 
toward  the  minister  of  the  Most  High,  and, 
if  we  may  believe  an  Arab  tradition  which 
Mahomet  has  preserved  in  the  Koran,  she 
presented  to  him  the  young  handmaid  of 
the  Lord,  saying  with  a  voice  full  of 
emotion,  “I  come  to  offer  thee  the  present 
which  God  has  made  me.”3 

The  priest  accepted  in  the  name  of 
God,  who  makes  the  womb  of  mothers 
fruitful,  the  precious  deposit  which  grati- 

partake  of  it;  the  second,  to  hinder  avarice,  which 
is  the  vice  of  slaves,  from  creeping  in,  and  dishonor¬ 
ing  a  holy  practice. — (Philo,  Tract,  de  Sacrif.,  c.  2.) 

( 3 )  According  to  a  Mahometan  tradition,  when 
St.  Anne  had  given  birth  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  she 
presented  her  to  the  priests,  saying  these  words, 
which  are  also  found  in  the  Koran:  “Dhouncon 
hadih  alnedhirat,”  that  is,  “  Behold  the  offering 
which  I  make  you.”  Hossein  Vaez  adds  to  these 
words  in  his  Persian  paraphrase:  “Kih  es  an 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


tude  confided  to  him,  and  blessed  Joachim, 
as  well  as  his  pious  company  j1  then  stretch¬ 
ing  out  his  hands  over  the  assembly,  which 
bowed  to  receive  the  pontifical  benedic¬ 
tion  : 2  “0  Israel,”  said  he,  “  may  the  Lord 
direct  his  light  toward  thee  ;  may  he  make 
thee  prosper  in  everything,  and  grant  thee 
peace!”  A  canticle  of  thanksgiving,  har¬ 
moniously  accompanied  by  the  harps  of 
the  priests,  terminated  the  Presentation  of 
the  Virgin. 

Such  was  the  ceremony  which  took 
place,  toward  the  close  of  November,  in 
the  holy  temple  of  Sion.  Men  who 
usually  judge  superficially,  saw  naught 
but  a  very  beautiful  and  wonderfully  fer¬ 
vent  child,  consecrated  by  her  mother  to 
that  God  who  had  granted  this  daughter 
to  her  prayers  and  tears  ;  but  the  angels 
of  heaven,  who  hovered  over  the  sanctuary, 
discovered  in  that  weak  and  gentle  crea¬ 
ture  the  Virgin  of  Isaias,  the  spouse  of 
whom  Solomon  had  sung  the  mystical 
espousals,  the  celestial  Eve  who  came  to 
impart  to  a  fallen  race  the  hope  of  a 
glorious  immortality.  Filled  with  joy  to 
see  the  dawn  of  the  day  of  the  Messias 
shine  forth,  “they  joined,”  say  certain 
ancient  authors,3  “in  this  festival  of  earth, 
and  covering  the  young  descendant  of 

Khodii,”  which  means,  “For  it  is  a  present  which 
•  God  has  made  me,”  or,  still  more  literally,  “  For  it  is 
from  this  present  that  God  is  to  come.” — (D’Her- 
belot,  Bibl.  Orient.,  t.  ii.,  p.  620.) 

( 1 )  Heli  blessed  Elcana  and  his  wife,  and  lie  said 
to  Elcana,  “  The  Lord  give  thee  seed  of  this  woman, 
for  the  loan  thou  hast  lent  to  the  Lord.  And  they 
went  to  their  own  home.” — (1  Kings,  ii.  20.)  See 
F.  Croiset  upon  this  ceremony. — (Exercises  de  Piete, 
t.  xxiii.,  p.  48.) 


61 


David  with  their  white  wings,  they  scat¬ 
tered  beneath  her  feet  the  balmy  flowers  of 
Paradise,  and  celebrated  her  entry  into 
the  temple  with  melodious  concerts.” 

What  passed  then  in  Mary’s  soul,  in 
that  soul  sweetly  expanded  to  the  breath 
of  the  sanctifying  Spirit,  where  all  was 
peace,  pure  love,  and  light?  By  what 
sacred  ties  did  she  unite  herself  to  Him, 
who  had  preferred  her  to  the  virgins  and 
queens  of  so  many  nations?  This  is  a 
secret  between  herself  and  God  ;  but  we 
may  reasonably  believe  that  never  was 
oblation  more  favorably  received  ;  and  St. 
Evodius  of  Antioch,  St.  Epiphanius  of 
Salamis,  St.  Andrew  of  Crete,  and  a 
multitude  of  Latin  fathers,  agree  in  con¬ 
sidering  the  consecration  of  the  Virgin  as 
the  most  pleasing  act  of  religion,  in  the 
sight  of  God,  which  man  had  hitherto 
performed. 

The  name  of  the  priest  who  received 
the  Blessed  Virgin  among  the  number  of 
daughters  of  the  Lord  is  not  known  ;  St. 
Germanus,  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
and  George  of  Nicomedia,  incline  to  the 
belief  that  it  was  the  father  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist :  the  ties  of  relationship  which 
connected  Zachary  with  the  family  of 
Joachim,  the  high  rank  which  he  then 


( 2 )  While  the  Pontiff  gave  the  blessing,  the 
people  were  obliged  to  place  their  hands  over  their 
eyes  and  hide  their  faces,  because  it  was  not  lawful 
to  behold  the  hands  of  the  priest :  the  Jews  ima¬ 
gined  that  God  was  behind  the  pontiff,  and  looked 
upon  them  through  his  outstretched  hands ;  they 
did  not  dare  to  lift  up  their  eyes  to  him,  “For  no 
one  can  see  God  and  live.” — (Basn.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  15.) 

(2)-St.  Andrew  of  Crete,  and  St.  George  of 
Nicomedia. 


62  life  of  the  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

occupied  in  the  priesthood,1  and  the  tender 

character  of  authenticity,  this  one  does. 

affection  which  Mary  cherished  for  him  and 

St.  Evodius,  who  was  the  first  to  relate — 

for  Elizabeth,  impart  to  this  supposition  a 

in  an  epistle  entitled  Lumen,  which  Niceph- 

high  degree  of  probability^ 

orus  has  preserved  for  us — this  glorious 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  blessed  daughter 

circumstance  of  the  infancy  of  the  Virgin, 

of  Joachim  was  solemnly  admitted  into  the 

flourished  in  the  very  days  of  the  apostles 

number  of  the  almas ,  or  young  virgins, 

and  of  the  Mother  of  God.  He  was 

who  were  brought  up  under  the  sacred 

Bishop  of  Antioch,  a  town  of  Syria,  to 

shadow  of  the  altar. 

which  both  Jews  and  Ghristians  resorted  ; 

That  Mary  spent  her  fairest  years  in  the 

and  the  temple,  where  the  newly  formed 

temple,  is  proved  by  apostolic  tradition, 

faithful  followed,  with  profound  veneration, 

by  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  and  the 

the  traces  of  the  Son  of  God  and  his 

opinion  of  the  church,  who  is  not  wont 

divine  Mother,  still  subsisted  in  all  its 

to  sanction  doubtful  facts  ;2  nevertheless, 

glory.  This  tradition,  which  came  from  the 

certain  heretics  have  allowed  themselves 

church  of  Jerusalem — a  church  composed 

to  treat  this  circumstance  as  fabulous,  and 

of  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  among 

some  Catholic  authors  themselves  have 

whom  were  found  a  number  of  relatives  of 

considered  it  an  obscure  point,  so  concealed 

the  Virgin  and  of  St.  Joseph — was  conse- 

beneath  the  veil  of  olden  time,  as  to  be 

crated  very  early  by  a  religious  memorial ; 

difficult  of  elucidation.  The  denials  of  the 

a  demonstrative  proof  in  the  eyes  of 

former  surprise  us  but  little,  but  the 

Protestants  themselves.3  In  fine,  the 

caution  of  the  latter  is  strange  indeed  ;  for 

greater  number  of  the  Fathers,4  and  es- 

if  ever  a  Christian  tradition  possessed  a 

pecially  St.  Jerome,  who  lived  in  the  midst 

(*)  The  Jews  believed  that  St.  John  Baptist 

kept  it  early  under  the  title  of  the  “Entrance  of 

was  much  greater  than  Jesus  Christ,  because  he 

the  Blessed  Virgin  into  the  temple mention  is 

was  the  son  of  a  high  priest. — (St.  John  Chrysos- 

made  of  it  in  their  most  ancient  martyrologies. 

tom,  Serm.  12,  in  Matt.) 

( * )  Gibbon  himself  could  not  help  acknowledg- 

( 2 )  In  Y6TS,  .Philip  de  Maziere,  a  French  noble- 

ing  the  authenticity  of  the  religious  traditions  in 

man,  chancellor  of  the  King  of  Cyprus,  came  to  the 

Palestine.  “They  (the  Christians)  fixed,  by  un- 

court  of  Charles  V.,  and  related  to  him  that  in  the 

questionable  tradition,  the  scene  of  each  memorable 

East,  where  he  had  lived  a  long  time,  the  feast  of 

event”  (c.  xxiii.)  :  an  avowal  of  considerable  weight 

the  Presentation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  annually 

in  the  mouth  of  a  writer  so  well  informed  as  the 

celebrated,  in  memory  of  her  having  been  presented 

English  historian,  and  a  man  at  the  same  time  so 

in  the  temple  at  the  age  of  three  years.  Philip 

little  disposed  in  favor  of  religion.  According  to 

added,  “I  reflected  that  this  great  feast  was  not 

Chateaubriand,  if  there  is  anything  well  proved 

known  in  the  Western  church,  and  when  I  was 

upon  earth,  it  is  the  authenticity  of  the  Christian 

ambassador  from  the  King  of  Cyprus  to  the  pope,  I 

traditions  at  Jerusalem. 

spoke  to  him  about  this  festival,  and  presented  him 

(*)  St.  Epiphanius,  St.'  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  St. 

the  office  of  it ;  he  had  it  cai’efully  examined  by  the 

Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  St.  Germanus,  patriarch  of 

cardinals,  prelates,  and  doctors  of  theology,  and 

Constantinople,  George  of  Aicomedia,  St.  John 

permitted  the  feast  to  be  celebrated.”  The  Greeks 

Damascenus,  etc. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


63 


of  the  sites  of  our  redemption,  and  where 
the  traditions  were  yet  recent,  have  re¬ 
corded  it  and  held  it  to  be  true.  This 


traditionary  belief  may  therefore  be  ranked 
in  the  number  of  the  best-established  facts 
of  history. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

MARY  IN  THE  TEMPLE. 


IN  the  fortified  enclosure  of  the  temple, 
on  that  site  where  the  Christians 
erected  an  oratory  which  the  companions 
of  Godfrey  transformed  into  a  church  with 
a  gilded  cupola,  under  the  invocation  of 
Mary,1  which  the  brave  Knights  Templars 
often  delighted  to  adorn  with  spoils  of  the 
Saracens,  rose  that  part  of  the  religious 
edifice  which  had  been  set  apart  for  the 
virgins  consecrated  to  the  Lord :  thither 
Zachary  led  his  young  relative.2 

Although  virginity  in  Israel  was  only  a 
temporary  virtue,  and  had  soon  to  give 

( 1 )  The  mosque  of  Omar  (el  Alcsa)  is  to  us  the 
representative  of  the  ancient  temple  of  Solomon  ; 
el  Sahhra  (the  rock)  is  built  on  the  place  where 
Mary  lived  from  the  age  of  three  till  her  betrothal 
to  Joseph.  This  place  was  at  that  time  an  appur¬ 
tenance  to  Solomon’s  temple,  as  el  Sahhra  is  now 
to  the  mosque  of  Omar.  Before  the  crusades,  el 
Sahhra  was  only  a  chapel ;  the  Franks  added  a 
church,  which  they  surmounted  with  a  gilt  cupola. 
When  the  conquerors  threw  down  the  great  cross 
which  glittered  on  the  cupola  of  the  Sahhra,  the 
cries  of  joy  of  the  Moslem  and  the  cries  of  grief 
of  the  Christians  were  so  great,  says  an  Arab 
author,  that  the  world  seemed  about  to  perish. — 
(Correspondence  d’Orient,  t.  v.)  According  to 
Schonah,  it  excited  a  great  tumult  in  the  city, 
which  Saladin  had  to  appease  in  person. 


place  to  conjugal  virtues,  it  was  not 
without  privileges  and  without  honor. 
Jehovah  loved  the  prayers  of  chaste 
children,  of  pure  virgins  ;  and  it  was  a 
virgin,  and  not  a  queen,  whom  he  had 
chosen  to  work  out  the  redemption  of  the 
human  race.  Thus,  when  the  seers  of  Juda 
unfolded  to  the  elect,  but  oft  chastised 
people,  the  prophetic  picture  of  their 
miseries  or  their  victories,  they  always 
introduced  in  it  a  virgin,  either  smiling  or 
in  tears,  to  personify  provinces  and  cities. 
In  the  wars  of  extermination,  in  which 

(a)  St.  Germanus  affirms  that  it  was  Zachai’y 
who  placed  the  Virgin  in  the  temple.  Arab  tradi¬ 
tions  also  relate  that  God  committed  the  Virgin  to 
the  charge  of  Zachary,  ouacafalha  Zacharia.  The 
Koran,  in  the  Surate  which  treats  of  the  family  of 
Amram,  adds  to  this  fact  a  marvellous  legend  ob¬ 
tained  among  the  Christian  tribes  in  the  desert. 
It  says  that  Zachary,  who  from  time  to  time  vis¬ 
ited  his  young  relative,  never  did  so  without  find¬ 
ing  beside  her  a  quantity  of  the  finest  fruits  of  the 
Holy  Land,  and  always  out  of  season ;  this  induced 
him  at  length  to  ask  Mary  whence  all  these  fine 
fruits  came.  Mary  answered,  “  Hou  men  and  Allah 
larzoc  man  lascha  hega'ir  haissa,”  (All  that  you  see 
comes  from  God,  who  provides  what  he  pleases, 
without  count  or  number.) — (D’Herbelot,  Biblioth. 
Orientale,  t.  ii.,  art.  Miriam.) 


- : - - - 

64  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

the  Hebrew  broadsword  smote  down  the 

untoward  event  did  not  abolish  this  custom, 

women,  children,  and  old  men  of  Moab, 

which  ceased  only  at  the  disastrous  epoch 

the  virgins  were  spared ;  and  the  high 

when  the  ark  was  lost  and  the  first  temple 

priest,  who  was  forbidden  by  a  severe  law 

destroyed.? 

to  pay  funeral  honors  to  a  friend  ivhom  he 

All  the  almas  were  probably  admissible 

loved  as  his  own  soul,  and  even  to  the  prince 

to  these  sacred  choirs,  when  their  reputa- 

of  his  people,  might  without  being  defiled 

tion  was  not  tarnished  with  any  stain  ;  but 

take  part  in  the  funeral  of  his  sister,  if  she 

among  them  a  chosen  portion  are  distin- 

died  a  virgin.1 

guished,  who  gather  about  the  altar  with 

The  virgins,  or  almas,  took  part  in  the 

great  fervor  and  perseverance.  While  the 

ceremonies  of  the  Hebrew  worship  before 

ark  of  God  was  still  encamped  in  tents,  the 

that  worship  had  a  temple.  We  see  them, 

women  who  watched  and  jprayed  at  the  door 

under  the  guidance  of  Mary,  the  sister  of 

of  the  tabernacle ,  offered  to  God  the  brazen 

Moses,  celebrate  with  dances  and  canticles 

mirrors  which  they  had  brought  from 

the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea.8  These  dan- 

Egypt.  They  were  doubtless  pious  widows, 

cing  choirs  of  young  women,  transplanted 

who  had  refused  to  form  new  engagements, 

from  Egypt  into  the  desert,  were  long 

in  order  to  attend  more  uninterruptedly  to 

maintained  among  the  Hebrews.  The 

heavenly  things  ;  and  almas,  devoted  by 

virgins  of  Silo,  who  seem  to  have  been,  in 

their  parents  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary, 

the  time  of  the  Judges,  more  especially 

who  had  been  placed  under  the  protection 

consecrated  to  the  service  of  Adonai  than 

of  these  virtuous  women.  St.  Jerome  thus 

the  other  daughters  of  Israel,  were  dancing 

understands  this  passage  of  Exodus. 

to  the  chant  of  hymns  and  the  sound  of 

As  the  vow  of  parents  could  generally 

harps,  at  a  short  distance  from  the  holy 

be  redeemed,  and  as  the  redemption,  fixed 

place,  during  a  festival  of  the  Lord,  when 

at  a  moderate  sum,4  was  always  effected 

the  Benjamites  carried  them  off.  This 

at  the  end  of  a  few  years,5  these  temporary 

( 1 )  Levit.  xxi.  3. 

had  naught  in  view  but  the  honor  and  service  of 

( 5 )  Mary  and  her  young  companions  (the  almas) 

the  God  of  Israel.” — (Philo,  de  Vita  cont.) 

sung  canticles  during  the  passage  of  the  Eed  Sea, 

( 4 )  Moses,  by  express  law,  fixed  the  ransom  of 

accompanying  themselves  with  timbrels. — (E.  sal. 

this  vow  at  a  sum  of  fifty  sides  at  most.  The 

Yarhhi.  Exod.  xv.) 

side  or  shekel  weighed  four  Attic  drachmas,  and 

( * )  These  sacred  dances,  which  commemorated 

was  worth  about  a  quarter  of  a  dollar. 

the  passage  of  the  Eed  Sea,  and  which  were  accom- 

( 6 )  The  children,  in  this  sort  of  bondage,  re 

panied  with  hymns  of  praise,  were  considered  among 

tained  their  rights  to  the  parental  inheritance,  and 

the  Jews  as  a  practice  of  so  great  piety,  that  we  find 

could  redeem  themselves  if  their  parents  did  not. 

them  even  among  the  severe  therapeuts.  “The 

(L’Abbe  Guenee.)  Josephus  (Ant.,  lib.  iv.)  re- 

sacred  dance  of  the  devout  therapeuts,”  says  Philo, 

marks  that  men  and  women  who,  after  consecra- 

“  was  composed  of  two  choirs,  one  of  men,  the  other 

ting  themselves  voluntarily  to  the  ministry,  wished 

of  women,  the  whole  being  very  harmonious  and 

to  annul  their  vows,  paid  the  priests  a  certain  sum, 

full  of  real  music,  because  nothing  was  heard  but 

and  when  unable  to  pay  placed  themselves  at  the 

very  fine  words,  and  the  grave  and  decorous  dancers 

discretion  of  the  priest. 

FLIGHT  OF  LOT. 


I 


— 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  65 

vows  were  called  a  loan  made  to  the  Lord.1 

Mother  of  God,  which  St.  Epiphanius,  who 

“  I  have  lent  him  to  the  Lord,”  said  Anna, 

lived  in  390,  considered  then  as  very  an- 

when  she  took  her  little  Samuel  to  Silo.2 

cient,  no  doubt  entered  into  those  details, 

After  the  return  from  the  captivity,  the 

but  it  is  lost.  The  gospel  of  the  infancy 

influence  of  the  Persians,  who  banished 

of  the  Virgin,  and  St.  Jerome,  though 

women  from  their  religious  solemnities,3 

both  inform  us  of  the  admission  of  Mary 

discouraged  the  institution  of  the  alvias ; 

among  the  daughters  of  the  Lord,  confine 

they  ceased  to  form,  in  some  degree,  a 

their  indications  almost  entirely  to  this 

body  in  the  state,  and  to  take  an  ostensible 

fact.  To  fill  up  this  vacant  space  of 

part  in  the  ceremonial  of  worship.  Under 

a  history  which  God  seems  to  have  been 

the  pontiff  kings,  they  lived  in  seclusion  ; 

pleased  to  envelop  in  mists,  we  have 

and  their  days  passed  in  such  profound 

nothing  more  than  a  few  uncertain  lines, 

retirement,  that  their  running  in  dismay  to 

some  scant  pages  of  the  Fathers,  of  which 

the  high  priest  Onias,  at  the  time  when  the 

it  is  difficult,  even  by  putting  them  care- 

sacrilegious  attempt  of  Heliodorus  aroused 

fully  together  in  order,  to  make  a  satis- 

all  Jerusalem,  the  Jewish  historians  con- 

factory  sketch.  Still,  like  the  Indian 

sidered  the  fact  so  unusual  and  wonderful 

artisan,  who  joins  together  a  broken  piece 

that  they  recorded  it  in  their  annals.4 

of  cloth,  thread  by  thread,  and  who  pa- 

There  were  then,  whatever  some  may 

tiently  endeavors  to  join  the  ends  again 

have  said,  virgins  attached  to  the  service 

by  unravelling,  tying  together,  and  letting 

of  the  second  temple  at  the  time  of  Mary’s 

.his  shuttle  glide  with  infinite  precautions 

presentation  ;  the  institutions  of  the  primi- 

along  this  frayed  and  easily  broken  woof, 

tive  Christians  attest  it,5  and  St.  Ambrose, 

we  shall  apply  laboriously  to  the  work, 

St.  Jerome,  and  before  them  the  proto- 

and  collect  together  the  scattered  shreds  of 

evangelion  of  St.  James,  affirm  it.  But 

the  precious  web  of  the  life  of  the  Virgin, 

what  passed  during  the  abode  of  the  Vir- 

to  reunite  the  tissue,  if  it  be  practicable. 

gin-  in  the  temple  ?  What  were,  at  this 

With  the  persevering  patience  of  the  Ba- 

interesting  time  of  her  life,  her  tastes, 

nian,  we  shall  endeavor,  not  to  make  up 

her  habits,  her  practices  of  devotion  ?  On 

a  conjectural  sketch,  which  our  profound 

this  subject,  there  remain  but  few  authen- 

respect  for  our  subject  would  forbid,  but 

tic  documents.  A  traditionary  life  of  the 

to  give,  by  the  help  of  the  best  authorities 

( 1 )  F.  Croiset,  Exercises  de  Picte. 

when  they  go  to  draw  water  from  the  wells. — 

( 2 )  Idcirco  et  ego  commodavi  eum  Domino. 

(Buckingham,  Picture  of  India. ) 

(3)  At  Bombay,  the  Parsees,  descendants  of  the 

(4)  2  Macch.  iii.  19. 

Persians,  have  a  temple  consecrated  to  fire.  They 

( 6 )  The  primitive  Christians,  particularly  those 

come  in  crowds  upon  the  esplanade  with  their 

of  Jerusalem,  who  were  of  Hebrew  origin,  pre 

brilliant  white  costumes  and  colored  turbans,  to 

served,  as  we  know,  some  institutions  of  the  law : 

salute  the  rising  sun,  or  pay  their  homage  to  his 

among  these,  was  that  of  virgins  and  widows, 

last  rays,  by  humbly  prostrating  before  him.  Their 

connected  to  the  primitive  churches  for  the  prac- 

wives  do  not  appear  at  that  time ;  it  is  the  hour 

5 

tice  of  various  good  works  suited  to  their  sex.— 

Ufi  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

and  a  long  study  of  the  manners  of  the 

uttered  loud  sighs,  lest  he  should  die  there. 

Hebrews,  the  most  precise  idea,  and  as 

He  himself  afterward  gave  a  great  feast  to 

near  as  possible  a  true  one,  of  the  almost 

his  friends,  to  rejoice  with  them  on  his 

cloistered  life  of  Mary  in  the  temple. 

escape  from  so  imminent  and  formidable  a 

Some  old  legendary  writers  have  de- 

danger.2 

lighted  in  surrounding  the  early  childhood 

After  this,  it  may  be  decided  whether  it 

of  the  Virgin  with  a  number  of  prodigies  : 

is  possible  that  Mary  was  brought  up  in 

we  pass  over  in  silence  these  marvellous 

the  Holy  of  Holies  ! 

events,  not  sufficiently  proved ;  but  we 

The  local  traditions  of  Jerusalem  protest 

must  notice  an  inaccurate,  or  rather  an 

no  less  loudly  than  common  sense  against 

inadmissible  assertion,  which  has  been 

this  venturesome  opinion  :  the  SaJchra, 

adopted  confidently  and  without  exami- 

originally  a  Christian  church,  built  on  the 

r> 

nation  by  some  holy  personages  and  re- 

site  of  the  apartments  of  the  Virgin,  is  a 

ligious  writers.1  From  the  Virgin’s  having 

distinct  appendage  of  the  mosque  of  Omar, 

always  been  sanctity  itself,  which  no  one 

and  is  not  enclosed  within  that  edifice  ;  yet 

disputes,  it  has  been  inferred  that  she  must 

the  mosque  of  Omar  is  built  on  the  very 

have  been  placed  in  the  most  sanctified 

place  where  the  temple  stood. 

part  of  the  temple — that  is,  in  the  Holy  of 

Father  Croiset,  in  his  Exercises  of  Piety, 

Holies.  This  is  materially  unfounded. 

has  not  adopted  this  opinion  ;  but,  unwilling 

The  •  Holy  of  Holies,  that  impenetrable 

to  reject  it  altogether,  he  attempts  a  com- 

sanctuary  of  the  Gfod  of  hosts,  was  closed 

promise.  According  to  him,  the  Mother 

against  the  whole  Hebrew  priesthood, 

of  God  was.  not  educated  in  the  Holy  of 

except  the  high  priest,  who  entered  it  only 

Holies,  but  the  priests,  struck  with  her 

once  a  year,  after  a  number  of  fasts,  vigils, 

admirable  virtues,  permitted  her  to  go  and 

and  purifications.  He  did  not  present 

pray  there  from  time  to  time.  The  Jesuit 

himself  there  without  being  enveloped  in 

Father  has  forgotten  several  things  in 

a  thick  cloud  of  incense,  which  interposed 

adopting  this  mezzo -ter mine :  first,  that 

between  him  and  the  Divinity,  “  whom  no 

woman,  among  the  Hebrews,  was  a  being 

mortal  could  see  without  dying,”  says  the 

reputed  unclean,  likened  to  a  slave,  and 

Scripture  ;  in  fine,  he  remained  there  only 

on  whom  prayer  was  scarcely  obligatory  ;3 

a  few  minutes,  during  which  the  people, 

who  was  banished  to  a  court,  which  she 

prostrate  with  their  faces  to  the  ground, 

could  not  pass,  and  to  whom  the  interior 

(See  Fleury,  Moeurs  des  Israelites  et  des  Chretiens, 

serpent,  and  can  be  expiated  only  at  the  coming 

p.  115.) 

of  their  Messias.  Prayer  is  not  so  obligatory  upon 

( 1 )  St.  Andrew  of  Crete,  George  of  Nicome- 

her  as  upon  man ;  she  is  not  even  bound  to  the 

dia,  etc. 

greater  part  of  the  affirmative  commandments :  in 

( ' )  Prideaux.  Basnage,  Histoire  des  Juifs,  liv. 

fine,  the  Jews  still  say,  in  their  morning  prayer: 

v.,  c.  16. 

“  Blessed  be  thou,  0  Lord,  King  of  the  universe, 

( 3 )  The  impurity  of  woman,  according  to  the 

for  not  having  made  me  be  born  a  woman.”  The 

rabbis,  dates  from  the  seduction  of  Eve  by  the 

woman,  in  her  humiliation  says,  on  her  part,  with 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  67 

of  the  temple  was  a  forbidden  place,  even 

perial  palace,  and  amidst  the  luxuries 

were  she  prophetess,  or  daughter  of  a 

of  Borne.3  Brought  up  in  the  strict  ob- 

king.  Secondly,  that  the  priests  could  not 

servance  of  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  con- 

grant  to  Mary  a  privilege  which  they  did 

forming  to  the  customs  of  her  nation,  Mary 

not  enjoy  themselves,  and  that,  moreover,  it 

rose  at  the  song  of  the  bird,  at  the  hour 

would  have  been  exposing  her  to  certain 

“when  the  bad  angels  are  silent,  and  when 

death. 1  Lastly,  even  supposing  none  of 

prayers  are  heard  most  favorably.”4  She 

these  prejudices  and  fears  to  have  existed 

dressed  herself  with  extreme  modesty,  out 

among  the  priests  of  Jehovah,  they  would 

of  respect  for  the  glory  of  God,  who  pene- 

not  have  suffered  any  one,  on  any  account, 

trates  everywhere,  and  beholds  the  actions 

to  go  into  the  Holt  of  Holies,  considering 

of  man,  even  in  the  darkest  night ;  then 

that  it  was  important  to  withhold  from  the 

she  thanked  the  Lord  for  having  added 

people  the  knowledge  of  the  disappearance 

another  day  to  her  days,  and  having  pre- 

of  the  ark,  lost  to  sight  in  some  obscure 

served  her  during  her  sleep  from  the  snares 

cavern  of  the  Judean  mountains  ever  since 

of  the  evil  spirit.5  Her  toilet  was  not 

the  days  of  Jeremias.2 

long,  and  in  no  wise  worldly ;  she  wore 

This  second  version,  therefore,  is  no 

neither  pearl  bracelets  nor  gold  chains 

more  admissible  than  the  first. 

“  inlaid. with  silver,”  nor  purple  tunics,  like 

The  education  which  Mary  received  in 

the  daughters  of  the  princes  of  her  race. 

the  temple  was  as  careful  as  was  compatible 

A  robe  of  hyacinth  blue,  of  soft  and  velvet- 

with  the  knowledge  of  the  time  and  the 

like  appearance,  like  that  flower  of  the  , 

manners  of  the  Hebrews  ;  it  turned  prin- 

field,  a  white  tunic  confined  by  a  plain 

cipally  on  domestic  work,  from  which  the 

girdle,  with  loose  ends,  a  long  veil  with  its 

wife  and  daughter  of  Augustus  Caesar  did 

folds  inartificially  but  gracefully  arranged, 

not  think  themselves  exempt  in  their  im- 

and  so  formed  as  quickly  and  completely  to 

sad  resignation :  “  Blessed  be  thou,  0  Lord,  who 

to  reverence  this  place,  and  render  it  inaccessible.’* 

bast  made  me  what  it  has  pleased  thee.” — (Bas- 

— (Philo,  ad  Caium,  c.  16.) 

nage,  Histoire  des  Juifs,  liv.  vii.,  c.  10,  p.  169.) 

( 2 )  The  Jews  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  fate  of 

( 1 )  “  The  Holy  of  Holies  is  a  place  so  sacred,” 

the  ark  after  the  destruction  of  their  first  temple : 

says  Philo,  “  that  no  one  among  us  but  the  high 

some  maintain  that  Jeremias  hid  it  in  a  cavern  in 

priest  alone  is  allowed  to  enter  it,  and  that  only 

the  mountains,  the  mouth  of  which  it  had  never 

once  a  year,  after  a  solemn  fast,  to  burn  incense 

been  possible  to  find :  others  assert  that  the  holy 

there  in  honor  of  God,  and  humbly  implore  of  him 

King  Josias,  warned  by  Holda,  the  prophetess,  that 

that  this  may  be  a  happy  year  for  all  mankind. 

the  temple  would  be  destroyed  soon  after  his  death, 

If  any  one,  not  merely  of  the  common  people  of 

had  this  precious  relic  placed  in  a  subterraneous 

our  nation,  but  even  of  the  chief  priests,  dared  to 

vault  constructed  by  Solomon. 

go  in  thither,  or  if  the  high  priest  himself  went  in 

( 3 )  Augustus  never  wore  any  garments  but 

twice  a  year,  or  more  than  once  on  the  day  when  it 

those  woven  by  his  wife  or  daughter;  and  Alex- 

is  lawful  for  him  to  do  so,  it  would  cost  him  his 

ander  the  Great,  by  his  mother  and  his  sisters. 

life,  beyond  any  possibility  of  saving  him,  so 

( * )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  17,  p.  309. 

strictly  has  Moses,  our  legislator,  commanded  us 

( 3 )  Basnage,  as  above. 

♦ 

(38  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

cover  the  face,  and  lastly,  shoes  to  match 
the  robe,  composed  the  oriental  costume  of 
Mary.1 

After  the  customary  ablutions,  the  Vir¬ 
gin,  her  companions,  and  the  pious  women 
who  were  responsible  to  the  priests  and  to 
God  for  this  sacred  trust,  proceeded  to  the 
gallery  surrounded  with  balconies,8  where 
the  almas  sat,  in  the  place  of  honor.3  The. 
sun  was  just  gilding  with  his  early  rays  the 
distant  Arabian  mountains,  the  eagle  was 
soaring  in  the  clouds,  the  sacrifice  burned 
upon  the  brazen  altar  amid  the  blare  of  the 
morning  trumpets,  and  Mary,  her  head 
bowed  down  under  her  veil,  after  repeating 
the  eighteen  prayers  of  Esdras,  besought 
of  God,  with  all  Israel,  the  Christ  so  long 
promised  to  earth,  and  so  slow  to  come. 

“  0  God!  may  thy  name  be  glorified  and 
sanctified  in  this  world,  which  thou  hast 

created  according  to  thy  good  pleasure  ; 
let  thy  kingdom  reign  :  may  redemption 
flourish,  and  may  the  Messias  come 
speedily.” 4 

And  the  people  answered  in  chorus, 
“Amen!  amen!”  Then  were  sung  the 
concluding  verses  of  that  beautiful  psalm 
attributed  to  the  prophets  Aggeus  and 
Zacharias  : 

“  The  Lord  looseth  them  that  are  fet¬ 
tered  :  the  Lord  enlighteneth  the  blind. 

“  The  Lord  lifteth  up  them  that  are  cast 
down  ;  the  Lord.loveth  the  just. 

“The  Lord  keepeth  the  strangers;  he 
will  support  the  fatherless  and  the  widow  ; 
and  the  ways  of  sinners  he  will  destroy. 

“The  Lord  shall  reign  forever  :  thy  God, 

0  Sion,  unto  generation,  and  generation.” 5 

The  reading  of  the  shenud  and  the  bless¬ 
ing  of  the  priest  concluded  this  public 

( 1 )  The  Annunciades  of  Genoa  in  the  sixteenth 
century  wore  the  costume  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
that  is  to  say,  white  below  and  sky-blue  above ,  that 
such  a  habit  might  cause  a  continual  remembrance 
of  her.  The  slippers  of  the  choir-nuns  in  like  man¬ 
ner  are  covered  with  blue  leather. — (Rule  of  the  An¬ 
nunciades  of  Genoa,  c.  2.)  In  the  East,  where  all 
seems  unchangeable,  Lamartine  found  Mary’s  cos¬ 
tume  in  that  of  the  women  of  Nazareth.  “  They 
wear,”  says  the  traveller  poet,  “  a  long  tunic  of 
sky-blue,  fastened  by  a  white  girdle,  the  ends  of 
which  hang  down  to  the  ground ;  the  full  folds  of 
a  white  tunic  gracefully  falls  over  the  blue.”  Lam¬ 
artine  traces  hack  this  costume  to  the  times  of 
Abraham  and  Isaac,  and  there  is  nothing  improb¬ 
able  in  the  supposition.  It  will  be  seen  that  there 
is  but  a  very  slight  difference  between  the  costume 
adopted  in  the  sixteenth  century  from  the  tradi¬ 
tions  of  Italy,  and  that  which  the  French  traveller 
found  in  the  very  places  themselves. 

( ’ )  In  the  feast  of  the  drawing  of  the  waters,  the 

men  were  placed  below  the  galleries,  which  ran 
round  the  peristyle  of  the  women. 

(s)  Origen,  St.  Basil,  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and 

St.  Cyril,  preserve  the  tradition  which  ascribes  to 
the  temple  virgins  an  honorable  and  special  place 
in  the  women’s  peristyle. 

( 4 )  This  prayer,  which  is  called  Kaddish,  is  the 
most  ancient  of  all  those  preserved  by  the  Jews, 
and  as  it  is  read  in  Chaldaic,  it  is  believed  to  be  one 
of  the  prayers  made  on  their  return  from  Babylon. 

— (Basn.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  17,  p.  314.)  Prideaux  affirms 
that  it  was  used  long  before  our  Lord’s  time,  and 
that  the  apostles  often  offered  it  with  the  people  in 
the  synagogues.  It  was  recited  frequently  in  the 
service,  and  the  assembly  were  obliged  to  answer 

Amen  several  times. 

( 6 )  Psalm  cxlv.  7—10.  Leo  of  Modena.  Maimo- 
nides. . 

( 0 )  Leo  of  Modena,  c.  11,  p.  29.  By  the  Shema 
is  understood  three  different  sections  of  Deuter¬ 
onomy  and  Numbers.  It  is  a  kind  of  profession 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


prayer,  which  was  offered  night  and  morn¬ 
ing.  1 

After  fulfilling  this  first  religious  duty 
with  indescribable  fervor,  Mary  and  her 
young  companions  resumed  their  accus¬ 
tomed  occupations.  Some  turned  swiftly 
with  their  active  fingers  cedar  or  ithel2 
wood  spindles,  others  shaded- purple,  hya¬ 
cinth,  and  gold  upon  the  veil  of  the  temple, 
or  the  rich  girdles  of  the  priests  ;  while 
groups,  bending  forward  over  a  Sidonian 
loom,  were  employed  in  executing  the 
varied  designs  of  that  magnificent  tapestry 
for  which  the  valiant  women  deserved  the 
praises  of  all  Israel,  and  which  Homer 
himself  has  extolled.3  The  Yirgin  sur¬ 
passed  all  the  daughters  of  her  people  in 
these  beautiful  works,  so  highly  appreciated 
by  the  ancients.  St.  Epiphanius  informs 
us  that  she  excelled  in  embroidery  and  in 
the  art  of  working  in  wool,  fine  linen,  and 
gold  ; 4  the  Proto-evangelion  of  St.  James 
portrays  her  to  us  seated  before  a  distaff 


of  faith  which  is  recited  night  and  morning,  hy 
which  they  confess  that  there  is  but  one  God,  who 
delivered  his  people  out  of  Egypt. 

( 1 )  It  is  certain  that  the  Blessed  Yirgin  must 
have  very  often  attended  the  public  morning  and 
evening  prayers :  these  were  considered  more  effica¬ 
cious  than  others,  and  some  Hebrew  doctors  even 
maintain  that  God  hears  none  but  these. 

( 8 )  The  ithel  is  a  species  of  acacia,  growing  in 
Arabia;  it  is  jet-black,  and  resembles  ebony:  it  is 
thought  to  be  the  setim-wood  of  Moses. 

( 8 )  See  the  Iliad,  lib.  vi. 

( 4 )  In  the  Middle  Ages,  in  remembrance  of 
Our  Lady’s  working  in  linen,  the  weavers  ranged 
themselves  beneath  the  banner  of  the  Annuncia¬ 
tion.  The  manufactures  of  gold  brocade  and  silk 
stuffs  had  for  their  patroness  Our  Lady  the  Rich, 
and  bore,  her  image  on  their  banner,  heavy  with 


69 


of  wool  dyed  purple,  which  revolved  under 
her  light  hands  like  the  quivering  leaf  of 
the  poplar  ;5  and  the  Christians  of  the  East 
have  perpetuated  the  traditionary  opinion 
of  her  unrivalled  skill  in  spinning  the  flax 
of  Pelusium,6  by  giving  the  name  of  the 
Virgin's  thread  to  those  webs  of  dazzling 
whiteness,  and  texture  almost  vaporous, 
which  hover  over  the  deep  valleys  in  the 
damp  mornings  of  autumn.  The  serious 
and  pure  wives  of  the  primitive  Christians, 
in  remembrance  of  these  domestic  occupa¬ 
tions,  which  the  Queen  of  Angels  did  not 
disdain,  never  failed  to  consecrate  to  her  a 
distaff  with  little  bands  of  purple,  and  full 
of  spotless  wool. 7 

But  the  talents  and  knowledge  of  the 
Yirgin  were  not  confined  to  this.  St. 
Ambrose  attributes  to  her  a  perfect  under¬ 
standing  of  the  sacred  books ;  and  St. 
Anselm  maintains  that  she  knew  perfectly 
that  ancient  Hebrew,  the  language  of  the 
terrestrial  Paradise,8  in  which  Gfod  traced 


magnificent  embroidery. — (Alex.  Monteil,  Hist, 
des  Fran9ais  des  divers  etats.) 

( 6 )  The  church  of  Jerusalem  had  early  conse¬ 
crated  this  memorial  by  numbering  among  its 
treasures  the  spindles  of  Mary.  These  spindles 
were  sent  afterward  to  the  Empress  Pulcheria,  who 
placed  them  in  the  church  of  the  Hodegos,  at  Con¬ 
stantinople, 

( ' )  The  vestments  worn  by  the  high  priests  in 
the  morning  were,  says  the  Misnah,  of  fine  linen 
of  Pelusium,  a  town  of  Egypt,  where  the  flax  was 
exquisite. 

( 7 )  This  custom  still  exists  in  some  villages  in 
the  north  and  west  of  France. 

(8)  According  to  the  rabbis  and  commentators 
on  the  Bible,  the  language  of  the  terrestrial  Para¬ 
dise  was  the  ancient  Hebrew. 


70  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

- 

with  his  potent  finger,  on  very  thick  precious 

ceals  beneath  her  veil,  their  faint  odor 

stones,1  the  ten  precepts  of  the  Decalogue. 

scarce  perceptible. 

Whether  Mary,  by  studying  the  idiom  of 

An  ancient  poet  with  servility  styled 

Anna  and  Debora,  had  been  initiated, 

Augustus  the  work  of  several  ages,  and 

during  her  solitary  vigils,  in  the  sublime 

declared  that,  since  the  days  of  the  crea- 

conceptions  of  the  seers  of  Israel,  or 

tion,  all  the  master  hand  of  nature  had 

whether  she  received  from  that  the  sancti- 

been  diligently  employed  to  produce  him. 

lying  Spirit,  who  had  so  richly  endowed 

What  was  an  hyperbole  carried  to  an  ab- 

her,  a  poetical  inspiration  like  to  those 

surd  length,  in  speaking  of  the  sanguinary 

harmonious  breezes  which  swept  lightly 

nephew  of  Ctesar,  becomes  a  demonstrated 

over  the  Eolian  harp  of  King  David,2  still 

truth  when  applied  to  the  Virgin.  Mary 

we  cannot  deny  that  the  young  prophetess, 

is  the  masterpiece  of  Nature,  the  flower  of 

who  gave  to  the  new  law  its  most  beautiful 

past  generations,  and  the  wonder  of  ages. 

canticle,  must  have  known  the  sweetest 

Never  had  the  earth  seen,  never  will  the 

and  most  sublime  inspirations  of  genius. 

earth  see,  so  many  perfections  combined  in 

Certainly,  the  woman  who  composed  the 

a  simple  daughter  of  men.  All  was  grace, 

Magnificat  was  no  ignorant  maiden  of  the 

holiness,  grandeur  in  this  blessed  creature  : 

common  people,  as  some  Protestant  authors 

conceived  in  the  friendship  of  God,  sancti- 

have  not  hesitated  to  say,  and  she  combined 

fled  before  her  birth,  she  was  a  stranger 

with  unequalled  sanctity  talents  of  the 

to  those  passions  which  disorder  the  soul, 

highest  order.  Nevertheless,  this  brilliant 

and  sin  which  corrupts  the  heart.  Borne 

side  of  her  intellect  was  scarce  discerned, 

toward  good  by  a  sweet  and  natural  in- 

so  adroit  was  she  in  concealing  it  beneath 

clination,  bj"  favor  of  her  immaculate  con- 

her  evangelical  modesty.  Knowing  the 

ception,  her  pure  and  innocent  actions  were 

delicate  duties  and  true  interests  of  her 

like  those  layers  of  snow  which  are  silently 

sex,  she  avoided  display  with  extreme 

heaped  upon  the  lofty  summits  of  the 

care,  and  passed  on  without  noise,  like  a 

mountains,  adding  purity  to  purity,  and 

silent  star,  that  pursues  its  course  through 

whiteness  to  whiteness,  till  a  dazzling  cone 

the  clouds.  The  rich  treasures  of  her  mind 

is  raised,  on  which  the  light  darts  playfully, 

and  heart  have  been  but  rarely  and  imper- 

compelling  man  to  avert  his  eyes,  as  from 

fectly  revealed  to  earth  ;  they  were  the 

the  sun.  It  has  not  been  given  to  any  sec- 

roses  of  Yemen  the  young  Arab  girl  con- 

ond  creature  to  present  such  a  life  to  the 

( 1 )  Hebrew  tradition. — (Basn.,  liv.  vi.,  c.  16.) 

(2)  According  to  an  ancient  Jewish  tradition, 

According  to  some  oriental  authors,  the  tables  of 

David  had  a  harp  which  played  by  night  when  a 

the  law  were  of  red  rubies,  or  carbuncles ;  but  the 

‘particular  breeze  blew.  Basnage  ridiculed  these 

most  common  opinion  among  the  Arabs  and  Mus- 

strings  which  sound  of  themselves  at  the  night 

sulmans,  is  that  they  were  emeralds,  in  the  inside 

breeze,  and  openly  treats  this  assertion  as  an  ab- 

of  which  the  characters  were  so  cut  as  to  be  legi- 

surdity.  The  invention,  or  rather  the  re-discovery 

ble  on  any  side. — (D’Herbelot,  Bibliotlibque  Ori- 

of  the  Eolian  harp,  the  magic  sounds  of  which 

entale,  t.  ii.) 

enchant  our  parks,  has  justified  the  rabbis. 

* 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  71 

sovereign  Judge  of  men ;  Jesus  Christ 

not  tall  of  stature,  though  her  height  was  a 

alone  surpassed  her, — but  Jesus  Christ  is 

little  above  the  middle  size  :  her  colo-r, 

the  Son  of  God. 

slightly  gilded,  like  that  of  the  Sulamitess, 

Mary  entered  the  temple  of  God,  like 

by  the  sun  of  her  country,  had  the  rich 

one  of  those  spotless  victims  which  the 

tint  of  ripe  ears  of  corn  ;  her  hair  was 

Spirit  of  the  Lord  had  unveiled  to  Malachy. 

light,  her  eyes  bright,  the  pupil  being 

Beautiful,  young,  nobly  born,  and  fitted  to 

rather  of  an  olive  color,  her  eyebrows  per- 

aspire  to  any  position  among  a  people  who 

fectly  arched,  and  of  the  deepest  black  ; 

often  placed  beauty  upon  the  throne,1  she 

her  nose,  remarkably  perfect,  was  aqui- 

bound  herself  to  the  horns  of  the  altar  by 

line  ;  her  lips  rosy ;  the  shape  of  her  face  a 

a  vow  of  virginity.  By  this  vow,  unheard 

fine  oval ;  her  hands  and  fingers  long. 

of  before,  Mary  broke  down  the  barrier 

All  the  fathers  eagerly  attest,  with  one 

which  separated  the  old  law  from  the  new, 

accord,  the  admirable  beauty  of  the  Virgin  ; 

and  plunged  so  deeply  into  the  sea  of  the 

St.  Denis  the  Areopagite,  who  had  seen  the 

evangelical  virtues ,  that  it  might  be  said  that 

divine  Mary,  assures  us  that  she  was  a 

she  had  already  sounded  almost  all  its 

dazzling  beauty ,  and  '  that  he  should  have 

depths,  when  her  divine  Son  came  to  re- 

adored  her  as  a  goddess ,  if  he  had  not  known 

veal  it  to  the  children  of  men. 

that  there  is  but  one  God. 

God  does  not  abruptly  change  his  ways  ; 

But  it  was  not  to  this  assemblage  of 

he  announces,  he  prepares  long  before,  the 

natural  perfections  that  Mary  owed  the 

great  events  which  are  to  change  the  face 

power  of  her  beauty  ;  it  emanated  from  a 

.  of  the  earth :  a  precursor  was  needed  for 

higher  source.  St.  Ambrose  understood 

the  Messias,  and  he  found  him  in  the  person 

it  well,  when  he  said  that  this  attractive 

of  St.  John  the  Baptist ;  a  preliminary  was 

covering  was  but  a  transparent  veil  which 

requisite  to  the  new  law,  and  the  virtues  of 

allowed  all  the  virtues  to  be  seen  through  it, 

Mary  were  to  the  gospel  what  a  cool  and 

and  that  her  soul,  the  most  noble  and  purest 

smiling  dawn  is  to  a  fine  day. 

that  ever  was,  next  to  the  soul  of  Jesus 

St.  Epiphanius,  quoted  by  Nicephorus, 

'  Christ,  was  entirely  revealed  in  her  counte- 

has  left  us  a  charming  portrait  of  the  Vir- 

nance.  The  natural  beauty  of  Maiy  was 

gin  ;  this  portrait,  sketched  in  the  fourth 

but  the  distant  reflection  of  her  intellectual 

century,  from  traditions  now  effaced,  and 

and  imperishable  beauties ;  she  was  the 

manuscripts  which  we  no  longer  possess,  is 

most  beautiful  of  women,  because  she  was 

the  only  one  which  has  come  down  to  us. 

the  most  chaste  and  holy  of  the  daughters 

The  Virgin,  according  to  this  bishop,  was 

of  Eve.2 

( 1 )  “  It  is  neither  climate,  nor  diet,  nor  bodily 

(Bernardin  cle  Saint  Pierre,  Etudes  de  la  Nature, 

exercise  which  determines  the  beauty  of  the  human 

etude  10.) 

form ;  it  is  the  moral  sentiment  of  virtue,  which 

( a )  We  know  that  David,  Solomon,  and  the 

cannot  subsist  without  religion.  Beauty  of  conn- 

other  kings  of  Juda,  raised  to  their  royal  couch 

tenance  is  the  true  physiognomy  of  the  soul.” — 

women  of  obscure  condition ;  the  celebrated  Sula- 

72  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

God  has  made  a  palace  of  pearly  shell 

afflicted,  or  mocked  at  any  one.  She  dis- 

for  the  pearl  of  the  Green  Sea  but  it 

liked  all  show,  was  simple  in  her  attire, 

is  the  pearl,  and  not  its  glittering  shell, 

simple  in  her  manners,  and  never  had  a 

that  is  set  in  gold,  and  taken  to  incrust  the 

thought  of  vaunting  her  beauty,  her  ancient 

diadems  of  kings.  Nor  were  the  fathers 

nobilitv,  or  the  rich  treasures  of  her  mind 

in  error.  Hence  in  all  they  say  concerning 

and  heart.  Her  presence  seemed  to  sanctify 

the  person  of  Mary,  they  devote  no  incon- 

all  around  it,  and  the  sight  of  her  banished 

siderable  part  to  moral  beauties,— which 

the  thought  of  the  things  of  earth.  Her 

alone  are  not  the  food  of  worms.  We  will 

politeness  was  no  vain  formula,  couched  in 

now  proceed  to  collect  the  little  gems 

words  of  falsehood :  it  was  an  expansion 

which  they  have  scattered  through  their 

of  universal  good-will,  gushing  forth  from 

writings,  and  with  them  form  a  mosaic  dis- 

the  soul.  In  fine,  her  look  already  dis- 

playings  a  second  portrait  of  her  who  was, 

covered  the  Mother  of  mercy — the  Virgin 

says  St.  Sophronius,  “The  Almighty’s  gar- 

of  whom  it  has  since  been  said:  “She 

den  of  delight.”2 

would  ask  of  God  forgiveness  even,  for  Lu- 

The  greatest  modesty  prevailed  in  all  the 

cifer,  if  Lucifer  sought  pardon.” 

actions  of  the  Virgin  ;  she  was  good,  affable, 

Though  scantily  provided  with  earthly 

compassionate,  and  never  tired  of  hearing 

means,  Mary  was  liberal  to  the  poor,  and 

the  tedious  complaints  of  the  afflicted.  She 

her  young  maiden  alms  often  dropped  un- 

spoke  little,  always  to  the  purpose,  and  an 

perceived  into  that  box  attached  to  one  of 

untruth  never  defiled  her  lips.  Her  voice 

the  pillars  of  the  peristyle,  into  which  at  a 

was  sweet,  penetrating,  and  her  words  had 

later  period  Jesus  saw  the  widow’s  mite  fall. 

an  unction  and  comforting  power,  that 

St.  Ambrose  shows  us  the  pure  and  sacred 

filled  the  soul  with  calm.  She  was  the  first 

source  from  which  Mary  derived  her  alms  ; 

in  watchings,  the  most  exact  in  fulfilling  the 

she  deprived  herself  of  everything,  grant- 

divine  law,  the  most  profound  in  humility, 

ing  only  to  nature  what  she  could  not  with- 

the  most  perfect  in  every  virtue.  She  was 

hold  from  it  without  dying,  and  seemed  to 

never  seen  in  anger  ;  she  never  offended, 

live,  like  the  cicadse,  upon  air  and  dew.3 

mitess  of  Solomon  was,  it  is  said,  a  young  peasant 

....  Terriy sddi  eoixote ?  care  ko3’  vXfjv 

girl  of  the  little  village  Sulam,  situated  at  a  short 

/Isvdpsoo  itpeZopEvoi  oita  Xezpiosddav  ieXdt. 

distance  from  Jerusalem.  In  the  time  of  Mary, 

“Like  cicadas,  which,  perched  upon  the  trees, 

Herod  the  Great  espoused,  on  account  of  her 

send  forth  a  sweet  sound,  after  sipping  a  little  dew.” 

beauty,  Mariamne,  the  daughter  of  a  mere  priest. 

“Grasshoppers  feed  only  on  dew.” — (Theocritus, 

( 1 )  Bahr-al-Ahhdhar,  a  name  of  the  Persian  Gulf. 

Idyl  4:  MV  rtpwxai  diri^ETai  oditsp  o  ;)  “Does 

(a)  “Vere  Virgo  erat  hortus  deliciarum  in  quo 

he  not  feed  on  dew,  like  the  cicadas  ?”  And  Vir- 

consita  sunt  universa  florum  genera  et  odoramenta 

gil:  “Dum  thymo  pascentur  apes,  dum  rore  ci- 

virtutum.” — (Sophronius,  Serm.  de  Assump.) 

cadse.”  “  While  bees  feed  on  thyme,  while  cicadse 

( s )  The  ancients  believed  that  grasshoppers 

on  dew.” 

lived  on  air  and  dew. — (Philo,  de  Vita  cont.,  p. 

On  this  account  Callimachus  has  called  dew, 

831.)  Homer,  in  the  third  book  of  the  Iliad : 

itpwiov  TETTiyoi  siStxp,  “the  food  of  the  cicadas.” 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  73 

Her  fasts,  which  were  frequent  and  rigor- 

the  subterranean  vaults  of  his  palace,3  did 

ous,  were  in  like  manner  beneficial  to  the 

not  reach  the  ear  of  the  young  girl ;  com- 

poor.  But  the  fasts  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 

pletely  absorbed  in  her  religious  duties, 

were  not  like  our  fasts  in  the  north,  which 

her  soul  was  at  the  feet  of  the  great  Author 

last  only  for  a  morning,  and  are  confined  to 

of  the  universe,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 

the  privation  of  some  articles  of  food  ■ 

world  and  the  region  of  storms.  “  Never,” 

they  were  an  abstinence  from  everything, 

says  St.  Ambrose,  “  was  any  one  endowed 

which  began  in  the  evening  at  sunset,  and 

with  a  more  sublime  gift  of  contemplation  ; 

ended  the  next  day  at  the  rising  of  the 

her  mind,  ever  in  unison  with  her  heart, 

stars.1  All  this  time  Mary  denied  herself 

never  lost  sight  of  Him,  whom  she  loved 

all  that  could  gratify  her  taste  and  her 

more  ardently  than  all  the  'seraphim  to- 

heart :  she  imposed  upon  herself  the  hardest 

gether ;  her  whole  life  wTas  but  one  con- 

tasks,  the  most  disagreeable  works  of  mercy, 

tinual  exercise  of  the  purest  love  of  her 

put  on  her  poorest  garments,  slept  on  the 

God,  and  when  the  sun  came  to  weigh 

floor,  and  during  these  days  of  mortification 

down  her  eyelids,  her  heart  still  watched 

and  tears,  often  prolonged  for  weeks  to- 

and  prayed.”4 

gether,  denied  herself  all  but  a  slender 

Such  were  the  virtues,  such  the  occupa- 

repast,  composed  of  bread  baked  in  the 

tions  of  Mary  in  the  temple  ;  she  shone 

embers,  bitter  herbs,  and  a  cup  of  water 

there  among  her  youthful  companions  like 

from  the  fountain  of  Siloe.2  Her  medita- 

a  rich  diamond,  which,  set  amid  other  gems, 

tions  were  frequent,  and  her  prayers  so 

eclipses  them  all  by  its  brilliancy.  Thus 

recollected,  attentive,  and  profound,  that 

it  happened  that  old  men  who  had  grown 

her  soul  seemed  to  dissolve  in  adoration 

gray  in  the  priesthood  never  passed  by 

before  the  Almighty.  The  roar  of  the 

her  without  blessing  her,  and  considered 

tempest  and  the  noise  of  the  thunder, 

her  as  the  richest  ornament  of  the  holy 

which  used  to  make  Cmsar  take  refuge  in 

house. 

4 

( 1 )  The  Jews  did  not  consider  that  day  as  a  fast, 

scarcely  excusable  iu  a  woman.  At  the  least  ap- 

on  which  the  sun  did  not  set. 

pearance  of  a  storm,  he  went  and  hid  in  deep 

( a )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  18 ;  Fleury,  Mceurs  des 

vaults,  where  the  noise  of  the  thunder  and  the 

Israelites,  p.  104. 

flashes  of  lightning  could  not  penetrate. 

( s )  Augustus,  if  we  may  believe  Suetonius,  was 

( 4 )  St.  Ambrose,  De  Virg.,  lib.  ii. 

afraid  of  thunder  and  lightning  with  a  weakness 

74 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


CHAPTER  VL 

MARY  AN  ORPHAN. 


STRANGE  though  it  be,  it  must  be  ad¬ 
mitted,  that  the  history  of  the  Virgin 
is  barren  of  facts  and  full  of  chasms :  one 
might  compare  it  to  the  majestic  ruins  of 
some  ancient  city  of  the  desert.  Here, 
gigantic  pillars,  whose  bases  are  as  im¬ 
movable  as  those  of  the  mountains  ;  there, 
porticoes  which  the  Arab,  fond  of  marvel¬ 
lous  tales,  proclaims  as  the  work  of  the 
genii ;  farther  on,  temples  buried  in  sand, 
which  imagination  can  still  rebuild  ;  and 
then  at  intervals,  the  bare  and  barren  sand 
with  not  even  a  single  blade  of  grass  for 
the  camel  of  the  Bedouin. 

The  apostles,  it  would  seem,  were  too 
much  absorbed  with  the  exalted  person  of 
Christ,  to  think  of  his  earthly  family,  but 
the  fathers  introduce  us  to  the  virtues, of 
St.  Anne  :  with  them  we  have  entered  be¬ 
neath  her  humble  roof ;  we  have  witnessed 
her  vows,  her  fervent  prayers,  the  joys  of 
her  delayed  maternity,  her  outpour  of  grat¬ 
itude  ;  but  here  the  thread  of  tradition 
becomes  so  attenuated  that  it  breaks  con¬ 
tinually,  and  the  rest  of  St.  Anne’s  life  is 
almost  entirely  conjectural.  This  mother, 
who  had  obtained  her  blessed  daughter 
after  so  many  fasts  and  prayers,  who  had 
environed  her  childhood  with  so  much  love, 
who  had  brought  her  in  her  arms  to  the 
Lord,1  and  deposited  her  with  tears  in  his 

( 1 )  St.  Alphonsus,  Glories  of  Mary,  Disc.  3. 

(a)  Some  ascribe  to  Anne  another  daughter, 
named  Mary,  born  twenty  years  before  the  Blessed 


sanctuary,  appears  again  upon  the  scene 
but  for  a  moment, — and  then  it  is  to  die. 
Yet  it  is  not  credible  that  the  spouse  of 
Joachim  let  nine  years  pass  without  seeing 
Mary  again.  The  exterior  buildings  of  the 
temple,  where  children  consecrated  to  the 
God  of  Israel  were  brought  up,  could  not 
have  been  forbidden  to  mothers  :  a  mother 
has  rights  sacred  and  religious  also ;  all 
nations  declare  them  inviolable  ;  and,  more¬ 
over,  the  Scripture  informs  us  that  Anna, 
the  wife  of  Elcana,  freely  visited  her  son 
at  Silo,  on  solemn  days,  and  that  she  never 
failed  to  bring  a  tunic  woven  with  her  own 
hands  to  the  young  prophet  whom  she  had 
lent  to  the  Lord.  Anna  had  had  after  the 
birth  of  Samuel  several  children,  whom  she 
beheld  growing  up  under  her  eyes  like 
young  olive-plants,  and  who  shared  her 
maternal  solicitude  with  the  servitor  at  the 
tabernacle  ;  St.  Anne  had  none  but  Mary  f 
the  sum  of  her  happiness,  the  hope  of  her 
old  age,  the  source  of  her  joy  on  earth. 
It  is  not  then  to  be  doubted  that,  in  com¬ 
pany  with  her  spouse,  she  came  to  see  her 
whenever  her  piety  led  her  to  the  temple, 
and  that  she  too  sat  up,  by  the  light  of  her 
domestic  lamp,  or  by  the  white  light  of  the 
moon,3  to  weave  the  virginal  robes  of  her 
child. 

It  is  believed  that  St.  Anne  and  St. 

Virgin ;  but  this  tradition  has  not  been  received 
by  the  Church . 

( ’ )  The  Jewish  women  spun  together  during  the 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  75 

Joachim  returned  to  tlieir  home  after  the 

mountain  and  plain  appear  to  travel  over ! 

Presentation  of  Mary,  and  dwelt  there 

She  reached  by  sight,  she  traversed  scores 

some  years  before  they  finally  settled  in 

of  times  in  thought,  before  she  reached 

Jerusalem.  Joachim,  who  was  hot  an  ar- 

them  in  reality,  the  bushes  of  nopals,  the 

tisan,  like  Joseph,  apparently  cultivated 

clumps  of  rose-bay,  the  groves  of  green 

the  little  heritage  of  his  forefathers,  and 

oaks  or  sycamores  which  studded  her  road 

enjoyed  that  happy  mediocrity  which  has 

at  intervals ;  for,  each  of  these  points 

always  been  aspired  to  by  sages,  great 

gained  brought  her  nearer  to  her  daughter, 

men,  and  poets,  in  the  moments  when  they 

— her  daughter,  the  gift  of  the  Lord,  the 

repine  at  fortune.1  Churches  have  been 

child  of  miracle — to  her  whom  an  angel  had 

erected  at  Sephoris,  Nazareth,  and  Jeru- 

proclaimed  the  glory  of  Israel !  With  what 

salem,  on  sites  which  formed  part  of  his 

emotion  must  she  have  hailed,  from  the 

patrimony  ;  but  the  vineyard  or  field  of 

depth  of  the  valley,  that  tower  Antonia 

his  fathers  must  have  been  in  the  neighbor- 

rising  splendid  and  defiant  from  its  base 

hood  of  Sephoris,  and  led  to  his  return  to 

of  polished  marble,2  to  protect  the  house 

Lower  Galilee.  Joachim  was  a  true  Is- 

of  prayer  !  and  how  much  must  the  sight  of 

raelite,  devotedly  attached  to  the  law  of 

the  temple,  which  contained  her  child  and 

Moses  ;  he  went  up  to  the  temple  at  all  the 

hei'  God,  have  affected  that  tender  and  hol^ 

solemn  festivals  with  his  wife  and  some  of 

soul ! 

his  relations,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 

When  evening  was  come,  and  the  priestly 

Hebrews ;  and  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  the 

trumpets  called  the  people  to  the  ceremony,3 

desire  of  seeing  his  daughter  increased  his 

Anne  hastened  to  adore  God,  and  cast  her 

attraction  for  the  ceremonies  of  divine  wor- 

eyes  upon  Her  daughter,  whom  she  had  not 

ship.  With  what  joy  did  his  good  and 

seen  for  months.  The  court,  which  had  no 

pious  partner  take  her  travelling  veil  to 

canopy  but  the  sky,  mingled  the  dazzling 

journey  to  the  holy  city !  How  long  did 

light  of  its  candelabras4  with  the  uncertain 

those  paths  which  she  saw  winding  over 

light  of  the  stars  ;  thousands  of  lights 

summer  by  moonlight,  since  the  Jewish  doctors  au- 

( 2 )  The  tower  Antonia  might  be  considered  the 

thorized  a  husband  to  repudiate  his  wife  when  the 

citadel  of  the  temple ;  it  had  been  previously  the 

women  who  spun  ty  moonlight  spoke  ill  of  her. — 

palace  of  the  Asmonean  princes.  The  rock  on 

(Sotah,  c.  6,  p.  250.)  This  custom  of  spinning  by 

which  it  was  seated  was  inaccessible  on  all  sides, 

moonlight  still  continues  in  many  southern  conn- 

and  fifty  cubits  high.  Herod  had  faced  it  with 

tries. 

marble  from  top  to  bottom,  so  that  no  one  might 

( 1 )  According  to  St.  Gregory  Nyssenus,  the 

be  able  to  go  up  or  down  it. — (Josephus,  Antiquities 

father  of  the-  Blessed  Virgin  was  “  an  honorable 

of  the  Jews,  bk.  xv.,  c.  14,  and  Jewish  Wars,  bk.  ii., 

citizen,”  of  signal  piety,  and  much  fearing  God. 

c.  16.) 

Father  de  Valverde  (Life  of  Christ,  t.  i.,  p.  46)  as- 

( 3 )  The  religious  festivals  of  the  Jews  have  al- 

sures  us,  on  the  testimony  of  some  fathers  of  the 

ways  begun  in  the  evening.  > 

Church,  that  enjoying  easy  circumstances,  Anne 

( * )  These  candelabras  were  of  gold,  and  fifty 

and  Joachim  gave  one  part  of  their  savings  to  the 

cubits  high.  The  light  which  they  diffused  was 

temple  and  the  other  to  the  distressed. 

seen,  say  the  rabbis,  who  are  natural  exaggerators, 

• 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


76 


crossed  each  other  beneath  the  porticoes 
hung  with  fresh  garlands;1  and  the  chief 
priests  passed  through  the  crowd  in  their 
splendid  vestments,  brought  from  the  In¬ 
dian  shores  by  the  caravans  of  Palmyra.3 
From  time  to  time  the  harmonies  of  harps 
alone  seemed  to  accompany  the  murmur, 
like  the  roar  of  waves,3  that  rose  from  a 
multitude  of  Hebrews  at  prayer,  men  who 
had  come  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  the 
Euphrates,  and  the  Tiber,  to  bend  their 
knee  before  the  one  altar  of  the  God  of 
their  fathers.4  Amidst  this  immense  con¬ 
course  of  believers,  born  there  and  abroad, 
Anne,  who  prayed  fervently,  raised  her 
head  but  for  an  instant :  it  was  when  Mary 
and  her  young  companions  were  passing 
along,  white  and  veiled,  with  lamps  in  their 
hands  like  the  wise  virgins  of  the  gospel. 

When  the  feast  was  over,  Anne,  after 
having  blessed  and  embraced  Mary,  took 
once  more  the  mountain  road  with  Joachim  ; 
she  departed  from  J erusalem  with  lingering 
step,  not  venturing  to  look  back,  and  car¬ 
ried  with  her  her  happiness  and  recollec¬ 
tions  for  all  the  time  till  the  next  festival. 

When  age  and  labor  had  spent  the 
strength  of  Joachim,  and  he  was  no  longer 
able  to  cultivate  with  his  own  hands  his 
ancestral  field,  he  determined  to  come 

to  an  incredible  distance  from  Jerusalem,  and  even 
in  the  city  the  houses  were  so  well  lighted  that, 
without  the  help  of  their  lamps,  the  cooks  could 
pick  out  the  grain  for  their  soups. — (Talmud,  tract. 
Succa.,  fol.  3.) 

( 1 )  These  green  garlands  were  put  on  during 
the  Feast  of  Tabernacles. — (Basn.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  16.) 

( a )  The  vestments  worn  by  the  priests  in  the 
evening  of  solemn  feasts  came  from  India,  and 
were  very  expensive.-— (Basn.,  liv.  viii.,  c.  15.) 


nearer  to  his  daughter  ;  the  holy  couple 
finally  quitted  Lower  Galilee,  and  came  to 
reside  at  Jerusalem,  in  a  quarter  near  the 
temple.  Anne’s  dearest  wish  was  then 
gratified  :  she  could  serve  the  Lord  in  his 
holy  house,  and  see  Mary  often.  How 
often,  during  the  fine  summer  evenings, 
while  turning  her  spindle  on  her  terrace 
roof,  must  she  have  let  it  fall  from  her 
motionless  fingers,  while  her  maternal  looks 
were  thoughtfully  fixed  on  the  temple-roof 
of  gold  and  cedar?  “Where  a  man’s 
treasure  is,”  says  the  Scripture,  “  there  is 
his  heart.” 

St.  Anne  might  have  shortened  the  term 
of  this  painful  absence,  as  the  law  of  Moses 
would  have  accepted  her  compensation. 
She  did  not  desire  it :  her  gratitude  to¬ 
ward  God  spoke  more  powerfully  than  a 
mother’s  love  ;  and  when  the  voice  of  re¬ 
ligion  was  heard,  the  cry  of  nature  was 
appeased. 

The  Yirgin  had  lived  nearly  nine  years 
secluded  in  the  temple,5  when  the  first  dark 
cloud  came  to  sadden  the  sweet  and  serene 
sky  of  her  young  life  :  her  beloved  father, 
Joachim  the  just,  fell  seriously  ill,  and  ere 
long  the  symptoms  of  approaching  dissolu¬ 
tion  appeared.  Alarmed  at  his  situation, 
his  relatives  and  friends  hastened  to  dis- 


( 5 )  The  J ews  and  Arabs,  as  all  know,  pray  aloud. 

( 4 )  As  long  as  the  temple  stood,  the  Jews  made 
it  a  particular  point  of  devotion  to  repair  thither. 
More  than  eleven  hundred  thousand  persons  per¬ 
ished  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  under  Titus, 
because  they  were  assembled  for  the  Feast  of  the 
Pasch,  when  it  was  besieged. — (Josephus,  bk.  vii., 
c.  17.) 

(*)  Father  Croiset,  Exercises  de  Piete,  t.  xviii., 
p.  59. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  77 


play  a  thousand  testimonies  of  affection  and 
sympathy :  for  there  reigned  a  great  and 
laudable  union  among  the  families  of  Juda. 
The  d}Jng  man  benignantly  smiled  upon 
his  friends  and  relations  ;  like  Jacob,  he 
had  long  been  a  pilgrim  upon  earth,  and  it 
mattered  little  to  him  that  the  wind  of 
death  should  come  to  prostrate  his  tent,  for 
beyond  this  planet  of  earth,  he  beheld  in 
spirit  the  happy  regions  whither  he  was 
going  to  rest  forever  in  Abraham’s  bosom. 

When  his  gradually  failing  strength  told 
the  aged  man  that  life  was  fleeting  from  him, 
he  made  aloud,  in  presence  of  all,  the  con¬ 
fession  of  his  sins,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Hebrews,1  and  offered  up  his  death  to  the 
sovereign  Judge  in  expiation  of  the  faults 
inherent  in  our  nature,  from  which  the 
most  just  is  not  exempt.  This  duty  ful¬ 
filled,  Joachim  asked  for  his  daughter,  to 
give  her  his  blessing.  Mary  came  ;2  her 
ardent  prayers  for  the  preservation  of 
the  author  of  her  days  had  not  been  heard  ; 
the  jealous  God  was  pleased  to  loosen  by 
degrees  the  terrestrial  attachments  of  the 
spouse  whom  he  had  chosen  for  himself, 
that  she  might  no  longer  have  any  support 
upon  earth  but  his. 


( * )  Among  the  Hebrews  confession  is  of  the 
highest  antiquity ;  the  Jews  made  it,  at  the  hour  of 
death,  not  only  aloud  but  before  ten  persons  and  a 
rabbi.  Aaron  Ben-Berachia,  in  his  book  entitled 
Maavar  Jobbok,  where  he  treats  of  the  art  of  dy¬ 
ing  well,  and  of  the  manner  of  assisting  the  dying, 
relates  the  manner  of  confessing  sins,  and  the 
prayers  of  the  agony.  Abraham  Ben-Isaac  La- 
niado  also  composed  a  book  entitled  “The  Buckler 
of  Abraham,”  a  work  esteemed  by  the  Jews,  in 
which  he  treats  of  the  confession  of  sins. — (See 
also  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  24.) 


Pious  authors  have  been  of  opinion  that 
at  the  moment  when  Joachim  stretched  out 
his  hands  in  the  attitude  of  blessing  over 
his  child,  a  revelation  from  above  suddenly 
permitted  him  to  behold  the  glorious  des¬ 
tiny  to  which  Heaven  called  his  daughter : 
the  joy  of  the  elect  overspread  his  vener¬ 
able  countenance  ;  he  dropped  his  arms, 
bowed  down  his  head,  and  expired. 

Then  the  house  resounded  with  wailings 
and  shrill  cries ;  the  women  beat  their 
bosoms  and  tore  their  hair  ; 3  the  men 
covered  their  heads  with  ashes,  and  rent 
their  garments  ;  while  certain  Jewish  ma¬ 
trons,  impelled  by  devotion  and  charity, 
drew  a  thick  veil  over  the  pale  but  serene 
countenance  of  the  just  man  whom  it  was 
no  longer  permitted  to  see  in  this  world, 
and  bent  his  thumb  in  his  hand,  which  they 
left  open,  as  a  sign  of  its  abandoning  all 
earthly  things. 

After  Washing  the  body  with  water 
mixed  with  myrrh  and  dry  rose-leaves, 
these  pious  women  wrapped  it  up  in  a 
linen  winding-sheet,  which  they  bound 
round  with  bandages  after  the  manner  of 
Egypt.  Then,  having  opened  all  the  doors 
and  windows  of  the  house,4  they  lighted 


( 5 )  It  was  a  custom  which  came  from  the  patri¬ 
archs,  that  children  should  receive  the  blessing  of 
their  dying  father:  Mary  must  have  conformed  to 
this  custom  :  her  retirement  in  the  temple  was  not 
a  monastic  enclosure,  and  St.  Joachim  lived  at 
that  time  in  Jerusalem. 

( 3 )  St.  Jerome  remarks,  that  in  his  time,  most 
of  the  Jews  scarified  their  skin  at  the  death  of 
their  near  relations,  and  made  themselves  bald  by 
plucking  out  their  hair,  which  they  sacrificed  to 
the  dead. 

(*)  Dead  bodies,  among  the  Jews,  defile  and 


78 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


near  the  corpse  a  brazen  lamp  with  several 
wicks,  the  lamp  of  the  dead,  which  re¬ 
flected  its  sad  rays  over  the  funeral  couch. 

The  next  day  a  numerous  procession,  in 
which  some  flute-players1  might  be  seen, 
halted  before  the  house  of  the  dead.  The 
relations  made  their  way  to  the  upper 
chamber,  where  Joachim  had  been  laid  out, 
and  deposited  the  corpse  upon  a  bed,8 
which  they  took  upon  their  shoulders. 
They  passed  through  the  streets  of  Je¬ 
rusalem,  chanting  funeral  hymns  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  soft  and  plaintive  sounds  of 
flutes,  above  which  rose  the  noisy  lamenta¬ 
tions  of  the  weeping  women.  Anne  and 
Mary  were  present  at  the  funeral,  and 
walked  with  bowed  heads,  among  the  ma¬ 
trons  of  the  family,  who  shed  floods  of 
tears.3 


render  unclean  those  who  touch  them.— (Misnah, 
Ordo  puritatum.)  “When  the  doors  are  shut,  the 
house  of  the  dead  is  regarded  as  a  sepulchre,  and 
consequently  it  is  defiled ;  when  the  doors  are  open, 
on  the  contrary,  the  uncleanness  departs.”— (Mai- 
monides.) 

(:)  Jesus  Christ  found  minstrels  who  made  a 
great  rout  at  the  door  of  a  ruler,  whose  daughter 
he  had  raised  to  life.  Maimonides  says  that  the 
poorest  Jew  is  obliged  to  hire  two  flute-players  and 
a  female  mourner  for  the  funeral  of  his  wife,  and 
that  the  rich  must  increase  the  number  in  propor¬ 
tion  to  their  wealth.— (See  also  Pleury,  Manners  of 
the  Israelites,  p.  106.) 

(  )  Jhese  funeral  beds  long  preceded  coffins, 
which  are  still  unknown  to  the  Arabs,  who  bury 
their  dead  in  a  linen  cloth  only,  which  enables  the 
jackals,  who  prowl  about  the  cemeteries  by  night, 
to  disinter  corpses  and  devour  them. 

( s )  Women  and  children  attended  the  funerals 
of  their  husbands  and  fathers.  The  widow  of 
Naim  followed  the  corpse  of  her  son ;  Joseph  led 
the  obsequies  of  his  father:  this  custom  still  con- 


The  procession  passed  the  sheep-gate, 
which  afterward,  among  the  Christians,  bore 
the  name  of  the  Virgin’s  Gate.  TVdien  they 
arrived  at  the  place  of  interment,  the 
sound  of  the  flutes,  hymn,  and  lamentation 
ceased  for  a  time,  and  he  who  conducted 
the  mourning  thus  addressed  the  corpse: 
“  Blessed  be  God  who  formed  thee,  fed  thee, 
and  has  taken  away  thy  life.  0  ye  dead, 
he  knows  your  number,  and  he  will  one  day 
raise  you  Dp  again.  Blessed  be  he  who 
takes  away  life,  and  restores  it!”4 

A  small  bag  of  earth  was  laid  upon  the 
head  of  the  departed;  then  the  sepulchre 
was  opened, — a  dark  cave,  which  was 
called  the  house  of  the  living ,s  where  the 
patriarch  was  going  to  sleep  his  last  sleep, 
awaiting  the  other  members  of  his  family. 
Then  heart-rending  cries  arose  from  every 

tinues  in  Judea.  The  children  of  the  Hebrews 
received  the  blessing  of  their  parents,  closed  their 
eyelids,  and  accompanied  them  to  the  field  of  rest *  * 
to  gather  them  to  the  bones  of  their  forefathers.— 
(Salvador,  Hist,  des  Institutions  de  Mo'ise  et  du 
peuple  Hebreu,  t.  ii.,  p.  398.) 

( * )  Leo  of  Modena,  Customs  of  the  Jews.  Bux- 
torf,  Syn.  Hebr.,  p.  502. 

( 6 )  The  sepulchre  should  have  been  called  the 
house  of  the  dead ;  but  they  gave  it,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  the’ title  of  house  of  the  living,  to  indicate 
that  the  immortal  soul  still  lives  after  the  separation 
from  the  body :  this  denomination  is  attributed  to 
the  Pharisees. — (Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  24.)  The 
rabbis  describe  these  sepulchres  exactly.  They 
make  the  entrance  to  them  very  narrow,  with 
nothing  to  close  them  but  a  stone.  They  left  a 
gieat  space  empty,  where  the  bearers  went  in  and 
deposited  the-coffin,  before  they  set  it  in  its  place. 
They  hollowed  out  a  certain  number  of  niches  in 
the  sides  and  at  the  end,  in  which  they  placed  the 
bodies  of  each  family.  Tombs  were  greatly  re¬ 
spected  ;  it  was  not  allowed  to  pass  over  them  by 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  79 

side.  Anne  threw  herself  upon  the  mortal 

Hebrews ;  they  were  clothed  in  a  coarse 

remains  of  her  husband,  to  take  her  last  fare- 

camlet,  called  haircloth,  tight  and  without 

well,  and  was  soon  borne  away  in  a  state  of 

folds  ;  the  head  and  feet  bare,  the  face  hid- 

insensibility.  After  consigning  to  the  earth 

den  in  the  fold  of  their  robes,  keeping  fast 

the  holy  remains  of  the  just  man,  they  rolled 

and  abstinence,2  they  remained  sitting  on  the 

up  to  the  entrance  of  the  sepulchral  cave 

ground  for  seven  days,  giving  way  to  tears 

an  enormous  stone,  which  no  one  could 

with  their  relations,  and  praying  for  the  soul 

remove  under  pain  of  excommunication. 

of  the  deceased.3  When  the  seven  days  were 

Then  rose  again  the  funeral  cries,  and  the 

ended,  Anne  had  lamps  lighted  in  the  syn- 

spectators,  pulling  up  thrice  in  succession  a 

agogue,  where  she  requested  prayers  for  her 

tuft  of  grass,  and  casting  it  each  time  behind 

husband,  and  added  alms  suited  to  her 

them,  said  in  a  mournful  tone  :  “  They  shall 

means.  Mary,  on  her  part,  fasted  every 

flourish  as  the  grass  of  the  field!”  With 

week,  on  the  day  on  which  she  became  an 

these  rites  ended  the  obsequies  of  the  de- 

orphan,  and  prayed  every  night  and  morn- 

scendant  of  the  kings  of  Juda,  the  father  of 

ing  for  the  repose  of  her  father’s  soul. 

Mary,  the  grandfather  of  Jesus  Christ  ac- 

These  fasts  and  prayers  for  the  dead  con- 

cording  to  the  flesh.1 

tinued  for  the  space  of  eleven  months.4 

The  Blessed  Virgin’s  heart  was  crushed 

“Welcome,  0  misfortune,  if  thoucomest 

by  this  first  grief,  the  prelude  to  so  many 

alone,”  say  the  Greeks.  This  first  afflic- 

others  :  it  was  her  apprenticeship  to  sorrow. 

tion  was  follotved  by  one  still  more  poignant, 

Adversity  reached  her  on  the  threshold  of 

and  another  mourning  soon  came  to  mingle 

maidenhood  ;  the  noble  child  did  not  shrink 

with  the  mourning  for  Joachim.  Scarcely 

back  on  her  way  :  she  wept, — for  her  soul, 

was  the  mortuary  lamp  extinguished  in  the 

like  that  of  her  divine  Son,  was  never  dry 

sorrowful  abode  of  St.  Anne,  when  it  had  to 

or  insensible, — but  she  drained  the  bitter 

be  rekindled  ;  hardly  were  the  tears  dried 

cup,  saying  to  G-od:  “0  Jehovah,  thy 

which  the  Virgin  had  shed  for  one  of  the 

will  be  done  !”  The  mother  and  daughter 

authors  of  her  days,  when  she  had  to  de- 

put  on  mourning  after  the  manner  of  the 

plore  the  loss  of  the  other.5  One  evening, 

making  an  aqueduct  or  a  high-road  through  them, 

they  were  obliged  to  restrict  themselves  to  certain 

nor  to  go  thither  to  cut  wood,  nor  to  lead  flocks 

kinds  of  pulse,  beans,  for  example,  or  lentils,  which 

there  to  feed.  They  were  placed  on  the  high-roads, 

were  mourning  diet.  Eggs  were  allowed,  for  the 

in  order  to  excite  the  remembrance  of  those  who 

form  of  an  egg,  being  round,  and  in  the  shape  of  a 

passed  by,  and  keep  alive  the  memory  of  the  dead. 

globe,  is  the  image  of  a  man  in  affliction.  Wine 

— (Lightfoot,  Cent.  Chorogr.,  c.  100.)  In  the  gos- 

was  no  less  forbidden  than  meat. — (Basn.,  liv.  vii., 

pel,  we  see  that  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  was  a  cave 

c.  28.) 

closed  by  a  large  stone. 

( 3 )  During  the  days  of  mourning  they  recited 

(*)  Salom.  Ben-Virgse,  Hist.  Jud.,  p.  193:  Leo 

the  forty-ninth  psalm. — (Leo  of  Modena,  Customs 

of  Modena,  Religious  Customs  of  the  Jews ;  Basn., 

of  the  Jews,  p.  182.  Lightfoot,  on  St.  John,  p.  1072.) 

liv.  vii.,  c.  25. 

( 4 )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  11,  p.  182. 

(’)  Fasting  was  very  severe  among  the  Jews; 

(*)  According  to  the  best  authorities,  St.  Anne 

SO  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN"  MART. 

Mary,  accompanied  by  some  of  her  kins¬ 
women,  went  down  from  the  temple  to  the 
dark  narrow  street  where  her  mother 
dwelt.  The  dim  reddish  rays  of  a  lamp 
gleamed  through  one  of  the  narrow  trel- 
lised  windows  of  the  humble  dwelling.  Be¬ 
fore  the  threshold  were  grouped  together 
in  silence  those  women  who,  even  to  this  day 
throughout  the  East,  bewail  the  dead  as  a 
means  of  livelihood  ;  like  birds  of  ill  omen 
that  forebode  funerals,  these  sinister  crea¬ 
tures  watched  for  some  family  in  tears,  to 
come  and  hire  their  paid  lamentations.1 

St.  Anne  rallied  her  failing  strength  to 
bless  her  daughter,  recommended  her  pa¬ 
thetically  to  her  kinsfolk,  but  above  all  to 
Him  who  is  the  Father  of  the  orphan,  and 
slept  the  sleep  of  the  just.2  Mary  bent 
down  in  tears  over  the  cold  visage  of  her 
mother  ;  her  light  hair  mixed  with  the  gray 
locks  of  the  departed :  you  would  have 
said,  she  sought  to  recall  her  by  her  tears  ; 
but  the  breath  of  God  alone  can  reanimate 
the  dead  !  After  the  first  burst  of  justifi- 
ble  sorrow,  she  closed  with  her  hands  the 
eyelids  of  the  saint,  and  gave  her  one  long 
and  sorrowful  embrace, — the  last  farewell 
of  her  people.3 

The  grief  of  the  young  orphan  was  silent, 
profound,  and  nobly  endured.  With  no 

other  reliance  now  upon  earth  but  Provi¬ 
dence,  she  took  refuge  in  the  bosom  of  God  ; 
thence,  as  from  the  recess  of  a  tranquil  bay, 
she  heard  the  distant  roaring  of  •  the  storms 
of  the  world,  and  understood  all  the  vanity 
of  the  things  of  life  ; — the  vanity  of  rank, 
of  grandeur,  fortune,  beauty — things  that 
glitter  and  pass,  like  the  bubble  upon  the 
course  of  the  wintry  torrent,  which  itself 
disappears  at  the  end  of  a  season. 

To  this  period  of  mourning,  isolation, 
and  solitary  meditation,  a  certain  historian 
has  judiciously  ascribed  the  vow  of  per¬ 
petual  virginity  made  by  Mary.4  It  nowhere 
appears  that  this  vow  was  known  to  Anne 
and  J  oachim,  and  without  their  consent  it 
would  not  have  been  valid  in  the  eyes  of 
either  the  civil  or  religious  law.5  It  was 
after  their  death,  then,  that  Mary  chose  the 

Lord  for  her  portion,  and  consecrated  her¬ 
self  by  vow  to  his  service,  without  any  limi¬ 
tation  of  time,  says  Bernardine  de  Busto,  and 
with  the  intention  of  never  departing  from 
the  temple.  Like  the  august  head  of  her 
race,  the  Virgin  found  that  “one  day  passed 
in  the  tabernacles  of  the  God  of  Israel  was 
better  than  a  thousand  other  days,”  and  she 
too  would  have  preferred  to  be  the  last  in 
the  holy  place,  rather  than  the  first  in  the 
tents  of  Cedar. 

and  St:  J oachim  died  at  a  short  time  interval  one 
from  the  other. 

{ 1 )  In  the  Levant  they  hire,  to  mourn  for  the 
dead,  women  who  have  no  other  means  of  earning 
their  living.  They  are  paid  so  much  an  hour,  and 
exert  themselves  to  earn  their  pay  by  uttering  the 
most  piercing  cries.— (Burckhardt,  Voyage  en  Ara- 
bie,  t.  ii.,  p.  139.) 

(  )  Grave  historians  affirm  that  the  Virgin  was 

present  at  the  death  of  her  mother,  which  is  quite 
conformable  to  the  manners  of  the  Hebrews. 

( 3 )  The  custom  is  very  ancient ;  for  Philo,  re¬ 
cording  the  lamentations  of  Jacob  for  the  prema 
ture  death  of  his  son,  makes  him  regret  that  he 
shall  not  have  the  consolation  “  to  close  his  eyes, 
and  give  him  the  farewell  kiss.” 

( 4 )  Doscoutures,  Vie  de  la  Sainte  Vierge,  p.  27. 

( 6 )  A  young  girl  might  take  vows  among  the 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  81 


o 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  MARRIAGE  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 


WHETHER  Joacliim  on  his  death¬ 
bed  had  placed  the  virgin  under 
the  special  protection  of  the  priesthood  ;  or 
because  the  magistrates  who  took  care  of 
orphans  had  themselves  chosen  guardians 
for  her  in  the  powerful  family  of  Aaron,  to 
which  she  belonged  on  her  mother’s  side  ;  , 
or  whether  the  guardianship  of  children  ^ 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  temple  be¬ 
longed  by  right  to  the  Levites,  it  is  certain 
that  after  the  death  of  the  authors  of  her 
days,  Mary  had  guardians  of  the  priestly 
race.  It  is  probable,  as  Arab  traditions 
affirm,  that  the  cares  of  this  guardianship 
were  especially  confided  to  the  pious  spouse 
of  Elizabeth,  to  Zachary,  who  seemed  desig¬ 
nated  by  his  high  reputation  for  virtue,  and 

Jews,  and  she  could  even  take  a  vow  of  virginity; 
but  this  vow  was  annulled  by  the  authority  of  the 
father,  because  being  under  the  father’s  power,  she 
could  not  violate  the  power  which  nature  gives. 
All  vows  made  by  a  virgin  or  a  married  woman, 
unknown  to  or  contrary  to  the  will  of  a  father  or  a 
husband,  were  void. — (Num.  c.  xxx.)  Some  rabbis, 
however,  maintain  that  the  father  or  husband 
must  annul  them  within  twenty-four  hours  after 
they  came  to  their  knowledge,  in  default  of  which 
they  held  good. — (Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  19.) 

( 1 )  The  Jews,  together  with  Celsus,  Porphyrius, 
and  Fanstus,  have  taken  this  relationship  as  their 
ground  for  maintaining  that  the  Blessed  Virgin 
was  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Catholic  doctors  oppose 
this  opinion :  they  maintain  that  Mary  was  of  the 
tribe  of  Juda,  and  family  of  David.  In  fact,  St. 
Matthew  teaches  us  that  Jesus  Christ  is  called  the 
6 


bis  title  of  near  relative,1  for  this  responsi¬ 
ble  duty.2  The  eagerness  which  led  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  two  or  three  years  later,  to 
travel  all  through  Judea,  to  offer  her  ser¬ 
vices  and  congratulations  to  the  mother  of 
St.  John  Baptist,  and  her  prolonged  stay  in 
the  mountains  of  Hebron,  seem,  in  fact,  to 
show  a  more  intimate  connection  than  that 
of  mere  relationship  ;  the  roof  which  shel¬ 
tered  Mary  during  so  long  a  visit  could 
not  have  been,  according  to  the  ideas  so 
strictly  adhered  to  among  the  Hebrews,  any 
but  a  roof  as  sacred  as  her  father’s. 

Whoever  the  priests  may  have  been  who 
were  honored  with  the  guardianship  of  the 
blessed  daughter  of  Anne  the  holy,  they 
scrupulously  discharged  the  obligations  im- 

Son  of  David,  according  to  the  flesh ;  but  he  can 
be  the  Son  of  David  only  through  Mary,  since  he 
had  no  father  among  men.  When  it  is  asked,  how 
it  can  he  that  Mary,  being  of  the  tribe  of  Juda, 
could  be  cousin  to  St.  Elizabeth,  who  was  of  the 
tribe  of  Levi,  St.  Augustine  answers  that  there  is 
nothing  impossible  in  a  man  of  the  tribe  of  Juda 
taking  a  wife  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  sprung  from  this  marriage,  should 
be  the  relation  of  Elizabeth  on  her  mother’s  side. 
It  is  proved,  moreover,  that  the  prohibition  to  con¬ 
tract  an  alliance  with  another  tribe  regarded  none 
but  orphans  who  were  heiresses  of  the  property  of 
their  fathers. 

(2)  The  Koran,  where  many  Arab  traditions 
are  found  relating  to  Mary,  says  formally  that 
Zachary  took  her  under  his  protection. — (Koran, 
c.  3.) 


4 


S2  life  of  the  blessed  virgin  mart.. 

posed  by  theft  charge,  and  when  the  Yir- 

mulgation  of  that  immortal  code  which  glo- 

gin  had  attained  her'  fifteenth  year,  they 

riously  raised  her  from  the  malediction  of 

thought  of  giving  her  a  spouse  worthy  of 

servitude. 

her.  This  projected  marriage  threw  Mary 

The  Virgin’s  entreaties  found  therefore 

into  extreme  affliction  •  that  elevated,  pure, 

but  little  sympathy  among  the  priests  of  Je- 

contemplative  soul  had  foretasted  the  gos- 

hovah  ;  they  had  not  risen  to  the  height  of 

pel,  and  virginity  appeared  to  her  the  most 

such  virtues  ;  and  to  these  men  of  penetra- 

perfect,  holy,  and  desirable  of  all  states. 

tion  and  science,  the  angelic  and  all-holy 

An  ancient  author,  cited  by  St.  Gregory  of 

soul  of  Mary  was  a  book  closed  with  seven 

Nyssa,  relates  that  she  for  a  long  time,  with 

brazen  seals.  Her  thought,  which  was  in 

great  modesty,  shrunk  from  consenting  to 

advance  of  the  age  in  which  she  lived, 

• 

the  determination  when  made  known  to 

and  repugnant  to  the  ancient  prejudices 

her,  and  that  she  humbly  entreated  her 

of  her  nation,  was  simply  incomprehensi- 

family  to  permit  her  to  lead  in  the  temple 

ble,  and  all  her  arguments  to  escape  em- 

an  innocent,  hidden  life,  free  from  all  ties, 

bracing  a  state  contrary  to  her  dearest 

except  those  of  the  Lord.  Her  request 

desires  availed  her  nothing.  How  indeed 

caused  great  surprise  in  those  who  were  dis- 

could  she  have  convinced  them  since  God 

posing  of  her  lot.  What  she  implored  as 

himself  was  against  her  ?  Her  marriage 

a  favor  was  sterility — that  is  to  say,  re- 

with  a  just  man,  who  would  attest  the 

proach, — a  state  solemnly  anathematized 

purity  of  her  life,  free  her  from  the  im- 

by  the  law  of  Moses  ■}  it  was  the  celibacy 

portunities  of  the  young  Hebrews,  who 

of  an  only  heiress2 — that  is  to  say,  the  total 

might  seek  her  hand  even  in  the  tern- 

extinction  of  her  father’s  name, — a  thought 

pie,  as  St.  Augustine  remarks,3  and  who 

considered  almost  impious  among  the  Jews, 

would  protect  her  and  her  divine  Son  in 

who  regarded  it  as  a  signal  misfortune  for 

the  hour  of  danger,  entered  into  the  secret 

their  name  not  to  be  perpetuated  in  Israel. 

views  of  Providence.  It  was  the  only 

As  to  the  vow  of  virginity,  with  which  she 

means  of  concealing  the  mystery  of  the 

had  desired  to  bind  herself  for  life,  she 

Incarnation  from  the  malevolent  investi- 

would  not  have  dared  to  rely  upon  that, 

gations  of  a  perverse  world,  which  would 

since  it  might  be  annulled  by  a  decision  of 

have  made  the  prodigy  a  pretext  for  abom- 

the  family  council.  It  is  well  known  that 

inable  conjectures,  and  would  perhaps  have 

the  woman  was,  “everywhere,  and  at  all 

carried  their  false  zeal  so  far  as  to  stone 

times,”  treated  as  a  minor,  before  the  pro- 

the  mother  of  our  Saviour,  as  they  after- 

(‘)  Origen  remarks  that  the  law  attached  a 

the  Messias  was  to  spring,  should  end  by  a  sole 

curse  to  sterility;  for  it  is  written,  “Let  him 

heiress,  who,  becoming  the  mother  of  the  eternal 

who  shall  not  leave  of  his  race  in  Israel  be  ac- 

heir  of  the  throne  of  David,  should  thereby  crown 

cursed.” 

and  terminate  his  race. — (Oldhausen.) 

( 1 )  Mary  was  an  heiress,  because  it  appears  con- 

( 8 )  St.  Aug.,  De  Sancta  Virg.,  c.  4. 

gruous  that  the  descendance  from  David,  whence 

• 

LTFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  83 

ward  sought  to  stone  the  sinful  woman  in 

brews  hoped  ere  long  to  see  the  day  when 

the  gospel  j1  for  the  Hebrews  never  counted 

the  eagles  should  fly  before  the  emerald 

'mercy  among  their  cherished  virtues,  and 

standard,2  and  when  the  motto  of  the 

God  himself  reproaches  them,  by  the 

Macchabees3  should  wave  victorious  above 

mouth  of  his  prophets,  with  having  a  heart 

that  of  the  Roman  senate.  Never  had  the 

as  hard  as  adamant. 

accomplishment  of  the  Messianic  oracles 

To  these  powerful  reasons,  hidden  in- 

appeared  so  near ;  how  inauspicious  then 

deed  in  the  inscrutable  abyss  of  God’s 

the  moment  for  obtaining  the  favor  which 

councils,  was  added  another  reason  derived 

the  chaste  young  virgin  besought ! 

from  the  source  of  antediluvian  traditions 

According  to  the  Gospel  of  the  Nativity 

and  national  pride,  which,  of  itself,  would 

of  Mary,  and  the  Protevangelion  of  St. 

have  left  but  little  chance  of  success  to  the 

James,  the  guardians  of  the  Blessed  Yir- 

Yirgin’s  timid  opposition.  Perpetual  chas- 

gin,  without  regarding  her  repugnance 

tity,  which  Christians  have  made  the  queen 

and  pleadings,  called  a  meeting  of  her 

of  virtues,  was  little  better  than  insanity 

nearest  relatives,  all  of  the  race  of  David 

among  the  disciples  of  Moses,  who  lived  for 

and  the  tribe  of  Juda  like  herself,4  in 

so  many  ages  in  the  anxious  expectation 

order  to  proceed  to  the  selection  of  the 

of  the  Messias-King  (Melech  Hamaschiak). 

spouse  whom  they  were  forcing  upon  her. 

A  young  flower  of  the  stem  of  Jesse,  a 

Among  those  who  might  aspire  to  her 

daughter  of  David,  was  not  at  liberty  to 

hand  were  found  a  host  of  young  Israel- 

decline  the  marriage  yoke ;  she  owed  a  son 

ites, — some  brave  and  valiant,  others  pos- 

to  the  ambitious  piety  of  her  family,  who 

sessed  of  fertile  fields,  vineyards,  flocks, 

would  not  have  renounced,  for  all  the  treas- 

and  olive-groves.  The  captains  of  Juda 

ures  of  the  Great  King,  the  hope  of  one 

would  have  added  to  Mary’s  portion  part 

day  reckoning  among  their  numbers  the 

of  the  spoils  and  slaves  taken  in  battle  ; 

liberator  of  Israel.  This  hope — which  had 

the  nabobs  of  her  tribe  would  have  covered 

upheld  the  Jews  when  the  Chaldeans, 

her  with  gold-wrought  India  stuffs  and 

mounted  on  horses  swifter  than  eagles ,  had 

double-dyed  Tyrian  purple  ;  while  the  sons 

violently  rent  the  turreted  girdle  of  Sion, 

of  commerce,  who  trafficked  in  the  emer- 

and  transplanted  her  people  to  the  banks 

aids  of  Egypt,  the  turquoises  of  Iran,  and 

of  the  Euphrates — had  been  wrought  to  a 

pearls  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  would  have 

fierce  desire  of  vengeance,  since  the  Ro- 

laid  at  her  feet  chains  of  precious  stones, 

mans  acquired  sway  in  Asia.  The  He- 

costly  bracelets,  ear-rings  worth  a  prince’s 

( 1 )  St.  John  Chrysost.,  Serm.  3,  in  Matt. 

( 4 )  Every  heiress  to  a  property,  and  not  daugh- 

( 8 )  The  banner  of  Juda  was  green. — (Dom  Cal- 

ters  in  general,  as  the  Vulgate  says,  was  hound 

met.) 

to  marry  a  man  of  her  own  family  and  tribe. 

( 8 )  This  motto  of  the  Macchabees  contained 

and  not  her  nearest  relation,  as  Montesquieu  has 

these  words — “Who  is  like  to  thee,  0  Eternal? 

said,  in  order  that  inheritances  might  not  be  trans- 

Mi  camocha  iaehin,  Jehovah  ?” 

ferred  from  one  tribe  to  another. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


84 


ransom — in  fine,  all  the  magnificent  and 
brilliant  badges  of  the  servitude  of  the 
weaker  sex.  But  these  illustrious  as¬ 
pirants  were  weighed  in  the  balance  and 
found  wanting.  Disdaining  the  advantages 
of  youth,  beauty,  rank,  fortune,  and  mar¬ 
tial  glory,  the  priestly  guardians  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  ancients  of  her 
house,  fixed  their  choice  upon  a  man  ad¬ 
vanced  in  age,1  a  decayed  patrician,  whose 
estates  had  been  swallowed  up  by  the 
political  revolutions  and  religious  wars 
of  Judea,  as  a  drop  of  rain  is  swallowed 
up  in  the  sea,  leaving  him  only  his 
mechanic’s  tools  and  his  arms.  This 
commoner  of  noble  race — a  widower,2 
says  the  Protevangelion  of  St.  James, 
but  still  unmarried  according  to  St.  Je¬ 
rome,  whose  opinion  has  prevailed  in  the 

( 1 )  The  Protevangelion  of  St.  James,  c.  2,  and 
the  Gospel  of  the  Nativity  of  Mary,  c.  8,  books  of 
which  the  contents  have  been  approved,  for  the 
most  part,  even  by  the  fathers  of  the  Church, 
merely  say  that  he  was  already  old.  St.  Epipha- 
nius  makes  J oseph  eighty  at  the  time  of  his  mar¬ 
riage;  Father  Pezron,  fifty;  and  Mother  Mary  de 
Jesus  de  Agreda,  in  her  Mistica  Ciudad,  thirty- 
three.  The  supposition  of  St.  Epiphanius  will  not 
hear  examination ;  it  is,  moreover,  solemnly  re¬ 
futed  by  the  Hebrew  law,  which  forbids  the  alliance 
of  a  young  woman  with  an  old  man,  and  classes  it 
with  things  the  most  disgraceful. — (Basnage,  liv. 
vii.,  c.  21,  Histoire  des  Institutions  de  Moise.) 
Neither  the  high  priests  nor  Joseph  would  have 
been  willing  to  do  a  thing  condemned  by  the  law. 
The  age  attributed  to  St.  Joseph  by  Mary  de 
Agreda  does  not  agree  with  the  opinion  of  the 
Fatheis;  the  other  opinion,  that  of  Father  Pezron, 
seems  most  probable. 

(’)  Several  Fathers  have  thought  St.  Joseph 
a  "\\  ldowei  when  he  espoused  the  Blessed  "Virgin. 
The  Protevangelion  of  St.  James,  and  the  Gos- 


Church— was  Joseph,  the  carpenter  of 
Nazareth. 

When  we  reflect  on  the  rare  beauty  of 
Mary,  the  education  which  she  had  re¬ 
ceived  in  the  temple,  the  great  alliances 
of  her  family,  her  position  as  an  heiress, 
which  made  her,  among  the  Jews, — who 
portioned  their  wives,  and  received  hardly 
anything  from  them,3 — a  desirable,  and 
even  brilliant  match,  we  might  well  be 
astonished  at  this  family  decision,  did  not 
the  Fathers  assure  us  that  Joseph  was 
chosen  by  lot,  and  by  the  express  mani¬ 
festation  of  the  divine  will.4  An  ancient 
tradition,  recorded  in  the  Protevangelion 
of  St.  James,  and  mentioned  by  St.  Je¬ 
rome,  relates  that  the  candidates,  after 
having  prayed  to  Him  who  presides  over 
the  lots,  deposited  over-night  in  the  temple, 

pel  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin,  assure  us  that  he 
was  a  widower :  St.  Epiphanius  says  that  he  had 
had  four  sons  and  two  daughters ;  St.  Hyppolytus 
of  Thebes  calls  his  first  wife  Salome;  Origen, 
Eusebius,  St.  Ambrose,  and  many  other  fathers, 
have  adopted  the  same  opinion.  Nevertheless, 
this  opinion  is  the  least  followed,  and  it  is  com¬ 
monly  believed  that  St.  Joseph  had  lived  in  vir¬ 
ginity.  This  is  the  opinion  of  St.  Jerome,  who, 
writing  against  Helvidius,  says  expressly,  “  We  read 
nowhere  that  he  had  any  wife  but  Mary:  aliam 
emn  uxorem  Tiabuisse  non  scribitur.”  St.  Augustine 
leaves  the  question  undecided ;  but  St.  Peter  Da¬ 
mian  affirms  that  the  whole  Church  believes  that 
St.  Joseph,  who  passed  for  the  father  of  our 
Saviour,  was  a  virgin  like  Mary. 

( 3 )  At  the  time  of  contracting  marriage,  the 
wife  received  from  her  relations  only  things  neces¬ 
sary  for  her  attire.  The  husband  furnished  the 
dowry. — (Salvador,  Institutions  de  Moise,  t.  ii.,  c.  1.) 

(4)  Evangel,  de  Nativ.  Mar.,  c.  7;  Protev.  Jac., 
c.  8 ;  Hier.  in  Dam.,  lib.  iv.,  c.  5 ;  Greg.  Naz.,  horn, 
de  S.  Nat.;  Niceph.,  lib.  ii.,  c.  7. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


each  one  his  branch  of  almond  ;  and  that 
the  next  day  the  dry  and  dead  branch  of 
Joseph,  the  son  of  Jacob,  the  son  of 
Mathan,  was  found  green  and  blossoming, 
like  that  which  had  before  confirmed  the 
priesthood  to  the  sons  of  Aaron.  The  his¬ 
tory  of  Mount  Carmel  claims  that  on  be¬ 
holding  this  prodigy,  which  destroyed  his 
hopes,  a  young  patrician,  belonging  to  one 
of  the  most  powerful  families  of  Judea,  and 
possessed  of  a  great  fortune,  broke  his  rod 
with  every  sign  of  despair,  and  fled  to  im¬ 
mure  himself  in  one  of  the  grottoes  of 
Carmel  with  the  disciples  of  Elias.1 

When  the  choice  of  the  guardians  was 
determined,  it  was  announced  to  Mary,  and 
this  admirable  young  virgin,  accustomed 
to  elegant  occupations,  brought  up  in  the 
midst  of  the  perfumes,  melodious  strains, 
and  fairy  magnificence  of  the  holy  house, 
did  not  hesitate  to  devote  herself  to  a  life 
of  obscurity,  to  low  and  common  employ¬ 
ments,  and  painful  cares,  with  the  humble 
artisan  presented  to  her  by  her  relations. 
A  divine  inspiration,  it  is  said,  had  made 
known  to  her  that  this  just  man  would  be 
to  her  no  more  than  a  protector,  a  father, 
a  guardian  of  her  chastity : 2  what  would 
she  more  ?  The  Lord  had  heard  her 
prayer :  while  leaving  her  faithful  to  the 

( 1 )  This  young  pretender  to  the  Virgin,  who  is 
said  to  have  been  named  Agabus,  subsecpiently 
became  a  Christian  celebrated  for  sancity. — (See 
Hist,  du  Carmel,  c.  12.) 

C)  Vie  de  la  Sainte  Vierge,  by  Descoutures, 
p.  49 ;  Life  of  Christ,  by  Father  Valverde,  t.  i., 
p.  71. 

(’* )  Artisans  are  still  held  in  distinguished  esti¬ 
mation  in  Judea.  “In  Palestine  and  in  Syria,” 
says  Burckhardt,  “the  companies  of  artisans  are 


85 


vow  which  she  had  made,  he  gave  her,  in 
addition,  the  merit  of  obedience. 

The  marriage  proposed  between  Joseph 
and  Mary  must  have  caused  some  surprise 
at  Nazareth  and  at  Jerusalem  ;  for  there 
was  no  equality  in  the  age,  fortune,  and 
condition  of  the  future  pair.  It  would  be 
a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that  this 
union,  which  appears  so  strangely  incom¬ 
patible,  was  considered  in  Jewish  society — 
a  society  of  simple  and  primitive  habits — 
as  a  shamefully  ill-sorted  alliance.  Without 
holding  any  distinguished  rank  in  the  state, 
the  profession  of  an  artisan  was  neither 
abject  nor  degrading  in  Israel.3  We  see 
in  the  genealogy  of  the  tribe  of  Juda  one 
family  of  workers  in  fine  linen,  and  another 
of  potters,  whose  memory  is  in  honor,  and 
the  Scripture  has  handed  down  to  posterity 
the  names  of  Beseleel  and  Hiram ;  we 
know  that  St.  Paul,  trained  in  the  study 
of  the  laws,  the  famous  Pharisee  doctor 
Hillel,  and  after  them  a  great  number  of 
doctors,  who,  in  the  emphatic  language  of 
the  rabbis,  “sowed  light  amidst  the  holy 
nation,”  devoted  themselves  to  the  less 
esteemed  mechanic  arts,  and  were  not 
ashamed  of  it.  Nay,  more  :  every  Is¬ 
raelite  was  an  artisan  ;  for  every  father  of 
a  family,  whatever  his  social  position,  was 

almost  as  mucli  respected  as  they  were  in  the 
middle  ages  in  France  and  Germany.  A  master 
artisan  is  quite  on  a  level  there,  in  rank  and  con¬ 
sideration,  with  a  merchant  of  the  second  class ; 
he  may  take  a  wife  of  the  respectable  families  of 
the  city,  and  has  generally  more  influence  in  his 
locality  than  a  merchant  whose  fortune  is  three 
times  as  great  as  his  own.” — (Burckhardt,  Travels 
in  Arabia,  t.  ii.,  p.  139.) 


86 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


bound  to  teacli  his  son  a  trade,  unless ,  said 
the  law,  he  wished  to  make  him  a  thief} 

The  J ews,  whose  patrimony  was  locked 
up  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  had  no  alter¬ 
native,  while  waiting  for  the  grand  epoch 
which  was  to  re-establish  their  fortunes, 
but  to  exile  themselves,  or  live  poorly  by 
manual  labor  amid  their  native  mountains. 
Those  whom  love  of  country  led  to  adopt 
this  latter  alternative  remained  eligible  to 
any  office,  and  contracted  no  disqualifica¬ 
tion.  Israel  had  no  castes,  like  Egypt  and 
India  ;  her  whole  pride  centred  in  her  re¬ 
ligious  belief  and  in  descent  from  the  pa¬ 
triarchs.  “  To  be  descended  from  Abraham 
according  to  the  flesh,”  says  the  eagle  of 
Meaux,  “  was  a  distinction  which  naturally 
raised  them  above  all  others.”  In  fact,  the 
lowest  of  the  Hebrews  considered  himself 
a  prince  in  comparison  with  strangers.2 

Yet  there  were  among  the  Jews,  as 
among  the  Arabs,  tribes  more  illustrious, 
houses  more  noble  than  others  :  the  tribe 
of  Juda,  which  bore  the  national  standard 
at  the  head  of  the  thousands  of  Israel  in 
the  day  of  battle,  and  from  which  the 
sceptre  was  •  not  to  depart  till  the  coming 
of  the  Messias,  had  always  had  the  pre¬ 
eminence  ;  and  the  family  of  David  was 
the  first  and  most  honored  among  the 
families  of  Juda.  Now  Joseph,  though 
poor,  was  of  the  race  of  David  ;  the  blood 
of  twenty  kings  flowed  in  his  veins,  and 
Zorobabel,  one  of  his  ancestors,  brought 


back  the  people  of  God  from  the  land  of 
exile.  From  that  time  the  glory  of  his 
house  had  gradually  become  obscured  ; 
his  family  had  become  confounded  with  the 
people,  like  those  of  Moses  and  Samuel, 
but  his  illustrious  origin  was  known  :  in 
our  days,  the  lowest  of  the  Abassides,  who 
vegetate  in  the  depths  of  the  Hedsjaz,  are 
no  less  respected  as  the  descendants  of 
Aaron-el-Raschid,  and  no  Arab  family 
Vbuld  disdain  to  contract  an  alliance  with 
them. 

Hence  the  holy  daughter  of  Joachim  did 
not  abase  herself  as  much  as  might  be 
supposed  by  marrying  the  carpenter. 
But  if  we  take  a  higher  view  of  this  union, 
at  first  sight  so  ill-assorted,  we  discover 
that  it  was  in  reality  a  noble  alliance. 
God  did  not  give  as  a  spouse  to  the  Virgin 
after  his  own  heart,  a  man  whose  whole  merit 
consisted  in  his  fields,  his  vineyards,  his 
golden  shekels, — things  which  often  change 
masters,  and  are  no  more  inherent  in  the 
rich  man  than  the  garments  which  he  lays 
off  at  night :  he  gave  her  a  just  man, — the 
most  perfect  of  his  works.  The  Lord  is 
not  taken  with  the  empty  toys  that  dazzle 
the  vulgar  ;  in  his  eyes  all  ranks  are  equal 
among  poor  creatures,  who  creep  about  the 
dust  for  a  moment,  to  become  in  a  short 
time  the  food  of  worms.  “Man  judges  by 
those  things  that  appear,”  says  the  Scrip¬ 
ture,  “but  the  Lord  regarcleth  the  heart.” 
If  God  chose  the  humble  Joseph  for  the * (*) 


( 1 )  Every  man  who  does  not  give  his  children  a 
trade,  says  the  school  of  the  Pharisees,  prepares  them 
for  an  evil  life.  “  Be  not  a  burden  to  any  one 
never  say,  I  am  a  man  of  a  quality,  this  employment 
suits  me  not.  Rabbi  Johanan  learned  the  tanner’s 


trade ;  Nahum,  that  of  a  copyist  ;  another  Johanan 
made  sandals ;  and  Rabbi  Juda  was  a  baker.”— (Tal¬ 
mud,  Tract.  Kidouschim.  Pessarh,  Aboth ;  Soto.) 

( * )  In  losing  their  nationality,  the  Jews  did  not 
lose  this  opinion,  which  they  still  maintain. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  YIRGIN  MARY.  87 

spouse  of  the  Queen  of  angels,  for  the 

terms.2  The  husband  promised  to  honor 

adoptive  father  of  the  Messias,  it  was  be- 

liis  wife,  to  provide  for  her  support,  her 

cause  he  possessed  treasures  of  grace  and 

food,  her  clothing,  according  to  the  custom 

sanctity,  enough  to  excite  the  envy  of  the 

of  Hebrew  husbands,  and  settled  upon 

celestial  intelligences  ;  it  was  because  his 

her  a  dowry  of  two  hundred  zuses  (fifty 

virtues  had  made  him  the  first  of  his  nation, 

crowns),  a  portion  alike  for  the  daughter  of 

and  because  he  was  placed  much  higher 

a  prince  as  for  the  daughter  of  the  people, 

than  Coesar  in  the  book  of  life,  those 

but  to  which  they  were  free  to  add  some- 

heraldic  annals  of  eternity.  The  Virgin 

thing  in  proportion  to  their  fortune.  After 

was  not  confided  to  the  most  powerful,  but 

making  this  dowry  a  lien  upon  all  that  he 

to  the  most  worthy  :  thus  the  ark,  which 

possessed,  and  even  upon  his  mantle,  which 

the  princes  and  valiant  men  of  Israel  did 

the  law,  however,  did  not  suffer  to  be  taken 

not  dare  to  approach,  for  fear  of  being 

till  after  his  death,3  Joseph  signed  the  con- 

struck  dead,  drew  down  the  benedictions 

tract,  to  which  Marv  also  affixed  her  signa- 

of  heaven  upon  the  house  of  a  simple  Le- 

ture.  A  short  benediction  in  praise  of 

vite,  under  whose  poor  roof  it  found  shelter. 

God  terminated  this  ceremony,  which  was 

The  espousals  of  Mary  were  celebrated 

required  to  take  place  several  months  be- 

with  all  the  simplicity  of  ancient  times. 

fore  the  actual  marriage. 

Joseph,  in  presence  of  the  guardians  and 

The  nuptials  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  were 

a  few  witnesses,  presented  her  with  a  piece 

celebrated  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  most  ex- 

of  silver,  the  value  of  which  is  now  un- 

alted  members  of  her  family  made  it  a  duty 

known,1  saying  to  her,  “  If  thou  consentest 

to  appear  at  it  with  that  splendor  which  is 

to  be  my  bride,  accept  this  pledge.”  Mary, 

peculiar  to  the  East,  and  which  European 

by  accepting  this  gift,  was  solemnly  en- 

travellers  never  mention  without  astonished 

gaged,  and  a  sentence  of  divorce  alone 

admiration,  even  the  common  people  clis- 

could  from  that  day  restore  her  liberty. 

playing  on  these  occasions  a  pomp  absolutely 

Scribes  drew  up  the  contract ;  it  was  short, 

unparalleled.4  Not  to  invite  all  their  rela- 

and  but  little  obscured  with  technical 

tions  on  so  solemn  an  occasion,  would  have 

( 1 )  Hillel  and  Schammay  disputed  warmly  about 

husbands,  who  honor  their  wives,  and  support 

the  value  of  this  piece  of  money  at  espousals,  men- 

them  as  it  is  befitting.  I  give  thee  at  once . 

tioned  in  the  Talmud,  without  being  able  to  come 

(the  sum  adjudged  by  the  law),  and  promise  thee, 

to  an  agreement. — (Basn.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21.) 

besides  nourishment,  clothes,  and  whatever  shall 

( 2 )  The  following  is  the  literal  form  of  Hebrew 

be  necessary  for  thee,  conjugal  friendship,  a  thing 

marriage-contracts,  which  has  come  down  from  the 

common  to  all  the  nations  of  the  world.’  Rachel 

most  remote  times,  and  which  Joseph  and  Mary 

consented  to  become  the  wife  of  Benjamin,  who,  of 

must  have  used : — “  In  the  year  ....  the  ....  day 

his  full  consent,  to  form  a  dowry  in  proportion  to 

of  the  month  ....  Benjamin,  son  of  ... .  said  to 

his  own  fortune,  adds  to  the  portion  above-named 

Rachel,  daughter  of .  .  .  . :  ‘  Become  my  wife,  under 

the  sum  of  .  .  .  .” — (Institut.  de  Mo'ise.) 

the  law  of  Moses  and  of  Israel.  I  promise  to 

( 3 )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21. 

honor  thee,  to  provide  for  thy  support,  thy  food, 

( 4 )  “In  Europe  we  have  no  idea  of  the  luxury 

thy  clothing,  according  to  the  custom  of  Hebrew 

displayed  on  similar  occasions  in  the  East,”  says 

- - -  ^ 

88  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.  MARY. 

been  refusing  to  follow  the  ancient  customs 
of  their  forefathers, — a  thing  impossible  t<3 
suppose  in  that  traditionary  nation  which 
was  as  immutable  in  its  customs  as  in  its 
religious  practices,  according  to  the  truth¬ 
ful  remark  of  Philo  Judmus  to  the  Em¬ 
peror  Caius  ;  such  a  course  would  indeed 
have  been  a  violation  of  the  proprieties  of 
Hebrew  society,  and  of  Mary’s  compliance 
with  these  we  have  a  proof  in  her  presence 
at  the  marriage  of  Cana. 

One  fine  winter  afternoon,1  at  the  mo¬ 
ment  when  the  new  moon  rose  slowly  be¬ 
hind  the  mountains,2  a  long  procession  of 
richly  dressed  women  was  seen  proceeding 
toward  the  habitation  of  Mary  ;  the  light 
of  torches  of  resinous  fir,  borne  by  a 
number  of  slaves,  flashed  on  their  golden 
girdles,  their  clustered  pearls,  the  crescents 
of  gems  which  they  wore  on  their  fore¬ 
heads,  and  the  diamonds  of  their  Persian 
tiaras.3  These  daughters  of  Sion  still  re¬ 
tained  the  use  of  cosmetics,  which  were 
known  as  early  as  the  time  of  Jezabel ; 
their  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  were  dyed 
black,  and  the  tips  of  their  fingers  were 
red,  like  the  berry  of  the  eglantine.4  In- 

trocluced  into  the  interior  apartment,  where 
the  young  and  holy  bride  waited  in  com¬ 
pany  with  certain  pious  matrons  of  her 
kindred,  they  blessed  God,  who  gave  her 
a  protector  in  the  person  of  a  spouse,  and 
complimented  her  upon  her  marriage,  in 
the  joy  of  which  they  came  to  participate. 

Belonging  to  Jewish  society,  where  all 
the  details  of  the  dress  of  young  brides 
was  a  biblical  reminiscence  with  which  it 
was  not  lawful  to  dispense,  Mary  was 
obliged  to  submit  temporarily  to  the  re¬ 
quirements  of  oriental  luxury,  little  as  this 
luxury  influenced  her.  Gold,  pearls,  rich 
fabrics,  are  not  in  themselves  things  to  be 
condemned  •  the  evil  lies  in  the  thoughts 
of  pride  and  vanity  they  excite  in  weak 
heads  and  light  minds.  Beneath  garments 
heavy  with  embroidery  and  adorned  with 
precious  stones,  Queen  Bathildes  was'  more 
humble  than  the  tow-clad  women  with 
whom  she  lived  in  seclusion  after  her  glori¬ 
ous  regency ;  the  chroniclers  of  the  time 
relate  this  with  simplicity. 

Avoiding,  therefore,  any  show  of  neg¬ 
ligence  in  her  dress,  which  would  have 
given  offence,  since  custom  required  the 

Father  Geraint),  in  his  Pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  ; 
“the  wedding-dresses  of  almost  all  women  is  of  red 
velvet  embroidered  with  gold;  they  add  to  it  deco¬ 
rations  of  diamonds,  fine  pearls,  &c.”  M.  de  La¬ 
martine  was  equally  astonished  at  the  splendid 
costumes,  and  the  profusion  of  precious  stones 
worn  by  the  Syrian  women  at  the  weddings  of 
their  countrywomen. 

( 1 )  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
Church  permitted  this  feast  to  be  kept;  it  is  cele¬ 
brated  on  the  2-id  of  January,  the  day  on  which  it 
is  said  that  the  marriage  of  Mary  and  Joseph  was 
solemnized.  The  city  of  Arras  keeps  this  feast  on 

the  23d  of  January,  and  some  churches  in  Flanders 
on  the  24th  of  the  same  month. 

( 2 )  All  days  were  not  chosen  alike  for  celebrat¬ 
ing  the  marriages  of  the  Israelites;  the  time  of  the 
new  moon  was  usually  selected,  and  a  Wednesday 
in  preference  to  any  other  days  of  the  week. — 

(Basn.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21.) 

( 5 )  Isaias,  c.  iii. 

( 4 )  Throughout  the  East,  the  women  stain  the 
tips  of  their  fingers  with  henna  ( lausonia  inermis, 

Linn.)  This  plant  is  very  plentiful  in  the  Island 
•  of  Cyprus. 

LIFE  OF  TIIE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  89 

married  couple,  as  well  as  their  guests,  to 
an  established  costume — as  the  gospel  par¬ 
able  of  the  wedding  garment  would  inform 
us,  even  if  all  the  East,  both  ancient  and 
modern,  were  not  at  hand  to  declare  it, — 
the  young  descendant  of  the  kings  of  J uda 
must  have  worn,  on  this  occasion,  rich  and 
suitable  costume,  and  authentic  relics  prove 
iu  fact  that  so  it  was.1 

Her  robe,  which  was  preserved  as  a  pre¬ 
cious  treasure  in  Palestine,  whence  it  was 
sent  to  Constantinople  about  the  year  461, 
as  Nicephorus  informs  us,  was  precious 
both  from  its  design  and  its  ornaments. 
The  ground  was  of  the  color  of  nankeen, 
with  blue,  white,  violet,  and  gold  flowers  : 
it  is  now  the  holy  relic  of  Chartres.2 

In  memory  of  the  ancient  times  and  pa- 

triarchal  manners  of  her  fathers,  she  wore, 
like  Rebecca,  ear-rings  and  bracelets  of 
gold,  the  modest  and  indispensable  present 
which  Joseph  sent  a  few  days  before  the 
ceremony,3  and  to  which  wealthy  Hebrews 
added  necklaces  of  pearls  and  magnificent 
sets  of  diamonds.  Instead  of  a  turreted 
crown  of  gold,4  which  was  worn  by  the 
brides  of  the  wealthy  classes,  there  was 
laid  upon  the  golden  hair  and  tresses5  of 

Mary  a  simple  garland  of  myrtle  ;  in  the 
spring-time  roses  would  have  been  added  :c 
her  wedding  veil  covered  her  from  head  to 
foot,  and  floated  around  her  like  a  cloud.7 

A  canopy  of  precious  stuff  awaited  the 
future  spouse  outside,  borne  by  four  young 
Israelites.8  Mary  was  to  take  her  place  be¬ 
neath  it  between  two  matrons,  one  of  whom, 

( 1 )  There  are  in  existence  two  tunics  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  of  very  precious  material.  Chardin 
saw  one  in  Mingrelia  covered  with  flowers  em¬ 
broidered  with  the  needle  on  a  nankeen  ground. 
This  tunic  is  eight  Roman  palms  long  by  four 
wide ;  the  neck  is  narrow,  the  sleeves  a  palm  long : 
it  is  kept  in  the  Church  of  Copis. 

( 3 )  This  tunic  was  given  by  Charles  the  Bald  to 
the  Church  of  Chartres,  in  877 :  numerous  mira¬ 
cles  are  attributed  to  it. 

( 3 )  The  Christians  of  Damascus  have  retained 
this  custom.  Some  days  before  the  nuptial  festival, 
the  bridegroom  sends  to  his  bride  a  pair  of  bracelets 
of  gold,  or  set  with  diamonds,  according  to  the  for- 

■  tune  of  the  future  spouse,  a  piece  of  stuff  em¬ 
broidered  with  gold,  and  a  hundred  and  sixty 
piastres  for  the  expenses  of  the  bath  and  the  wed¬ 
ding  feast. — (Correspondance  d’Orient,  lettre  147.) 

( 4 )  The  bride’s  coronet  was  usually  of  gold, 
and  made  in  the  shape  of  a  tower,  like  that  of 
Cybele :  this  custom  was  abolished  during  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  but  they  retained  the 
crowns  of  myrtle  and  roses. — (Basnage,  liv.  vi.,c.  21.) 

( 6 )  Among  the  Hebrews,  the  very  dress  of  the 

women  was  under  the  empire  of  tradition.  “  The 
female  hair-dressers  were  called  in  to  dress  the  hair 
of  young  married  women,  because,  said  the  rabbis, 
Jehovah  himself  curled  the  hair  of  Eve,  w'hen  he 
united  her  to  Adam  in  Paradise.” — (Basnage,  liv. 
vii.,  c.  21,  p.  393.) 

( 6 )  Crowns  of  myrtle  and  roses  were  worn  by 
the  young  brides  of  the  common  people. — (Bas¬ 
nage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21;  Misnah,  Tit.  Sotah,  c.  9, 
sect.  14.) 

( 7 )  These  nuptial  veils,  embroidered  with  gold 
and  silver,  are  still  in  use  in  Syria. 

( 8 )  The  regulation  of  this  nuptial  pomp,  which 
comes  down  from  the  earliest  times,  is  still  found 
in  Egypt.  Niebuhr  thus  describes  an  Egyptian 
marriage : — “  The  bride,  covered  from  head  to  foot, 
walks  between  two  women,  who  conduct  her  be- 
neath  a  canopy  borne  by  four  men.  Several  slaves 
lead  the  way,  some  playing  on  the  tambourine, 
others  carrying  large  feather-fans,  others  sprinkle 
her  with  scented  water.  She  is  followed  by  a  num¬ 
ber  of  women,  and  by  musicians  riding  upon  asses. 

The  procession  takes  place  by  night ;  some  slaves 
carry  torches. — (Niebuhr,  Travels  in  Arabia,  t.  i.) 

90 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


who  stood  on  her  right,  represented  her 
mother  ;  the  other  was  perhaps  that  Mary 
of  Cleoplias  whom  some  others  have  made 
the  elder  daughter  of  St.  Anne,  but  who 
was  really  only  sister-in-law  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.1  After  them  walked,  to  the  sound 
of  timbrels,  flutes,  and  harps,  playing  in 
unison2  airs  of  grave  and  simple  melody, — 
which,  perhaps,  were  the  same  as  those  of 
the  choirs  of  music  of  King  David, — the 
entire  nuptial  procession  waving,  in  token 
of  joy,  branches  of  myrtle  and  palm.3 
The  bridegroom,  with  his  brow  adorned 
with  a  singular  crown,  transparent  as  crys¬ 
tal,  and  peculiar  to  his  people,4  advanced 
in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of-  friends,  who 
sung  an  epithalamium  based  on  Solomon’s 
Canticle  of  Canticles,  that  magnificent  and 
mysterious  nuptial  song,  whose  sublime 
metaphors  veil  a  hidden  and  divine  signifi¬ 
cation.  They  celebrated  the  beauty  of  the 
new  bride,  whose  “  looks  were  like  young 
palm -branches,  and  stature  supple  and  up¬ 
right  like  the  branches  of  the  erac  (Cant, 
vii.  7),  teeth  white  as  a  flock  of  sheep 
which  come  up  from  the  washing,  eyes 
mild,  like  the  eyes  of  doves  upon  brooks 
of  water”  (Cant.  iv.  2,  v.  12).  They  said 
that  “the  sweet  odor  of  her  good  name 


( 1 )  According  to  M.  Pignot,  a  conscientious 
historian,  who  made  numerous  researches  on  this 
subject,  this  holy  woman  was  the  wife  of  Clophas, 
the  brother  of  St.  J oseph,  and  consequently  sister- 
in-law  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. — (See  Recherches 
Historiques  sur  la  Personne  de  Jesus  Christ  et 
celle  de  Marie,  p.  249.) 

C )  The  music  of  the  Orientals  is  of  a  very  dif¬ 
ferent  kind  from  ours ;  it  is  grave  and  simple,  with¬ 
out  any  studied  modulation :  all  the  instruments 
play  in  unison,  unless  one  or  other  should  take 


was  like  the  perfumes  which  exhaled  from 
her  garments”  (Cant.  iv.  11).  That  she 
was  “the  lily  of  young  virgins,  and  the 
object  of  the  praise  of  women.”  Eulogiz¬ 
ing  then  the  bridegroom,  they  extolled 
his  form,  “majestic  and  imposing  ‘as  Lib- 
anus,’  the  sweetness  of  his  voice,  the  ur¬ 
banity  of  his  manners  ;”  and  they  added, 
“  that  he  was  distinguished  from  the  crowd 
of  men,  even  as  the  cedar  is  distinguished 
among  all  trees”  (Cant.  vi.  15).  Then, 
coming  to  more  general  and  elevated  con¬ 
siderations,  they  said  that  the  spouse  should 
be  to  his  wife  as  “  the  bundle  of  myrrh 
which  she  wears  over  her  heart ;”  that  she 
should  pass  through  life  leaning  upon  him, 
with  no  more  regard  for  other  men  than  if 
she  were  traversing  the  desert ;  because 
“jealousy  is  as  hard  as  hell,  and  the  lamps 
thereof  are  lamps  of  fire  and  flames” 
(Cant.  viii.  6).  They  added,  that  tender 
affection  was  a  thing  so  precious  between 
married  persons,  that  the  wealthiest  man 
in  the  world,  “if  he  should  give  all  the 
substance  of  his  house  for  love,  he  shall 
despise  it  as  nothing”  (Cant.  viii.  7). 

From  time  to  time,  the  young  men  who 
closed  the  procession  performed  dances  of 
the  same  kind  as  the  sacred  dance  origin- 


a  fancy  to  perform  a  continued  bass,  by  repeat¬ 
ing  incessantly  the  same  note. — (Mebuhr,  t.  i., 
p.  136.) 

( 8 )  See  Fleury,  Mceurs  des  Israelites. 

( 4 )  This  crown,  which  contained,  say  the  Jewish 
doctors,  a  mysterious  lesson,  was  composed  of  salt 
and  sulphur ;  the  salt  was  transparent,  like  crys¬ 
tal,  and  various  figures  were  traced  upon  it  with 
sulphur.— (Codex,  MS.  apud  Wagenseil  in  Mis- 
mam,  Tit.  Sotah,  adult,  de  uxore  suspect.,  c.  9, 
sect.  14.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


91 


ally  associated  with  religious  festivals,1  or 
theyr  uttered,  in  token  of  rejoicing,  those 
shrill  and  prolonged  cries  still  in  use  among 
the  Arabs,2  and  which  a  modern  traveller, 
who  lately  went  all  over  Syria,  compares 
to  those  loud  shouts  which  the  vine-dressers 
of  Southern  France  send  from  hill  to  hill 
during  the  vintage.  All  the  procession 
scattered  among  the  poor,  who  loaded 
them  with  blessings,  a  quantity  of  small 
pieces  of  silver3  bearing  a  figure,  either  of 
a  vine-leaf,  or  of  three  wheat-ears,  which 
were  the  emblem  of  Judea.4  The  women 
of  Israel,  in  groups  along  the  way  that  the 
bride  and  bridegroom  passed,  strewed 
palm-branches  under  their  feet,  and  from 
time  to  time  they  stopped  the  bride  to 
sprinkle  her  garments  with  essence  of 
roses.5  Mary  too  was  to  have  also  her  day 
of  triumph  in  Jerusalem. 

On  arriving  at  the  house  where  the 
wedding  was  to  be  celebrated,  the  friends 
of  the  bridegroom  and  the  companions  of 
the  bride  cried  out  in  chorus,  “  Blessed  is 
he  that  cometh !”  Joseph,  covered  with  his 
taled,  and  Mary  with  her  veil,  were  seated 
under  the  canopy  side  by  side  ;  Mary  took 
the  right,  because  the  Psalmist  has  said, 
“Thy  wife  is  on  thy  right  hand,”6  and 


( 1 )  .Dancing,  which  at  first  was  intended  to 
imitate  the  movements  of  the  stars,  entered  into 
all  the  religious  festivals  of  antiquity ;  it  was,  no 
doubt,  of  antediluvian  origin,  and  must  even  have 
preceded  the  invention  of  musical  instruments. 

( 2 )  See  Niebuhr,  loco  citato. 

( 5 )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21. 

(4 )  Some  of  these  Jewish  coins  of  the  time  of 
the  Macchabees  and  of  Herod,  have  been  found : 
they  do  not  bear  the  effigy  of  the  prince,  but  only 
of  ears  of  wheat  and  vine-leaves. 


turned  toward  the  south.7  The  spouse 
placed  a  ring  on  the  finger  of  his  partner,8 
“Behold,  thou  art  my  wife,  according  to 
the  rite  of  Moses  and  of  Israel.”  He  took 
off  his  taled  and  covered  his  wife  with  it, 
in  imitation  of  what  passed  at  the  marriage 
of  Ruth,  who  said  to  Booz,  “Spread  thy 
coverlet  over  thy  servant.”9  A  near  rela¬ 
tive  poured  wine  into  a  cup,  tasted  it,  and 
then  presented  it  to  the  bridegroom  and 
bride,  blessing  God  for  having  created  man 
and  woman,  and  ordained  marriage.  While 
the  married  couple  raised  to  their  lips  the 
sacred  nuptial  cup,  a  canticle  containing 
six  benedictions  was  sung  to  the  God  of 
Israel.  After  this,  Joseph  poured  out  the 
rest  of  the  wine  as  a  sign  of  bounty,  and 
handfuls  of  wheat  as  a  symbol  of  abund¬ 
ance  ;  then  a  young  child  broke  the  cup 
in  pieces.10 

The  whole  assembly,  surrounding  the 
new-married  couple  with  torches,  blessed 
the  Lord  and  proceeded  into  the  banquet- 
hall,  where, — according  to  a  very  ancient 
Bishop  of  Brescia,11  who  derives  this  He¬ 
brew  tradition  from  the  time  of  J esus 
Christ, — they  nominated  a  king  of  the  feast, 
taken  from  the  priestly  race,  who  was  to 
preside  over  the  viands  and  the  wine,  and 


(6)  This  custom,  like  many  others,  was  bor¬ 
rowed  from  Egypt. 

( 0 )  Ps.  xlv.  10. 

( 7 )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21. 

(')  It  is  said  that  this  ring  is  at  Perugia, 
where  it  is  carefully  preserved. — (Basnage,  liv.  vii., 
c.  2.) 

( 9 )  Ruth,  iii.  9.  See  Buxtorf. 

( 10)  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  21 ;  Institut.  de  Mo'ise, 
liv.  vii.,  c.  i.,  p.  336. 

( ”)  Gaudent.,  Serm.  9,  B.  P.,  t.  ii.,  p.  38. 


92  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

- 

to  oblige  the  guests  to  behave  with  all  that 

solemnly  upon  tlieir  hearts.  Those  of 

decorum  required  by  religion  and  propriety. 

Nazareth  continued  their  journey  ;  they 

Joseph  and  Mary  rose  also  ;  but  before  they 

crossed  the  mountains  of  Samaria,  where 

followed  their  company,  there  were  ex- 

the  eagle  from  his  lofty  eyrie  beheld  them 

changed  between  them  some  secret  words 

pass,  indifferent  to  their  presence.  Siehem 

in  presence  of  heaven  and  the  stars,  which 

next  rose  before  the  travellers,  with  its 

declare  the  glory  of  the  Most  High.1 

evergreen  groves,  its  limpid  streams,  and 

“Thou  slialt  be  as  my  mother,”  said  the 

its  majestic  edifices  rising  above  the  foliage. 

patriarch  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  “and  I 

They  left  behind  them  Garizim,  with  its 

will  respect  thee  even  as  the  altar  of  Je- 

reddish  sides,  where  the  ruins  of  the 

hovali.”  From  that  moment  they  were  no 

schismatical  temple  were  observable,  that 

longer,  in  the  eye  of  the  religious  law,  only 

shameful  rival  of  the  house  of  holiness, 

brother  and  sister  in  marriage,  although 

which  John  Hircanus  gave  to  the  avenging 

their  union  was  fully  maintained.2 

flames,  and  which  was  to  be  replaced  later 

The  festivities,  among  which  figured  the 

on  by  a  church  dedicated  to  Mary  herself; 

religious  ceremony  of  sacrifice,  lasted  seven 

then  the  lofty  summits  of  Mount  Hebal ; 

days,  as  in  the  time  of  the  patriarchs  ;  the 

next  Sebaste,  which  reared  its  new  palaces 

week  of  the  nuptials  being  expired,  Joseph 

under  the  protection  of  Augustus,  and 

and  Mary,  escorted  by  a  number  of  their 

which  servile  JTerod  delighted  to  embel- 

relations,  forming  around  them  a  brilliant 

lish,  as  the  only  altar  where  he  could 

cavalcade,  again  went  their  way  to  Galilee. 

sacrifice  to  the  genius  of  Rome. 

The  little  caravan  began  its  march  to  the 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  second  day’s 

sound  of  cymbals,  and  did  not  halt  till  near 

journey  they  distinguished  Mount  Thabor, 

the  fountain  of  Anathot,3  where  those  of 

whose  verdant  crown  stood  out  from  the 

Jerusalem  took  leave  of  the  bride  and 

pale  silvery  sky  of  Galilee  ;  and  beyond 

bridegroom,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  bless- 

it  the  high  peaks  of  Lebanon,  which  hid 

ings  in  their  mouths,  and  their  hands  laid 

their  stony,  snow-clad  summits,  in  the 

( 1 )  St.  Thomas  is  of  opinion,  that  it  was  imme- 

or  the  sacrifice.  Wives  sometimes  did  the  same 

diately  after  the  celebration  of  their  marriage  that 

thing;  and  although  these  vows  were  not  much 

St.  Joseph  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  made  a  vow  of 

approved,  because  they  seldom  resulted  from  aught 

virginity,  by  mutual  consent. 

but  fits  of  anger  and  curses,  they  were  not  less 

( 2 )  This  vow  of  continence  in  marriage,  which 

obliged  religiously  to  fulfil  them,  when  they  once. 

has  given  occasion  to  so  many  impious  sarcasms  to 

were  made. — (Basn.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  19,  p.  352;  Leo  of 

infidels  of  the  school  of  Voltaire,  was  not  a  thing 

Modena,  Ceremon.  et  cout.  des  Juifs,  c.  4.) 

unheard  of  among  Hebrews;  only  it  was  a  vow 

( 3 )  All  the  relations  escorted  the  bride  on  horse- 

dictated  by  passion  and  anger,  while  that  of  the 

back  to  the  house  of  her  husband,  when  he  did  not 

-two  holy  spouses  was  suggested  by  piety.  If  a  lius- 

live  at  too  great  a  distance  from  the  place  of  their 

band  said  to  his  wife,  “  Thou  art  as  my  mother,” 

feasting:  this  custom  still  continues  among  the 

*  it  was  no  longer  lawful  for  him  to  consider  her  but 

Arabs.  We  have  made  the  nuptial  caravan  sep- 

as  such  in  marriage,  and  still  more  when  he  men- 

arate  at  Anathot,  a  small  town  five  leagues  from 

tioned  in  his  vow  the  altar  of  Jehovah,  the  temple. 

Jerusalem,  because  it  is  the  first  halting-place. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  9S 

clouds.  From  the  woody  slopes  of  Her- 

rose  beneatli  high  colonnades  of  palm-trees, 

mon,  where  the  goats  browsed  upon  the 

and  then,  at  different  distances,  on  the 

tender  shoots  of  the  shrubs,  they  descended 

rugged  crest  of  a  rock,  a  solitary  fortress 

into  the  delightful'  plain,  which  was  dis- 

of  soldiers,  still  native,  and  intrusted  with 

played  like  an  immense  basket  of  flowers, 

a  mission  entirely  protective,  measured 

between  hills  covered  with  green  oaks, 

their  Damascus  sabres  only  with  nocturnal 

myrtles,  vineyards,  and  magnificent  olive- 

depredators,  or  the  Arabs  of  the  desert. 

groves.  Fields  of  barley,  wheat,  clover, 

This  valley,  with  its  charming  freshness, 

and  durrha  in  full  verdure,  gently  waving 

and  enclosed  within  a  dark  frame  of  high 

with  the  breeze,  warmed  by  the  approach 

mountains,  was  the  valley  of  Esdrelon,  at 

of  a  spring  more  speedy  and  genial  than 

the  extremity  of  which  appeared  a  little 

that  of  our  western  regions.  A  pure  and 

city,  picturesquely  seated,  on  the  slope  of  a 

golden  light  favored  this  fertile  land,  where 

hill,  and  shining  like  a  flower  amidst  the 

a  vigorous  vegetation  was  unfolding,  and 

neighboring  hamlets :  this  smiling  and  beau- 

blue  waters,  which  the  summer  would  soon 

tiful  town  was  Nazareth,  the  native  town 

dry  up,  ran  in  silvery  ribands  in  this  new 

of  the  Yirgin,  the  cradle  of  Christ!1 

Eden.  Here  and  there  opulent  villages 

Doubtless,  Mary  could  not  behold  again 

( 1 )  The  infidel  writers  of  the  last  century 

of  the  land,  that  it  invites  men  to  labor  who  are 

studiously  labored  to  decry  Palestine  :  the  impres- 

the  least  disposed  to  it.  Thus  every  part  is  culti- 

sion  which  they  have  given  of  it  still  remains,  and 

vated,  and  no  tract  of  land  is  seen  unproductive. 

the  state  of  poverty  and  depopulation  of  that 

The  inhabitants  are  robust  and  warlike,  the  towns 

country,  which  hardly  breathes,  beneath  the  sabre 

numerous,  and  so  populous,  that  the  smallest  can 

4 

of  the  Mussulman,  often  seems  to  support  their 

reckon  as  many  as  fifteen  thousand  souls.” — 

assertions  in  the  eyes  of  superficial  readers.  Yet 

(Josephus,  Jewish  War,  lib.  ii.,  c.  2.)  “If  one 

it  is  certain  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  neigh- 

desired  to  give  an  idea  of  the  aspect  of  Galilee,” 

borhood  of  Jerusalem,  the  sterility  of  which  has 

says  a  modern  traveller  in  his  turn,  ‘‘we  must  seek 

never  been  denied,  the  promised  land  of  Moses  is 

a  parallel,  not  in  France,  but  in  I’Agro  Romano ; 

still  found  in  that  country,  and  especially  in  the 

around  Nazareth,  as  around  Kome,  there  is  every- 

part  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  Canaanites. 

where  the  same  brightness,  the  same  soil.  Nature 

We  will  give  two  descriptions  of  Galilee,  written  at 

is  there  sublime,  like  the  gospel.  Galilee  is  an 

the  distance  of  eighteen  centuries  apart,  in  proof 

abridged  picture  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  when  it 

of  this  assertion.  “  Galilee,”  says  Flavius  Josephus, 

has  been  seen  under  its  day  and  night  aspects,  we 

“is  divided  into  upper  and  lower,  both  very  fertile; 

feel  what  it  was  in  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ.  For 

the  soil  is  at  once  rich  and  light,  abounding  in 

an  artist,  Galilee  is  an  Eden  ;  nothing  is  wanting : 

pasturages,  fitted  for  all  sorts  of  produce,  and 

neither  the  accidental  advantages  of  the  land  of 

covered  with  trees  of  all  kinds:  there  are  to  be 

Judea,  nor  the  bright  solitudes  of  Palestine,  nor 

seen  particularly  large  plantations  of  vines  and 

the  verdant  fecundity  of  Samaria.  Garizim  and 

olive-trees.  It  is  watered  by  torrents,  which  fall 

the  Mount  of  Olives  are  not  more  sublime  than 

from  the  mountains,  by  countless  springs  and 

Hermon  and  Thabor,  nor  are  the  blue  shores 

rivulets,  which  afford  a  constant  supply  of  water, 

of  Ascalon  more  solemn  than  the  aromatic  banks 

and  make  up  for  that  of  the  torrents,  when  the 

of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  where  the  air  vanishes 

summer  heats  dry  them  up :  such  is  the  goodness 

beneath  the  light.  The  soil  of  Galilee  prrsents 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


94 


without  emotion  that  city  where  she  had 
first  opened  her  eyes  to  the  light.  She 
had  left  it  when  but  a  child  for  the  splen¬ 
did  walls  of  the  temple :  she  returned  to 
it  beautiful,  young,  accomplished,  and  a 
virgin  on  her  return  even  as  on  her  de¬ 
parture. 

The  travellers  stopped  at  the  house  of 
St.  Anne,  an  ancient  and  mysterious  dwell¬ 
ing,  partly  hollowed  out  of  the  rock,  like 
the  prophetic  grottoes  of  yore,1  and  which 


was  shortly  to  become  more  holy  than  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  very  house  of 
Jehovah.  The  women  of  Nazareth  hailed 
with  benedictions  the  coming  of  the  young 
bride,  who  advanced  modestly,  and  veiled 
like  the  Rebecca  of  Isaac  ;  and  Mary,  amid 
the  congratulations  of  those  who  had  wit¬ 
nessed  her  birth,  entered  this  peaceful  pa¬ 
ternal  habitation,  around  which  still  clung 
the  sweet  odor  of  the  virtues  of  Anne  and 
Joachim. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  ANNUNCIATION. 


IT  is  easy  to  imagine  the  tranquil  and 
blessed  life  which  the  married  couple 
led  during  the  first  months  of  their  chaste 
union  ;  the  peace  of  God  reigned  in  their 
humble  dwelling,  and  work  shared  their 
time  with  prayer,  which  made  it  less  op¬ 
pressive  by  hallowing  it.  Following  an 
ancient  custom,  still  prevailing  among  the 
Arabs,  and  in  much  of  the  East,  Joseph 


to  us  everywhere  history  and  miracles,  traces  of 
heroes  and  the  footsteps  of  a  God ;  and  we  feel,  as 
we  contemplate  Galilee  from  the  heights  of  Thabor, 
that  it  was  the  country  which  the  God-man  in¬ 
habited,  so  much  are  religious  recollections,  the 
wonders  of  earth  and  heaven,  endlessly  com¬ 
mingled  there.” — (Corresp.  d’Orient.,  t.  v.) 

( 1 )  “  There  are  still  at  Nazareth,”  says  F.  de 
Geramb,  “houses  like  that  of  St.  Joseph — that  is 
to  say,  small,  low,  and  communicating  with  a  cave 
hewn  out  of  the  side  of  a  mountain.” 


plied  his  trade  in  a  different  place  from 
that  where  Mary  lived.2  His  workshop, 
where  Jesus  himself  worked,  was  a  low 
room,  ten  or  twelve  feet  square  :  a  stone 
seat  outside  offered  rest  to  the  passer-by 
or  the  traveller,  and  was  shielded  from  the 
burning  rays  of  the  sun  by  a  kind  of 
awning  of  plaited  palm-leaves.3  There  it 
was  that  the  laborious  artisan  formed  his 


( 2 )  This  house  of  St.  Joseph  is  a  hundred  and 
thirty  or  a  hundred  and  forty  paces  from  that  of 
St.  Anne.  The  place  is  still  pointed  out  under 
the  name  of  St.  Joseph’s  workshop.  This  shop  had 
been  transformed  into  a  large  church :  the  Turks 
have  destroyed  one  part  of  it ;  but  there  remains  a 
chapel,  where  the  holy  saci’iflce  of  the  mass  is  daily 
offered. — (Father  Geramb,  Pilgrimage  to  Jerusa¬ 
lem.) 

(3)  These  shops  are  still  the  same  all  over  •'he 
Levant. — (See  Burckhardt,  Travels  in  Arabia,  t.  i.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN"  MARY.  95 

ploughs,  his  yokes,  and  rustic  carts.  Some¬ 
times  he  superintended  the  building  of  one 
of  the  valley  cottages :  sometimes  his  still 
vigorous  arm  felled  the  tall* sycamore  and 
black  turpentine  trees  of  Mount  Carmel.1 
The  remuneration  which  he  received  for  all 
this  toil  was  but  trifling,  and  this  little  he 
shared  with  the  poor. 

On  her  side,  his  gentle  and  holy  com¬ 
panion  was  not  idle  ;  gifted  with  a  mind 
enlightened,  judicious,  and  wise,  without 
regret  for  the  past,  without  illusions  for  the 
future,  viewing  the  world  such  as  it  is,  and 
her  own  position  in  its  true  light,  she 
piously  conformed  to  it,  and  desired  to 
fulfil  its  sacred  obligations  with  religious 
exactitude.  From  the  moment  that  she 
took  possession  of  her  mother’s  house,  she 
put  on  poverty  as  a  garment  of  honor  sent 
her  from  G-od,  and  became  what  it  behooved 

her  to  be  in  the  obscure  condition  to  which 
Providence  had  reduced  her — a  young  and 
simple  daughter  of  the  people.  All  the 
brilliant  and  fancy  works  belonging  to 
refined  life  were  at  once  laid  aside,  and 
replaced  by  the  fatiguing  cares  and  mo¬ 
notonous  occupations  of  a  poor  household, 
where  the  mistress  of  the  house  has  neither 
slaves  nor  servants.  The  delicate  hands 
of  Mary,  accustomed  to  handle  silken 
webs  plaited  with  leaves  of  the  date-palm, 
or  rushes  from  the  banks  of  the  Jordan, 
the  mats  which  covered  the  rough  floor  of 
her  dwelling  ;  her  spindle  was  filled  with 
coarse  flax  ;  she  had  to  grind  the  grains  of 
wheat,  barley,  and  durrha,2  kneading  the 
coarse  yellow  meal  into  thin  round  cakes. 
Covered  with  her  white  veil,  with  an  an¬ 
tique  urn  upon  her  head,3  she  went  to  a 
neighboring  fountain  to  draw  water,4  like 

( 1 )  St.  Justin.  Martyr  (Dialog,  cum  Tryphone), 
records  that  J esus  Christ  helped  his  adopted  father 
to  make  yokes  and  ploughs.  St.  Ambrose  (in  Luc. 
lib.  iii.  2)  assures  us  that  St.  Joseph  worked  at 
felling  and  dressing  trees,  building  houses,  and 
other  such  work. 

( 2 )  The  first  mills  invented  were  hand-mills.  In 
Egypt,  Arabia,  Palestine,'  and  even  in  Greece,  they 
were  turned  by  women.  There  is  still  shown  at 
Mecca,  in  a  fine  house,  reputed  to  have  been  Kha- 
didje’s,  a  hollow  place  where  it  is  said  that  Fatima, 
surnamed  “the  Brilliant,”  daughter  of  Mahomet 
and  wife  of  Ali,  turned  her  own  hand-mill  when 
she  was  grown  up. — (See  Burckhardt,  Travels  in 
Arabia.)  This  rude  toil  still  falls  to  the  lot  of  the 
wives  of  the  Arab  sheiks.  Under  the  reign  of  the 
sons  of  Clovis,  St.  Radegundes,  Queen  of  France, 
ground,  herself,  in  imitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
all  the  corn  that  she  consumed  -  during  Lent. — - 
(Le  Grand  d’Aussv,  Hist,  privee  des  Franyais.) 
The  invention  of  water-mills  is  attributed  to  Mith- 
ridates.  They  certainly  were  in  existence  in  his 

time.  Among  other  proofs,  is  cited  that  fine  epi¬ 
gram  of  Antipater  of  Thessalonica,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  translation: — “You  women  who 
have  been  hitherto  employed  in  grinding  our  grain, 
let  your  arms  rest  henceforth,  and  sleep  without 
care;  the  birds  will  no  longer  proclaim  with  their 
songs  the  break  of  day  for  you.  Ceres  has  com¬ 
manded  the  naiads  to  accomplish  your  task:  they 
obey,  and  swiftly  turn  a  wheel  which  rapidly  moves 
by  itself  the  heavy  millstones.”  The  Romans  did 
not  bring  water-mills  to  perfection  till  Constantine 
had  abolished  slavery. 

( 3 )  These  urns  are  enormous  earthen  jars,  dis¬ 
proportionately  high.  The  women  of  Nazareth 
carry  them  on  their  heads,  and  beneath  this 
great  weight,  sometimes  even  with  anr  infant  in 
their  arms,  they  walk  with  astonishing  ease.— 
(Father  de  Geramb,  t.  ii.,  p.  239.)  , 

( 4 )  This  fountain  is  called  in  the  country  the 
fountain  of  Mary.  Tradition  relates  that  the  divine 
Mother  of  Jesus  went  thither  habitually  to  draw 
the  water  she  needed ;  and  the  opinion  becomes  a 

96 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


the  wives  of  the  patriarchs,  or  to  wash  her 
blue  robes  in  the  running  waters  of  the 
brooks,  like  the  princesses  in  Homer. 

Jesus  Christ,  who  so  often  witnessed  the 
habitual  labors  of  this  “valiant  woman,” 
sometimes  alludes  to  them  in  his  parables  ; 
and  these  simple  occupations  of  Mary  are 
preserved  in  the  gospel  narrative,  like  a 
sea-weed  in  amber.  Thus  we  see  there 
the  industrious  woman  putting  leaven  into 
three  measures  of  meal,1  carefully  sweep¬ 
ing  her  floor  to  recover  something  lost,2 
and  economically  repairing  an  old  gar¬ 
ment.3  When  Jesus  seeks  a  simile  to  com¬ 
mend  purity  of  heart,  he  draws  it  from  the 
remembrance  of  her  who  carefully  cleaned 
“  both  the  inside  and  outside  of  the  cup  ;”4 
and  we  suspect  that  his  thoughts  are  of 
Mary  when  he  praises  the  offering  of  the 
widow  “who  gave  not  of  her  abundance, 
but  of  her  poverty.”  Thus  the  poet  of 
Chios  represents  to  us  Justice  under  the 
features  of  his  mother,  a  poor  plebeian 
woman,  carefully  weighing  the  wool  which 
she  is  going  to  spin  in  order  to  support 
herself  and  her  son,  and  remaining  upright 
and  just  toward  the  rich,  amid  her  deep 
misery. 

As  night  came  on,5  when  the  birds 


conviction  when  we  consider  that  water  is  ex¬ 
tremely  rare  at  Nazareth.  The  path  leading  to 
this  fountain,  where  the  pious  mother  of  Constan¬ 
tine  erected  fine  basins  and  reservoirs,  is  bordered 
with  nopals  and  fruit-trees. —  (Father  de  Geramb, 
loco  citato.) 

( 1 )  St.  Luke,  xiii.  21,  and  St.  Matt.  xiii.  34. 

(2)  Ibid.,  v.  36.  (3)  Ibid., 'xv.  8. 

( 4 )  St.  Luke,  xi.  39,  and  St.  Matt.  xxv.  25. 

( 5 )  In  Israel,  orderly  people  ate  after  their  work, 
and  pretty  late. — (Fleury,  Manners  of  the  Israel¬ 


sought  shelter  beneath  the  foliage,  Mary 
set  upon  a  clean,  glossy  table,  the  work,  of 
Joseph’s  hands,  little  loaves  of  barley  and 
durrha,  savory  dates,  butter,  and  cheese, 
dry  fruits  and  herbs,  which  composed  the 
frugal  banquet  of  this  scion  of  the  princes 
of  Israel.  These  dishes,  simply  prepared, 
were  the  chief  food  of  the  ancient  He¬ 
brews,— a  sober  race,  who  could  content 
themselves  with  bread  and  water  when 
necessity  required  it.6  As  to  the  Yirgin, 
her  nourishment  was  so  slight,  that  ancient 
authors,  fond  of  the  marvellous,  believed 
that  she  was  fed  by  angels. 

When  Joseph,  weary  with  the  labors  of 
the  day,  returned  at  sunset  to  his  little, 
lowly  apartment,  his  young  companion 
hastened  to  offer  him  water  which  she  had 
warmed  to  bathe  his  feet,  and  then  cold 
clear  water  from  the  fountain,  in  a  vessel 
pure  from  all  unclean  contact,7  for  the  ab¬ 
lutions  before  the  meal.  That  grave  and 
unaffected  man,  with  his  noble  patriarchal 
countenance,  where  every  passion  was  si¬ 
lent — that  angelical  young  female  all  eager¬ 
ness  to  serve  him,  with  the  solicitude  of  a 
dear  daughter,  formed  a  group  worthy  of 
.  the  golden  age.8 

Meantime,  the  hour  predestined  by  the 


ites.)  The  principal  meal  of  Joseph  and  Mary  was 
about  six  o’clock  in  the  evening. 

( 0 )  Fleury,  Manners  of  the  Israelites,  p.  61. 

(7 )  Among  the  Jews  a  multitude  of  precautions 
had  to  be  taken  to  insure  the  purity  of  the  vessels 
in  which  they  drew  water  and  prepared  their  food: 
not  only  did  they  take  care  that  they  had  not  be¬ 
longed  to  strangers,  hut  they  carried  their  scruples 
much  farther,  for  a  thousand  circumstances  ren¬ 
dered  them  unclean. — (Misnali,  Ordo  Puritatum.) 

(8)  An  ancient  author  makes  the  Yirgin  say: 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


97 


Eternal  in  liis  divine  councils  for  the  In¬ 
carnation  of  his  Christ  had  arrived.  The 
angel  Gabriel,  one  of  the  four1  who  ever 
stand  before  the  face  of  the  Lord,  received 
a  mysterious  mission,  which  called  him,  for 
a  short  time,  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Enveloped  in  one  of  those  beautiful  cover¬ 
ings  of  dense  air,  with  which  the  pure 
spirits  are  surrounded  when  they  wish  to 
become  perceptible  to  the  grosser  senses 
of  the  children  of  men,2  the  angel  left  be¬ 
hind  him  the  golden  palaces  and  the  eme¬ 
rald  walls  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  with 
its  gates  of  twelve  pearls,3  and  spread  his 
vast  white  wings,4  with  his  brow  all  radiant 
with  benignant  joy  ;  for  the  holy  angels  re¬ 
joice  as  much  at  men’s  happiness  as  the 
fallen  angels  do  at  their  ruin  and  sufferings. 

After  traversing  the  immeasurable  des- 

• 

erts  of  the  sky,  in  which  the  stars  are  the 
oases,  the  angel  who  had  foretold  .to  Daniel 
the  coming  of  the  Messias,  and  now  came  to 
take  part  in  the  accomplishment  of  that 
mighty  promise  of  God.  directed  his  course, 
with  the  rapidity  of  thought,  toward  our 
little  planet,  which  his  piercing  eye  dis¬ 
covered  at  an  immense  distance,  in  the 
form  of  a  nebulous  star :  then  it  shone  with 
a  feeble  milky  light ;  and  at  last  assumed 
the  rotundity  and  tranquil  light  of  the 
moon,  whose  phases  it  shares. 

“Non  dedignabar  parare  et  ministrare  quse  erant 
necessaria  Joseph;”  and  this  is  in  perfect  conform¬ 
ity  with  the  customs  still  existing. 

( 1 )  “  There  are  four  angels  who  are  scarcely  ever 
seen  upon  the  earth,”  say  the  rabbis,  “because  they 
are  always  round  about  the  throne  of  God :  these 
angels  are — Michael,  who  is  on  the  right ;  Gabriel, 
who  is  on  the  left ;  Uriel,  who  is  before  God,  and  Ra¬ 
phael, who  is  behind  him.” — (Bibl.  Rabbin.,  i.  p.  200.) 


As  lie  approached  this  little  globe, — 
which  man  has  proudly  divided  into  zones 
and  hemispheres,  and  in  which  he  bestirs 
himself,  with  mad  eagerness,  to  gather  a  few 
bits  of  gold,  which  he  makes  his  god, — the 
angel  began  to  distinguish  expanses  of  blue 
and  shining  water,  surmounted  with  dark 
points  like  small  sunken  rocks  :  these  were 
our  oceans  and  our  high  mountains.  The 
towns  were  not  yet  visible,  nor  men  :  they 
are  so  small !  But  at  last,  the  earth,  which 
had  at  first  presented  itself  under  a  micro¬ 
scopic  form,  was  gradually  enlarged  into 
vast  countries  covered  with  kingdoms,  sep¬ 
arated  by  deserts  and  studded  with  forests. 
Arrived  directly  over  Palestine,  the  angel 
from  on  high  turned  his  gaze,  as  a  bene¬ 
diction,  down  upon  the  beautiful  town  of 
Nazareth,  and  descending  softly  from  the 
clouds  like  the  falling  stars,  he  came  grace¬ 
fully,  like  a  noble  swan,  folding  his  wings 
as  he  flew  down  upon  the  poor  and  holy 
home  of  Joseph,  that  -carpenter  of  Galilee 
who  reckoned  kings  as  his  ancestors. 

The  sun  was  declining  toward  the  lofty 
promontory  of  Carmel,  soon  to  sink  behind 
the  horizon  of  the  Syrian  sea,  when  the 
angel  presented  himself  in  the  modest 
oratory  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin.6  A  faithful 
observer  of  the  religious  customs  of  her 
people,  Mary,  with  her  head  turned  in  the 

( 2 )  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Qusest.  Uni.  de  creat. 
Spirit,  Art.  6. 

( 3 )  Apocal.,  c.  xxi.,  v.  21. 

(4)  The  Jews  represent  the  angels  with  wings, 
as  do  the  Christians.  The  Koran  ascribes  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  forty  pair  of  wings  to  the  angel  Gabriel, 
and  says  that  he  took  but  one  hour  to  come  from 
heaven  upon  earth. — (Legend  of  Mahomet.) 

( 6 )  It  is  commonly  thought  the  visit  of  the 


98  LIFE  OF  TIIE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


direction  of  the  temple,1  was  then  offering 
her  evening  prayer  to  the  God  of  Jacob.2 
“Hail,  full  of  grace,”  said  the  heavenly 
ambassador,  bowing  his  radiant  head  ;  “  the 
Lord  is  with  thee  ;  blessed  art  thou  among 
women.” 

Mary  felt  an  involuntary  thrill  at  this  mar¬ 
vellous  apparition :  perhaps,  like  Moses, 
she  feared  to  behold  God  and  die  ;  per¬ 
haps,  as  St.  Ambrose  thinks,  her  virginal 
purity  took  alarm  at  the  sight  of  this  son 
of  heaven,  who  penetrated,  like  the  rays 
of  light,  into  that  solitary  cell  which 
no  man  entered  ;  perhaps  the  respectful 
attitude  and  the  magnificent  eulogy  of 
the  angel  disconcerted  her  humility. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  the 
Evangelist  relates  that  she  “was  troubled 
at  his  saying,  and  thought  with  herself 
what  manner  of  salutation  this  should  be,”3 
seeking,  in  vain,  to  understand  the  motive 
of  this  astonishing  visit,  and  the  hidden 
meaning  of  this  mysterious  salutation. 

The  angel,  who  perceived  her  trouble, 
said  to  her  gently :  “Fear  not,  Mary,  for 

angel  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  took  place  toward  the 
close  of  the  day. 

( 1 )  The  people  of  the  East,  when  they  pray, 
turn  to  a  certain  point  in  the  heavens,  which 
they  style  the  Kebla.  The  Jews  turn  toward  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  Mahometans  toward 
Mecca,  the  Sabeans  toward  the  south,  and  the 
Ghebers  toward  the  rising  sun. 

( a )  The  Jews  prayed  three  times  in  the  day:  in 
the  morning,  at  sunrise ;  in  the  afternoon,  at  three 
o’clock,  when  the  sacrifice  was  offered;  and  in  the 
evening,  at  sunset.  According  to  the  rabbis,  Abra¬ 
ham  established  morning  prayer;  Isaac,  that  of 
the  afternoon;  and  Jacob,  the  evening  prayer. 
(Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  17.) 

( * )  St.  Luke,  i.  29* 


tliou  hast  found  grace  with  God.  Behold, 
thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  shalt 
bring  forth  a  son  ;  and  thou  shalt  call  his 
name  Jesus.  He  shall  be  great,  and  shall 
be  called  the  Son  of  the  Most  High,  and 
the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him  the 
throne  of  David  his  father  :  and  he  shall 
reign  in  the  house  of  Jacob  forever,  and  of 
his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end.”4  At 
these  words,  which  would  have  transported 
any  other  but  Mary  with  unbounded  joy, 
the  chaste  and  prudent  maiden  thought 
only  of  her  pure  white  crown  of  virginity, 
which  she  desired  to  preserve  at  any  cost. 
Hence  she  asked  how  she  could  reconcile 
this  grand  prediction  wfith  the  vow  of  vir¬ 
ginity  with  which  her  life  was  linked.5 

Virginal  modesty  is  a  thing  so  sacred  in 
the  sight  of  angels,  that  Gabriel,  to  banish 
all  Mary’s  apprehensions  on  that  score,  did 
not  hesitate  to  unveil  in  part  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation.  “The  power  of  the 
Most  High  shall  overshadow  thee,”  said  he, 
“  and  the  Holy  that  shall  be  born  of  thee 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God.”6  Then, 

( 4 )  St.  Luke,  i.  30-33. 

( 6 )  Calvin,  that  proud  heresiarch,  who  burned 
Servetus,  while  he  himself  preached  up  toleration, 
has  dared  to  calumniate  the  Virgin,  taking  occasion 
from  this  answer  to  accuse  her  of  unbelief.  St. 
Augustine  had  answered  him  long  before.  “The 
Virgin  doubts  not,”  said  he,  “  non  quasi  incredula 
dd  oraculo ;  she  only  desires  to  be  informed  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  miracle  is  to  be  accom¬ 
plished.”  St.  John  Chrysostom  adds,  “that  this 
question  is  prompted  by  respectful  admiration,  and 
not  by  vain  curiosity.” 

( 6 )  St.  Luke,  i.  35.  This  gospel  narrative  has 
been  received  by  the  Mussulmans  themselves.  The 
Koran  thus  describes  the  interview  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  and  the  angel : — “  The  angel  said  to  Mary : 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  .  99 


according  to  the  custom  of  the  messengers 
of  Jehovah,  he  would  give  her  a  sign  that 
would  confirm  his  words:  “And  behold,” 
continued  the  angel,  “thy  cousin  Elizabeth, 
she  hath  also  conceived  a  son  in  her  old 
age  ;  and  this  is  the  sixth  month  with  her 
that  is  called  barren ;  because  no  word 
shall  be'  impossible  with  God.” 

Sarah  laughed  with  incredulous  laughter, 
when  an  angel,  in  the  guise  of  a  traveller, 
seated  beneath  the  shade  of  the  great  oak§ 
which  towered  above  her  tent,  announced 
a  son  to  her,  aged  and  barren  as  she  was. 
When  to  Mary  was  announced  a  new  pro¬ 
digy,  which  Isaias  declares  a  thing  un¬ 
exampled  under  the  sun,  in  fine,  a  virginal 
maternity,  she  believed  the  divine  promise 
at  once,  and,  annihilating  herself  before 
Him  who  exalted  her  above  all  women, 
she  replied,  with  a  voice  of  submission, 
“Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord,  be  it 
done  to  me  according  to  thy  word.”  At 
these  words  the  angel  disappeared,  and  the 
Word  was  made  flesh  to  dwell  among  us.1 
Thus  did  the  angel  of  light  treat  with  the 
new  Eve  of  our  salvation,  and  thus  was  the 
fault  of  sinful  Eve,  who  had  conspired  for 
our  destruction  with  the  infernal  angel, 
gloriously  repaired ;  thus  was  a  simple 


God  announceth  his  Word  to  thee;  he  shall  be 
called  Jesus,  the  Messias,  the  Son  of  Mary,  great 
in  this  world  and  in  the  other,  and  he  shall  hold 
the  secrets  of  the  Most  High ;  he  shall  make  his 
word  heard  by  men  from  the  cradle  to  old  age,  and 
shall  be  of  the  number  of  the  just. — My  lord, 
replied  Mary,  how  shall  I  have  a  son  ?  I  know 
not  man. — It  shall  he  thus,  replied  the  angel :  God 
forms  creatures  at  his  pleasure;  is  it  his  will  that 
a  thing  should  exist  ?  he  says,  Be  thou  made,  and 
it  is  made.” — (Koran,  c.  iii.) 


mortal  exalted  to  the  unequalled  dignity 
of  Mother  of  God,  and  being  both  virgin 
and  mother,  she,  by  a  new  miracle,  blended 
the  two  most  opposite  and  sublime  states 
of  her  sex.  “Proceed  no  farther,”  says 
St.  John  Chrysostom,  “seek  naught  be¬ 
yond  what  is  said,  nor  say :  How  did  the 
Holy  Ghost  effect  this  in  the  Virgin?  .  .  . 
Inquire  not,  therefore,  but  receive  what  is 
revealed,  and  search  not  curiously  into 
what  is  hidden.”2 

We  have  adopted  the  opinion  of  those 
doctors  and  theologians  who  maintain  that 
Joseph  was  legally  the  husband  of  Mary 
at  the  time  of  the  Incarnation  ;  yet  this 
opinion  is  disputed,  and  among  the- author¬ 
ities  who  maintain  that  Mary  was  not  yet 
the  wife,  but  only  the  betrothed  of  Joseph, 
we  find  among  the  foremost  the  great  St. 
John  Chrysostom  himself.3  Nevertheless, 
according  to  the  same  father,  Mary  dwelt 
in  the  house  of  St.  Joseph  at  the  time  when 
the  angel  appeared  to  her.  “For,”  says 
this  illustrious  sacred  orator,  “  among  the 
ancients  it  was  the  custom  generally  to 
have  the  betrothed  in  the  house  ;  and  this 
may  be  seen  even  now  :  and  the  sons-in- 
law  of  Lot  lived  with  him.”4 

Notwithstanding  the  profound  venera- 


( 1 )  The  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  was  accom¬ 
plished  on  the  25th  of  March,  on  a  Friday,  in  the 
evening,  according  to  Father  Drexelius. 

( 2 )  St.  J.  Chrysostom,  Serm.  4,  in  St.  Matt. 

( 3 )  Descoutures  is  wrong  in  including  St.  John 
Chrysostom  among  those  who  maintain  that  Joseph 
was  legally  the  husband  of  Mary  at  the  moment 
of  the  Incarnation ;  this  generally  judicious  writer 
probably  quoted  him  indirectly. 

(4)  St.  John  Chrysostom,  Sermon  4,  in  St. 
Matt. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


100 


tion  inspired  by  St.  John  Chrysostom, 
the  Church  has  not  adopted  his  opinion. 
Moreover,  the  case  of  the  sons-in-law  of 
Lot,  with  which  he  would  strengthen  his 
opinion,  is  ill-chosen  :  the  Scripture  no¬ 
where  says  that  they  lived  with  Lot,  and 
everything  induces  us  to  infer  the  contrary, 
since  at  a  moment  of  trouble  and  affright, 
while  the  most  fearful  turmoil  was  brewing 
in  the  city,  the  patriarch  was  obliged  to  go 
out  of  his  house ,  to  speak  to  his  sons-in-law 
that  were  to  have  his  daughters ,  to  arise  and 
get  out  of  the  place ,  because  the  Lord  would 
destroy  the  city Supposing  even  that  the 
young  men  betrothed  to  Lot’s  daughters 
formed  a  part  of  the  family  of  this  patriarch, 
whose  flocks  covered  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  a  whole  province, — according  to  the 
customs  of  the  times,  these  young  men 
would  have  been  simply  on  the  banks  of 
the  Jordan  what  Jacob  was  subsequently 
in  Mesopotamia,  active  and  vigilant  ser¬ 
vants,  day  and  night  parched  with  heat  and 
with  frost  l1  We  nowhere  see  that  they  had 
their  betrothed  in  their  tents  ;  thev  lived 
under  the  protection  of  the  patriarch, 
being  only  his  principal  shepherds  :  there 
is  nothing  in  all  this  at  variance  with  the 
manners  of  ancient  Asia.  As  a  lone 
orphan,  living  under  the  roof  of  her 
betrothed,  the  Blessed  Virgin,  on  the 
contrary,  would  have  been  in  a  very  ex¬ 
ceptional  position.  A  generally  received 
custom  among  the  Hebrews  could  alone 
justify  such  a  supposition,  and  all  that  we 
find  in  their  code  is  a  law  expressly  op¬ 
posed  to  it.3  St.  Chrysostom,  agreeing  in 

O  Gen.  xix.  14. 

( a )  Gen.  xxxi.  40. 


this  respect  with  the  ancient  theologians, 
himself  informs  us  that  Gfod  for  a  long- 
time  enveloped  in  a  dense  veil  Mary’s 
miraculous  maternity,  to  save  her  from  a 
revolting  suspicion,  which  would  have  de¬ 
tracted  as  much  from  the  divinity  of  the 
Son,  as  from  the  respect  which  the  whole 
world  owed  to  the  Mother.  But  marriage 
alone  could  cover  with  its  honorable  mantle 
the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,— mere 
espousals  could  not  suffice.  If  Joseph  and 
Mary  were  but  affianced  at  the  time  of  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Word,  they  could  have 
been  no  more  four  months  later,  since  the 
Evangelist  informs  us  that  Mary,  after  the 
Annunciation,  went  with  haste  to  visit  St. 
Elizabeth,  and  that  it  was  not  till  her  re¬ 
turn  from  her  journey  to  Hebron,  which 
had  lasted  three  months,  that  she  was  found 
with  child— wo.  expression  which  indicates 
a  situation  visible  to  all.  Under  this  sup¬ 
position,  Mary’s  marriage  could  not  have 
been  celebrated  till  her  maternity  had  be¬ 
come  apparent,  proved,  undeniable !  What 
would  both  families  have  thought  of  it! 
What  would  have  been  said  by  all  Naz¬ 
areth,  who  would  have  hastened  to  witness 
the  ceremony  ?  To  what  insulting  re¬ 
proaches  would  the  pure  Virgin  have  been 
exposed,  among  a  people  where  female 
honor  was  a  thing  so  sacred  as  to  be  infal¬ 
libly  avenged  by  murder !  Would  not  the 
birth  of  the  Messias — that  birth  which  was 
to  be  pure  as  the  morning  dew ,  according  to 
the  poetical  expression  of  David — have 
been  thereby  tainted  and  defiled?  The 
Jews,  particularly  the  Jews  of  Nazareth, 

( 3 )  Misnah,  t.  iii.,  de  Sponsalibus.-  Selden,  Uxor 
Hebraica. 


t 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  101 

who  showed  such  hostility  to  Jesus  Christ, 

• 

St.  Matthew,  words  which  seem  to  favor 

and  called  him  the  son  of  the  carpenter , 

the  other  interpretation,  but  which  never- 

would  they  not  have  bitterly  reproached 

theless  do  not  convey  a  sufficiently  precise 

him  with  the  irregularity  of  his  birth  ?  As 

meaning  to  remove  the  difficulty.1  After 

they  did  not  do  so,  it  was  because  they  had 

all,  the  dispute  never  bore  upon  the  prin- 

apparently  no  ground  to  base  such  a  charge. 

cipal  point ;  wife  or  betrothed,  no  one, 

These  are  doubtless  the  reasons  which 

among  Christians,  has  ever  doubted  that 

have  induced  a  number  of  illustrious  di- 

the  Mother  of  Gtod  was  the  purest  and 

vines  to  pronounce  in  favor  of  the  mar- 

most  holy  of  virgins  :  even  the  Mussulman 

riage,  notwithstanding  the  inference  which 

admits  that  she  was  the  fountain  and  mine 

the  opposite  party  draw  from  the  words  of 

of  purity? 

( 1 )  The  verse  which  has  divided  the  doctors  is 

desponsata  sibi  uxore  prcegnante,  to  be  enrolled 

this : — “  Christi  autem  generatio  sic  erat :  cum  esset 

with  Mary  his  espoused  wife,  who  was  with  child ;” 

desponsata  mater  ejus  Maria  Joseph,  antequam. 

and  in  verse  19  of  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Matthew, 

convenirent,  inventa  est  in  utero  habens  de  Spiritu 

St.  Joseph  is  called  vir  ejus,  her  husband,  and  not 

Sancto.”  Those  who  dwell  on  the  force  of  the 

her  espoused.  If  St.  Matthew  calls  the  Blessed 

words,  say  that  the  Virgin  was  only  betrothed, 

Virgin  sponsa,  spouse,  although  she  was  wife,  it  is 

because  the  Greek  verb,  which  is  a  translation  of 

not  to  say  that  she  had  not  yet  contracted  mar- 

the  Hebrew  expression  of  St.  Matthew,  means 

riage  ;  it  is  merely  to  show,  as  one  of  the  Fathers 

desponderi,  to  be  betrothed,  and  that  there  is  an- 

remarks,  that  she  had  no  more  intimacy  with  her 

other  term  to  signify  to  be  married,  as  we  find 

husband  than  if  she  had  been  only  his  betrothed. 

among  the  Latins  desponderi  and  nubere,  and 

( 3 )  The  purity  of  Mary  is  so  fully  recognized 

hence  that  St.  Joseph  had  not  yet  taken  the  Vir- 

by  the  Mussulmans,  that  Abou-Ishac,  ambassador 

gin  home  to  his  house,  which  they  prove  by  those 

of  the  caliph  at  the  court  of  the  Emperor  of  the 

words  of  verse  20  :  “  JVoli  timere  accipere  Mariam 

Greeks,  holding  a  conference  with  the  patriarch 

oonjugem  tuam:  quod  enim  in  ea  natum  est,  de 

and  certain  Greek  bishops,  on  the  subject  of  reli- 

Spiritu  Sancto  est,”  which  they  explain  thus : 

gion,  the  bishops  reproached  the  Mussulmans  with 

“  Take  Mary  for  thy  wife  without  fear,  for  what  is 

many  things  which  had  been  formerly  said  by 

born  in  her,  is  born  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 

the  Mussulmans  themselves  against  Ayeshah,  the 

Ghost.”  But  to  be  translated  thus,  it  must  read: 

widow  of  their  prophet,  which  had  excited  divisions 

in  conjugem  tuam.  The  opposite  opinion,  which  is 

among  them.  Abou-Ishac  answered  them  that 

maintained  by  Fathers,  commentators  of  consider- 

they  need  not  wonder  at  these  dissensions,  since 

able  weight,  and  almost  all  theologians,  finds  arms 

among  Christians  opinions  had  been  so  divided 

to  combat  its  antagonists  in  the  second  chapter  of 

on  the  subject  of  the  glorious  Mary,  mother  of 

St.  Luke;  for,  notwithstanding  that  the  Virgin 

Jesus,  “who  may  be  called,”  said  he,  “the  mine 

was  already  married  to  Joseph,  the  gospel  uses 

and  fountain  of  all  purity,  'genab  ismet  mealo 

the  Greek  term  vTtidxveidSai,  which  signifies  to  be 

kon  offet.” — (DTIorbelot,  Bibl.  Orientale,  t.  ii.. 

promised,  and  says,  “  Ut  profiteretur  cum  Maria 

% 

p.  620.) 

102 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  VISITATION. 


MEANWHILE  Mary,  informed  by 
the  angel  of  the  pregnancy  of  Eliz¬ 
abeth,  resolved  to  go  and  affectionately 
congratulate  her  venerable  relative.  It 
was  not,  as  heretics  have  not  hesitated  to 
say,  that  the  Virgin  required  ocular  proof 
of  the  reality  of  this  event,  which  was  out 
of  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature  ;  she  knew 
that  nothing  is  impossible  to  God,  and, 
moreover,  could  not  suppose  that  a  mes¬ 
senger  of  heaven  would  bear  to  her  from 
the  Most  High  words  of  deception  and 
falsehood.  She  went,  not  to  be  convinced, 
but  because  she  was  convinced  ;  she  went 
with  haste,  because  charity,  says  St.  Am¬ 
brose,  admits  neither  delay  nor  hinderance; 
and  besides,  she  who  was  good  and  kind 
during  her  whole  life,  longed  to  bear  to 
those  relatives  whose  protection  had  sur¬ 
rounded  her  childhood,  and  who  had  long 
looked  upon  her  as  their  daughter,  some 
little  of  that  sanctification,  and  those  heav¬ 
enly  graces  which  flowed  in  her  soul  as  in¬ 
exhaustible  fountains  of  living  water,  from 
the  instant  that  she  bore  in  her  chaste 
womb  the  Creator  of  the  world. 

With  the  consent  of  St.  Joseph,  whose 


( 1 )  Zacliary  lived  at  Ain,  or  Aen,  two  leagues 
south  of  Jerusalem.  St.  Helena  built  a  church  on 
the  site  of  his  house. 

( 2 )  Although  J udea  was  much  more  populous 
then  than  now,  there  still  remained  districts  so 
barren  as  to  be  incapable  of  cultivation.  The 


simple  but  elevated  soul  was  in  unison 
with  her  own,  and  who  had  but  one  heart 
and  will  with  hers,  Mary  left  Nazareth  in 
the  season  of  roses,  and  journeyed  toward 
the  mountains  of  Judea,  where  Zachary 
dwelt.  The  Scripture,  which  omits  de¬ 
tails,  taking  up  merely  fhe  leading  points 
of  events,  does  not  state  whether  the  Vir¬ 
gin  had  any  companions  in  this  journey : 
some  authors  have  thence  inferred  that  she 
performed  it  alone,  but  this  is  not  at  all 
likely.  In  fact,  the  distance  from  Nazareth 
to  the  town  of  Ain1  is  five  days’  march  ; 
part  of  Galilee,  the  hostile  Samaria,  and 
almost  all  the  territory  of  Juda  had  to  be 
traversed.  Now  this  tract  is  rugged  with 
mountains,  intersected  by  torrents,  and 
interspersed  with  deserts.2  The  roads, 
which  the  Romans  repaired  at  a  later 
period,  full  of  holes  trodden  in  by  the 
heavy  footsteps  of  camels,  and  covered 
with  loose  stones,  threatened  the  traveller 
at  every  step  with  a  fatal  fall.  When  the 
evening  came  on,  there  was  no  place  to 
sleep,  except  some  caravansary,  affording 
naught  but  a  bare  cell  without  provisions, 
and  furnished  with  a  plain  rush  mat  ;3  for 


gospel  mentions,  as  though  but  a  short  distance 
from  towns,  deserts  where  Jesus  Christ  went  to 
pray. 

(s)  “There  is  no  inn  in  any  part  of  Syria  and 
Palestine,”  says  Volney,  “  but  the  towns  and  most 
of  the  villages  have  a  large  building  called  Kervan- 


THE  ANNUNCIATION. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  103 

the  primitive  hospitality  had  marked  b}r  its 

Ambrose,  “she  never  appeared  abroad 

gradual  decrease  the  different  phases  of 

except  with  a  faithful  escort.”2 

advanced  civilization  among  the  Hebrews. 

When  she  arrived  at  the  sacerdotal 

Under  such  circumstances  can  we  presume 

city  where  the  LeVite  and  his  happy  wife 

that  a  man  full  of  days  and  experience, 

dwelt,  Mary  proceeded  to  their  well-known 

like  Joseph,  would  willingly  expose  a 

house  without  allowing  herself  any  time  to 

young  wife — beautiful,  delicate,  brought 

rest.  Elizabeth,  informed  by  one  of  her 

up  secluded  from  the  world,  and  confiding 

slaves  of  the  unexpected  visit  of  her 

as  innocence  itself — to  dangers  of  all 

cousin,  came  to  meet  her  with  tokens  of 

sorts,  to  every  kind  of  inconvOnience  which 

great  joy. 

a  solitary  journey  entailed  ?  Such  an  as- 

Seeing  her  approach,  the  young  Virgin 

sertion  contradicts  the  history  of  the  people 

bowed,  and  laying  her  hand  on  her  heart, 

of  God,  and  the  manners  of  Asia;1 — no 

said,  “Peace  be  with  thee,”  hastening  to 

Jewish  woman  would  ever  have  trusted 

be  the  first  to  offer  a  salutation.3  Elizabeth 

herself,  without  a  suitable  escort,  to  such 

recoiled  a  step :  the  animated,  friendly  ex- 

a  distance  from  her  house. 

pression  of  her  countenance  was  subdued 

If  St.  Joseph,  as  Father  Croiset  thinks, 

to  profound  respect ;  then  by  degrees  her 

could  not  accompany  Mary,  it  is  probable 

features  were  illumined  ;  it  was  evident 

that  the  Mother  of  God  joined  some  of  her 

that  something  unusual  and  prodigious  was 

female  relations  whom  their  piety  led  to 

passing  within  her.  The  simple  expression 

the  holy  city,  with  their  husbands,  or  their 

of  politeness  which  the  Virgin  had  pro- 

servants,  and  that  she  pursued  her  journey 

nounced  in  her  low  sweet  voice  had  thrilled 

thence  under  some  safe  protection.  We 

through  her  kinswoman.  At  once,  the 

always  find  her  travelling  thus  in  the  midst 

spirit  of  prophecy  descended  upon  Eliza- 

of  her  own  relatives,  whether  she  goes  to 

beth,  and  she  cried  out:  “  Blessed  art  thou 

Jerusalem  for  the  great  solemnities,  or 

among  women,  and  blessed  is  the  fruit  of 

follows  the  preachings  of  Jesus  with  the 

thy  womb.  And  whence  is  this  to  me,” 

holy  women  at  a  still  more  advanced  period 

she  added,  “that  the  Mother  of  my  Lord 

of  her  life.  “Though  she  could  have  had 

should  come  to  me  ?  For  behold,  as  soon 

no  better  guardian  than  herself,”  says  St. 

as  the  voice  of  thy  salutation  sounded  in 

serai,  which  affords  a  shelter  to  all  travellers.  These 

tries  exposed  to  the  Arabs,  like  Syria  and  Pales- 

receptacles,  always  placed  outside  the  walls  of 

tine.— (Volney,  Voyage  en  Syrie.)  • 

towns,  are  composed  of  four  arcades,  enclosing  a 

( 3 )  St.  Ambrose,  de  Virginibus,  liv.  ii. 

square  court,  which  serves  as  a  place  for  the  beasts : 

( 3 )  This  salutation,  which  Jesus  Christ  often. 

there  are  in  these  places  neither  provisions  nor  fur- 

used,  is  still  that  of  all  the  East.  When  the  Ori- 

niture.” 

entals  meet,  after  the  ordinary  salutation,  “Peace 

(*)  No  one  travels  alone  in  Syria;  tlTe  people 

be  with  you”  ( salern  alaicom ),  they  lay  their  hand 

only  go  in  troops  and  caravans ;  they  have  to  wait 

on  the  heart.  This  salutation  was  in  use  in  the 

till  several  travellers  want  to  proceed  to  'the  same 

time  of  Abraham. — (Savary,  Note  on  Ch.  2  of  the 

place.  These  precautions  are  necessary  in  coun- 

Koran. 

* 

104  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

my  ears,  the  infant  in  my  womb  leaped  for 
joy.  And  blessed  art  thou  that  hast  be¬ 
lieved,  because  those  things  shall  be  ac¬ 
complished  that  were  spoken  to  thee  by 
the  Lord.”1 

Mary’s  answer  was  the  sublime  inspired 
Magnificat,  the  first  canticle  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  the  finest  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures : 

“My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord:  and 
my  spirit  Jiath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour. 

“Because  he  hath  regarded  the  humil¬ 
ity  of  his  handmaid :  for  behold  from 
henceforth  all  generations  shall  call  me 
Blessed. 

“  For  he  that  is  mighty  hath  done  great 
things  to  me,  and  holy  is  his  name. 

“And  his  mercy  is  from  generation  to 
generations,  to  them  that  fear  him. 

“  He  hath  showed  might  in  his  arm  :  he 
hath  scattered  the  proud  in  the  conceit  of 
their  heart. 

‘  ‘  He  hath  put  down  the  mighty  from 
their  seat,  and  hath  exalted  the  humble. 

“He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good 
things  :  and  the  rich  he  hath  sent  empty 
away. 

“  He  hath  received  Israel  his  servant, 
being  mindful  of  his  mercy. 

“As  he  spoke  to  our  fathers,  to  Abra¬ 
ham  and  to  his  seed  forever.”2 

Thus  did  the  Yirgin  discern  at  once,  byT 
a  supernatural  light,  those  ancient  proph¬ 
ecies  and  their  perfect  accomplishment, 
herself  being  a  thousand  times  more  en- 

lightened  and  more  privileged  than  all  the 
prophets  together.  “In  this  celebrated 
interview,  and  in  this  admirable  conversa¬ 
tion,”  says  St.  Ambrose,  “Mary  and  Eliz¬ 
abeth  both  prophesied  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
with  whom  they  were  filled,  and  by  the 
merit  of  their  infants.” 

The  Yirgin  sojourned  three  months  in 
the  land  of  the  Hethites,  and  spent  this 
long  visit  not  far  from  the  city  of  Ain,  in 
the  depth  of  a  shady  and  fertile  valley, 
where  Zachary  had  his  country-house.3  It 
was  then  that  the  daughter  of  David,  her¬ 
self,  too,  a  prophetess,  and  endowed  with 
genius  equal  to  that  of  the  illustrious  head 
of  her  race,  could  contemplate  at  leisure 
the  starry  heavens,  the  resounding  forests, 
and  the  vast  sea,  which,  in  the  horizon, 
rolled  its  loud  or  peaceful  waves  on  the 
echoing  blue  shores  of  Syria.  The  Blessed 
Yirgin  contemplated  with  no  indifferent 
eye  these  magnificent  scenes  of  creation. 

All  the  works  of  nature  spoke  to  her  of 
their  great  Author,  and  came  sweetly  to 
inflame  her  soul  after  charming  her  sight. 

The  plain  which  vanished  from  her  sight 
beyond  the  mountains  of  Arabia,  the  blue 
vaulted  sky,  spread  like  a  tent  above  the 
habitations  of  men,  gave  her  an  idea  of  the 
immensity  of  God  the  Creator  ;  the  golden 
harvest,  the  savory  fruit,  the  cool  mountain 
spring,  proclaimed  to  her  his  providence ; 
the  voice  of  the  tempest,  his  power ;  the 
mechanism  of  the  heavens,  his  wisdom;  and 
the  care  which  He  takes  of  the  birds  of 

( 1 )  St.  Luke,  i.  42-45. 

(A  St.  Luke,  i.  46-55. 

( 3 )  This  country-house  was  at  a  short  distance 
from  Ain,  in  the  bosom  of  a  pleasant  and  fertile 

valley,  which  serves  now  as  a  garden  to  the  village 
of  Saint  John.  Here  a  church  was  built  in  honor 
of  the  Visitation,  but  in  our  days  it  is  merely  a 
heap  of  ruins. 

l 

• 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  105 

heaven  and  the  insects  of  earth,  his  good- 

complacency  of  J ehovah  ;  the  one  bearing 

ness. 

in  her  long-barren  womb  a  son  who  was  to 

In  these  rural  excursions  she  sometimes 

be  “  a  prophet  and  more  than  a  prophet 

rested  by  the  side  of  a  boiling  spring,  of 

the  other,  the  blessed  germ  of  the  Most 

which  she  loved  the  foam  and  the  noise  : 

High,  the  chief  and  liberator  of  Israel. 

this  spring,  called  Nephtoa  in  the  time 

In  the  fine  summer  evenings,  when  the 

of  Josue,  bears  to  this  day  the  name  of 

ivory  moonlight  illumined  the  foliage,  the 

“  Mary.” 1 

repast  of  the  opulent  family  was  spread 

Behind  the  elegant  villa  of  the  Hebrew 

beneath  a  large  fig-tree,  or  under  the  green 

priest,  extended  one  of  those  gardens  which 

leafy  branches  of  a  thick  vine  ;2  the  lamb 

the  Persians  called  a  paradise,  the  captives 

fed  in  the  deep  valleys  around  Bethlehem, 

of  Israel  having  adopted  the  arrangement 

the  deer  from  the  aromatic  mountains  of 

of  them  from  the  nation  of  Cyrus  and  Se- 

Betkar,  clean  birds  netted  by  the  Israelite 

miramis  :  there  were  seen  the  finest  trees 

fowler,  scaly  fish  caught  by  the  Sidonian 

of  Palestine  ;  and  the  beds  of  flowers  scat- 

fisherman,  the  produce  of  the  dairy,  honey- 

tered  irregularly  in  the  open  spaces,  the 

combs ;  and  then,  in  baskets  of  palm-leaves, 

sweet  odor  of  the  orange-blossoms,  the 

pomegranates,  figs,  grapes  from  Galilee, 

streams  of  water  which  fled  away  beneath 

•  with  dates  from  Jericho,3  which  even 

the  low  bending  branches  of  the  willows, 

figured  on  the  table  of  Caesar  ;  there  were 

lent  its  shades  a  charm.  There  the  sweet 

also  seen  apricots  from  Armenia,  plums 

converse  of  Mary  made  Elizabeth  forget 

from  Damascus,  pistachio  nuts  from  Al- 

her  fears  for  an  event  which  overpowered 

eppo,  water-melons  from  the  banks  of  the 

her  with  joyful  hope,  but  which  her  ad- 

Nile,  and  that  sweet  cane  from  the  marshes 

vanced  age  might  render  fatal.  How 

of  Egypt,  which  Herodotus  speaks  of  as  an 

religious  must  have  been  the  conversation 

exquisite  eatable  ;  lastly,  the  golden  wine 

of  these  two  women !  The  one  young,  art- 

of  Libanus,  and  the  perfumed  wine  of 

less,  and  as  ignorant  of  evil  as  Eve  when 

Cyprus,  which  the  steward  kept  in  stone 

she  came  forth  from  the  hands  of  the 

jars,4  circulated  in  rich  cups.  Mary,  tern- 

Almighty  ;  the  other  full  of  days,  and  rich 

perate  as  ever  in  the  midst  of  this  abund 

in  long  experience  in  the  affairs  of  life  ; 

ance,  was  content  with  a  little  fruit  and  a 

both  profoundly  pious,  and  objects  of  the 

cup  of  pure  water.  Frugality  with  her  was 

(  1 )  This  fountain  gives  such  an  abundance  of 

countries,  to  seek  air  and  coolness. — (Fleury,  Man- 

water,  that  it  irrigates  the  whole  valley  and  renders 

ners  of  tbe  Israelites,  §  xvii.) 

it  productive.  Tradition  relates  that  Mary  some- 

(8)  Tbe  dates  of  Syria  and  Judea  are  yellow 

times  came  thither;  it  bore  the  name  Nephtoa  in 

and  black,  round,  like  apples,  and  very  sweet. 

the  time  of  Josue;  it  is  now  styled  the  Fountain 

Pliny  reckons  forty-nine  kinds  of  dates. 

of  the  Virgin. 

(4)  Tbe  Jews  established  in  the  Yemen  still 

( * )  The  Hebrews  took  their  meals  in  gardens, 

make  use  of  these  jars. — (See  Niebuhr,  Voyage  en 

u  nder  trees,  and  in  arbors;  for  it  is  natural,  in  hot 
14 

Arabie.) 

1 

100  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

no  forced  virtue,  no  abstinence  entailed  by 
her  position ;  it  was  a  virtue  of  predilection.1 

Some  writers,  to  extol  the  humility  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  needs  no  ex¬ 
traneous  commendation,  insist  that  she 
rendered  to  Elizabeth  the  offices  of  a  serv¬ 
ant ,  and  almost  of  a  slave. 

This  is  mere  error:  Elizabeth  would 
never  have  allowed  a  woman  whom  she 
herself  had  proclaimed  the  Mother  of  our 
Lord,  and  whom  she  had  highly  extolled 
above  all  the  daughters  of  Sion,  to  debase 
herself  in  such  a  manner  before  her.  The 
holy  spouse  of  Zachary2  could  not  have 
lacked  servants  or  slaves.  Christians  and 
Jews  agree  that  this  family  wras  distin¬ 
guished,  and  the  illustrious  birth  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  even  cast  some  discredit  upon 
that  of  Jesus  Christ,  born  of  parents  much 
less  distinguished,  and  living  in  poverty 
the  common  life  of  plebeians. 

The  attentions,  therefore,  which  the 
amiable  and  gentle  Virgin  lavished  upon 
Elizabeth  were  in  no  wise  painful  or  ser¬ 
vile  ;  they  were  those  delicate  and  season¬ 
able  attentions  with  which  she  would  have 

surrounded  her  own  mother,  had  heaven 
spared  her ;  and  no  doubt  the  often  imagined 
that  she  beheld  again  the  authors  of  her 
days  in  that  affectionate,  devout,  and  ven¬ 
erable  pair,  who  loved  her  with  parental 
affection,  and  who  showed  toward  her  from 
the  first  interview,  when  her  greatness  was 
so  marvellously  revealed,  a  sentiment  of 
admiration  mingled  with  respect,  which 
Mary  humbly  endeavored  to  shun,  but 
which  she  did  not  succeed  in  arresting. 

It  is  easy  to  understand,  say  the  Fathers, 
how  many  blessings  were  drawn  down  by 
the  visit  of  Mary  upon  the  sacerdotal  fam¬ 
ily,  who  had  given  her  so  affectionate  a 
reception.  If  the  Lord  blessed  Obededom 
and  all  that  belonged  to  him,  even  so  far 
as  to  make  the  holy  King  David  jealous, 
for  having  had  the  ark  of  the  covenant  for 
three  months  in  his  dwelling,  what  graces 
must  have  been  drawn  down  upon  Zachary 
and  all  his  house  by  the  three  months’ 
abode  of  Her,  of  whom  the  ark  of  the  Cov¬ 
enant  was  but  the  figure,  holy  and  awful  as 
it  was!  “The  purity  in  which  St.John 
always  lived,”  says  St.  Ambrose,  “  was  an 

( 1 )  Her  abstinence  did  not  appear  to  be  a  fast ; 
it  was  rather  a  custom,  as  it  were,  not  to  make  use 
of  food. — (Father  Valverde,  Life  of  Christ,  t.  i. 

p.  6.) 

( a )  Zachary  was  descended  from  Abia,  father  of 
the  eighth  priestly  family.  (1  Paral.,  xxiv.  10.) 
These  ancient  families  were  rare,  several  of  them 
having  settled  in  Persia  after  the  captivity.  Eliza¬ 
beth  was  descended  from  Aaron  and  from  David. 
The  Jews  reckoned  John  the  Baptist  far  above 
Jesus,  because  he  had  passed  his  life  in  the  desert, 
and  was  the  son  of  a  chief  priest.  Jesus  Christ,  on 
the  other  hand,  born  of  a  poor  woman,  appeared 
to  them  as  one  of  the  common  people. — (S.  Joan. 

Chrysost.  in  Matt.,  Serm.  12.)  The  Mussulmans 
have  retained  a  high  idea  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
whom  they  call  Jahia  ten  Zacharia  (John,  the  son 
of  Zachary).  Saadi,  in  his  Gulistan,  mentions 
the  sepulchre  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  venerated 
in  the  mosque  of  Damascus ;  he  said  some  prayers 
there,  and  records  those  of  a  king  of  the  Arabs, 
who  came  thither  on  a  pilgrimage.  “  The  Caliph 
Abdalmalek  wanted  to  purchase  this  church  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  Christians,”  says  d’Herbelot, 

“  and  it  was  only  after  their  refusal  of  four  thou¬ 
sand  dinars,  or  gold  pistoles,  which  he  had  offered 
them,  that  he  took  possession  of  it  by  force.” — 
(Bibliotheque  Orientale,  t.  ii.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


107 


effect  of  that  unction  and  that  grace  infused 
into  his  soul  by  the  presence  of  the  Virgin.” 

We  know  not  precisely  whether  the 
Mother  of  G-od  assisted  at  the  lying-in 
of  Elizabeth.  Origen,  St.  Ambrose,  and 
other  grave  authors,  ancient  as  well  as 
modern,  maintain  the  affirmative,  and  this 
opinion  is  very  probable  ;  for  it  would  have 
been  at  least  very  extraordinary  for  Mary, 
after  having  spent  so  long  a  time  with  her 
relation,  to  leave  her  abruptly  in  the  hour 
of  danger,  and  with  no  reasonable  motive 
for  so  unseasonable  and  precipitate  a  depart¬ 
ure.  Custom  required  that  all  the  matrons 
of  the  family  should  surround  the  new  moth¬ 
er,  to  rejoice  with  her  in  her  happiness  ;  the 
gospel  informs  us  that  they  were  not  want¬ 
ing  to  Elizabeth  on  this  solemn  occasion, 
and  that  the  birth  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
drew  a  large  concourse  of  kinsfolk  and 
friends  to  the  house  of  his  father.  It  is 
alleged  that  virgins  were  not  generally 
found  at  these  gatherings,  and  this  we  can 
conceive  ;  but  Mary  was  married,  which 
required  of  her  those  duties  which  became 

i 

( 1 )  Those  theologians  who  have  embraced  the 
opinion  adverse  to  that  of  Origen  and  St.  Ambrose, 
dwell  upon  that  passage  of  St.  Luke,  which  does 
not  speak  of  Elizabeth’s  delivery  till  after  having 
brought  the  Blessed  Virgin  back  into  Galilee.  It 
seemed  to  us  that  this  deserved  consideration:  we 
therefore  attentively  studied  the  gospel  of  this 
evangelist ;  this  minute  examination  convinced  us 
that  this  reason  is  not  conclusive ;  for  it  is  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  St.  Luke  to  make  transpositions  of  this 
kind,  and  we  can  quote  two  others  of  the  same 
nature.  For  example,  after  having  followed  up 
the  preaching  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  an¬ 
nounced  his  imprisonment,  St.  Luke  speaks,  in  the 
following  verse,  of  the  baptism  of  Jesus  Christ,  an 
event  undoubtedly  prior  to  the  imprisonment  of 


lier,  and  wliich  she  could  not  omit  without 
violating  usages  received  from  the  time  of 
the  patriarchs.  Some  argue,  with  as  little 
reason,  from  the  retired  habits  of  the  Vir¬ 
gin,  that  the  mere  noise  of  the  festivities 
which  celebrated  the  birth  of  the  precursor 
of  Jesus  Christ  put  her  to  flight  like  a 
startled  young  dove.  Mary  could  well 
reconcile  her  disinclination  for  the  world 
with  that  exquisite  sense  of  propriety  at¬ 
tributed  to  her  by  the  Fathers,  and  her 
tender  solicitude  for  her  mother’s  niece : 
she  must  have  remained  beneath  the  roof 
of  the  pontiff  until  Elizabeth  was  out  of 
danger :  and  then,  escaping  from  that 
admiration  which  she  never  failed  to  ex¬ 
cite,  she  left  the  mountains  of  Judea,  after 
embracing  and  blessing  the  new  Elias.1 

A  religious  author  observes  that  the 
blessed  daughter  of  Joachim  had  hastened 
with  all  diligence  to  visit  her  cousin,  but 
that  she  departed  slowly,  and  as  if  with  re¬ 
gret,  from  those  cool  valleys,  whose  oaks  had 
given  shelter  to  angels  ;2  perchance,  like  the 
sea-bird,  she  had  a  presentiment  of  storms. 

the  precursor  and  his  tragical  death.  When  relat  • 
ing  the  adoration  of  the  shepherds,  St.  Luke  ex¬ 
patiates  on  the  marvellous  accounts  which  they 
gave  of  their  journey  to  the  cave  of  Bethlehem, 
and  of  the  astonishment  which  these  recitals 
caused ;  after  which,  taking  us  back  without  any 
transition  to  the  interrupted  scene  of  the  adoration, 
he  speaks  of  their  departure  from  the  stable.  This 
is  what  makes  us  adopt  the  doctrine  of  St.  Am¬ 
brose,  the  probability  of  which  strikes  us  at  first 
sight.  Father  Valverde,  who  studied  the  holy 
Fathers  deeply,  is  equally  of  opinion  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  did  not  leave  her  relations  till  she 
had  embraced  and  blessed  the  precursor  of  the 
Messias, 

( 2 )  In  the  vale  of  Mambre,  which  is  only  six 


108  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

CHAPTER  X. 

mary’s  virginal  pregnancy. 

/AN  her  return  to  Nazareth,  Mary  re- 

lion  of  St.  J ames,  in  the  first  transports  of 

sumed  without  an  effort  the  life  of 

his  grief,  he  prostrated  himself  before  God 

the  poor,  and  the  humble  occupations  which 

with  his  face  on  the  ground,  and  all  bathed 

she  must  have  suspended  in  the  more  ele- 

in  tears,  crying  out,  “Who  has  betrayed 

vated  sphere  which  she  had  just  quitted. 

•  me?  who  has  brought  evil  into  my  house?” 

She  became  again  the  young,  active,  and 

Then,  yielding  to  his  tender  affection  for 

diligent  housewife,  who  found  time  for 

the  young  orphan  whom  he  had  ever  re- 

work,  time  for  prayer,  time  for  reading  the 

garded  as  the  pearl  and  honor  of  her  sex, 

sacred  books,  whose  whole  conversation 

he  bitterly  accused  himself  of  not  having 

was  in  heaven,  and  who  seemed  to  have 

guarded  her  with  sufficient  care.  “Alas!” 

applied  to  herself  those  beautiful  and  sage 

he  said  to  himself,  “my  history  is  that  of 

words  of  the  Psalmist:  “All  the  glory  of 

Adam  ;  when  he  reposed  with  the  greatest 

the  king’s  daughter  is  within  her  house.” 

confidence  in  his  glory  and  happiness, 'be- 

Meanwhile  she  advanced  in  her  virginal 

hold  on  a  sudden  Satan  deceived  Eve  with 

pregnancy,  and  Joseph  began  to  grow  sad 

lying  words,  and  seduced  her.”1  When 

and  perplexed. 

Joseph  was  sufficiently  calm  to  reflect,  he 

A  poignant  uncertainty,  a  painful  per- 

found  himself  in  great  perplexity. 

plexity,  tortured  the  great  and  upright  soul 

By  the  Jewish  law,  adultery  was  pun- 

of  the  patriarch.  At  first  he  did  not  be- 

ished  with  death  When  there  were  no 

lieve  his  eyes,  and  he  found  it  more  reason- 

witnesses,  (a  single  one  would  suffice.)  and 

able  to  doubt  the  testimony  of  his  senses 

the  woman  denied  the  crime  laid  to  her 

than  the  purity  of  a  woman  who  had  always 

charge,  she  was  led,  by  order  of  the  sanhe- 

appeared  to  him  a  prodigy  of  Candor  and 

drim,  to  the  eastern  gate  of  the  temple,  and 

sanctity.  But  the  condition  of  Mary  be- 

there,  in  presence  of  all,  after  snatching  off 

came  more  and  more  visible  ;  she  was  found 

her  veil,  placing  about  her  neck  a  cord 

with  child says  the  gospel,  which  means 

brought  from  Egypt,  to  bring  to  her  mind 

that  all  Nazareth  was  informed  of  it,  and 

that  Joseph’s  relations,  in  the  innocence  of 

furlongs  from  Hebron,  there  was  still  shown,  in 

their  hearts,  offered  him  painful  congratu- 

the  time  of  St.  Jerome,  a  tree  of  enormous  growth, 

lations,  which  he  was  obliged  to  receive 

beneath  which  it  was  said  that  Abraham  had  re- 

without  changing  countenance,  and  which 

ceived  the  visit  of  the  three  angels  who  announced 

enlightened  him  at  once  like  a  flash  of 

to  him  the  birth  of  Isaac. 

( ’)  Protevang.  Jac.,  in  the  apocryph.  of  Fabric., 

lightning.  According  to  the  Protevange- 

t.  i.,  p.  97. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


the  miracles  wrought  by  God  in  that  land, 
and  covering  her  shoulders  with  her  dis¬ 
hevelled  hair,  because  it  was  a  disgrace  for 
a  Jewish  woman  to  be  seen  with  dishev¬ 
elled  hair,  a  priest  pronouncing  a  terrible 
form  of  malediction,  to  which  she  had  to 
answer  Amen,  presented  her  with  the  fa¬ 
mous  cup  of  the  waters  of  jealousy,  which 
were  also  called  bitter  waters,  because  they 
had  the  taste  of  wormwood.1  This  cup  of 
malediction  was  infallibly  fatal  to  the  guilty, 
unless  the  husband  himself  had  been  guilty 
of  infidelity ;  for  then  the  miracle  did  not 
take  place,  “  because,”  say  the  doctors  of 
Israel,  “  it  would  not  have  been  just  that 
one  of  the  guilty  should  be  absolved,  while 
God  punished  the  other.” 2  A  husband  of. 
a  violent  temper  would  not  have  failed 
to  drag  Mary  before  the  priests  of  the 
Lord,  to  subject  her  to  the  formidable 
trial  of  the  holy  waters  ;  but  Joseph,  the 
most  moderate,  as  well  as  the  most  just 
of  men,  did  not  so  much  as  think  of  taking 
this  extreme  course.  Unable  to  retain 
Mary  under  his  roof,  since  both  the  law  of 
honor  and  the  law  of  Moses  forbade  it,  he 
wished  at  least  to  take  all  possible  pre¬ 
cautions  to  prevent  this  painful  separa- 
tion  from  casting  any  reflection  upon  her 
virtue, — for  he  was  a  just  man,  and  not 
willing  publicly  to  expose  her.  “  I  will  put 
her  away,”  said  Joseph  mournfully  to  him- 


( 1 )  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  22. 

(2)  Wagenseil,  in  Sotah,  p.  244. 

(3)  The  Jewish  law  required  that  the  accuser 
should  cast  the  first  stone  at  him  whom  he  had 
caused  to  be  condemned. — (Institut.  de  Mo'ise,  t.  ii., 
p.  65.) 

(4)  4 1  Doubtless,”  says  Bossuet  (Elevations  sur 


109 

self,  “but  before  God,  and  not  before  the 
judges,  who  would  condemn  her  to  die,  and 
me  to  cast  the  first  stone  at  her : 3  I  will 
save  her  from  the  reproaches  of  her  family 
and  the  contempt  of  the  world  :  but  how 
escape  this  labyrinth,  where  dishonor  and 
death  meet  me  at  every  outlet  ?”  And  the 
son  of  David  remained  plunged  in  extreme 
dejection. 

The  gloomy  sadness  of  the  just  man,  to 
whom  God  himself  had  entrusted  her,  could 
not  escape  Mary,  and  doubtless  was  a 
severe  trial  for  her  to  conceal  from  Joseph 
the  glorious  embassy  of  the  angel ;  but 
how  could  she  unveil  an  event  so  unheard 
of,  so  miraculous,  as  that  of  her  divine 
maternity,  with  no  proof  but  her  own 
word?  Justlv  convinced  that,  to  ensure 
belief,  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  must 
be  revealed  by  supernatural  means,  and 
leaving  to  Him,  who  had  wrought  so  greal 
things  in  her,  the  care  of  convincing 
Joseph  of  her  innocence,  “  the  daughter  ot 
David,”  says  the  great  Bishop  of  Meaux, 
“  at  the  risk  of  seeing  herself  not' only  sus¬ 
pected  and  forsaken,  but  even  lost  and 
dishonored,  left  all  to  God,  and  remained 
in  peace.” 

The  Eternal,  from  the  height  of  his  starry 
throne,  looked  down  with  complacency 
upon  the  just  man,  whom  he  had  subjected 
to  this  severe  trial,4  before  he  raised  him 


les  Mysteres),  ‘‘'God  might  have  spared  Joseph  all 
this  pain,  by  revealing  to  him  earlier  the  mystery 
of  Mary’s  pregnancy;  but  his  virtue  would  not 
have  been  put  to  the  trial  Avhich  was  prepared  for 
him;  we  should  not  have  witnessed  the  victory  of 
Joseph  over  the  most  untameable  of  all  passions, 
and  the  most  righteous  jealousy  that  ever  existed 


110 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


to  the  supreme  honor  of  being  his  repre¬ 
sentative  upon  earth,  and  the  angels,  with 
eyes  riveted  on  the  holy  house  of  Nazareth, 
anxiously  awaited  the  result  of  this  secret 
contest,  in  which  humanity,  duty,  and  the 
noblest  sentiments  of  the  soul  were  en¬ 
gaged.  At  last,  the  patriarch  conceived 
an  idea,  so  generous  and  heroic,  that  it 
places  him  almost  on  a  level  with  the 
Queen  of  angels  :  he  resolved  to  sacrifice 
his  honor,  the  esteem  which  he  had  ac¬ 
quired  by  a  spotless  life,  the  means  of 
existence  which  gave  him  his  daily  bread, 
and  the  air  of  his  native  land,  so  delightful 
to  inhale  as  the  grave  draws  nigh,  in  order 
to  save  the  reputation  of  a  wife,  who  did  not 
even  attempt  to  justify  herself,  and  whom 
appearances  so  cruelly  accused.  There 
"was  but  one  way  of  parting  with  Mary 
without  ruining  her,  for  her  family  would 
have  demanded  an  explanation  that  would 
have  terminated  fatally :  and  this  means 
was  self-exile,  to  go  and  die  afar  off  in  a 
strange  land,  and  let  all  the  odium  of  such  a 
desertion  fall  upon  his  own  head.  There  are 
acts  of  resignation  as  glorious  as  triumphs, 
and  sufferings  patiently  supported,  which 
heaven  rewards  as  lavishingly  as  martyr¬ 
dom  :  the  unknown  sacrifice  of  the  spouse 
of  the  Virgin  was  of  this  number.  To 
reconcile  duty  and  humanity,  he  foretasted 
the  sad  reproaches  of  being  a  heartless 
husband,  an  unfeeling  father,  a  man  with¬ 
out  faith  or  conscience  ;  he  accepted  the 
contempt  of  his  relations,  the  mortal  hatred 
of  the  relatives  of  Mary,  and  resolved  to 


would  not  have  been  laid  prostrate  at  the  feet  of 
virtue.” 


pluck  off  with  his  own  hand  the  crown 
of  his  good  name  to  cast  before  the  feet 
of  that  young  woman,  whose  mysterious 
and  unexplained  position  filled  his  heart 
with  sadness,  and  his  life  with  bitter¬ 
ness. 

St.  John  Chrysostom  never  wearies  in 
his  admiration  of  St.  Joseph’s  grand  and 
noble  conduct.  “  It  was  necessary,”  says 
this  great  saint,  “  that  when  the  grace  of 
the  Saviour  was  approaching,  there  should 
already  appear  many  signs  of  a  perfection 
greater  than  the  most  perfect  it  had  been 
given  to  man  to  conceive.  As  when  the 
sun  rises,  the  east  is  tinged  with  a  bright 
lustre,  even  before  the  first  rays  of  day 
peach  the  horizon,  so,  too,  Christ  about  to 
issue  from  the  Virgin’s  womb,  already 
enlightened  the  whole  world  before  his 
birth.  Hence,  even  before  his  birth, 
prophets  leaped  for  joy  in  their  mothers’ 
womb,  women  prophesied,  and  Joseph  dis¬ 
played  more  than  human  wisdom.” 

We  have  here  adopted  the  opinion  of 
St.  John  Chrysostom  in  preference  to  that 
of  St.  Bernard,  who  supposes  that  Joseph 
himself  discovered  the  mystery  of  the  birth 
of  J esus  Christ,  and  that  seeing  Mary  preg¬ 
nant,  lfe  did  not  doubt,  from  the  profound 
veneration  with  which  he  regarded  her, 
that  she  must  be  the  miraculous  Virgin  of 
Isaias.  “He  believed  it,”  says  the  apos¬ 
tle  of  the  crusades,  “and  it  was  only  from 
a  sentiment  of  humility  and  respect, — like 
that  which  made  St.  Peter  afterward  say, 

‘  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  0 
Lord,’ — that  St.  Joseph,  who  was  no  less 
humble  than  St.  Peter,  also  thought  of 
departing  from  the  Virgin,  not  doubting 


LIFE  OP  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


Ill 


that  she  bore  in  her  sacred  womb  the 
Saviour  of  mankind.” 

This  interpretation,  most  pious  surely, 
and  worthy  of  him  who  has  been  honored 
with  the  title  of  the  devout  chaplain  of 
Mary ,  is  more  in  accordance  with  the 
ascetic  notions  of  the  middle  ages,  than 
agreeable  to  the  manners  of  the  ancient 
Hebrews,  and  must  fall  before  a  careful 
study  of  the  text.  In  fact,  the  words  of 
the  gospel  are  so  clear,  that  no  small 
ingenuity  is  required  to  obscure  them.  It 
was  no  instinctive  movement  of  religious 
awe,  such  as  makes  us  keep  at  a  distance 
from  a  sacred  object,  that  suggests  to 
Joseph  the  idea  of  forsaking  Mary ;  it 
is  the  sense  of  conscience  and  duty.  “He 
was  a  just  man,”  says  Bossuet,  “and  his 
justice  did  not  allow  him  to  remain  in 
company  with  a  wife  whom  he  could  not 
believe  innocent ;  for  merely  to  suspect 
what  had  happened  by  the  operation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  was  a  miracle  of  which 
God  had  hitherto  given  no  example,  and 
which  could  not  come  into  any  human 
mind.”1 

The  words  of  the  angel  would  have  no 
sense,  and  would  even  mislead  on  St.  Ber¬ 
nard’s  hypothesis:  “Fear  not,”  says  the 
ambassador  of  the  Most  High,  to  take  unto 
thee  Mary,  thy  wife,  for  that  which  is 
conceived  in  her  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost.” 
Does  Joseph  object  his  unworthiness  at  the 
moment  when  he  becomes  certain  that  Mary 
bears  in  her  womb  the  Author  of  nature 
himself?  Does  he  lay  before  the  angel 


( 1 )  Bossuet,  Elevations  sur  les  Myst&res,  t.  ii., 
p.  135. 


his  scruples,  which  must  be  now  more 
urgent  than  ever  ?  Does  he  ask  that  this 
humble  cup,  which  the  celestial  envoy 
presents  him,  may  pass  from  him  to  some 
more  worthy  mortal  ?  He  does  nothing  of 
all  this ;  the  storms  of  the  soul  are  ap¬ 
peased,  and  he  falls  into  the  profound  calm 
which  follows  great  moral  tempests. 

It  is  objected  that  the  great  Messianic 
oracles  were  familiar  to  Joseph  as  they 
were  to  all  the  Hebrews,  that  he  must 
have  known  that  the  time  of  the  Messias 
was  near  at  hand,  and  that  he  ought  to 
have  understood  from  the  very  first,  con¬ 
sidering  the  holiness  of  Mary,  that  she 
bore  in  her  womb  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  To  understand  the  prophecies 
which  treated  of  the  mystery  of  redemp¬ 
tion  was  not  so  easily  attained  as  is  here 
supposed.  Whether  the  allegorical  de¬ 
scriptions  of  the  glorious  reign  of  the 
Emmanuel  of  Isaias  had  led  the  doctors  of 
the  synagogue  into  error,  or  whether  the 
avaricious  thoughts  of  the  Jews  could  not 
rise  above  the  earth,  and  construed  all  to 
apply  to  temporal  possessions,  it  is  certain 
that  the  Hebrew  people,  “  that  hard-headed 
people,”  had  already  taken  a  wrong  path, 
and  would  not  swerve  from  it.  The  envoy 
of  God,  the  Desired  of  nations,  was  to  be 
a  lawgiver,  a  martial  leader,  a  magnificent 
and  formidable  monarch,  like  Solomon. 
The  apostles  themselves  were  long  under  a 
mistake  as  to  the  humble  and  peaceful 
mission  of  the  “poor  King  who  .passed 
noiselessly  along  ■”  we  see  them  deluding 
themselves  with  golden  dreams  and  king¬ 
doms  in  prospect,  even  in  sight  of  the 
deicide  city,  which  their  Master  was  enter- 


112 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


ing  to  die.  It  was  not  without  an  effort 
that  our  Lord  brought  them  back  to  a 
spiritual  sense, — that  he  rectified  their 
ideas,  always  ready  to  fall  into  the  narrow 
compass  of  material  and  palpable  goods, 
where  they  were  tossed  about  b}r  the 
ambitious  reveries  of  traditionary  doctors 
and  Pharisees. 

If  then  the  apostles,  those  divine  men 
who  founded  Christianity,  had  so  much 
difficulty  in  divesting  themselves  of  the 
prejudices  of  their  childhood,  living  as 
they  did  in  the  midst  of  the  miracles  of 
the  Messias,  and  in  familiar  intercourse 
with  him,  how  could  Joseph  do  this  of 
himself,  and  without  succor  from  above  ? 
The  homespun  garment  of  the  artisan  had 
little  in  common  with  the  purple  of  the 
kings  of  Juda,  and  the  thing  least  expected 
was  to  have  a  Messias  of  plebeian  birth. 
Galilee,  moreover,  was  the  last  place  which 
would  nave  been  thought  of.  “Doth  the 
Christ  come  out  of  Galilee  ?”  said  the  doc¬ 
tors  of  the  law  to  the  disciples  of  Christ. 
“  Read  the  Scriptures  and  you  will  see  that 
we  expect  nothing  from  Galilee.”  In  fact, 
the  prophets  had  pointed  out  by  name 
Bethlehem  of  Juda,  Bethlehem,  “the 
house  of  bread,”  as  the  birth-place  of  the 
Messias  :  and  the  rabbinical  commentators, 
going  beyond  the  prophets,  distinguished 
even  the  quarter  of  the  town  where  he  was 
to  be  born.1  Joseph  was  too  humble  to 
suppose  that  his  modest  roof  could  harbor 
so  much  greatness,  and  Mary’s  silence  left 
him  room  to  conjecture. 

C)  Whence  comes  he  (the  Messias)?  From 
the  loyal  city  of  Bethlehem,  of  Juda.  Where  are 
his  parents  to  be  found  (those  of  the  Messias)  ? 


As  to  the  project  of  sending  back  the 
Virgin  to  her  family  “out  of  pure  respect,” 
according  to  learned  theologians  who  adhere 
to  the  opinion  of  St.  Bernard,  it  would  have 
been  impracticable  in  a  nation  so  suscep¬ 
tible  on  everything  that  affects  the  honor 
of  their  women.  Mary  was  an  orphan, 
and  so  far  dependent  on  her  kinsfolk,  who 
could  not  all  be  of  a  peaceful  temper,  and 
some  of  whom  had  not  approved  of  the 
union  of  their  young  relative  with  the 
obscure  Nazarean.  It  is  not  likely  that 
they  would  have  accepted  Joseph’s  pre¬ 
texts,  and  admitted,  without  more  ample 
information,  that  the  Virgin  bore  in  her 
womb  the  King  Messias.  It  is  much  more 
to  be  presumed  that  they  would  have  de¬ 
nounced  the  husband  before  the  tribunal  of 
the  ancients,  to  force  him  to  give  the  reasons 
which  influenced  his  conduct ;  for  the  mat¬ 
ter  was  no  longer  of  a  simple  divorce,  but  of 
the  condition  of  the  child  of  Mary, — a  young 
woman  of  noble  blood  and  ill-married,  ac¬ 
cording  to  those  eleven  who,  St.  Jerome 
assures  us,  had  entered  the  lists  to  espouse 
the  young  and  fair  heiress  of  Joachim. 

Thence  would  have  resulted  two  grave 
facts  :  either  Joseph  would  have  kept 
silence,  and  then  he  would  have  been 
condemned  to  take  his  wife  back,  with  the 
prohibition  never  to  separate  from  her,9 
or  he  would  have  declared  upon  oath  that 
the  child  which  Mary  bore  was  not  his ; 
and  then  the  diaowned  child  became  in¬ 
capacitated  for  any  employment ;  his  birth, 
tainted  in  its  origin;  excluded  him  from  the 

In  the  quarter  Biral  Harba  of  Bethlehem  Juda.— 
(See  Talmud  of  Jerusalem.) 

(2 )  Inst,  de  Moi'se,  t.  if.,  liv.  vii. 


113 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


assemblies  of  the  nation,  the  public  schools, 
the  temple,  and  the  synagogue  ;  his  poster¬ 
ity,  sharers  of  his  disgrace,  would  not  have 
been  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the 
Hebrews  till  the  tenth  generation ;  he  be¬ 
came  a  pariah — without  an  asylum,  without 
rights,  without  country,  and  the  decree  which 
sentenced  his  mother  to  be  stoned,  would 
have  branded  both  him  and  his  descend¬ 
ants  on  the  brow  with  Cain’s  mark  of 
reprobation.  But  things  would  not  have 
come  to  this  :  rather  than  submit  to  this 
tarnish  upon  their  royal  genealogy,  the 
haughty  descendants  of  David  would  have 
slain  the  Virgin  with  their  own  hands. 
Such  examples  are  not  rare,  and  appear 
again  even  in  our  days*in  Judea,  as  well  as 
Arabia.1 

Joseph  was  too  wise  and  too  humane  to 
place  himself  in  either  alternative  ;  and  it 
happened,  as  it  always  does,  that  the  more 
generous  course  was  also  the  better.  He 
resolved  then  to  leave  his  city,  and  the 
woman  who  since  their  chaste  nuptials  had 
made  his  life  so  sweet  and  happy.  As  he 

( 1 )  Niebuhr  relates,  that,  “  in  a  coffee-house  in 
Yemen,  an  Arab  having  asked  one  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  if  he  was  not  the  father  of  a  young 
woman  lately  married  in  his  tribe,  the  father,  who 
suspected  that  this  question  implied  a  taunt,  and 
thought  the  honor  of  his  family  compromised, 
coolly  rose  up,  ran  to  his  daughter’s  house,  and 
without  uttering  a  word  plunged  his  cangiar  in 
her  heart.”  Father  de  Geramb  mentions  an  anec¬ 
dote  of  the  same  kind : — “  The  widow  of  a  Bethle- 
hemite,”  says  he,  “fell  under  a  grave  suspicion; 
not  knowing  how  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  her 
relations,  she  took  refuge  in  the  convent  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  placed  herself  under 
the  sacred  protection  of  the  altar.  Her  asylum 
was  discovered,  the  gates  of  the  monastery  were 
15 


was  preparing  for  this  sad  separation,  and 
slept  a  troubled  slumber  upon  his  solitary 
couch,  “The  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared 
to  him  in  his  sleep,  saying,  Joseph,  son  of 
David,  fear  not  to  take  unto  thee  Mary 
thy^  wife,  for  that  which  is  conceived  in 
her  is  of  the  Holy  Gfliost.  And  she  shall 
bring  forth  a  Son  ;  and  thou  slialt  call  his 
name  Jesus  ;  for  he  shall  save  his  people 
from  their  sins.” 

After  this  dream,  and  the  word  of  the 
angel,  Joseph  found  himself  changed.  The 
honor  which  Hod  had  done  him,  in  trans¬ 
ferring  to  him  his  own  rights  over  his  only 
Son,  had  not  in  the  least  affected  his 
humility ;  but  he  had  become  a  father,  he 
had  become  spouse,  in  heart,  and  his  only 
thought  now  was,  to  take  care  of  Mary  and 
her  divine  Infant. 

St.  John  Chrysostom  asks  himself  why 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  a  dream 
to  Joseph,  and  not  openly,  as  he  did  to  the 
shepherds,  to  Zachary,  and  to  the  Virgin. 
“Because,”  said  he,  answering  himself, 
“Joseph  had  great  faith,  nor  did  he  need 

forced,  and  the  young  woman  dragged,  with  her 
hair  all  dishevelled,  into  the  public  market-place, 
amidst  the  shouts  of  the  populace  and  the  suppli¬ 
ant  voices  of  the  religious,  who  implored,  in  the 
name  of  a  crucified  God,  forgiveness  and  mercy  for 
this  unhappy  creature,  who  protested  with  tears 
that  she  was  innocent.  She  appealed  in  despair  to 
her  father  and  her  brothers,  adjured  them,  in  the 
most  moving  manner  to  save  her  from  a  cruel 
death :  they  came  forward  sullenly ;  each  held  a 
dagger ;  the  poor  creature  shuddered ;  and  a  mo¬ 
ment  after,  the  three  daggers  were  buried  in  her 
breast,  and  the  murderers,  washing  their  hands  in 
the  blood  of  their  daughter  and  sister,  congratula¬ 
ted  themselves  on  having  washed  away  the  disgrace 
of  their  family. 


114 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


a  clearer  revelation.  As  to  Mary  were 
to  be  announced  greater  and  more  wonder¬ 
ful  things  than  all  declared  to  Zachary,  she 
had  to  be  informed  before  they  came  to 
pass,  and  informed  by  a  manifest  revela¬ 
tion.  The  shepherds,  as  being  less  refined, 
had  need  of  a  very  clear  vision.  But 
Joseph  having  already  seen  Mary’s  preg¬ 
nancy,  being  beset  with  an  evil  suspicion 
of  mind,  and  yet  ready  to  change  his  sor¬ 


(JHAPTER  XL 

BIRTH  OF  THE  MESSIAS. 


row  into  joy,  if  any  one  gave  him  a  pre¬ 
text,  he  receives  the  angel’s  revelation 

with  all  his  heart . This  conduct  of 

Providence  was  infinitely  wise,  as  it  has 
served  to  show  the  excellence  of  Joseph’s 
virtue,  and  render  the  Gospel  narrative 
more  credible  by  portraying  him  harassed 
by  the  same  emotions  that  any  man  would 
be  susceptible  to  under  similar  circumstan¬ 
ces.”  1 


MEANTIME,  the  Impious  Empire 2, 
had  planted  its  eagles  even  to  the 
extremities  of  the  globe  ;  the  Romans  had 
taken  the  oriental  world  as  in  a  net ;  the 
Sarmatian  trembled  before  them  in  the 
depth  of  his  deserts,  and  the  most  remote 
nations  of  Asia,  the  peaceful  Chinese,  sent 
a  solemn  embassy  to  Caesar  to  seek  his 
powerful  friendship.  Egypt  and  Syria 
were  already  no  more  than  Roman  prov¬ 
inces  ;  Judea  itself  was  tributary,  and  the 
King  of  the  Jews,  purchasing  with  gold  a 
capricious  protection,  was  but  a  crowned 
slave.  The  time  had  come  ;  the  oracles 


( 1 )  S.  John  Chrysostom,  Serm.  4,  in  S.  Matt. 

(2 )  The  Jews  designated  the  Roman  empire  by 
the  name  of  “  The  Impious  Empire.” 

(a)  Augustus  thrice  took  a  general  census  of 
every  province  in  the  empire:  first,  during  his 
sixth  consulship  with  Agrippa,  in  the  year  28 


relating  to  the  Messias  were  about  to  ue 
accomplished  ;  the  power  of  Rome  was  at 
its  height,  as  Balaam  had  foretold,  and 
according  to  the  grand  prophecy  of  Jacob, 
the  sceptre  had  departed  from  Juda ;  for 
the  phantom  of  royalty  which  still  hovered 
over  the  holy  city  was  not  even  national. 
Then  it  was  that  an  edict  of  Augustus 
Ctesar  was  published  in  Judea,  for  a  cen¬ 
sus  of  the  people  subject  to  his  sceptre. 
This  census,  much  more  complete  than  that 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  sixth  consul¬ 
ship  of  the  nephew  of  Julius  Caesar,8 
included  not  only  persons,  but  property 


before  the  Christian  era;  the  second,  under  the 
consulate  of  C.  Marius  Censorinus  and  C.  Asinius 
Gallus,  in  the  year  8  before  the  same  era ;  and  the 
third  and  last,  under  the  consulate  of  Sextus 
Pompeius  Nepos  and  Sextus  Apuleius  Nepos,  in 
the  year  14  of  the  Christian  era.  St.  Luke  refers 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


115 


and  the  various  qualities  of  the  land  :  it 
was  the  basis  on  which  the  tax  of  servitude 
was  to  be  assessed.1 

The  Roman  governors  were  ordered  to 
enforce  the  imperial  edict,  each  in  his  de¬ 
partment.2  Sextius  Saturninus,  governor 
of  Syria,  began  first  with  .Phoenicia  and 
Ccelo-Syria,  rich  and  populous  cantons, 
which  required  long  and  patient  labor ; 
in  Europe,  the  labors  of  William  the  Con¬ 
queror,  a  thousand  years  later,  in  drawing 
up  that  famous  register,  so  well  known  to 
the  English,  under  the  name  of  “Domes¬ 
day-Book,”  can  alone  give  an  idea  of  it. 
After  having  executed  the  orders  of  Caesar 
in  the  Roman  province,  as  well  as  in  the 
kingdoms  and  tetrarchies  dependent  upon 
it,  at  the  end  of  three  years  from  the  date 
of  the  decree,3  they  found  themselves  ar¬ 
rived  at  length  at  Bethlehem,  precisely  at 
the  memorable  epoch  of  the  birth  of  our 
Saviour.  Caesar  and  his  agents  thought 
only  of  doing  an  administrative  work,  by 
ascertaining  the  population  and  resources 
of  the  empire  ;  but  God  had  other  designs, 

to  the  second  census;  the  decree  which  ordered  it 
was  made  in  the  eighth  year  before  the  Christian 
era. — (Suetonius,  in  Octav.,  27.) 

( 1 )  Augustus  at  that  time  had  a  work  prepared 
which  contained  the  description  of  the  Roman 
empire,  and  of  those  countries  dependent  upon  it. 
Tacitus,  Suetonius,  and  Dion  Cassius  make  men¬ 
tion  of  this  book,  and  of  all  the  separate  descrip¬ 
tions  which  were  drawn  up  in  the  provinces.  By 
the  way  in  which  they  speak  of  it,  it  must  have 
been  something  very  complicated. 

( 2 )  Tertullian  assures  us  that  Sextius  Saturni¬ 
nus,  president  of  Syria,  found  himself  in  this  posi¬ 
tion. 

(*)  The  three  years  employed  on  this  census, 
executed  by  the  Roman  prefept,  cannot  produce 


which  they  executed  unconsciously  by  their 
merely  human  views.  His  Son  was  to  be 
born  at  Bethlehem  of  Juda,  the  humble 
country  of  King  David  :  he  had  caused  it 
to  be  foretold  by  his  prophet,  more  than 
seven  hundred  years  before  ;  and  now  be¬ 
hold  the  whole  world  moving  to  accomplish 
this  prophecy. 

It  appears  that  faithful  to  ancient  usage, 
the  Jews  still  had  themselves  inscribed  by 
families  and  tribes.  David  was  born  at 
Bethlehem,  his  descendants  regarded  that 
little  city  as  their  natal  town,  and  the 
cradle  of  their  house  ;  here  then  it  was 
that  they  assembled  to  give  in  their  names, 
and  the  state  of  their  fortunes,  in  compli¬ 
ance  with  the  edict  of  Caesar. 

The  autumn  was  near  its  close,  the  tor¬ 
rents  rolled  with  a  loud  noise  in  the  depths 
of  the  valleys,  the  north  wind  blew  through 
the  tall  turpentine-trees,  and  a  sky  hidden 
with  gray  clouds  announced  the  approach 
of  snows.  One  dull  and  gloomy  morning, 
in  the  year  of  Rome  748, 4  a  Nazarene  was 
seen  busily  occupied  with  preparations  for 

any  difficulty,  for  certainly  it  required  no  less  time 
to  draw  up  tbe  register  of  Syria,  Coelo-Syria,  Phoe¬ 
nicia,  and  Judea.  Joab  had  consumed  nearly  ten 
months  in  making  the  simple  list  of  men  capable 
of  bearing  arms  in  the  ten  tribes ;  and  the  census 
of  Augustus,  at  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  em¬ 
braced  many  other  details,  as  it  extended  not  only 
to  every  individual,  but  to  all  the  particulars  of 
their  lands.  William  the  Conqueror,  who  had  a 
somewhat  similar  work  compiled  in  England, 
employed  six  whole  years  upon  it,  although  the 
Domesday-Book  contains  neither  Scotland,  nor 
Ireland,  nor  Wales,  nor  the  Channel  Islands. 

( 4 )  Never  has  any  date  been  more  disputed  than 
that  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  adopt  that 
of  the  authors  of  the  Art  de  Verifier  les  Dates, 


116  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

a  journey,  which  no  doubt  he  was  not  at 

Palestine,  must  have  been  extremely  pain- 

liberty  to  put  off ;  for  the  time  seemed  ill- 

ful  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  in  her  actual  sit- 

chosen,  and  the  young  wife  who  accom- 

uation  ;  yet  she  made  no  complaint ;  this 

panied  him,  and  whom  he  seated  carefully 

feeble  and  delicate  young  woman  had  a 

on  the  quiet  and  gentle  animal,  which  is 

firm  and  courageous  mind, — a  great  soul, 

still  preferred  by  the  women  of  the  East, 

which  was  not  elevated  with  greatness, 

was  far  advanced  in  pregnancy.  At  the 

could  possess  itself  in  joy,  and  in  silence 

saddle  of  the  fine  animal1  ridden  by  the 

accepted  misfortune.  Joseph,  who  moved 

young  woman  of  Galilee,  wras  fastened  a 

along  pensively  at  her  side,  meditated  on 

basket,  made  of  palm-leaves,  containing 

the  ancient  oracles,  which  promised,  four 

provisions  for  the  journey  :  dates,  figs,  and 

thousand  years  ago,  a  deliverer  to  his  peo- 

raisins,  thin  barley-cakes,  and  an  earthen 

pie ;  as  he  travelled  on  to  Bethlehem, 

vessel  of  Ramla-ware,  to  draw  water  from 

whither  he  was  led  by  the  supreme  will  of 

the  spring  or  the  cistern.  A  leather  bottle, 

a  Roman,  he  thought  of  the  words  of  the 

of  Egyptian  make,  hung  on  the  opposite 

prophet  Micheas  :  “And  thou,  Bethlehem 

side.  The  traveller  threw  over  his  shoul- 

Ephrata,  art  a  little  one  among  the  thou- 

der  a  sack  containing  some  clothes,  girded 

sands  of  Juda ;  out  of  thee  shall  become  forth 

his  loins,  wrapped  around  him  his  goat’s- 

unto  me  that  is  to  be  the  ruler  in  Israel.”2 

hair  cloak,  and  holding  in  one  hand  his 

Then  looking  at  his  poor  equipage  and  his 

curved  stick,  held  with  the  other  the  bridle 

humble  companion,  whose  simple  outfit  was 

of  the  ass  which  carried  the  young  woman. 

suitable  to  her  condition,  he  revolved  in 

Thus  they  left  their  poor  dwelling  to  its 

mind  the  great  oracles  of  Isaias  :  “And  he 

own  keeping,  and  passed  down  the  narrow 

shall  grow  up  as  a  tender  plant  before  him, 

streets  of  Nazareth,  amidst  wishes  of  a  good 

and  as  a  root  out  of  a  thirsty  ground  :  .  .  . 

journey,  and  a  safe  return  to  their  kindred 

despised,  and  the  most  abject  of  men.”;> 

and  neighbors,  who  exclaimed,  on  all  sides, 

And  the  patriarch  began  to  understand  the 

“Go  in  peace!”  These  travellers,  who  set 

designs  of  God  with  regard  to  his  Christ. 

out  on  a  journey  in  a  misty  morning,  were 

After  a  toilsome  journey  of  five  days, 

the  humble  descendants  of  the  great  kings 

the  travellers  descried  afar,  Bethlehem, 

of  Juda — Joseph  and  Mary— who  were 

the  city  of  kings,  seated  on  an  eminence, 

going,  by  order  of  a  pagan  and  an  alien,  to 

amid  smiling  hills  planted  with  vineyards, 

enroll  their  obscure  names  by  the  side  of 

olive  groves,  and  woods  of  verdant  oak. 

the  most  illustrious  names  of  the  kingdom. 

Camels  carrying  women  enveloped  in 

This  journey,  undertaken  during  the 

purple  cloaks,  their  heads  covered  with 

rigorous  season,  and  across  a  country  like 

white  veils,  Arab  nahas,  ridden  at  full 

which  appears  to  us  the  best  founded.  It  places 

# 

( 1 )  The  asses  in  Palestine  are  remarkably  beau- 

the  birth  of  our  Saviour  on  the  25th  of  December, 

tiful. 

in  the  year  of  Eome  748.  According  to  Baronius, 

( 3 )  Micheas,  v.  ii. 

the  day  of  our  Saviour’s  birth  fell  on  a  Friday. 

( 8 )  Isaias,  liii.  2, 

Mi 

&M’  | 

■!■:  llltefflr kLJ 

THE  NATIVITY. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


gallop  by  young  ancl  splendidly  dressed 
horsemen,  groups  of  old'  men  upon  fine 
white  she-asses,  discoursing  gravely,  like 
the  ancient  judges  of  Israel,1  were  going  up 
to  the  city  of  David,  already  swarming 
with  the  crowds  of  Hebrews  who  had  ar¬ 
rived  the  preceding  days.  Outside,  but 
a  little  distance  from  the  city,  rose  a 
square  building,  its  white  walls  showing 
in  bold  relief  from  the  pale  green  of  the 
olive-trees  which  covered  the  hill :  it  was, 
one  would  have  said,  a  Persian  caravan¬ 
sary.  Through  its  yawning  gate,  a  number 
of  slaves  and  servants  were  seen  going  and 
coming  in  its  ample  court :  it  was  the  inn. 
Thither  Joseph,  quickening  the  beast  on 
which  the  Virgin  was  mounted,  turned,  in 
the  hope  of  arriving  in  time  to  secure  one 
of  those  narrow  cells  which  belong  of 
right  to  the  first  comer,  and  which  were 
refused  to  -  none  f  but  the  caravansary 
overflowed  with  merchants  and  travellers  ; 
there  was  not  a  place  left ;  gold  might 
perhaps  have  found  one,  for  the  keeper  was 
a  Jew,  and  a  Bethlehem  Jew,  but  Joseph 
had  no  gold. 

The  patriarch  returned  sorrowful  to 
Mary,  who  greeted  him  with  a  smile  of 
resignation,  and  again  seizing  the  bridle  of 
the  poor  beast,  now  ready  to  drop  with 
fatigue,  he  began  to  wander  about  the 
squares  and  streets  of  the  little  city,  hoping, 


(*)  The  horse,  especially  among  the  Jews,  was 
reserved  for  the  warrior ;  hence  it  was  taken  as  the 
symbol  of  combat.  Judges,  on  the  contrary,  rode 
npon  asses  of  an  extremely  beautiful  species. 
Hence  those  words  of  the  Bible,  “Speak:  you  that 
ride  upon  fair  asses,  and  you  that  sit  in  judgment.” 
— (Judges,  v.  10.) 


117 


but  in  vain,  that  some  charitable  Bethle- 
hemite  would  offer  them  a  shelter  for  the 
love  of  God.  No  one  offered  them  anything. 
The  night  wind  fell  cold  and  keen  upon  the 
young  Virgin,  who  never  uttered  a  com¬ 
plaint,  but  who  became  more  and  more 
pallid  :  she  could  hardly  keep  life  within 
her.  Joseph  losing  all  hope,  continued  his 
fruitless  efforts  ;  and  alas  !  more  than  once 
he  saw  the  door  open  to  some  more  wealthy 
stranger,  which  had  been  unfeelingly  shut 
against  him.  Self-interest,  that  ruling- 
passion  of  the  Jews,  must  have  turned 
every  heart  to  stone,  when  Mary’s  situ¬ 
ation  excited  no  compassion.  Night  came 
on :  the  two  spouses,  seeing  themselves 
rejected  by  every  one,  and  despairing  of 
obtaining  a  shelter  in  the  city  of  their  fore¬ 
fathers,  went  out  from  Bethlehem  without 
knowing  whither  to  direct  their  steps,  and 
at  hazard  struck  into  the  country,  lighted 
by  the  dying  hues  of  twilight,  and  echoing 
with  the  cry  of  the  jackals  prowling  about 
in  search  of  their  prey. 

A  little  south  of  the  inhospitable  city 
yawned  a  dark  cave,  hollowed  out  of  the 
rock ;  this  cave  faced  the  north,  and  nar¬ 
rowed  toward  -the  end,  served  the  Beth- 
lehemites  as  a  common  stable,  and  some¬ 
times  as  a  refuge  for  shepherds  in  stormy 
nights.  Joseph  and  Mary  blessed  heaven, 
which  had  guided  them  to  this  wild 


( 2 )  Nothing  is  found,  in  the  cells,  of  the  cara¬ 
vansary,  or  palace  for  caravans,  but  the  four  walls, 
dust,  and  sometimes  scorpions.  The  keeper  is 
bound  merely  to  give  the  key  and  a  mat :  the  trav¬ 
eller  must  provide  himself  with  all  else;  he  must 
take  his  bed,  his  cooking  apparatus,  and  even  his 
provisions  with  him. — (Volney,  Voyage  en  Syrie.) 


118  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

shelter;  and  Mary,  leaning  on  Joseph’s 

disturbed  the  sacred  silence  of  that  night, 

arm,  went  and  sat  down  upon  a  bare  rock, 

full  of  prodigies  and  mysteries.  Miracu- 

which  formed  a  kind  of  narrow  and  incon- 

lously  conceived,  Jesus  is  born  still  more 

renient  seat  in  a  hollow  part  of  the  rock. 

miraculously. 

There,  “in  the  fortification  of  the  rock,” 

God  prepared  a  grand  and  novel  spec- 

as  the  prophet  Isaias  had  foretold,1  at  the 

tacle  for  the  world  when  he  caused  a  poor 

moment  when  the  rising  of  the  mysterious 

king  to  be  born.  The  palace  which  he 

constellation  of  the  Virgin  marked  the 

designed  for  him  was  a  deserted  stable — 

hour  of  midnight,2  that  the  alma 3  of  the 

a  fit  shelter  for  him  who,  in  the  course  of 

grand  Messianic  prophecy,  in  the  midst  of 

years,  was  to  say,  “  The  foxes  have  holes, 

a  solemn  pause  of  nature,  concealed  by  a 

and  the  birds  of  the  air  nests  ;  but  the  Son 

luminous  cloud,4  brought  into  the  world  Him 

of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head.” 

whom  G-od  himself  had  begotten  “before 

Moses,  proscribed  at  his  birth,  had  at  least 

the  hills,”5  and  “whose  generation  was 

a  cradle  of  rushes,  when  young  Mary,  his 

from  eternity.”  He  appeared  instantane- 

sister,  exposed  him  amid  the  bulrushes 

ously  to  the  eyes  of  his  astonished  young 

and  sacred  lotus-plants  which  bury  their 

mother,  like  a  ray  of  sunlight  flashing 

leaves  in  the  Nile  at  the.close  of  day  ;7  but 

through  a  cloud,  and  came  to  take  posses- 

Jesus,  the  divine  forsaken  one,  who  came 

sion  of  the  throne  of  his  poverty,  while  all 

among  us  to  suffer  and  die,  had  not  even 

the  angels  of  God,  bending  the  knee  be- 

this  magnificence  :  he  was  laid  in  a  manger, 

fore  him,  adored  him  in  his  human  form.6 

upon  a  handful  of  damp  straw  providen- 

This  virginal  parturition  was  free  from 

tially  forgotten  by  some  camel-driver  of 

cries  and  pains  ;  and  not  a  single  groan 

Egypt;  or  Syria,  eager  to  forestall  the  dawn. 

( 1 )  Justin  appeals  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaias  for 

( 4 )  Protevangelion  of  St.  James,  c.  17. 

the  birth  of  Jesy^  in  the  cave:  “He  shall  dwell  on 

( 5 )  According  to  tbe  opinion  of  the  rabbins,  the 

high ;  the  fortifications  of  rocks  shall  be  his  high- 

Messias  was  in  the  terrestrial  Paradise  by  the  side 

ness.” — (Isaias,  xxxiii.  16.) 

of  our  first  parents. — (Sohar  Chadasch,  f.  82,  4.) 

( 4 )  “  It  is  a  fact  independent  of  all  hypotheses,” 

He  existed  even  before  the  world. — (Nezach  Israel, 

says  Dupuis,  “independent  of  all  consequences 

c.  35.)  And  before  he  became  mail,  he  was  in  the 

which  I  desire  to  draw  from  it,  that  precisely  at 

state  of  glory  with  God. — (Phil.,  ii.  6.)  Thus,  im- 

the  hour  of  midnight,  on  the  25tli  of  December,  in 

mediately  before  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  idea 

those  ages  when  Christianity  made  its  appearance, 

of  a  pre-existence  of  the  Messias  existed  in  the 

the  heavenly  sign  which  rose  in  the  horizon,  and 

superior  theology  of  the  J ews. 

the  ascendant  of  which  presided  at  the  opening  of 

( 6 )  Hebrews,  i.  6  ;  Psalm  xlvi.  7. 

the  new  solar  revolution,  was,  the  Virgin  of  the 

( 7 )  The  lotus,  which  was  consecrated  to  the  sun, 

Constellations .” 

is  a  water-plant,  the  leaves  of  which  sink  into  the 

( 3 )  The  word  alma,  which  Isaias  used,  signifies 

Nile  at  sun-set,  and  emerge  from  it  when  he  rises. 

in  Hebrew  a  Virgin  in  all  her  innocence.  We  have 

This  plant  has  the  virtue  of  lulling  to  sleep. 

already  remarked  in  a  note  on  the  first  chapter, 

Those  who  made  long  journeys,  were  said  to  have 

that  this  word  has  given  occasion  to  very  great 

eaten  of  the  lotus,  that  is,  that  they  had  forgotten 

controversies  between  Jews  and  Christians. 

their  country. — (Basnage,  liv.  ix.,  c.  15.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  119 

- 

God  had  provided  for  the  couch  of  his 

thee  with  my  forehead  prone  in  the  dust. ? 

only  Son,  even  as  he  provides  for  the  nests 

0  wonderful  contrast !  heaven  is  thy 

of  the  birds  of  the  air. 

abode,  and  I  nurse  thee  on  my  knees  ! 

This  new  Adam,  whose  limbs  would 

Thou  art  upon  earth,  and  yet  thou  art  not 

have  been  pierced  by  the  cold  air,  and 

separated  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  celes- 

whom  modesty  and  necessity  alike  required 

tial  regions  :  the  heavens  are  with  thee.” 

to  be  clothed,  was  now  to  be  covered. 

Thus  were  accomplished  the  grand  oracles 

Mary  made  swaddling-clothes  for  him  out 

of  Micheas  and  Isaias  : — 

of  her  veil,  and  wrapped  him  up  in  them 

“  And  there  were  in  the  same  country 

with  her  chaste  hands  ;  then  was  the  new- 

shepherds  watching  and  keeping  the  night- 

born  God  adored  by  her  and  her  holy 

watches  over  their  flock.  And  behold,  au 

spouse,  as  Joseph  of  old,  the  finest  type  of 

angel  of  the  Lord  stood  by  them,  and  the 

Jesus  Christ,  had  been  of  old  by  his  father 

brightness  of  God  shone  round  about  them, 

and  mother. 

and  they  feared  with  a  great  fear.  And 

St.  Basil,  entering  into  the  mysteries  of 

the  angel  said  to  them :  Fear  not,  for 

fervor  and  rapture,  which  passed  in  the 

behold  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great 

soul  of  the  Virgin,  exhibits  her  to  us  as  if 

joy,  that  shall  be  to  all  the  people  ;  for  this 

divided  between  the  love  of  a  mother  and 

day  is  born  to  you  a  Saviour,  who  is  Christ 

the  adoration  of  a  saint.  “  How  should  I 

the  Lord,  in  the  city  of  David.  And  this 

call  thee  ?”  she  said,  addressing  her  Infant- 

shall  be  a  sign  unto  you :  you  shall  find 

God;  “how  should  I  style  thee?  .... 

the  infant  wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes, 

a  mortal  ?  ...  .  but  I  conceived  thee  by 

and  laid  in  a  manger.  And  suddenly  there 

divine  operation.  ...  A  God  ?  .  .  .  . 

was  with  the  angel  a  multitude  of  the 

but  thou  hast  a  human  body.  Ought  I  to 

heavenly  army,  praising  God,  and  saying : 

come  to  thee  with  incense,  or  to  offer  thee 

Glory  to  God  in  the  highest  ;  and  on 

my  milk  ?  Ought  I  to  lavish  upon  thee  all 

EARTH  PEACE  TO  MEN  OF  GOOD  WILL.”1 

the  cares  of  a  tender  mother,  or  to  serve 

The  marvellous  vision  had  disappeared, 

( 1 )  In  a  very  pleasant  plain,  situated  a  quarter 

of  our  Lord  was  a  sentence  of  banishment  for 

of  a  league  north  of  the  city  of  Bethlehem,  is 

those  pagan  divinities  who  had  been  till  then  per- 

found  the  village  of  the  shepherds,  and  in  the 

mitted  to  give  oracles.  Milton,  in  an  admirable 

depth  of  a  valley  the  celebrated  field  where  these 

poetic  vein,  thus  describes,  in  one  of  his  earliest 

shepherds  were  tending  their  flocks  during  the 

pieces  of  verse,  the  departure  of  those  pretended 

night  of  the  nativity.  According  to  grave  authors, 
both  sacred  and  profane,  the  appearance  of  the 
angels  to  the  shepherds  is  not  the  only  prodigy 

divinities  on  the  eve  of  the  nativity : — 

“  The  oracles  are  dumb, 

No  voice  or  hideous  hum 

which  signalized  the  birth  of  the  Infant-God.  It 

Runs  through  the  arched  roof  in  words  deceiving. 

is  related  that  during  the  sacred  night  the  vines  of 
Engaddi  blossomed,  and  that  at  Como  the  temple 
of  Peace  suddenly  fell,  and  the  oracles  of  the 

Apollo  from  his  shrine 

Can  no  more  divine, 

With  hollow  shriek  the  steep  of  Delphos  leaving. 

No  nightly  trance,  or  breathed  spell, 

demons  were  struck  dumb  forever.  The  very  birth 

Inspires  the  pale-eyed  priest  from  the  prophetic  cell. 

120  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

the  heavenly  songs  had  ceased,  and  the 

indeed  merited  to  find  the  promised  Sav- 

shepherds,  leaning  forward  upon  their 

iour,  since  they  came  to  seek  him  there 

knotty  staves,  were  still  listening. 

with  upright  intentions  and  pure  souls. 

When  naught  but  the  night  breeze 

Looking  into  the  depth  of  the  cave,  to 

sighed  in  the  valley,  and  but  one  single 

ascertain  whether  they  had  really  attained 

.  radiant  white  spot  remained  in  the  sky, 

the  object  of  their  night  pilgrimage,  these 

which  might  seem  to  be  an  angel,  the  sliep- 

men  of  good  will  discovered  Him  who  came 

herds  consulted  together,  and  “  said  one  to 

to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  and  to 

another,  let  us  go  over  to  Bethlehem,  and 

abolish  the  malediction  of  slavery ,  under  the 

let  us  see  this  word  that  is  come  to  pass, 

humble  form  of  a  little  infant  quietly  asleep 

which  the  Lord  hath  showed  to  us.”  Then 

in  his  manger. 

taking  in  baskets  such  humble  presents  as 

The  Virgin,  bending  over  her  new-born 

their  huts  could  supply,  they  made  their 

son,  contemplated  him  with  affecting  humil- 

way,  by  the  bright  starlight,  to  the  little 

ity  and  profound  love  ;  above  them,  Joseph 

city  of  David.  At  the  sight  of  the  stable, 

bent  his  aged  head  before  this  adopted  son, 

they  felt  like  the  disciples  at  Emmaus,  that 

who  was  God  ;  a  soft  moonbeam  lighted  up 

their  hearts  were  burning,  and  they  said  one 

this  divine  group,  framed,  as  it  were,  in  the 

to  another,  “Perhaps  ’tis  here!”-  for  they 

red  walls  of  rock  :  without,  all  lay  in  sleep 

knew  that  the  divine  Infant  who  was  born 

beneath  a  clear  starlit  night.1 

to  them  had  not  seen  the  light  beneath  a 

“  Here  must  be  the  place,”  said  the  shep- 

rich  roof,  and  that  he  was  not  laid  in  a 

herds  to  each  other,  and,  prostrating  with 

cradle  as  sumptuous  as  a  throne  ;  naught 

respect  before  the  manger  of  the  King  of 

like  that  had  the  angel  announced.  They 

kings,  they  offered  to  the  poor  and  new- 

approached  then  with  faith,  with  hope, 

born  God  the  mite  and  the  homage  of  the 

with  love,  toward  the  place  where  they 

poor. 

* 

“  The  lonely  mountains  o’er, 

And  mooned  Ashtaroth, 

And  the  resounding  shore, 

Heaven’s  queen  and  mother  both, 

A  voice  of  weeping  heard  and  loud  lament : 

Now  sits  not  girt  with  taper’s  holy  shine; 

From  haunted  spring  and  dale, 

The  Lybic  Hammon  shrinks  his  horn, 

Edged  with  poplar  pale, 

In  vain  the  Tyrian  maids  their  wounded  Thammuz  mourn 

The  parting  Genius  is  with  sighing  sent ; 

With  flower-inwoven  tresses  torn, 

The  nymphs  in  twilight  shade  of  tangled  thickets  mourn. 

“  And  sullen  Moloch  fled, 

Hath  left  in  shadows  dread 

“  In  consecrated  earth, 

His  burning  idol  all  of  blackest  hue ; 

And  on  the  holy  hearth, 

In  vain  with  cymbals’  ring, 

» 

The  Lars  and  Lemures  moan  with  midnight  plaint; 

They  call  the  grisly  king, 

In  urns  and  altars  round 

In  dismal  dance  about  the  furnace  blue ; 

A  drear  aud  dying  sound 

The  brutish  gods  of  Nile  as  fast, 

Affrights  the  flamens  at  their  service  quaint ; 

Isis  and  Orus,  and  the  dog  Anubis  haste.” 

And  the  chill  marble  seems  to  sweat, 

While  each  peculiar  power  foregoes  his  wonted  seat. 

( 1 )  “  The  Persians  call  Christmas  night  sclteb 

“  Peor  and  Baalim 

jaldai,  bright  and  luminous  night,  on  account  of 

Forsake  their  temples  dim, 

the  descent  of  the  angels.” — (D’Herbelot,  *  Bibl. 

With  that  twice  battered  god  of  Palestine ; 

Orientale,  t.  ii.,  p.  294.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


121 


Then  they  proceeded  to  relate  the  ap¬ 
parition  of  the  angels,  their  ravishing  con¬ 
certs,  their  words  of  hope,  peace,  and  love. 
Joseph  wondered  at  this  divine  manifesta¬ 
tion,  and  Mary,  who  heard  in  silence  this 
unstudied  narrative,  engraved  every  word 
of  it  in  her  heart.  This  duty  fulfilled,  and 
their  mission  ended,  the  shepherds  retired, 
glorifying  God,  and  spread  abroad  in  the 
mountains  the  wonders  of  that  sacred  night. 
Those  who  heard  them,  struck  with  long 
amazement,  said  one  to  another,  “Is  it 
really  possible  ?  Are  we  then  in  the 
days  of  Abraham,  that  angels  visit  shep¬ 
herds  ?” 

It  was  perhaps  these  accounts,  made  in 
the  evenings  on  the  skirts  of  the  woods,  or 
in  the  depths  of  the  ravines,  while  the 
camels  drank  .together  at  the  solitary 
spring,  that  led  a  tribe  of  desert  Arabs  to 
deify  Mary  and  the  Infant.  The  sweet 
image  of  the  Virgin  holding  her  Son  in  her 
lap,  was  painted  on  one  of  the  pillars  of  the 
Caaba,  and  solemnly  placed  in  the  number 
of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  divinities 
of  the  three  Arabias.  In  the  time  of  Ma¬ 
homet  it  was  still  to  be  seen,  as  Arab  his¬ 
torians  attest.1  After  the  massacre  of  the 


( 1 )  “El  Azraki  cites  the  ocular  testimony  of 
several  worthy  persons/’  says  Burckhardt,  “to 
prove  a  remarkable  fact,  of  which,  I  believe,  no 
mention  has  hitherto  been  made:  it  is  that  the 
figure  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  with  the  young  Aisa 
(Jesus)  in  her  lap,  was  sculptured  as  a  divinity 
upon  one  of  the  pillars  nearest  to  the  gate  of  the 
Caaba.” — (Burckhardt,  Voyage  en  Arabie,  t.  i., 

p.  221.) 

( 5 )  This  particular  circumstance,  which  con¬ 
firms  the  statement  of  the  Arab  historian,  is  re¬ 
corded  in  the  Toldos,  a  very  ancient  Jewish  book, 
1G 


Holy  Innocents,  this  brave  tribe  rose  to 
a  man,  shouted  out  one  long  cry  of  ven¬ 
geance,  and  unawed  by  numbers,  attacked 
Herod’s  son,  vassal  and  protigt  of  the 
Romans  as  he  was.2 

This  authentic  incident,  both  curious  and 
generally  unknown,  supports  the  supernat¬ 
ural  fact  recorded  by  St.  Luke,  a  fact  which 
the  sneering  philosophers  of  the  school  of 
Voltaire,  and  the  still  more  heathenish,  if 
that  be  possible,  adherents  of  pantheism, 
have  not  failed  to  banish  to  the  class  of 
fables.  The  strange  devotion  of  these 
Arabs,  who  blended  idolatry  with  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  the  true  God  before  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel,  can  be  explained  only  by  an 
acquaintance  with  the  miracles  of  the  sacred 
night  of  the  Nativity. 

On  the  eighth  day  after  his  birth,  the 
Son  of  God  was  circumcised,  and  named 
Jesus,  in  conformity  with  His  Father’s 
command.  Like  all  Israelites,  he  must 
have  had  a  godfather,  but  we  are  utterly 
ignorant  upon  whom  that  honor  fell.  As 
to  the  ceremony  of  the  circumcision,  which 
always  took  place  under  the  auspices  of 
Elias,  who  never  failed,  said  the  Hebrews, 
to  assist  at  it  invisibly,3  it  took  place,  ac- 


written  in  a  tone  of  furious  animosity  against 
Christianity.  We  see  there  that  Herod  the  Great 
and  his  son  had  to  sustain  a  war  against  a  desert 
tribe,  who  adored  the  image  of  Jesus  and  Mary 
his  mother.  This  tribe  attempted  to  form  alliances 
with  several  cities  of  Palestine,  and  particularly 
with  that  of  Hai.  How,  as  the  Jews  themselves 
place  this  event  in  the  lifetime  of  Herod,  it  must 
have  been  prompted  by  the  massacre  of  the  Inno¬ 
cents,  as  the  aged  king  survived  the  birth  of  our 
Saviour  only  one  year. 

( * )  See  Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  10. 


122 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


cording  to  St.  Epiphanius,  in  the  very  cave 
in  which  Jesus  was  born,  and  St.  Bernard 
presumes,  with  sufficient  probability,  that 
St.  Joseph  was  the  minister  of  the  rite. 

Men  of  the  plebeian  order,  docile  to  the 
summons  of  the  angels,  had  come  to  adore 
the  infant  Grod  in  his  poor  manger,  and 


share  with  him  their  black  bread  and  the 
milk  of  their  goats.  A  miracle  of  a  higher 
character,  and  of  much  greater  renown, 
soon  after  led  to  the  same  cradle  the  first 
fruits  of  converted  heathendom  :  the  shep¬ 
herds  of  Juda  had  led  the  way ;  it  was  now 
the  turn  of  sages  and  kings. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI. 


IN  the  course  of  the  autumn  which  pre¬ 
ceded  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  certain 
Chaldean  Magi,  skilled  in  the  study  of  the 
courses  of  the  planets,  discovered  a  star  of 
the  first  magnitude,  which  they  recognized 
by  its  extraordinary  motion  and  other  no 
less  certain  signs,  as  that  star  of  Jacob, 
long  before  predicted  by  Balaam,  which 
was  to  arise  in  their  horizon  at  the  time  of 
the  child-birth  of  the  Yirgin.  According 
to  the  ancient  traditions  of  Iran,  collected 
by  Abulfarages,  Zoroaster,  the  restorer  of 
the  science  of  the  Magi,  a  learned  man,  a 
great  astronomer,  and  well  versed,  more¬ 
over,  in  the  theology  of  the  Hebrews,1  an- 

( 1 )  Some  have  made  Zoroaster  a  disciple  of 
Jeremias;  but  their  times  do  not  correspond;  it  is 
more  probable  that  he  was  a  disciple  of  Daniel. 

( 2 )  Writers  do  not  agree  as  to  the  country  of 
the  Magi ;  some  make  them  come  from  the  interior 
of  Arabia  Felix,  others  from  India,  which  is  not  at 
all  probable.  The  best  authorities  assign  Persia  as 
their  country,  and  this  opinion  seems  to  us  based 
in  truth.  The  names  Caspar,  Melchior,  Balthazar, 


nounced,  under  the  first  successor  of  Cyrus, 
and  a  short  time  after  the  rebuilding  of  the 
temple,  that  a  divine  infant,  called  to  change 
the  face  of  the  world,  would  be  born  of  a 
virgin,  pure  and  immaculate,  in  the  western¬ 
most  region  of  Asia.  A  star  unknown  to 
their  heavens  would,  he  added,  announce 
this  remarkable '  event,  and  on  its  appear¬ 
ance  the  Magi  were  in  person  to  bear 
presents  to  this  young  king.  Faithful  and 
scrupulous  executors  of  the  wishes  of  Zoro¬ 
aster,  three  of  the  most  illustrious  wise 
men  of  Babylon2  had  no  sooner  remarked 
the  star,  than  they  sounded  the  cymbals 
of  departure.  Leaving  behind  them  the 

attributed  to  the  Magi,  are  Babylonian.  In  fact, 
Babylon,  and  after  its  destruction  Seleucia,  situated 
at  a  short  distance,  were  the  abode  of  the  most 
celebrated  astronomers  of  antiquity.  Finally,  these 
cities  are  eastward  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  twenty 
days’  march  one  may  travel  from  the  borders  of 
the  Euphrates  to  Bethlehem.  Origen,  learned  and 
well-informed,  assures  us  that  the  Magi  studied 
astrology.  Drexelius  somewhat  clumsily  ridicules 


THE  GUIDING  STAR  TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MOTHER 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


city  of  Seleucidm,  with  its  elegant  edifices 
of  palm-wood,1  and  Babylon,  where  the 
desert  wind,  moaning  over  immense  ruins, 
seemed  to  recount  to  these  silent  wrecks 
the  sinister  oracles  of  the  son  of  Amos,  they 
left  the  land  of  the  date-palm,  and  took  the 
sandy  road  to  Palestine.  Before  them, 
like  the  pillar  of  light  which  guided  the 
fugitive  cohorts  of  Israel  to.  the  desert 
shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  moved  the  star  of 
the  Messias.  This  new  star,  freed  from 
those  unchangeable  laws  which  rule  the 
starry  spheres,  had  no  regular  or  peculiar 
motion ;  sometimes  it  advanced  at  the  head 
of  the  caravan,  always  following  a  straight 
westward  line ;  sometimes  it  remained  sta¬ 
tionary  above  the  tents  pitched  for  the 
night,  and  seemed  to  sway  gently  on  the 
bosom  of  the  clouds,  like  an  albatross  sleep¬ 
ing  in  the  fields  of  air  :  at  daybreak  it  gave 
the  signal  for  departure,  as  it  had  given 
that  to  halt.2 

At  length,  Jerusalem’s  tall  towers  loomed 
up  in  the  distance,  amid  the  bare  wild  sum¬ 
mits  of  her  mountains  ;  the  camels  and  the 
mares  were  slaking  their  thirst  at  a  wayside 
pool,  when  the  Magi  uttered  a  cry  of  sur¬ 
prise  and  affright;  the  star  had  just  vanished 
in  the  heights  of  the  sky,  like  an  intelligent 
creature  that  detects  impending  danger.3 * (*) 

Origen  for  this;  which  proves  that  he  was  little 
versed  in  the  ancient  history  of  the  East,  where 
every  astronomer  was  also  an  astrologer. 

( 1 )  Strabo,  liv.  xvii. 

(*)  S.  John  Chrysostom,  Serm.  6,  in  S.  Matt. — 
Chalcidius,  a  pagan  philosopher,  who  lived  at  the 
end  of  the  third  century,  mentions  this  star,  and 
the  sages  of  the  East  whom  it  guided  to  the  man¬ 
ger  of  Jesus  Christ.  Listen  to  what  St.  Augustine, 
the  doctor  of  doctors,  says  on  this  point :  “  At  his 


123 


As  much  lost  as  the  navigators  of  yore 
when  a  barrier  of  black  clouds  concealed 
the  polar  star  from  them,  the  Magi  con¬ 
sulted  together  for  a  moment.  What 
meant  the  sudden  disappearance  of  their 
brilliant  guide?  Had  they  then  reached 
the  end  of  their  long  journey,  and  were 
they  to  pitch  the  permanent  tent  ?  That 
the  infant  king  whom  they  came  from  the 
banks  of  the  Tigris  to  adore  was  in  Jerusa¬ 
lem  was  both  possible  and  probable.  “The 
God  of  heaven,”  they  thought,  “does  not 
prolong  his  miracles  in  vain  ;  they  cease 
when  human  agency  suffices  :  this  is  all  as 
he  orders.  What  if  the  star  has  left  us? 
we  can  very  well,  without  its  aid,  find  him 
whom  we  seek  in  the  capital  of  his  domin¬ 
ions.  To  discover  the  cradle  of  the  young 
King  Messias,  we  need  but  to  enter  the 
first  street  strewn  with  green  boughs,  per¬ 
fumed  with  attar  of  roses,  and  carpeted 
with  richly-colored  drapery  embroidered 
with  gold  ;  the  sound  of  the  Hebrew  harps, 
their  choirs  of  dancers,  and  their  songs  of 
joy,  will  sufficiently  indicate  the  course 
we  are  to  take.”  Then  urging  on  their 
animals,  they  passed  the  gate  in  the  wall, 
and  entered  ancient  Sion  between  two  files 
of  barbarian  soldiers. 

The  aspect  of  Jerusalem  was  sad :  its 

birth  he  called  forth  a  new  star,  who  at  his  death 
darkened  the  old  sun.  What  was  that  star,  which 
had  never  before  appeared  among  the  stars,  nor  has 
since  been  seen  in  the  firmament  ?  What  was  it,  but 
a  magnificent  tongue  of  the  heavens,  to  declare  the 
glory  of  God,  the  parturition  of  the  Virgin.” 

( 3 )  This  cistern,  or  well,  situated  on  the  road  to 
Jerusalem,  in  memory  of  this  event,  still  bears  the 
name  of  the  Cistern  of  the  three  Kings  or  of  the 
Star. 


J 


124  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


population,  busy  and  silent,  wore  no  look 
of  joy  or  festivity  ;  groups  only  formed 
here  and  there,  to  see  the  travellers  pass 
by,  whom  they  recognized  by  their  long 
white  robes,  girt  by.  magnificent  oriental 
girdles,  their  bazubends 1  studded  with 
precious  stones,  and  above  all,  by  the 
manly  beauty  of  their  features,  as  satraps 
of  the  great  king.  As  they  went  along, 
the  oriental  cavaliers,  leaning  down  over 
the  necks  of  their  dromedaries,  asked  some 
of  the  numerous  spectators,  who  crowded 
the  way,  where  was  the  new-born  King 
of  the  Jews,  whose  star  they  had  seen  in 
Babylon.  The  men  of  Jerusalem,  looking 
at  one  another  in  amazement,  could  not 

answer  this  inquiry . A  King  of  the 

Jews!  ....  What  king?  For  their  part 
they  knew  none  but  Herod,  whom  they 
loathed  from  the  depth  of  their  soul,  and 
who  had  no  infant  son.  The  Magi,  aston¬ 
ished  in  turn  that  all  whom  they  questioned 
should  protest  their  ignorance,  and  seeing 
moreover  around  them  no  signs  of  festivity, 
ascended  in  consternation  the  crowded 
street  which  led  to  the  ancient  palace  of 
David,  and  pitched  their  tents  in  its  ruin¬ 
ous  and  shaded  courts. 

Meanwhile,  the  appearance  of  these  Per¬ 
sian  grandees,  who  travelled  very  rarely 
at  that  time  in  the  mountains  of  Judea, 

( 1 )  Bazubends,  antique  bracelets,  studded  with 
diamonds,  turquoises,  and  pearls,  which  the  satraps 
wore  above  the  elbow:  the  King  of  Persia  and  his 
sons  still  wear  the  bazubend. — (See  Morier,  Voy¬ 
age  en  Perse  et  en  Armenie.) 

( 2 )  See  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib. 
xv.,  c.  13. 

.  ( a )  The  whole  East  at  that  time  believed  in 
astrology ;  and  Philo  informs  us  that  the  satraps 


their  startling  questions,  which  alike  aston¬ 
ished  and  intimidated  a  nation  held  in  awe 
by  Herod’s  espionage,2  soon  threw  into  com¬ 
motion  the  most  seditious  and  restless  city 
of  the  East.  The  name  of  King  Messias, 
pronounced  by  the  Pharisees,  ever  on  the 
alert  to  make  the  aged  monarch  tremble 
as  to  the  future  fortunes  of  his  house  and 
the  duration  of  his  own  power,  fell  among 
the  curious  groups  like  a  spark  upon 
thatch.  The  King  Messias?  It  was  eman¬ 
cipation  !  It  was  conquest !  It  was  glory ! 
It  was  the  banner  of  Juda  waving  in 
triumph  over  the  vanquished  world  !  The 
Persian  satraps  were  deemed  the  first 
astrologers  in  the  world  ;3  they  had,  no 
doubt,  read  in  the  stars  the  birth  of  the 
Hebrew  God: 4  The  heir  of  the  kings  of 
Juda  was  about  to  reascend  the  mighty 
throne  of  his  ancestors,  and  drive  from  it 
the  race  of  the  Herods,  those  half- Jews  who 
were  the  slaves  of  Rome !  A  low  murmur, 
like  that  which  forebodes  the  tempests 
of  the  ocean,  soon  circulated  through 
houses,  and  street,  and  public  place ; 
never  had  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  felt  less 
disposed  to  bow  to  the  royal  edict,  which 
forbade  them  to  meddle  with  any  affairs  but 
their  own ,5  In  vain  did  Herod’s  fierce 
soldiery  line  the  ramparts  and  platforms 
of  the  towers ;  the  people  were  out  in 

of  Persia  were  deemed  the  first  astrologers  in  tire 
world. 

( 4 )  Goel  (Saviour),  one  of  the  names  by  which 
the  Hebrews  designated  the  Messias. 

( 5 )  Herod  had  strictly  forbidden  the  J ews  to 
talk  of  affairs  of  state ;  they  could  not  even  meet 
together  in  family  parties  to  make  great  feasts, 
according  to  custom.  His  spies,  scattered  about 
Jerusalem,  and  even  over  the  high  roads,  arrested 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


125 


force  ;  fear  was  gone, — they  conspired  in 
the  street.  “All  Jerusalem  was  troubled,” 
says  the  gospel,  and  it  was  soon  the  tyrant’s 
turn  to  be  troubled  also. 

Herod  at  that  time  resided  in  his  palace 
at  Jerusalem,  the  gardens  of  which,  full  of 
flowers,  stocked  with  rare  birds,  and  inter¬ 
sected  with  limpid  streams,  which  were 
lost  beneath  the  branches  of  a  real  little 
forest,1  could  not  banish  the  gloomy  recol¬ 
lections  and  dark  forebodings  which  made 
life  a  burthen.  When  his  head  spy  re¬ 
ported  the  arrival  of  the  Magi,  and  their 
strange  words,  his  broad  forehead  wrinkled 
with  anxious  thought,  clouded  over  like  a 
stormy  sky,  and  his  uneasiness  was  visible 
to  all. 

The  trouble  of  the  King  of  the  Jews  is 
easy  to  understand,  his  position  explains 
it.  Herod  was  neither  the  anointed  of 
the  Lord,  nor  the  choice  of  the  people  ;  a 
branch  of  laurel,  gathered  in  the  idola¬ 
trous  precincts  of  the  Capitol,  formed  his 
tributary  crown, — a  crown  of  vassalage, 
entwined  with  thorns,  every  leaf  of  which 
had  been  bought  with  heaps  of  gold 
wrested  from  the  savings  of  the  rich  and 
the  indigence  of  the  poor.  Hated  by  the 
rich,  whose  heads  he  struck  off  at  the  first 
suspicion,  feared  by  his  relatives,  whose 
tombs  he  tragically  filled,  the  horror  of 
the  priests,  whose  privileges  he  had  tram¬ 
pled  under  foot,  detested  by  the  people  for 


on  the  spot  all  who  disobeyed  the  king’s  edict; 
they  were  placed  secretly,  and  sometimes  in  open 
day,  in  strongholds,  where  they  wore  severely 
punished.— (Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib. 
XV.,  c.  13.) 

(*)  Josephus,  Jewish  War,  lib.  v.,  c.  13. 


his  doubtful  religion  and  his  foreign  extrac¬ 
tion,  he  could  array  only  his  courtiers,  his 
assassins,  his  artists,  and  the  small  but 
opulent  sect  of  Herodians,  fascinated  by 
his  magnificence,  against  the  active,  ardent, 
and  openly  declared  hatred  of  the  rest  of 
the  nation.  Often  was  the  friend  of  Ctesar 
openly  braved  by  his  obstinate  subjects  : 
the  Pharisees,  an  artful  and  powerful  sect, 
had  with  insult  and  derision  refused  to 
take  the  oath  of  fidelity;  the  Essenians, 
whose  courage  in  battle  rendered  them 
formidable,  had  followed  the  example  of 
the  Pharisees  ;  and  the  young  and  im¬ 
pulsive  disciples  of  the  doctors  of  the  law 
had  recentty,  in  open  day,  with  their 
avenging  axes,  brought  down  the  golden 
eagle  which  he  had  reared  above  the  gate 
of  the  temple  in  order  to  please  the  Komans. 

On  every  side  plots,  secretly  favored  by 
his  nearest  and  dearest  relatives,  were 
formed  in  the  dark  against  his  life,  and  he 
had  well  nigh  fallen,  in  the  open  theatre, 
beneath  the  poniards  of  certain  fanatic 
young  men,  who  thought  they  were  doing 
a  deed  of  virtue  and  patriotism  by  ridding 
the  earth  of  a  prince  who  reigned  like  a 
madman.2  Attributing  this  unusual  daring 
to  the  contempt  inspired  by  his  old  age,  he 
exhausted  all  the  secrets  of  art  to  recover 
his  youth.3  He  would  fain  have  persuaded 
himself  and  others,  that  he  was  still  that 
young  and  brilliant  Herod  who  surpassed 


( 2 )  The  people,  far  from  applauding  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  this  conspiracy,  and  rejoicing  at  the  king’s 
safety,  seized  the  informer  who  had  disclosed  it,  tore 
him  to  pieces,  and  flung  his  remains  to  the  dogs. — 
(Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib.  xv.,  c.  11.) 

( 3 )  Herod  painted  in  order  to  look  younger  than 


126 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


tlie  greater  part  of  the  Hebrews  in  gym¬ 
nast]  c  exercises  :  Herod  the  bold  rider,  the 
expert,  hunter,  the  handsome,  haughty 
monarch,  who  had  despised  the  love  of 
that  celebrated  Egyptian  queen  for  whom 
Anthony  threw  away  the  empire  of  the 
world.  But  alas!  the  silver  threads  that 
began  to  mingle  with  the  black  hair  of  his 
sons,  their  impatience  to  reign,  the  spirit 
of  revolt  and  mutiny  which  crept  in  among 
the  people,  and  the  insolence  of  the  robber 
bands  who  re-commenced  their  depreda¬ 
tions  in  Galilee,  made  him  feel  but  too 
keenly  that  his  reign  drew  near  its  end. 
Torn  with  suspicions,  and  distrustful  even 
of  his  spies,  he  wandered  about,  sometimes 
at  night,  alone  and  in  disguise,  in  the 
streets  and  public  places  of  his  capital:1 
there  he  heard  with  his  own  ears  the  mut¬ 
tered  imprecations,  the  cruel  reproaches, 
the  bitter  railleries  which  fell  upon  “  the 
man  without  ancestors,”  the  “  Ascalonite,” 
the  “  wild  beast,”  who  had  slain  his  inno¬ 
cent  wife, — a  pearl  of  beauty,  a  model  of 
honor, — and  who  had  afterward  strangled 
the  two  sons  she  bore  him,  those  two  sad, 
handsome,  brave  princes,  whom  the  people 
loved  for  the  sake  of  the  Asmonean  heroes 
from  whom  they  sprung  as  well  as  for  their 
unfortunate  mother.  The  day  after  these 
nocturnal  wanderings  was  a  day  of  mourn¬ 
ing  and  punishments  ;  none  were  spared. 
The  executioner’s  sword  after  cutting  off 
the  heads  of  the  highest,  descended  to  the 
very  dust.  Thus  on  every  side  wishes 

he  was,  and  dyed  his  hair  and  beard  black. — 
(Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib.  xvi.,  c.  11.) 

( 1 )  He  often  mingled,  at  night,  in  disguise, 
with  the  populace,  says  Josephus,  to  know  what 


rose  against  the  life  of  the  prince  ;  and 
each  time  that  the  report  of  his  death  was 
circulated,  whether  by  chance  or  design, 
in  the  distant  provinces,  the  people  greed¬ 
ily  seizing  the  treacherous  bait  which  flat¬ 
tered  their  hatred,  hastened  in  every 
direction  to  light  up  bonfires,  which  Herod 
quenched  with  blood. 

Amidst  these  elements  of  civil  dis¬ 
cord,  when  a  fever  of  insurrection  was 
sullenly  working  its  way  in  the  army, 
and  revolt,  like  a  ripe  fruit,  seemed 
to  invite  the  hand  of  the  seditious, — 
strangers  of  high  bearing  arrive  at  Jeru¬ 
salem,  who  inquire  without  any  mystery 
or  circumlocution  for  a  new-born  King  of 
the  Jews,  whose  star  they  have  seen. 
Herod  .is  astonished  ;  he  anxiously  calls 
up  his  recollections  ;  the  predictions  fore¬ 
boding  ill  to  his  dynasty  which  the  Phar¬ 
isees  circulated — the  oracles  of  the  ancient 
seers — to  which  he  has  hitherto  lent  but  a 
distracted  and  secondary  attention,  now 
flash  on  his  remembrance.  This  warrior 
Messias,  this  prophet  sprung  from  David, 
who  is  to  bear  his  victorious  ensigns  from 
west  to  east,  begins  to  fill  him  with  vague 
disquietude  ;  it  is  not  the  God  who  fills  the 
aged  king  with  thought,  it  is  the  prince. 
The  more  he  ponders  it,  the  more  this  mys¬ 
terious  event  seems  to  him  connected  with 
one  vast  conspiracy  planned  to  raise  up  a 
secret  rival  power  upon  the  ruins  of  his 
own.  What !  had  he  shed  like  water  the 
illustrious  blood  of  the  Machabees,  without 


opinion  the.  people  had  of  him,  and  he  punished 
without  mercy  those  who  did  not  approve  of  what 
he  did. — (Ibid.,  lib.  xv.,  c.  13.) 


■ 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  127 

« 

any  concern  for  the  beating  hearts  of  his 

prophet  of  God,”  said  Herod,  after  a 

wife  and  children  ;  had  he  crushed  beneath 

pause,  “he  must  die;  ....  and  die  he 

the  iron  wheels  of  his  despotism  all  that 

shall,  even  though  I  were  sure  to  extin- 

offered  any  resistance  ;  lost  soul,  honor, 

guish  with  this  feeble  spark,  all  the  glories 

his  nightly  rest,  in  which  his  bleeding  vie- 

which  our  seers  dream  of  for  future  times. 

tims  troubled  his  dreams1  ....  and  all  for 

Athalia,  that  able  woman,  so  fit  to  reign, 

what? — to  smooth  the  way  to  the  throne 

forgot  only  an  infant  in  his  cradle  in  the 

for  the  family  of  David!2  ....  Must  this 

massacre  of  the  royal  family  of  Juda.  That 

dear-bought  sceptre,— this  sceptre,  still 

child  deprived  her  of  her  throne  and  her 

reeking  with  the  blood  of  his  kindred,  be  af- 

life.  I  will  take  care  to  forget  nothing. 

ter  all  only  a  barren  and  accursed  reed,  that 

But  where  lurks  this  new-born  king  of  the 

the  blast  of  death  will  break  over  his  tomb ! 

Jews,  who  is  proclaimed  by  the  stars,  and 

....  Must  he  pass,  like  the  meteor  of  a 

whom  those  insolent  satraps  come  to  seek 

.  stormy  night,  over  this  land,  whose  ancient 

at  the  very  gate  of  my  palace  ?  Can  he 

glory  will  brilliantly  revive  after  him  !  .  .  . 

be  in  reality  the  Shilo  foretold  by  Jacob  ? 

And  this  people,  who  hated  him  with  so 

These  are  perhaps  mere  reveries  of  the 

strong,  so  deadly,  so  furious  a  hatred,  that 

astrologers?  Still  we  must  make  sure.” 

his  very  favors  failed  to  allay  it,  how  will 

A  few  hours  after,  the  doctors  of  the  law 

they  surround  with  their  love  and  sym- 

and  the  chief  priests  assembled  in  council  . 

pathy  the  scion  of  their  ancient  kings ! 

under  the  presidency  of  Herod,  heard  this 

And  this  last  thought  fell  like  wormwood 

question,  which  appeared  to  them  strange 

upon  the  dark  and  desolate  heart  of  the  aged 

from  the  mouth  of  such  a  prince  :  “  Know 

monarch  ;  for  amidst  his  acts  of  violence,  he 

you  in  what  spot  the  Messias  is  to  be  born?” 

felt  the  want  of  being  loved,  a  strange  want 

The  answer,  which  was  not  long  delayed, 

certainly,  but  perfectly  real  in  this  excep- 

was  unanimous  :  “In  Bethlehem  of  Juda.'' 

tional  being,  who  seemed  made  up  of  con- 

And  the  ancients  of  Israel,  delighted  to 

trasts,  and  who  had  employed  very  noble 

alarm  the  friend  of  the  Romans,  most 

qualities  in  the  service  of  the  most  absorb- 

surely  added  that,  as  the  last  of  the  weeks 

ing  and  cruel  passion  that  could  ravage  the 

of  Daniel  was  drawing  to  its  close,  the  time 

human  soul — ambition. 

for  the  Messias  was  at  hand.  This  dis- 

“Be  this  child  prince  of  the  land  or 

couraging  information,  not  sufficient  for 

(')  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib.  v., 

and  destroyed.  Under  Trajan,  the  persecution 

c.  13. 

still  continued.  Finally,  Domitian  had  two  de- 

( ’ )  We  wonder  at  the  alarm  caused  in  Herod  by 

scendants  of  that  illustrious  race  brought  to  Rome, 

an  offshoot  of  the  family  of  David ;  yet  it  Was  not 

whose  grandfather  was  the  apostle  St.  Jude.  The 

only  Herod  that  persecuted  that  noble  family,  out 

emperor,  after  questioning  them,  learning  that 

of  hatred  for  its  ancient  rights  and  glorious  expec- 

they  possessed  but  thirty-nine  acres  of  land,  which 

tations.  Eusebius,  after  Hegesippus,  relates  that, 

they  cultivated  with  their  own  hands,  sent  them 

after  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  Vespasian  com- 

back  to  their  own  country,  their  poverty  calming 

manded  the  posterity  of  David  to  be  sought  out 

his  mind  as  to  their  ambition. 

128  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

Herod,  who  would  fain  know  where  to 
strike  his  blow  ;  he  resolved  to  question 
the  Magi,  and  learn,  if  possible,  the  pre¬ 
cise  time  of  the  child’s  birth,  calculated  by 
that  of  the  appearance  of  the  star.  Too 
shrewd  a  politician  to  grant  to  the  sages  of 
Iran  a  public  audience,  which  would  have 
given  consistency  to  a  rumor  that  it  was 
his  interest  to  stifle,  the  king  sent  for  them 
privately,  and  plied  them  with  questions 
as  to  the  time  of  the  star’s  appearing  to 
them.  “  He  inquires  minutely,”  says  St. 
John  Chrysostom,  “  not  of  the  child,  but  of 
the  star,  in  order  to  observe  all  possible  cir¬ 
cumspection  in  the  snare  he  wished  to  lay.” 
Informed  of  all  that  he  longed  to  know, 
the  man  of  blood  dismissed  the  strangers 
in  an  affable  and  gracious  manner.  “  Gfo,” 

.  said  he,  “  to  Bethlehem,  and  search  dili¬ 
gently  after  the  child  ;  and  when  you  have 
found  him,  bring  me  word  again,  that  I 
also  may  come  and  adore  him.” 

Now  the  Magi,  like  all  superior  men, 
like  -all  the  sons  of  meditation  and  science, 
were  good,  sincere,  and  loth  to  suspect 
evil.  They  understood  tyranny  and  cru- 

elty  in  a  prince,  they  did  not  understand 
falsehood  ;  for  the  first  thing  that  the 
kings  of  Persia  learned  in  childhood  was 
to  tell  the  truth.  Hence  they  believed  the 
false  words  of  the  Idumean,  and  passing 
again  beneath  the  elegant  porticoes  of  this 
palace,  which  vied  in  magnificence  with 
those  of  the  great  king,  but  which  had  not 
amid  its  bronzes  and  arcades  the  golden 
bell  of  the  suppliants,1  they  left  the  Bet¬ 
zetha,2  folded  their  tents,  and  once  more 
traversed  the  holy  city,  to  proceed  to  the 
presumed  birth-place  of  the  Messias.  As 
they  skirted  the  trophied  walls  of  the  new  - 
amphitheatre,  whose  extraordinary  deco¬ 
ration  was  an  inexhaustible  subject  of 
sarcasm  to  the  Pharisees,  they  met  King 
Herod, .  proceeding  toward  Jericho,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  forest  of  Thracian  and  Ger¬ 
man  lances.3 

The  Persians  left  Jerusalem  by  the  gate 
of  Damascus  ;  then  taking  the  left,  they 
entered  deep  ravines,  intersected  by  hills, 
which  they  were  obliged  to  climb.  They 
were  about  an  hour’s  march  from  the  cap¬ 
ital  of  Judea,  and  were-  watering  their 

( 1 )  The  Persian  kings  administered  justice  in 
quite  a  patriarchal  manner.  They  had  above 
their  heads  a  golden  bell,  and  to  this  hell  was 
attached  a  chain,  the  end  of  which  hung  outside 
of  the  palace.  Whenever  the  bell  rung,  the  officers 
of  the  prince  left  his  apartments,  and  introduced 
before  the  great  Icing  the  petitioners,  who  de¬ 
manded  justice  of  the  prince  himself,  and  the 
king  rendered  it  to  them  on  the  spot  with  equity. 

— (Antar,  translated  from  the  Arabic  by  Terrick 
Hamilton.) 

( 2 )  The  quarter  called  Betzetha,  or  the  new 
town,  which  Herod  had  joined  to  Jerusalem,  lay 
north  of  the  temple ;  it  included  the  lower  pool, 
the  probatica  pool,  and  Herod’s  palace. 

( 2 )  We  have  followed  the  authors  who  maintain 
that  Herod  set  out  for  Jericho,  where  he  was  for 
some  time  sick,  at  the  time  when  the  Magi  jour¬ 
neyed  to  Bethlehem :  this  agrees  in  every  particu¬ 
lar  with  the  account  of  the  gospel ;  for  if  Herod 
had  been  at  Jerusalem  at  the  time  when  the  Per¬ 
sians  returned,  they  would  probably  have  seen  him 
before  the  admonition  of  the  angel,  who  did  not 
inform  them  of  the  designs  of  the  king  till  the 
first  night.  The  sickness  of  Herod,  taking  off  his 
attention  from  the  Magi  and  the  infant,  left  the 
former  at  liberty  to  return  peaceably  into  their 
country,  and  gave  the  Holy  Family  time  to  take 
up  their  homeward  road  to  Nazareth. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  129 

camels  at  a  pool,  when  a  brilliant  light 
appeared  directly  over  them,  descending 
rapidly  to  them,  like  a  falling  star.  “  The 
star !  our  star !”  cried  out  the  slaves,  trans¬ 
ported  with  joy.  “The  star!”  repeated 
their  masters,  with  the  same  rapture  ;  and 
certain  this  time  of  having  entered  on  the 
right  way,  they  resumed  their  journey 
with  fresh  ardor. 

They  were  about  to  enter  the  city  of 
David,  when  the  star,  inclining  toward 
the  south,  suddenly  stopped  over  a  cave, 
which  wore  the  look  of  a  rustic  stable,  and 
descending  to  the  lowest  region  of  the  air, 
rested,  as  it  were,  over  the  head  of  the 
infant  G-od.  The  sight  of  this  motionless 
star, — whose  softest  rays  fell  in  a  luminous 
stream  upon  this  cave  hollowed  out  of  the 
rock, — filled  the  Magi  with  great  faith,  and 
great  indeed  their  faith  had  need  to  be,  to 
acknowledge  the  King  Messias  in  an  infant 
destitute  of  everything,  lodged  in  a  poor 
place,  cradled  in  a  manger,  whose  mother, 
though  beautiful  and  full  of  every  grace, 
was  evidently  of  a  very  obscure  rank. 

God,  who  wished  to  make  the  Jews 
blush  at  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  by 
contrasting  before  them  the  religious  eager¬ 
ness  and  the  docile  faith  of  the  heathen, 
permitted  that  the  extraordinary  humili¬ 
ation  of  the  Holy  Family  should  not  shake 
the  firm  belief  of  the  Magi. 

The  worshippers  of  the  sun,  the  Gentiles, 

whom  the  cross  came  to  save,  as  well  as 
the  children  of  the  promise,  made  their 
way  into  the  sorry  abode  of  Christ  with  as 
much  veneration  as  into  their  temples 
built  over  subterranean  fires,  where  starry 
spheres  revolved.1  According  to  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  their  people,  they  placed  on  their 
brows  the  dust  of  that  poor  threshold,  and 
after  laying  aside  their  rich  sandals,  they 
adored  the  new-born  Infant,  as  every  son 
of  the  East  at  that  time  adored  his  gods 
and  his  masters.  Then,  opening  caskets  of 
fragrant  wood,  which  contained  the  presents 
intended  for  the  Messias,  thev  drew  forth 
most  pure  gold,  found  in  the  environs  of 
Ninive  the  (Treat,  and  perfumes  which 
were  exchanged  for  fruits  and  pearls  with 
the  Arabs  of  the  Yemen.  These  mysteri¬ 
ous  gifts  had  nothing  carnal  about  them, 
like  the  offerings  of  the  Jews.  The  cradle 
of  Him  who  came  to  abolish  the  sacrifices 
of  the  synagogue  was  not  to  be  sprinkled 
with  blood  ;  therefore  the  Magi  did  not 
sacrifice  to  him  spotless  lambs,  nor  white 
heifers  ;  they  presented  him  gold,  as  to  a 
prince  of  earth,  myrrh,  and  frankincense, 
as  to  a  God  ;2  then,  touching  the  earth 
with  their  foreheads  before  Mary,  whom 
they  found  fair  “  as  the  moon,  and  humble 
as  the  flower  of  nenuphar,”  they  invoked 
upon  her  the  blessings  of  God,  and  wished 
that  the  hand  of  woe  might  never  reach 
her.” 

( 1 )  These  spheres,  composed  of  hollow  circles 
of  gold,  like  those  of  our  armillary  spheres,  revolve 
noisily  at  sunrise.  Such  are  still  seen  at  Oulam, 
where  the  Ghebers  have  a  temple. — (Rabbi  Benja¬ 
min.) 

( ’ )  N  ot  without  reason  has  praise  been  lavished 
■•7 

on  those  verses  of  Juvencus,  the  most  ancient  of 
Christian  poets  whose  works  have  come  down  to 
us,  on  the  presents  of  the  kingly  Magi : — 

“  Aurum,  thus,  myrrham,  regique,  Deoque,  ho- 
minique 

Dona  ferunt . ” 

130  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

This  was  the  last  scene  of  splendor  in 

them,  in  a  dream,  of  the  dark  designs 

which  the  Blessed  Virgin  appears.  The 

of  that  perfidious  prince,  and  bade  them 

first  period  of  her  life,  like  a  sweet  dream 

change  their  route.  The  children  of 

of  G-innistan,  had  glided  away  beneath 

Ormuzd  returned  their  thanks  to  the 

fretted  roofs  of  cedar  and  gold,  amid 

“  Master  of  the  sun  and  of  the  morning 

sacred  perfumes,  melodious  chants,  the 

star,”  gave  the  honor  of  this  nocturnal 

sound  of  lyre  and  harp  ;  the  second,  full 

revelation  to  their  good  genius,1  and  mer- 

of  wonders  and  mysteries,  had  brought 

iting  by  their  perfect  docility  the  gift  of 

her  into  communication  with  the  inhabit- 

faith  which  they  subsequently  received,2 

ants  of  heaven  and  the  princes  of  Asia; 

instead  of  going  along  the  sterile  and 

the  third  was  about  to  open  under  other 

dangerous  borders  of  the  accursed  lake 

auspices  :  it  was  the  turn  of  persecutions, 

which  reflects  in  its  heavy  and  stagnant 

troubles,  and  unspeakable  sorrow. 

waters  the  shadows  of  the  reprobate  cities, 

And  now  the  Magi,  whom  nothing  re- 

they  turned  their  camels’  heads  toward  the 

tained  in  Judea,  prepared  to  leave  Beth- 

Great  Sea,  and  as  they  traversed  the  lovely 

lehem.  They  proposed,  according  to  their 

regions  of  Syria,  fancied  themselves  in  the 

promise,  to  go  to  the  king  in  his  palace  at 

plains  planted  with  date-trees8  and  covered 

Jericho,  and  tell  him  where  the  Messias 

with  roses,  bathed  by  the  Euphrates  and 

was ;  but  the  angel  of  the  Lord  admonished 

the  Bend-Emyr. 

( 1 )  Of  Ormuzd  (in  Zend,  ahurd-mazclao,  the 

is  not  of  the  same  form  in  all.  Some  palm-trees 

very  learned  king),  and  of  Ahriman  (in  Zend, 

spread  out  their  branches  in  a  circle,  and  the  fruit 

aliyro-maingus,  intelligent  evil),  according  to  the 

of  some  projects  in  clusters  from  the  bark,  which 

Persian  mythology,  were  born  the  good  and  evil 

is  open  about  midway;  others  have  branches  on 

genii  to  whom  are  attributed  different  functions  in 

one  side  only,  and  their  weight  bending  them 

the  universe,  either  to  diffuse  good  or  to  propagate 

down  toward  the  ground,  gives  them  the  figure  of 

evil.  One  of  these  good  genii,  named  Serosch, 

a  hanging  lamp;  others,  in  fine,  divide  their 

went  round  the  earth  every  night  to  watch  for  the 

branches  into  two  portions,  which  fall  to  the  right 

security  of  the  servants  of  Ormuzd. — (See  the 

and  left  in  perfect  symmetry.” — (Diodorus,  b.  ii.) 

Amschaspand-Named,  and  Firdousi’s  Book  of 

The  following  is  the  description  of  the  banks  of  the 

Kings.) 

Euphrates,  by  a  poet  anterior  to  Mahomet :  “  They 

( 1 )  Very  ancient  authors  affirm  that  the  Magi 

saw  populous  towns,  plains  abounding  in  flowing 

received  baptism  from  St.  Thomas ;  it  is  thought 

streams,  date-trees,  and  warbling  birds,  and  sweet- 

that  they  suffered  martyrdom  in  India,  where  they 

smelling  flowers ;  and  the  country  appeared  like  a 

preached  the  gospel. 

blessing  to  enliven  the  sorrowing  heart ;  and  the 

( s )  “  The  palm-trees  of  Babylonia,”  says  Dio- 

camels  were  grazing  and  straying  about  the  land; 

dorus  Siculus,  “bear  exquisite  dates ;  they  are  half 

and  they  were  of  various  colors,  like  the  flowers  of 

a  foot  long,  some  yellow,  others  red,  and  others  of 

a  garden.” — (Antar,  translated  from  the  Arabic  by 

a‘  purple  color,  so  that  they  are  no  less  agreeable 

Terrick  Hamilton.) — For  the  fields  and  gardens  of 

to  the  sight  than  to  the  taste.  The  trunk  of  the 

roses  so  common  in  ancient  Persia,  see  Firdousi, 

tree  is  of  an  astonishing  height,  and  everywhere 

Book  of  Kings. 

alike  straight  and  smooth ;  but  the  head,  or  tuft, 

’  i  /’  '  Mr 

•  ••• 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


131 


CHAPTER  XHI. 

THE  PURIFICATION. 


FORTY  days  after  the  birth  of  our 
Saviour,  the  Virgin  duly  prepared  to 
proceed  to  Jerusalem,  in  conformity  with 
the  precept  of  Leviticus,  which  prescribed 
the  purification  of  mothers,  and  the  ransom 
of  the  first-born.  Doubtless  this  law  was 
not  obligatory  upon  Mary  ;  for  if  she  had 

been  a  mother  for  our  Redeemer,  she  had 

« 

remained  a  virgin  for  herself,  and  her  vir- 
ginial  conception  had  been  followed  by  an 
unsullied  child-birth  ;  “but  she  submitted 
voluntarily,  as  an  example  to  the  world, 
to  a  penal  law  to  which  she  was  subject,” 
says  Bossuet,  “only  because  her  virginal 
maternity  was  unknown.” 

Poorly  equipped,  and  lost  in  the  crowd 
on  their  first  appearance  upon  the  dusty 
road  of  Ephrata,  Joseph  and  Mary,  who 
had  not  attracted  any  notice,  had  not 
either  left  behind  them  those  long  recol¬ 
lections  which  pass  into  tradition  among 
nations.  It  was  different  on  their  return 


( 1 )  This  tree,  under  which  Mary  rested  to 
suckle  Jesus,  was  destroyed  during  the  century 
before  the  last,  but  the  memory  of  the  place  where 
it  was  is  still  preserved. 

( 2 )  According  to  the  Jewish  doctors,  Jacob 
buried  his  beloved  wife  on  the  road  to  Bethlehem, 
only  because  his  prophetic  knowledge  led  him  to 
discover  that  a  portion  of  his  descendants  would 
follow  this  road  as  captives  of  the  Assyrians,  and 
because  he  wished  that  Rachel  might  plead  for 
them  to  Jehovah,  as  they  passed  before  her  tomb. 
Protestants  have  declaimed  strongly  against  the 


to  Jerusalem  ;  thanks,  no  doubt,  to  the 
miraculous  narrative  of  the  shepherds,  and 
the  brilliant  visit  of  the  Magi.  At  some 
distance  from  Bethlehem,  Mary  rested 
beneath  a  terebinth-tree  to  give  suck  to 
her  divine  Infant,  and  this  tree,  in  the 
common  belief,  from  that  time  possessed 
a  hidden  virtue  which  effected,  during 
sixteen  centuries,  a  multitude  of  wonderful 
cures.  So,  at  least  affirm  the  Christians 
of  Asia  and  the  Turks,  to  whom  this  tree 
was  still,  two  centuries  ago,  an  object  of 
veneration  and  a  pilgrimage.1 

After  this  halt,  the  memory  of  which  is 
preserved,  the  holy  spouses  arrived  at  the 
tomb  of  Rachel,2  where  every  Hebrew  was 
bound  to  pray  as  he  passed.  This  tumulus 
of  primitive  times,  which  was  composed  of 
twelve  great  moss-eaten  stones  on  each  of 
which  was  inscribed  the  name  of  a  tribe  of 
Israel,  had  no  epitaph  but  a  white  rose  of 
Syria ;  sweet  and  frail  emblem  of  the 


Talmudists  on  account  of  this  passage,  which 
favors  the  intercession  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the 
saints.  In  such  veneration  was  this  tomb  of 
Rachel,  that  all  Jews  who  passed  hy  it  made  it  a 
solemn  duty  to  engrave  their  names  on  one  of  the 
stones  :  these  enormous  stones  were  twelve  in 
number. — (Talmud  of  Jerusalem.)  The  tears  of 
Rachel,  spoken  of  by  Jeremias,  were,  it  is  known, 
only  a  figure  of  the  tears  shed  hy  the  Jewish 
women  after  the  massacre  of  the  Innocents.-  -(St. 
Matt.,  xi.  17,  18.) 


132  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

beauty  of  that  young  woman,  who  faded  at 

ransom  and  the  doves  for  sacrifice,  a  holv 

the  moment  when  she  had  just  blossomed, 

old  man,  named  Simeon,2  to  whom  it  had 

like  the  flower  spoken  of  by  Job.  As  they 

been  divinely  revealed  that  he  should  not 

stopped  to  say  the  prayer  for  the  dead 

die  till  he  had  seen  Christ  of  the  Lord, 

over  the  revered  dust  of  one  of  the  saints 

came  into  the  court  by  an  inspiration  of 

of  their  people,  the  Yirgin  and  Joseph 

the  Spirit  of  Gfod.  On  beholding  the  Holy 

little  thought  that  the  sighs  of  the  dove, 

Family,  the  eye  of  the  just  man  became 

which  the  Scripture  attributes  to  this  fair 

inspired;  discerning  the  King-Messias  be- 

Assyrian,  would  so  soon  be  applicable,  and 

neath  the  poor  swaddling-clothes  of  the 

that  the  mother  of  Joseph  and  Benjamin 

poor  man’s  child,  he  took  him  from  his 

was  the  desolate  type  of  mothers  who 

mother’s  arms,  lifted  him  up  to  his  face, 

would  bewail,  some  days  afterward,  upon 

and  began  to  contemplate  him  with  emo- 

the  mountains  of  Judea,  their  children 

tion,  while  tears  of  joy  furrowed  his  vener- 

massacred  instead  of  Jesus  Christ. 

able  cheeks.  “Now,”  cried  out  the  pious 

On  leaving  the  valley  of  Rephaim,  whose 

old  man,  raising  up  his  streaming  eyes  to 

ancient  oaks  overshadowed  the  grassy 

heaven,  “now  thou  dost  dismiss  thy  serv- 

tombs  of  the  giants  of  the  race  of  Enac,  the 

ant,  0  Lord,  according  to  thy  word,  in 

Yirgin  perceived  a  tree  of  a  forbidding 

peace ;  because  my  eyes  have  seen  thy 

aspect ;  from  the  sight  her  heart  shrank. 

salvation,  which  thou  hast  prepared  before 

It  was  a  barren  olive-tree,  which  spread 

the  face  of  all  people :  a  light  to  the 

its  pale  foliage  to  the  evening  breeze  with 

revelation  of  the  G-entiles,  and  the  glory 

a  saddening  sound  that  resembled  a  human 

of  thy  people  Israel.”  As  he  finished 

wail.  As  she  passed  beneath  its  melan- 

these  words,  Simeon  solemnly  blessed  the 

choly  branches,  which  no  bird  of  heaven 

holy  pair ;  and  then  addressing  Mary, 

enlivened  with  its  song,  Mary  felt  that 

after  a  mournful  and  grave  silence,  he 

sensation  of  poisonous  cold  diffused  by  the 

added  that  this  child,  born  for  the  ruin 

fatal  shade  of  the  manchineel-tree.  This 

and  resurrection  of  many  in  Israel,  would 

tree,  if  the  local  tradition  errs  not,  was  the 

be  a  sign  of  contradiction  to  men,  and  that 

“  infamous”  wood  on  which  Christ  was 

sorrow  should  pierce  the  soul  of  his  mother 

nailed.1 

like  the  sharp  point  of  a  sword. 

At  the  very  moment  when  Joseph  and 

By  this  unexpected  light,  which  shed  a 

Mary  made  their  way  into  the  second 

sombre  gleam  over  the  great  destiny  of 

enclosure,  with  the  sides  of  silver  for  the 

Christ,  the  ignominies,  the  sufferings,  and 

( 1 )  Half  a  league  from  Jerusalem  stands  the 

by  a  marble  stone,  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  a 

monastery  of  the  Holy  Cross.  In  the  church  of 

small  niche  beneath  the  high  altar,  where  a  lamp 

this  monastery  is  shown  the  place  where  stood  the 

burns  perpetually. 

barren  olive-tree,  which  the  men  of  Jerusalem  used 

( 2 )  The  Arabs  give  Simeon  the  title  of  Siddilc 

to  make  the  cross  of  our  Lord.  The  place  where 

(he  who  verifies),  because  he  bore  witness  to  the 

the  trunk  of  the  Olive-tree  stood  is  now  occupied 

coming  of  the  true  Messias,  in  the  person  of  Jesus, 

anrdiMais  siihjl  mu  MCDn^jiMsisamidi  amm 


•  -  wwww*-  ,«V  1 


Wt^k 


0 


■  oVMMlU 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  133 

agonies  of  the  cross,  were  at  once  revealed 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Simeon’s  terrible 
words  bowed  down  her  head  like  a  stormy 
wind,  and  her  heart  was  painfully  op¬ 
pressed.1  But  Mary  knew  how  to  accept, 
without  complaint  and  without  murmur, 
all  that  came  to  her  from  God  ;  her  pale 
lips  were  placed  upon  this  chalice  of  worm¬ 
wood  and  gall ;  she  drained  it  even  to  the 
dregs,  and  then  said,  sweetly,  as  she  swal¬ 
lowed  her  tears,  “0  Lord,  thy  will  be 
done !”  At  that  moment  the  daughter  of 
Abraham  was  exalted  above  the  head  and 
father  of  her  people  ;  she  too  sacrificed  her 
son  upon  the  altar  of  the  Lord  ;  but  she 
had  the  sad  assurance  that  the  sacrifice 
would  be  accepted, — and  she  was  a  mother! 

She  was  still  pondering  in  her  mind  these 
deep  thoughts,  when  a  prophetess  came  in 
named  Anna,  the  daughter  of  Phanuel,  of 
the  tribe  of  Aser,  who  was  far  advanced  in 
years.  This  holy  widow  departed  not  from 
the  temple,  by  fastings  and  prayers  serving 
God  night  and  day.  On  beholding  the 
divine  Infant,  she  began  to  praise  the  Lord 
aloud,  and  to  speak  of  him  to  those  who 
looked  for  the  redemption  of  Israel. 

“Not  only,”  says  St.  Ambrose  on  this 
subject,  “  do  angels,  and  prophets,  and  shep¬ 
herds  attest  the  Saviour’s  birth,  but  the 
aged  and  the  just  of  Israel  proclaim  this 
truth.  Every  age,  and  both  sexes  uphold 

this  belief  which  miracles  uphold.  A  Vir¬ 
gin  brings  forth,  one  that  was  barren 
becomes  a  mother,  the  dumb  speaks,  Eliza¬ 
beth  prophesies,  the  Magian  adores,  the 
child  shut  up  in  the  womb  leaps  for  joy, 
the  widow  proclaims,  the  just  expects  this 
wonderful  event.” 

As  the  inmost  court  of  the  temple  was 
forbidden  to  Mary,  and  as  the  infant,  on 
acount  of  his  sex,  was  there  to  be  offered 
to  the  Lord,  Joseph  himself  carried  him 
into  th  Q^hall  of  the  first-born ,  asking  himself 
at  the  same  time  whether  the  scenes  which 
had  taken  place  at  the  entrance  of  Jesus 
into  the  holy  house  would  be  renewed  in  the 
court  of  the  Hebrew  priests.  But  nothing 
proclaimed  the  infant  God  in  this  privi¬ 
leged  part  of  the  temple  ;  everything  there 
remained  sad  and  frozen  beneath  the  rising 
ray  of  the  young  Sun  of  justice.  A  priest 
unknown  to  J oseph  carelessly  received  from 
the  rough  hands  of  the  low-born  man,  whom 
he  regarded  as  the  “offscouring  of  the 
world,”8  the  timid  birds  ordained  by  the 
law,  and  did  not  even  deign  to  honor 
Christ  with  a  look.  The  love  of  gold — 
that  shameful  idolatry,  which  hides  its 
unacknowledged  worship  in  the  shade,  as 
long  as  it  retains  enough  shame  to  blush, 
had  hardened  to  stone  the  narrow,  egotist¬ 
ical  and  malignant  heart3  of  the  princes  of 
the  synagogue.  Leaving  the  monopoly  of 

the  son  of  Mary,  whom  all  Mussulmans  are  obliged 
to  receive  as  such.— (D’Herbelot,  Biblioth.  Orien- 
tale,  t.  iii.,  p.  266.) 

( 1 )  “  Mary,  my  sovereign,”  says  St.  Anselm  on 
this  subject,  “  I  cannot  believe  that  thou  couldst 
have  lived  a  moment  with  such  sorrow,  had  not 
God,  who  giveth  life,  strengthened  thee.” 

iff 

( a )  Prideaux,  History  of  the  Jews. 

( 8 )  The  Jewish  doctors  had  then,  and  still  have, 
a  maxim  which  fills  us  with  horror:  they  hold  that 
he  who  does  not  nourish  his  hatred,  and  avenge 
himself,  is  unworthy  of  the  name  of  rabbi. — (Bas- 
nage,  liv.  vi.,  c.  17.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


134 


labor  and  privations  to  the  simple  Levites, 
whom  they  reduced  to  live  upon  herbs  and 
dried  figs,1  they  passed  by  the  poor  man 
stretched  upon  their  marble  threshold,  and 
the  traveller  wounded  in  the  mountain 
pathway,  unfeelingly  turning  their  heads 
away :  in  reality  they  loved  neither  God 
nor  man.  Our  Lord  who  Himself  insti¬ 
tuted  a  priesthood  of  charity,  reproaches 
them  with  this,  with  holy  and  piercing 
irony,  in  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan. 
Therefore,  as  Malachy  had  announced, 
“God  cursed  their  benedictions,”  and 
turned  away  his  face  from  their  temple, 
which  he  was  soon  to  deliver  up  to  the 
sword  and  fire  of  the  Romans. 

The  presence  of  the  Messias,  who  in¬ 
flamed  the  heart  of  the  disciples  at  Em- 
maus,  even  before  they  had  recognized 
their  Master  in  the  breaking  of  bread, 
glided  over  the  soul  of  the  Aaronites,  as 
the  rays  of  spring  on  the  eternal  snows 
of  Ararat.  That  solemn  moment,  which 
suspended  the  sacred  concerts  round  the 
Almighty,  and  rivetted  the  eyes  of  the 
heavenly  host  on  a  single  point  of  the  uni¬ 
verse,  that  moment  announced  by  Aggeus, 
when  the  glory  of  the  second  temple  effaced 
that  of  the  first,  passed  unperceived  before 
the  darkened  eyes  of  the  priests  and  doc¬ 
tors.  None  of  them  recognized  the  clean 
and  unsullied  oblation  which  Malachy  had 


( 1  )  The  luxury  and  avarice  of  the  chief  priests 
of  Jerusalem  were  incredible.  The  pontiffs  sent 
people  into  the  country  to  take  the  tithes  in  the 
granaries,  and  appropriate  them  to  themselves, 
which  left  the  inferior  priests  to  die  of  hunger. 
At  the  least  remonstrance,  the  miserable  Levites 
were  accused  of  revolt  and  insubordination,  and 


foretold.  The  Desired  of  Nations,  He 
whose  way  had  been  prepared  by  angels, 
the  great  Redeemer  so  long  promised  and 
expected,  was  there  bodily  present,  in  his 
holy  house,  and  no  one  thought  to  welcome 
him  with  palms,  crying  out  upon  the  battle¬ 
ments  of  the  temple  and  the  roofs  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  “  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David !” 
They  knew  well,  says  the  gospel,  how  to 
prognosticate  the  approach  of  rain  by  the 
clouds  which  gathered  in  the  west ;  they 
knew  well  how  to  foresee  heat,  at  the 
breath  of  the  south  wind  ;  but  these  men, 
so  skilful  in  drawing  presages  from  the  dif¬ 
ferent  aspects  of  the  sky,  did  not  see  “that 
the  fig-tree  of  Solomon  was  about  to  put 
forth  its  figs,”2  and  in  the  child  of  the  poor 
they  could  not  discern  the  God .  0  poverty , 
how  excellent  a  disguise  art  thou,  even  for 
the  divine  nature !  The  true  Christ  was 
in  the  midst  of  his  own  ;  but  he  was  poor, 
and  his  own  received  him  not :  therefore 
have  they  remained  without  a  Saviour ;  for 
no  Melech-Hamaschialc  has  come  to  justify 
their  incredulous  contempt  for  the  divine 
Son  of  the  Virgin,  and  they  are  driven  to 
say,  with  cold  and  despairing  rage,  “Per¬ 
ish  those  who  calculate  the  time  of  the 
Messias.”3 

Meanwhile  the  infant  God,  who  had  re¬ 
cognized,  as  he  passed  through  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem,  the  sites  of  our  redemption, 


delivered  up  to  the  Romans;  the  governor  Felix 
alone  cast  forty  of  them  into  prison,  to  gratify  the 
doctors  and  princes  of  the  synagogue. — (Josephus.) 

( a )  St.  Luke,  c.  12,  v.  55  et  56,  et  c.  xxii., 
v.  29,  30. 

( * )  Basnage,  liv.  vi.,  c.  26 ;  Talmud.,  349. 


FLIGHT  INTO  EGYPT 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  135 

counted  his  executioners  in  silence  in  this 

careless  as  to  that  future  which  was  lower- 

grave  and  glittering  assemblage  ;  among 

ing  over  their  heads,  the  Hebrew  priests 

the  choirs  who  sung  to  the  harp  hymns  of 

offered  to  the  God  who  rejected  them  the 

praise  to  the  Eternal,  Christ  distinguished 

chosen  victims  of  the  great  and  of  the 

the  arrogant  and  malevolent  voices  which 

common  people.  One  of  them  took  the 

were  at  a  later  day  to  cry  out,  “  Crucify. 

doves  from  Joseph,  mounted  the  gentle 

him!  crucify  him !” 

ascent  of  the  altar  of  holocausts,  and  of- 

Race  of  Aaron,  where  art  thou  now  ? 

fered  to  the  Lord  this  poor  and  simple 

The  avenging  breath  of  the  Crucified  has 

sacrifice. 

scattered  thee  like  chaff  in  every  part  of 

“And  after  Joseph  and  Mary  had  per- 

the  globe  ;  absorbed  in  those  masse§  which 

formed  all  things  according  to  the  law  of 

thou  despisedst,  the  companions  of  thy  exile 

the  Lord,”  says  St.  Luke,  “they  returned 

•  no  longer  know  thee !  But  at  that  time, 

into  Galilee,  to  their  own  city,  Nazareth.”1 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  FLIGHT 

INTO  EGYPT. 

O'  CARCELY  had  they  returned  into 

until  I  shall  tell  thee.  For  it  will  come  to 

Lower  Galilee,  when  Joseph  and 

pass  that  Herod  will  seek  the  Child  to 

Mary  had  to  depart  again  for  a  long  and 

destroy  him.”  At  these  words,  Joseph, 

perilous  journey,  the  end  of  which  was  the 

affrighted,  rose  up,  adored  the  Lord,  and 

laud  of  exile.  One  night,  “an  angel  of 

ran  to  awaken  Mary,  who  was  sleeping 

the  Lord  appeared  in  sleep  to  Joseph,  say- 

the  sweet  and  gentle  sleep  of  angels  by  the 

ing,  Arise,  and  take  the  Child  and  his 

cradle  of  her  infant.  The  young  mother 

Mother,  and  fly  into  Egypt ;  and  be  there 

soon  felt  the  necessity  of  this  prompt  and 

( 1 )  We  follow  the  opinion  of  St.  Luke,  St.  John 

concile  these  two  evangelists,  but  that  the  return 

Chrysostom,  and  some  other  authorities,  in  making 

to  Nazareth  preceded  the  flight  into  Egypt.  For 

the  Holy  Family  set  out  for  Nazareth  after  the 

God  did  not  command  Joseph  and  Mary  thither 

Purification.  This  is  the  only  way  to  reconcile  St. 

before  the  Purification,  lest  the  law  should  be  in 

Matthew — who  says  nothing  of  the  marvellous 

any  way  infringed ;  hut  this  duty  accomplished, 

events  of  the  Presentation  in  the  temple — with 

and  they  returned  to  Nazareth,  where  they  received 

St.  Luke,  who  is  silent  as  to  the  massacre  of  the 

the  order  to  fly  into  Egypt.” — (Horn.  ix.  in  St. 

Innocents  and  the  flight  into  Egypt.  “  What  then 

Matt.) 

shall  we  say  ?”  says  St.  John  Chrysostom,  “to  re- 

136 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


stealthy  departure.  She  casts  a  look  full 
of  anguish  on  her  son  ;  hastily  gets  to¬ 
gether  some  provisions,  some  clothes,  some 
garments  which  they  need  in  their  flight ; 
and  then,  preceded  by  Joseph,  and  carry¬ 
ing  Jesus  in  her  arms,  she  departs  from 
her  native  city,  where  all  reposes  in  the 
brightness  of  the  stars  of  night. 

The  prophecies  of  Simeon  had  soon  been 
verified.  Scarcely  was  he  born,  when  the 
persecution  of  a  tyrant  came  to  seek  Jesus 
in  the  cradle,  and  his  pure,  young,  holy 
mother,  was  forced  to  fly  by  night,  like 
a  criminal,  in  company  with  a  hoary  old 
man,  who  could  oppose  only  patience  and 
prayer  to  the  spear  of  the  Arab  lying  in 
ambush  in  the  defiles  of  the  mountains,  or 
to  the  murderous  pursuit  of  Herod’s  sol¬ 
diers  :  and  one  would  have  said  that  God 
himself  abandoned  this  Holy  Family  to  its 
fate ;  for,  when  communicating  to  Joseph 
the  order  to  depart,  his  messenger  did  not, 
like  the  angel  Raphael  formerly,  in  the 
case  of  the  young  traveller  to  Rages,  pro¬ 
mise  to  guard  them  from  all  evil  during 
the  journey.  The  spouse  of  the  Virgin 
understood  that,  the  solemn  time  for  the 
manifestation  of  Christ  not  having  arrived, 
God  designed  to  preserve  him  from  the 
snares  of  Herod  by  means  suggested  by 
mere  human  prudence,  On  Joseph  then 
devolved  all  the  care  and  honor  of  this 
difficult  undertaking, — on  him,  a  poor  and 
obscure  plebeian,  devolved  the  care  of  over¬ 
turning  the  plans,  baffling  the  plots,  and 

( 1 )  About  the  middle  of  February, — a  season 
still  cold  in  the  mountains  of  the  intenor,  where 
the  temperature,  according  to  M.  de  Volney,  is 
nearly  the  same  as  our  own.  The  plains  of  Syria, 


eluding  the  suspicious  vigilance  of  an  able, 
distrustful  tyrant,  served  by  his  emissaries 
like  an  oriental  despot.  What  would  be¬ 
come  of  them,  and  what  should  they  do,  if 
any  fatal  surprise  occurred  on  the  road  to 
Jerusalem  ?  The  abrupt  departure  of  the 
Magi  had  awakened  Herod’s  suspicions — 
suspicions  strengthened  by  the  language  of 
Anna  and  Simeon  ;  secret  inquiries,  mys¬ 
terious  investigations,  already  began,  and 
no  one  could  tell  where  the  sanguinary 
prince  would  stop,  who  lavishly  poured  his 
gold  into-  the  reeking  hands  of  the  mur¬ 
derer.  The  more  Joseph  sounded  his  own 
thoughts,  the  more  be  foreboded  some  hor¬ 
rid  scheme,  the  vague  terror  of  which  con¬ 
gealed  the  blood  in  his  veins.  Mary,  for 
her  part,  pale  and  silent  as  death,  scanned 
with  timid  look  the  depths  of  the  valleys, 
the  heart  of  the  forests,  or  along  the  soli¬ 
tary  windings  of  the  rough,  rocky  path, 
which  Joseph  had  chosen  a§,  the  surest  and 
most  secluded  from  the  habitations  of  men. 
The  moon  lighted  with  its  soft  and  velvet 
beams  this  silent  march,  enveloped  by  a 
fine  oriental  night  in  its  azure  veils. 

“The  season  was  still  cold,”1  says  St. 
Bonaventure,  “and,  traversing  Palestine, 
the  Holy  Family  had  to  choose  the  most 
rugged  and  desert  tracks.  Where  shall 
they  lodge  at  night  ?  What  place  can 
they  choose  by  day,  to  recruit  a  little  from 
the  fatigue  of  the  journey  ?  Where  shall 
they  take  the  frugal  repast,  needed  to  sus¬ 
tain  their  strength?”2 


on  the  contrary,  were  already  as  hot  as  in  summer. 
— (See  p.  74,  note  3.) 

( 3 )  S.  Bonaventure,  Life  of  Christ. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Tradition  is  silent  as  to  a  great  part  of 
this  affecting  and  perilous  journey.  No 
doubt,  the  holy  travellers  made  long  and 
painful  marches  over  the  mountains,  profit¬ 
ing  by  the  earliest  hours  of  daylight,  and 
often  waiting,  too,  for  the  moon  to  rise, 

* 

before  they  proceeded  on  their  way.  As 

long  as  they  were  passing  through  Galilee, 

with  the  deep  caverns  yawning  in  it, 

caverns  of  unknown  windings,  where  it  is 

easy  to  escape  all  observation,  these  afforded 

them  a  place  to  stop  and  repose  :  but  these 

dens  with  yawning  sides  had  their  dangers 

too  ;  for  they  were  the  favorite  resorts  of 
% 

numerous  robber  bands,  which  had  long 
defied  all  the  forces  of  the  kingdom,  and 
who  were  emboldened  to  reappear  by 
Herod’s  sickness.1  The  fear  of  penetrat¬ 
ing  unconsciously  into  one  of  these  resorts 
of  assassins  must  have  made  Joseph  hes¬ 
itate  more  than  once  at  the  sheltering 
openings  of  these  isolated  caverns. 

At  length,  after  a  thousand  inconven¬ 
iences  of  ever}r  kind,  the  Holy  Family 
reached  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem. 
Here  precautions  and  uneasiness  were  mul¬ 
tiplied  by  the  imminence  of  danger  ;  the 
fugitives  no  longer  dared  to  approach 
towns,  or  even  populous  villages,  where 
crowds  of  spies  and  informers  kept  their 
eye  upon  strangers;3  they  followed  the 
bed  of  torrents,  dived  into  deserted  roads, 


( 1 )  These  large  armies,  often  two  or  three  thou¬ 
sand  strong,  were  commanded  by  experienced 
chiefs,  who  gave  Herod  and  the  Romans  constant 
occupation.  Some  had  a  political  aim,  and  carried 
on  a  partisan  war ;  others  were  only  a  mere  collec¬ 
tion  of  assassins,  who  carried  long  daggers  under 
their  cloaks,  and  killed  those  whom  they  wished  to 
18 


137 


or  the  damp  shade  of  woods,  not  daring  to 
turn  aside  to  renew  their  exhausted  pro¬ 
visions,  and  thus  suffering  at  once  from 
fear,  cold,  and  hunger.  They  had  passed 
Anathoth,  and  were  proceeding  toward 
Ramla,  in  order  to  descend  into  the  plains 
of  Syria.  Anxious  to  escape  from  a  dan¬ 
gerous  district,  they  were  borrowing  some 
hours  from  night,  when  they  beheld  armed 
men  issue  from  a  dark  ravine,  who  stopped 
their  passage.  He  who  appeared  to  be  the 
chief  of  this  horde  of  banditti  came  forward 
from  the  hostile  group  to  examine  the 
travellers.  Joseph  and  Mary  had  stopped, 
and  looked  at  each  other  with  alarm  : 
Jesus  was  asleep.  The  robber  who  had 
come  to  take  blood  and  gold,  looked  with 
astonishment  at  this  old,  unarmed  man,  just 
like  a  patriarch  of  olden  times ;  at  this  veil¬ 
ed  young  woman,  seemingly  so  anxious  to 
hide  her  child  from  him  in  her  heart,  so 
closely  did  she  press  him  to  her  breast  in 
a  clasp  of  agony.  “  They  are  poor,”  said 
the  robber  to  himself,  “and  travel  by 
night  like  fugitives  !”  He  too,  perhaps,  had 
a  child  in  its  cradle  ;  perhaps  the  atmos¬ 
phere  of  meekness  and  mercy  which  sur¬ 
rounded  Jesus  and  Mary  had  its  influence 
upon  his  ferocious  soul ;  he  lowered  the 
point  of  his  spear,  and  extending  to  Joseph 
a  friendly  hand,  he  offered  him  a  night’s 
lodging  in  his  fortress,  suspended  upon  the 


get  rid  of,  even  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem. — 
(Josephus,  Jewish  War,  lib.  ii.,  c.  5.) 

( 5 )  Herod,  who  brought  espionage  to  perfection 
in  the  East,  covered  the  great  roads  with  spies  in 
every  part  of  Judea. — (Josephus,  Antiquities  of 
the  Jews,  lib.  xv.,  c.  13.) 


corner  of  a  rock,  like  the  eyrie  of  birds  of 
prey.  This  offer,  honestly  made,  was  ac¬ 
cepted  with  holy  confidence,  and  the  rob¬ 
ber’s  roof,  like  the  tent  of  the  Arab,  on 
this  occasion  afforded  hospitality.1  The 
next  day,  toward  noon,  the  Holy  Family 
stopped  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  forest  of 
palm,  nopal,  and  wild  fig-trees,  which  ex¬ 
tends  to  a  short  distance  from  Ram  la  ;2  a 
carpet  of  everlasting  flowers,  narcissus  and 
anemone,  received  the  Sovereign  of  heaven 
and  earth  ;  the  heats  of  summer  prevailed 
in  the  plain,  and  the  warbling  of  birds,  the 
perfume  of  plants,  the  tufted  shade  of  fig- 
trees,  and  the  distant  murmur  of  a  spring, 
charmed  the  slumbers  of  Christ.  After  a 
short  rest,  in  which  every  moment  was 
counted,  the  travellers  resumed  their  jour¬ 
ney.  Their  motive  in  travelling  by  the 
way  of  Bethlehem  is  unknown  ;  tradition 
has  preserved  the  memory  of  their  passage, 
and  the  Christians  have  erected  an  altar 
in  the  cave  where  Mary  lay  hid  with  her 
child,3  while  Joseph  went  up  to  the  town, 
either  to  inquire  for  the  departure  of  a 
caravan,  or  to  exchange  Mary’s  slow  beast 
for  a  camel.  Whatever  the  motive  that  led 

( 1 )  The  site  where  the  local  tradition  has  placed 
this  scene,  and  where  the  ruins  of  the  fortress  of 
the  banditti  are  still  visible,  continues  to  hear  a  very 
had  name.  During  the  Crusades,  the  Pranks,  to 
whom  this  tradition  was  familiar,  had  exalted  the 
banditti  chief  to  a  feudal  lord.  “It  is  rare,  how¬ 
ever,”  says  Father  Hau,  with  amusing  gravity, 
“  that  a  lord  of  note  becomes  a  highway  robber.” 
The  crusaders  were  better  versed  in  history  than 
Father  Nau.  To  this  apparently  authentic  story 
has  been  added  an  embellishment,  for  which  we 
cannot  answer,  asserting  that  the  hospitable  robber 
was  the  good  thief  in  person. 

( 3 )  The  spot  fixed  by  tradition  as  one  of  the 


Joseph  and  Mary  into  the  crater  of  the 
volcano,  they  doubtless  spent  but  a  few 
hours  there,  and  pressed  on  in  all  haste  to 
reach  a  seaport  of  the  Philistines,  so  as  to 
join  the  first  caravan  going  to  Egypt. 

If  we  rely  on  the  learned  calculations  of 
chronologists,  who  admit  no  interval  in 
this  long  journey,  the  holy  pair  must  have 
found  on  the  coast  of  Syria,  a  caravan  on 
the  point  of  starting.  This  is  the  more 
probable  as  the  vernal  equinox  was  at 
hand,  and  every  one  would  be  anxious  to 
anticipate  the  season  when  the  Simoon 
exercises  its  empire  over  the  desert,  and 
makes  its  sea  of  sand  as  treacherous  as  the 
very  billows.4  Apart  from  the  dread  ap¬ 
prehension  of  Herod’s  enraged  pursuit,  the 
second  part  of  the  Holy  Family’s  journey 
did  not  yield  to  the  first  in  hardship  or 
suffering,  or  even  in  danger.  After  leav¬ 
ing  Gfaza,  the  ruined  towers  of  which 
resounded  with  the  dying  sound  of  the 
waves,  the  travellers  beheld  nothing  before 
them  but  immense  wastes  of  sand,  of  dreary 
aspect  and  frightful  barrenness,  ploughed 
up  by  the  hot  wind  of  the  desert,  and  op¬ 
pressed  by  a  fiery  sky.  No  vegetation, 

resting-places  of  the  Holy  Family  is  very  charm- 
dag;  the  ruins  of  a  monastery  are  still  seen  there. 

- — (Itineraire  de  Paris  a  Jerusalem,  t.  ii.) 

( 3 )  This  cave  is  called  the  Grotto  of  the  Virgin’s 
milk,  because  it  is  supposed  that  some  drops  of 
milk  of  the  Mother  of  God  fell  upon  the  rock, 
while  she  suckled  the  infant  Jesus. 

( 4 )  “  The  Arabs  call  the  hot  wind*  of  the  desert 
simoon,  or  poison :  the  impression  it  makes  may  be 
compared  to  that  received  from  the  mouth  of  a 
large  oven  when  the  bread  is  drawn.  These  winds 
prevail  most  frequently  during  the  fifty  days  which 
comprise  the  equinoxes.”  —  (Volney,  Voyage  en 
Syrie.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


life  of  the  blessed  VIRGIN  MARY.  139 

except  a  few  tliu.i  patches  of  heath,  growing 

ing  demon  transported  the  lake  leagues 

here  and  there  on  isolated  spots  ;  no  water, 

farther  on,  leaving  naught  in  its  place  but 

except  the  brackish  spring  where  the  Yir- 

burning  sand  !a 

gin  and  Joseph,  who  were  weary,  who 

Another  optical  illusion,  often  repeated 

were  poor,  and  whom  no  one  cared  for, 

in  this  dry  and  burning  region,  made 

could  not  quench  their  thirst  till  after  the 

travellers  at  a  distance  assume  gigantic 

rich  merchants,  their  slaves,  and  camels 

proportions.  Arab  horsemen,  covered 

had  drained  it,  and  naught  remained  of  this 

with  their  flowing  abbas,  striped  brown 

poor  muddy  water  but  barely  enough  to 

and  white,  and  armed  with  the  djombie,  a 

fill  the  hollow  of  a  hand.  As  they  receded 

waving-bladed  dirk  that  every  dweller  of 

from  the  Syrian  frontiers,  the  thirst  became 

the  desert  wears  in  his  girdle,  appeared 

keener,  and  the  springs  more  scarce.  At 

from  afar  tall  as  towers,  and  moving  ap- 

times  they  discerned  at  a  distance,  in  the 

parently  in  the  air.  The  Virgin  started, 

middle  of  a  boundless  plain,  a  vast  clear 

and  pressed  J esus  more  closely  to  her  heart ; 

blue  lake,  like  the  lake  of  Genesareth  ;  the 

but  the  placid  countenance  of  Joseph  calmed 

sky  reflected  in  its  limpid  waters,  in  which 

her  fears,  although  she  could  not  under- 

a  solitary  date-palm  was  mirrored.  A  cry 

stand  the  phenomenon  which  gave  rise  to 

of  joy  hailed  this  discovery  ;  they  urged  on 

them.3 

the  camels,  and  Mary  raised  her  drooping 

At  the  approach  of  evening,  the  song  of 

head,  like  a  rose  of  Jericho  which  feels  the 

the  camel-drivers  ceased,4  the  leader  of  the 

coming  shower.1  They  were  close  upon 

caravan  unfurled  the  flag  which  gives  notice 

this  blessed  lake,  and  already  slaking  their 

of  the  halt,  and  all  the  travellers  assembled 

thirst  in  imagination  ;  but,  alas  !  a  mock- 

round  this  gathering  signal.  An  animated 

( 1 )  This  rose,  the  cup  of  which  opens  and  shuts 

( 3 )  “I  had  occasion,”  says  Niebuhr,  “  to  remark 

according  to  the  variations  of  the  atmosphere,  is 

a  phenomenon  which  struck  me  as  very  singular ; 

consulted  as  a  barometer  by  the  Arabs. — (Viscount 

but  which,  in  time,  became  familiar  to  me.  An 

Marcellus,  Voyage  en  Orient,  t.  ii.) 

Arab  mounted  on  a  camel,  whom  I  saw  coming 

( 3 )  This  is  the  phenomenon  known  by  the 

from  a  distance,  appeared  to  me  as  tall  as  a  tower, 

name  of  Mirage.  During  the  expedition  which 

and  seemed  to  move  in  the  air;  yet  he  was  march- 

the  French  made  in  Egypt  in  1798,  the  soldiers, 

ing  on  the  sand  like  ourselves.  This  optical  il- 

devoured  by  thirst  as  they  traversed  the  arid  des- 

lusion  proceeds  from  a  stronger  refraction  of  the 

erts  of  that  burning  country,  were  often  deceived 

atmosphere,  in  these  arid  regions  loaded  with 

by  this  cruel  illusion.  Every  prominent  object 

vapors  of  a  different  nature  from  those  which  fill 

which  offered  itself  to  their  eyes  in  the  midst  of 

the  air  of  temperate  countries.” — (Voyage  en  Ara- 

these  seas  of  sand,  appeared  to  them  surrounded 

hie,  t.  i.,  p.  208.) 

with  water:  thus  a  hillock,  which  they  perceived 

( 4 )  It  is  an  almost  universal  custom  in  the  East 

at  a  distance,  seemed  to  them  to  rise  out  of  the 

to  enliven  one  another  on  the  march  or  at  work, 

midst  of  a  lake.  Dying  with  want,  they  ran 

by  singing.  A  Mussulman  pilgrim  has  given  a 

toward  it;  but,  when  they  arrived  at  the  place 

very  picturesque  description  of  the  night  march  of 

itself,  they  discovered  their  mistake:  the  lake  had 

a  Mecca  caravan,  by  the  light  of  lanterns  fixed 

fled,  and  appeared  yet  farther  off  to  their  eager 

upon  the  camels,  and  to  the  measured  singing  of 

eyes. — (See  de  Fellens,  du  Mirage,  Art.  6.) 

the  camel-drivers.— (Voyage  of  Abdoul  Kerim.) 

- i - - -  ■  -  — . --  -  ■  -  -  — ' 

140  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


scene  soon  followed  this  halting-time.  They 
unloaded  the  camels,  which  knelt  at  the 
feet  of  their  masters,  their  burdens  were 
piled  up  pyramidally  ;  they  set  up  a  row 
of  circular  stakes,  to  tether  the  beasts  of 
burden  ;  the  rich  travellers  pitched  their 
tents,  and  the  leader  of  the  caravan  placed 
sentinels  to  give  notice  of  the  approach  of. 
the  Bedouins,  those  pirates  of  the  desert, 
who  were,  and  are  still,  robbers  like  Ismael, 
hospitable  like  Abraham.  Every  merchant, 
after  taking  his  repast  of  dates  and  milk, 
composed  himself  to  sleep  in  his  tent  of 
felt  till  the  rising  of  the  moon.  The  slaves 
and  poor  travellers,  among  whom  were 
the  Son  of  God,  his  divine  Mother,  and 
Joseph,  sat  upon  a  rush  mat,  spread  upon 
the  ground,  with  no  roof  but  the  sky,  their 
limbs  enfeebled  with  heat  and  worn  out 
with  fatigue,  exposed  to  the  icy  breath  of 
night.1  At  times  was  heard  a  cry  of  alarm  : 
the  Bedouins  of  the  desert,  prowling  about 
the  slumbering  caravan;  disconcerted  by 
the  vigilance  of  the  guards  of  the  camp, 
they  announced  their  departure  by  a  vol¬ 
ley  of  arrows,  which  were  soon  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  groans  of  the  wounded. 
Then  the  Virgin,  who  had  made  her  body 
a  rampart  for  her  adored  Son,  raised  to 
heaven  her  eyes  bedewed  with  tears,  her 
brow  pallid  with  fear  ;  she  knew  but  too 

The  camel-drivers  still  sing  songs  peculiar  to 
themselves  in  Syria  and  Egypt. — (Correspondance 
d’Orient,  t.  vi.) 

( 1 )  Although  the  days  are  scorching  in  the 
desert  at  this  season,  the  nights  are  very  cold. — 
(Volney;  Savary.) 

( a )  On  the  dome  of  the  sanctuary  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  temple  of  Heliopolis  was  observed  an  immense 
mirror,  of  polished  steel,  which  reflected  the  rays  of 


well  that  her  Jesus  was  ae  mortal  as  the 
least  of  the  children  of  men  ! 

When  the  moon  diffused  her  white  light 
over  the  shadowless,  noiseless  desert, 
where  the  breezes  of  the  solitude  found  not 
a  blade  of  grass  to  raise  a  sigh,  they  folded 
their  tents,  and  the  toilsome  march  was 
resumed,  with  all  its  discomfort,  all  its 
suffering,  all  the  terror  experienced  the 
day  before. 

At  length,  they  reached  the  verge  of  this 
region  of  illusion  and  silence.  Egypt,  that 
ancient  nursery  of  all  enlightenment  and  of 
every  species  of  idolatry,  rose  before  the 
travellers,  with  its  obelisks  of  rose  granite, 
its  temples  with  tops  of  polished  steel,2  its 
colossal  pyramids,  its  villages  resembling 
islands,  and  its  providential  river,  bor¬ 
dered  with  reeds,  and  covered  with  ves¬ 
sels.  This  country  appeared  richer,  more 
populous,  and  more  commercial  than 
Judea  ;  but  it  was  the  land  of  exile !  be¬ 
yond  the  desert  lay  their  own  country ! 
The  hearts  of  the  exiles  of  Israel  had  re¬ 
mained  there. 

After  a  journey  of  a  hundred  and  forty 
leagues,3  the  fugitives  reached  Heliopolis, 
where  their  nation  had  founded  a  colony. 
In  that  city  rose  the  temple  of  Jehovah, 
which  Onias  had  built  upon  the  plan  of  the 
holy  house.  The  sacred  furniture  of  this 

the  luminary  of  heaven.  There  was  a  similar 
one  on  the  top  of  the  pharos  at  Alexandria,  and 
the  images  of  ships  were  reflected  in  it  long  before 
they  appeared  in  the  horizon. — (Correspondance 
d’Orient,  t.  v. ;  Lettres  de  Savary.) 

( 8 )  See  Barad.,  t.  i.,  c.  8. — The  author  of  the  ' 
Voyages  de  Jesus  Christ  reckons  only  a  hundred 
leagues,  but  perhaps  he  takes  no  account  of  the 
windings  of  the  roads. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  14  L 

Egyptian  temple  was  almost  equal  to  those 

like  dwelling,  where  the  doves  built  their 

of  the  other  ;  only,  as  a  sign  of  inferiority, 

nests,  the  fugitive  family  reposed  in  peace. 

a  massive  golden  lamp,  suspended  from  the 

far  from  Herod. 

ceiling,  supplied  the  place  of  the  famous 

This  cruel  prince,  after  waiting  in  vain 

seven-branched  candlestick  at  Jerusalem. 

for  the  Magi  in  his  palace  at  Jericho,  his 

At  the  gate  of  this  city,  the  population  of 

favorite  residence,  learned  at  length  that 

which  was  in  great  measure  composed  of 

they  had  repassed  the  frontiers  of  his 

idolatrous  Egyptians  and  Arabs,  was  a 

kingdom,  and  that,  without  rendering  him 

majestic  tree,  of  the  mimosa  species,  to 

an  account  of  their  mission,  they  had  gone 

which  the  Arabs  of  the  Yemen,  established 

back  to  Persia.  Pale  already  from  the 

on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  paid  a  kind  of 

slow  fever  which  consumed  him,  the  King 

worship.1  At  the  approach  of  the  Holy 

of  the  Jews  became  still  paler  with  wrath. 

Family,  the  fetish-tree  slowly  bent  down 

He  was  deceived  at  ‘the  very  moment 

its  shady  branches,  as  if  to  offer  the  salam 

when  he  exulted  at  the  thought  of  his  un- 

to  the  young  Master  of  nature,  whom 

equalled  skill  in  deceiving  others — de- 

Mary  bore  in  her  arms  ;2  and,  if  we  may 

ceived  by  these  uncircumcised  men,  who, 

believe  the  historian  Palladius,  at  the 

contrary  to  all  expectation,  had  detected 

moment  when  the  divine  travellers  passed 

his  tortuous  and  wily  policy !  If  the  Magi 

under  the  granite  arches  of  the  gate  of 

had  not  discovered  the  child  to  whom  the 

Heliopolis,  all  the  idols  of  a  neighboring 

star  had  conducted  them,  they  would  have 

temple  fell  face  downward  on  the  ground.3 

told  him  so  on  their  return.— They  had 

Joseph  and  Mary  only  passed  through 

then  discovered  his  secret  asylum,  and 

the  City  of  the  Sun,  and  repaired  to  Ma- 

this  was  somewhere  in  Bethlehem  or  its 

tarieh,  a  beautiful  village  shaded  by  syca- 

vicinity,  inasmuch  as  they  had  not  carried 

mores,  and  containing  the  only  fountain  of 

'  their  search  any  farther. — How  was  this 

sweet  water  in  Egypt.  There,  in  a  hive- 

dangerous  child  now  to  be  distinguished 

( 1 )  The  Arabs,  who  had  gradually  forgotten  the 

which  bends  down  its  branches  at  the  approach  of 

God  of  Abraham,  adored  at  that  time  a  number  of 

man.  Niebuhr,  who  is  not  suspected  of  credulity, 

idols,  each  more  monstrous  than  the  other.  “  The 

found  this  tree  in  the  Yemen,  and  the  Arabs,  who 

date-tree,”  says  Azraki,  “  was  adored  by  the  tribe 

give  it  the  name  of  tree  of  hospitality,  hold  it  in 

of  Khozua,  and  the  Beni-Thekif  worshipped  a 

such  veneration  that  it  is  not  lawful  to  pluck  a 

rock;  a  large  tree  named  zat  arouat  was  adored 

leaf  from  it.  If  this  mimosa,  by  a  natural  phenom- 

by  the  Koreisch,  &c.”  The  Persians  scornfully 

enon,  bends  down  its  branches  at  the  approach 

designated  the  Arabs  by  the  title  of  “  adorers  of 

of  man,  much  more  must  it  have  had  cause  to 

stones.” 

lower  them  at  the  approach  of  the  Son  of  God. 

O  We  are  indebted  to  Sozomen  for  this  event, 

( 3 )  Palladius  is  not  the  only  one  who  relates 

which  it  requires  some  courage  to  reproduce  in  this 

this  miracle;  the  martyr  Dorotheus,  St.  Anselm, 

age  of  mockery,  and  which,  after  all,  is  hardly  a 

St.  Bonaventure,'  Lira,  Dionysius  the  Carthusian, 

miracle.  It  is  certain  that  there  exists  in  Arabia 

Testatus,  Ludolphus,  Barradius,  &c.,  attest  it  in 

a  tree  of  the  species  of  the  sensitives  and  mimosas, 

like  manner. 

- 

.  "  —  - - - — - - - — — 

142  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 

from  common  ’  children  ? — There  was  but 
one  last  expedient  left,  one  extreme  meas¬ 
ure  to  destroy  him :  this  was  to  include 
him  in  one  general  massacre. — But  the 
people  ! — At  this  thought  the  aged  king 
mused  for  a  moment ;  then  a  strange  scorn¬ 
ful  smile  hovered  over  his  lips.  The  people 
dare  nothing,  said  Herod  to  himself,  against 
kings,  who  dare  all ! 

“And  sending,  he  killed  all  the  men-chil¬ 
dren  that  were  in  Bethlehem,  and  in  all 
the  borders  thereof,  from  two  vears  old 
and  under,  according  to  the  time  which  he 
had  diligently  inquired  of  the  wise  men.”1 

According  to  a  number  of  grave  authors,2 
who  have  tradition  and  probability  on  their 

1 

side,  the  Holy  Family  remained  seven  years 
in  Egypt.  Traces  of  their  dwelling  there 
are  still  to  be  found  :  the  fountain  where 

Mary  washed  the  child’s  clothing;3  the  hill 
covered  with  bushes,  where  she  dried  them 
in  the  sun  ;  the  sycamore,  in  the  shade  of 
which  she  loved  to  sit  with  her  Son  upon 
her  knees,4  are  still  there  after  the  lapse 
of  eighteen  centuries  Pilgrims  from  Eu¬ 
rope  and  Asia  find  their  way  to  them,  and 
the  descendants  of  the  nation  of  Pharaoh 
hold  them  in  honor.  Round  every  spot 
clings  some  original  legend  of  the  olden 
time,  like  the  moss  on  the  damp  wall  of  a 
religious  ruin.5 

At  Nazareth,  Mary  had  led  an  humble 

( 1 )  This  gospel  fact,  which  the  school  of  Vol¬ 
taire  has  called  in  question,  is  proved,  not  only  by 
our  sacred  books,  but  also  by  the  testimony  of  Jews 
and  Pagans. — (Macrobius,  lib.  xi.,  c.  4,  De  Satur- 
nal. ;  Origen  Contra  Celsum,  lib.  xi.,  c.  58 ;  Toldos 
Huldr.,  pp.  12,  14,  20.) 

( 2 )  See  Trombel,  in  Vit.  Deip. ;  Zachariam,  in 
Diss.  ad.  Hist.  Eccl. ;  Anselm ;  Cantual ;  Euseb. ; 

St.  Thom. 

(’)  This  fountain  is  still  called  the  Fountain 
of  Mary ;  an  ancient  tradition  records  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  bathed  the  infant  Jesus  in  it.  In 
the  earliest  times  of  Christianity,  the  faithful  built 
a  church  in  this  place  ;  later  on,  the  Mussulmans 
constructed  a  mosque  there,  and  the  disciples  of 
both  creeds  came  to  pray  at  the  Fountain  of  Mary 
for  the  cure  of  their  maladies;  the  fountain  is  still 
there;  the  pilgrimages  continue,  but  no  vestiges 
remain  either  of  church  or  mosque. — (Savary,  t.  i., 
p.  122 ;  Corresp.  d’Or.,  t.  vi.,  p.  3.) 

( 4 )  “Not  far  from  the  fountain,  I  was  taken 
into  an  enclosure  planted  with  trees;  a  Mussulman 
who  was  our  guide  stopped  us  before  a  sycamore, 
and  said  to  us,  This  is  the  tree  of  Jesus  and  Mary. 
Vansleb,  rector  of  Fontainebleau,  informs  us  that 
the  old  sycamore  fell  down  from  old  age  in  1058. 

The  Franciscan  Fathers  at  Cairo  piously  preserved 
in  their  sacristy  the  last  remains  of  this  tree ;  there 
was  left  in  the  garden  only  a  stump,  whence,  no 
doubt,  sprang  the  tree  which  we  saw.  General 

Kleber,  after  the  victory  of  Heliopolis,  as  a  pilgrim, 
visited  the  tree  of  the  Holy  Family,  and  wrote  his 
name  on  the  bark  of  one  of  the  branches :  this 
name  has  since  disappeared,  effaced  either  by  time 
or  by  some  envious  hand.” — (Corresp.  d’Or.,  t.  vi., 
lettre  141.) 

( 6 )  The  following  is  one  of  those  legends 
brought  from  the  lands  beyond  the  sea  by  one  of 
our  good  old  French  barons,  the  Seigneur  d’Eng- 
lure ;  we  give  it  with  all  the  original  grace  of  the 
good  old  time: — “When  our  Lady,  the  Mother  of 

God,  had  passed  over  the  deserts,  and  when  she 
came  to  this  said  place,  she  laid  our  Lord  down 
upon  the  ground,  and  went  in  search  of  water 
through  the  field,  but  could  find  none;  so  she 
returned  full  of  sorrow  to  her  infant,  avIio  lay 
stretched  upon  the  sand,  who  had  dug  into  the 
ground  with  his  heels,  so  that  there  sprung  up  a 
fountain  of  very  good  and  sweet  water.  So  our 

Lady  was  very  glad  of  this,  and  thanked  our  Lord 
'  for  it,  and  our  Lady  laid  her  dear  infant  down 
again,  and  washed  the  little  clothes  of  our  Lord  in 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


143 


and  laborious  life,  but  at  Heliopolis  she 
beheld  misery  in  all  its  aspects.  Means 
of  support  were  to  be  created,  ever  a 
difficult  thing  out  of  one’s  own  country, 
and  among  a  people  parcelled  out  in  na¬ 
tional  and  hereditary  corporations,  who 
were  by  no  means  partial  to  strangers. 
As  they  were  poor,  observes  St.  Basil,  it 
is  evident  that  they  must  have  submitted 
to  severe  toil  to  procure  the  necessaries  of 
life. — Alas  !  had  they  always  even  these  ? 
“  Oftentimes,”  says  Ludolph  of  Saxony, 
“did  the  child  Jesus  ask  his  mother  for 
bread,  when  she  could  give  him  nothing 
but  her  tears !” 

Meanwhile,  Herod  had  died  of  a  horrible 
and  nameless  disease,  after  seeing  himself 
devoured  alive  by  the  worms  of  the  tomb. 
Dwelling  to  his  last  breath  upon  the  joy 
that  the  people  would  feel  at  the  news  of 
his  decease,  he  had  with  tears  requested 


his  sister  Salome,  a  wicked  woman,  to  have 
the  flower  of  the  Jewish  nobility  shot  down 
with  arrows,  for  he  had  imprisoned  them 
with  this  intention,  that  people  should  weep 
at  his  funeral  whether  they  would  or  not.1 
He  was  carried  to  his  castle  at  Herodion 
in  a  golden  litter,  covered  with  scarlet  and 
precious  stones.  His  sons  and  his  army 
followed  his  bier  with  downcast  looks, 
while  the  people,  having  the  happiness  of 
deliverance  before  their  eyes,  cast  upon 
him  as  many  maledictions  as  a  cloud  show¬ 
ers  down  drops  of  rain. 

Admonished  in  a  dream,  by  the  angel 
of  the  Lord,  of  the  tyrant’s  death,  Joseph 
returned  with  Mary  and  the  child  into  the 
land  of  Israel  ;  “but  hearing  that  Arche- 
laus  reigned  in  Judea  in  the  room  of 
Herod,  his  father,  he  was  afraid  to  go 
thither :  and  being  warned  in  sleep,  he 
turned  aside  into  the  quarters  of  Galilee.” 


CHAPTER  XV. 


RETURN  FROM  EGYPT. 


HOW  sorrowful  is  exile !  and  how 
sweet  to  breathe  the  air  of  our 
native  land!  The  bread  of  the  stranger, 
like  that  of  the  wicked,  leaves  sand  in  the 


the  water  of  this  fountain,  and  then  spread  them 
out  on  the  ground  to  dry;  and  from  the  water 
which  ran  off  these  little  clothes,  as  it  dried  up, 
there  grew  from  each  drop  a  shrub,  which  shrubs 
yield  balsam,  &c.” 


mouth  and  bitterness  in  the  heart ;  his 
streams  tell  not  of  the  sports  of  our  child¬ 
hood  ;  the  song  of  his  birds  has  no  melo¬ 
dious  notes  ;  his  scenes  are  destitute  of 


( 1 )  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib.  xvii., 
c.  8.— The  memory  of  Herod  remained  in  such 
execration  among  the  princes  of  the  people  and 
the  priests,  that  they  instituted  a  feast,  which  was 
celebrated  on  the  25th  of  September,  out  of  joy 


144 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


that  sweet  and  charming  attraction  pos¬ 
sessed  by  the  scenes  of  our  own  coun¬ 
try !  ...  . 

What  must  have  been  the  joy  of  the  two 
holy  spouses  when  they  beheld  again  that 
land  of  Chanaan,  whose  grand  boundaries, 
soft  outlines,  universal  harmony,  and  va¬ 
riety  of  aspects  contrasted  so  happily  and 
so  strikingly  with  the  monotonous  splen¬ 
dors  of  Egypt !  Here  a  population  of  rustic 
and  hardy  people,  of  martial  turn,  an  open 
address,  a  grave  and  pure  worship ;  there, 
slaves  herded  by  castes,  given  to  theft, 
mingling  infamous  practices  with  their  wor¬ 
ship,  and  exhausting  their  resources  to 
erect  temples  to  the  ox  Apis,  the  crocodile, 
and  the  squill !  One  must  be  profoundly 
religious,  as  Joseph  and  Mary  were — one 
must  love  one’s  country  as  the  Hebrews 
loved  theirs,  to  feel  the  pious  and  sweet 
impressions  which  the  two  Galilean  spouses 
felt  at  the  sight  of  the  land  of  Jehovah  and 

their  beautiful  citv  of  Nazareth. 

%> 

After  this  long  absence,  the  Holy  Family 
returned  to  their  humble  hearth,  amidst 
the  congratulations,  the  astonishment,  the 
eager  questions  of  their  relatives,  who  all 
vied  with  each  other  in  welcoming  them ; 
but  desolation  and  bitter  reverses  followed 
close  on  all  this  joy.  The  deserted  dwell¬ 
ing  of  the  poor  family  was  scarcely  habit- 

that  he  was  dead.  “  There  is  a  feast  on  the  7th  of 
Chisleu,”  says  the  Jewish  calendar,  “on  account  of 
the  death  of  Herod ;  for  he  had  hated  the  wise, 
and  we  rejoice  before  the  Lord  when  the  wicked 
depart  out  of  this  world.”—  (Basnage,  t.  i.,  lir.  ii., 
c.  8.) 

( 1 )  The  rainy  season,  in  Judea,  is  that  of  the 
equinoxes,  and  especially  of  the  autumnal  equinox : 
it  is  also  the  season  for  storms,  which  are  accom- 


able :  the  roof,  decayed,  and  in  places 
fallen,  was  ornamented  here  and  there  with 
long  grass,  and  had  given  free  entrance 
into  the  interior  to  the  wintry  blast  and 
the  beating  rains  of  the  equinoxes  ;*  the 
lower  apartment  was  cold,  damp,  and 
green  ;  wild  pigeons  made  their  nests  in 
the  mysterious  and  hallowed  cell  where 
the  Word  was  made  flesh;  brambles  shot 
up  their  brown  thorny  garlands  in  the 
small  court ;  everything,  in  fine,  in  that 
old  dwelling,  already  gilded  by  ages,  had 
assumed  that  ruinous  and  desolate  appear¬ 
ance  which  sets  on  deserted  edifices  the 
seal  of  the  master’s  absence.  It  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  set  about  these  urgent  repairs  ;  it 
was  necessary  to  replace  tools  and  furni¬ 
ture  either  unfit  for  use  or  altogether  van¬ 
ished  ;  perhaps  they  had  to  repay  a  sum 
borrowed  in  Egypt  to  enable  them  to 
return.  Then  it  was,  no  doubt,  that  they 
sold  the  paternal  fields  till  the  year  of 
jubilee.  Of  all  that  Joseph  and  Mary 
possessed  before  their  long  journey,  they 
had  nothing  left  but  the  ruined  house  of 
Nazareth,  the  workshop  of  Joseph,  and 
their  own  arms ;  but  Jesus  was  there. 
Young  as  he  was,  Jesus  took  up  the  axe, 
and  followed  his  aged  father  into  the 
villages,  where  work  was  found  for  them;2 
his  toil,  proportioned  to  his  age  and 

panied  with  violent  showers,  or  hail. — (Volney, 
Voyage  en  Syrie.) 

( a )  St.  Jnstin  Martyr  (Dialog,  cum  Tryphone); 
relates  that  Jesus  Christ  aided  his  father  to  make 
yokes  and  ploughs.  And  Godescard,  t.  xiv.,  p,  436, 
Vie  de  la  Sainte  Vierge,  says,  “A  very  ancient 
author  assures  us  that  in  his  time  yokes  were 
shown  which  our  Saviour  had  made  with  his  own 
hands.” 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


145 


strength,  was  never  wanting  to  aid  his 
mother.  Comfort  had  long  disappeared  ; 
but  by  dint  of  privations,  working  late  and 
early,  and  good  courage,  they  provided 
what  was.  of  absolute  necessity.  Jesus, 
Mary,  and  Joseph  gave  themselves  up  to 
hard  labor,  and  He  who  could  command 
legions  of  angels  never  asked  of  God,  for 
himself  or  those  belonging  to  him,  anything 
,  but  daily  bread. 

The  interior  life  of  this  happy  family, 
who  had  been  surnamed  the  terrestrial 
Trinity ,  has  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
men  :  it  is  the  rivulet  lost  among  the 
grass  ;  it  is  the  Holy  of  Holies,  with  its 
cloud  of  perfumes  and  its  double  veil. 
Nevertheless,  by  studying  minutely,  by 
examining  one  by  one,  and  in  all  their 
aspects,  the  facts  of  the  gospel,  what  we 
know  enables  us  to  divine  to  a  certain  ex¬ 
tent  what  we  do  not  know ;  and  the  public 
life  of  Christ  casts  some  bright  gleams  over 
his  hidden  life,  and  that  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  We  will  endeavor  to  fill  up  this 
void  with  all  that  reserve,  and  all  that 
conscientious  application,  which  so  grave  a 
subject  demands. 

Jesus,  in  whom  were  hidden  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,1  had 
no  need  of  being  taught  by  men  ;  therefore 
every  supposition  to  the  contrary  is  posi¬ 
tively  rejected  by  the  Church.  St.  John 
also,  in  his  gospel,  informs  us  that  the  Jews 
in  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ  considered  him 
as  an  uneducated  young  man,2  and  the 
astonishment  of  the  Nazareans  to  see  him 
so  profoundly  versed  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 

( 1 )  St.  Paul,  Colossians,  c.  ii.,  r.  9. 

(’)  St.  John,  c.  rii.,  y.  15. 

19 


tures,  sufficiently  testifies  that  he  had  not, 
to  their  knowledge,  been,  like  St.  Paul, 
educated  “at  the  feet  of  a  master.”  The 
Talmudists  and  the  Jewish  authors  of  the 
Toldos  maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  a 
celebrated  rabbi  initiated  Jesus  into  the 
mysteries  of  science  and  magic  ;  but  set¬ 
ting  aside  the  second  part  of  the  assertion, 
which  is  absurd,  and  considering  the  point 
simply  from  a  mere  human  point  of  view, 
as  the  rationalists  do,  this  is  evidently 
false,  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
Jesus  was  neither  a  zealot,  nor  a  man 
wedded  to  traditions ;  and  we  see,  through¬ 
out  the  gospel,  that  he  strongly  disap¬ 
proved  of  the  narrow-minded  views,  cap¬ 
tious  distinctions,  and  low  subtilties  of  the 
doctors  of  the  synagogue.  In  the  second 
place,  the  rabbi  Josua  Perachia,  who  was, 
they  pretend,  his  preceptor,  was  still  un¬ 
born,  inasmuch  as  he  did  not  flourish  till 
a  century  later. 

To  place  Jesus  in  the  midst  of  the  rab¬ 
bis  as  a  scholar,  would  be  as  illogical  as  to 
attempt  to  support  an  oak  by  surrounding 
it  with  reeds.  He  did  not  teach  like  them, 
says  the  evangelist,3  and  this  we  under¬ 
stand,  for  he  derived  his  wisdom  from  him¬ 
self  ;  and  his  teachings,  still  taking  it  from 
a  natural  point  of  view,  seem  to  flow  from 
a  most  elevated,  most  pure,  and  upright 
soul,  and  from  so  vast  and  so  uniformly 
sound  a  mind,  that  assuredly  it  had  not 
been  warped  in  the  disputes  of  the  schools. 

Strauss  admits  that  all  the  wisdom  and 
science  of  the  time  would  have  failed  to  form 
a  man  like  Christ.  “  If,”  sa}Ts  he,  “Jesus 

( s )  St.  Matt.,-  vii.  29. 


146 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


Christ  had  exhausted  all  the  sources  of 
tuition  of  his  time,  it  is  no  less  true  that 
none  of  those  elements  sufficed,  even  re¬ 
motely,  to  cause  a  revolution  in  the  world ; 
and  the  leaven  indispensable  for  so  great  a 
work  could  not  have  been  derived  only 
from  the  depth  of  his  own  soul.” 

His  eloquence,  like  his  morality,  was  his 
own.  It  was  not  the  emphatic  exaggera¬ 
tions  of  the  rabbis,  nor  the  majestic  and 
striking  diction  of  the  ancient  prophets, 
with  its  violent  contrasts  ;  it  was,  as  he 
himself  said,  a  fountain  of  living  water, 
reflecting  in  its  course  the  birds  of  heaven, 
the  harvests  and  the  flowers  of  the  fields. 
.  .  .  .  This  simple  eloquence  penetrated 
to  the  marrow  of  things,  and  adapted  itself, 
without  effort;  to  great  thoughts.  Each 
word  was  a  precious  seed  of  virtue  ;  every 
instruction  cast  into  the  mysterious  spaces 
of  the  future  a  long  train  of  light,  which 
was  to  grow  insensibly,  and  extend  to  the 
perfect  day  of  the  regeneration  of  the  world. 
Even  those  who  have  audaciously  denied 
his  miracles,  could  not  but  acknowledge 
that  his  words  were  those  of  a  God.1 

Jesus  was  endowed  with  a  lofty  and 
meditative  soul,  which  needed  ample  space 
to  expand.  Confined  by  day  to  manual 
labor,  that  absorbed  all  his  moments,  he 
compensated  at  night  for  his  obscure  toil, 
and  became  lawgiver  and  prophet  in  pres¬ 


( 5)  “I  own  it  to  you  that  the  majesty  of  the 
Scriptures  astonishes  me,”  says  Rousseau;  “the 
sanctity  of  the  gospel  speaks  to  my  heart.  Look 
at  the  books  of  the  philosophers,  with  all  their 
pomp,  how  petty  are  they  beside  it!  Can  it  be 
that  a  book  at  once  so  sublime  and  simple  could  be 
the  work  of  men  ?  Can  it  be  that  he  whose  his¬ 


ence  of  the  starry  heaven.  Standing  upon 
an  elevated  platform,  below  which  spread 
the  mountains  and  vast  forests  of  the 
land  of  Chanaan,  he  poured  forth  his  soul 
before  the  Author  of  nature,  of  whom  he 
was  the  envoy,  Son,  and  equal.  These 
communings,  alone  with  God,  in  the  silence 
of  the  night,  and  the  desert,  and  thought, 
were  one  of  the  habits  of  Jesus  Christ ;  we 
find  many  examples  in  the  gospel.  The 
model  man,  the  Word  incarnate,  would, 
no  doubt,  teach  his  own  to  separate  the 
pure  gold  of  prayer  from  the  monstrous 
alloy  of  ostentation  and  hypocrisy  with 
which  the  Pharisees  of  his  time  were  ac¬ 
customed  to  debase  it. 

The  Blessed  Virgin,  who  was  never  im¬ 
portunate  or  exacting,  in  no  way  opposed 
this  retirement ;  she  knew  that  Jesus  then 

'  m 

sounded  the  depths  of  the  immeasurable 
abyss  which  opened  beneath  the  feet  of  the 
human  race,  and  that  the  redemption  of 
the  world  would  be  the  fruit  of  these  silent 
meditations.  Respecting  the  labors  of  that 
mighty  mind  which  reverted  upon  itself, 
and  carrying  its  glance  to  that  future  of 
glory  which  every  moment  brought  nearer, 
Mary  already  saw  the  heavens  open,  death 
vanquished,  and  the  Messias  rallying  all 

nations  beneath  his  standard . But 

suddenly  the  prophecy  of  the  aged  man 
in  the  temple  rose,  dark  as  a  funeral  bier, 


tory  it  relates  could  be  himself  but  a  man  ?  Is 
that  the  tone  of  an  enthusiast,  or  of  an  ambitious 
sectary?  What  meekness!  what  purity  of  life! 
what  affecting  gracefulness  in  his  instructions! 
what  sublimity  in  his  maxims!  what  profound 

wisdom  in  his  discourses . .” — (Emile,  t.  iii., 

p.  365.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  147 

at  the  end  of  this  enchanted  vista ;  a  shud¬ 
der  chilled  the  veins  of  the  poor  mother, 
and  her  heart,  in  which  the  love  of  Jesus 
had  so  large  a  share,  melted  in  infinite 
agony.  A  secret  voice  cried  out  to  her, 
“There  must  be  an  expiation  of  blood! 
Christ  must  die!”  Then, *  humbly  laying- 
down  the  humble  task  to  which  her  indi¬ 
gence1  bound  her,  the  daughter  of  David 
came  to  seek  her  Son  ;  she  needed  to  see 
him,  to  be  sure,  in  a  maternal  embrace, 
that  he  was  still  there, — that  he  was  still 
alive  ! 

When  he  saw  her,  Jesus  cast  down  his 
pensive  eye,  which  had  been  fixed  upon 
the  stars ;  his  youthful  forehead,  contracted 
by  a  thought  as  vast  as  the  world,  became 
again  the  smooth  and  even  forehead  of  the 
child.  Then  Mary,  crowding  back  to  her 
heart  her  boding  fears,  advised  repose  after 
the  long  vigil.  It  was  necessary  to  recruit 
his  strength  for  the  following  day ;  the  walk 

would  be  fatiguing,  labor  painful . 

The  Son  of  God  followed  his  mortal  mother 
in  silence,  for  he  loved  her,  and  was  subject 
to  her. 

An  extraordinary  incident,  which  over¬ 
powered  the  soul  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
marked  the  entrance  of  Jesus  into  ado¬ 
lescence.  Joseph  and  Mary,  strict  ob¬ 
servers  of  the  law  of  their  fathers,  went 
up  regularly  every  year  to  Jerusalem,  at 

the  time  of  the  Pasch.  This  journey,  which 
they  had  performed  stealthily,  and  lost  in 
the  crowd,  as  long  as  the  son  of  the  enemy 
of  God  filled  the  throne  of  the  Macchabecs, 
had  become  easier  since  the  exile  of  Arche- 
laus,  and  the  Roman  occupation.  When 
Christ  had  reached  his  twelfth  year,  his 
parents,  freed  from  all  apprehension  of 
Herod,  took  him  with  them  to  Jerusalem. 
They  set  out  with  a  crowd  from  Nazareth ; 
and  then  on  the  way  the  Hebrew  pilgrims 
broke  up  into  small  companies,  according 
to  age,  sex,  and  family  relationship  or  in¬ 
timacy.  . 

Around  the  Virgin  were  Mary  of  Cleo- 
phas,  sister-in-law  of  Joseph  ;  another  Mary, 
designated  in  the  gospel  by  the  name  of 
“the  other  Mary,”  altera  Maria;  Salome, 
the  wife  of  Zebedee,  who  came  from  Beth- 
saida  with  her  sons  and  her  husband  ; 
Joanna,  the  wife  of  Chus,  and  a  number 
of  Nazarenes  of  her  kindred  and  neighbor¬ 
hood.  Joseph  followed  them  at  some  dis¬ 
tance,  conversing  gravely  with  Zebedee  the 
fisherman,  and  the  ancients  of  his  tribe. 
Jesus  walked  amidst  some  young  Galileans, 
whom  the  gospel,  according  to  the  genius 
of  the  Hebrew  tongue,  calls  his  brethren, 
and  who  were  his  very  near  relatives.2 

Among  this  group  of  young  men,  who 
preceded  the  rest,  might  be  distinguished 
the  sons  of  Zebedee  :  James,  impetuous  as 

( 1 )  Tertullian  says,  in  the  third  century,  that 
Mary  earned  her  livelihood  by  working ;  and 
Celsus,  in  the  second  century,  said  that  Mary 
was  a  woman  who  had  lived  by  the  work  of  her 
hands. 

( 3 )  St.  Epiphanius  and  St.  Bernard  inform  us 
that  in  these  journeys,  the  men  went  in  companies 

apart  from  the  women,  and  that  St.  Joseph  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin  were  in  different  companies,  so  that 
they  did  not  feel  uneasy  at  first  at  the  disappear¬ 
ance  of  Jesus,  nor  indeed  perceive  it  till  evening 
when  all  the  travellers  assembled  together. — (Sec 
also  Aelred,  abbot  of  Rieval,  Sermo  seu  Tractatus 
de  Jesu  duodeni,  Dom.  intra  oct.  Epiph.) 

148  life  of  the  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

the  lake  of  Tiberias  on  a  day  of  storm  ; 
John,  younger  even  than  Jesus,  whose 
sweet  countenance,  beside  his  brother’s, 
seemed  to  personify  the  lamb  of  Isaias, 
living  in  peace  with  the  lion  of  Jordan. 
Next  to  the  fishermen  of  Bethsaida,  whom 
Jesus  subsequently  named  Boanerges  (sons 
of  thunder),  were  the  four  sons  of  Alpheus ; 
James,  who  became  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
a  grave  and  austere  youth,  with  long  flow¬ 
ing  hair,  a  pale  face,  and  a  cold  and  morti¬ 
fied  appearance.  Proud  of  being  devoted 
as  a  Nazarene,  he  assumed  an  offensive 
superiority  over  him  whom  he  then  con¬ 
sidered  only  the  son  of  the  carpenter.  The 
virtues  and  imperfections  inherent  in  the 
soil  were  evident  in  his  character ;  un¬ 
shaken  firmness,  upright  and  religious  in¬ 
clinations  ;  but  at  the  same  time  a  hearty 
contempt  for  all  who  were  not  of  the  stock 
of  Abraham,  and  an  excellent  opinion  of 
himself.  Jude,  Simon,  and  Jose,  the  other 
sons  of  Alpheus,  were  3roung  men  of  rough, 
simple,  and  warlike  appearance,  already 
arrived  at  adolescence,  and  who  looked 
upon  the  son  of  the  humble  Mary  as  their 
inferior  in  every  respect,  an  idea  which, 
as  we  see  in  the  gospel,  it  cost  them  some- 

thing  to  abandon  subsequently.1  And 
Jesus?  Jesus  affected  nothing,  neither 
devotion,  nor  austerity,  nor  wisdom,  nor 
knowledge,  because  he  possessed  the  pleni¬ 
tude  of  all  these  things,  and  people  usually 
affect  what  they  have  not. 

To  behold  him,  simply  attired  as  an 
Essenian,  his  long  hair,  of  the  color  of 
antique  bronze,2  parted  over  his  dark  fore¬ 
head,  and  gracefully  flowing  over  his 
shoulders,  he  might  have  been  taken  for 
David,  at  the  moment  when  the  prophet 
Samuel  saw  him  come,  small,  timid,  and  in 
a  simple  shepherd’s  garb,  to  receive  the 
holy  anointing.  Yet  there  was,  in  the 
brown,  soft  eye  of  Christ,3  something  more 
than  in  the  eye  of  his  great  ancestor,  full 
as  it  was  of  poetry  and  inspiration  ;  some¬ 
thing  penetrating  and  divine  was  discov¬ 
ered  in  it,  which  laid  bare  the  thought  and 
sounded  the  depths  of  the  heart ;  but  Jesus 
at  that  time  veiled  the  brilliancy  of  his 
look,  as  Moses  did  his  radiant  brow  when 
he  came  forth  from  the  tabernacle.  He 
walked  along,  conversing  wisely,  but  adapt¬ 
ing  his  conversation  to  his  age,  with  his 
young  relatives  according  to  the  flesh, 
whom  he  intended  to  make  his  apostles  ; 

(*)  St.  John  Chrysostom,  Serm.  44. 

(’)  The  rabbis  have  taken  occasion,  from  the 
color  of  the  hair  of  Jesus,  to  declaim  hatefully 
against  him;  but  what  is  extraordinary  is,  that 
they  utter  against  him  precisely  the  same  re¬ 
proaches  as  they  do  against  David.  “  He  was  red 
like  Esau ;  he  had  his  blood  upon  his  head ;  the 
soul  of  Esau  had  passed  into  him.”  They  have 
forgotten  nothing  but  the  evil  eye  which  they 
asci'ibe  to  the  prophet  king. 

( s )  Nicephorus,  Hist.  Ecck,  t.  i.,  p.  125.  His 
portrait  of  our  Lord,  drawn  from  tradition,  is  the 

most  authentic  which  has  come  down  to  us.  The 

Rev.  Mr.  Walsh,  author  of  quite  a  recent  hook, 
devoted  to  rare  or  unpublished  monuments  of  tfie 
primitive  age  of  Christianity,  has  just  called  atten¬ 
tion  to  a  very  curious  medal,  known  as  early  as 
the  fifteenth  century.  The  obverse  represents  the 
head  of  our  Lord,  seen  in  profile ;  the  hair  is 
parted  after  the  manner  of  the  Nazarites,  smooth 
as  far  as  the  ears,  and  flowing  over  the  shoulders; 
the  beard  thick,  not  long,  but  divided ;  the  coun¬ 
tenance  handsome,  as  well  as  the  bust,  over  which 
the  tunic  falls  in  graceful  folds. 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  149 

he  discerned  beneath  their  rude  exterior, 

and  sealed  with  their  blood  the  gospel  of 

the  weight  and  value  of  these  rough 

their  divine  Master.1 

diamonds,  who  were  one  day  to  shine  with 

But  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speak- 

so  great  brilliancy,  and  he  loved  them  in 

ing,  the  heroic  virtues  were  not  yet  even 

their  future  career.  His  expectations  were 

budded,  and  these  youthful  Galileans  little 

not  disappointed  ;  these  men,  who,  like  the 

thought  that  they  should  one  day  give 

rest  of  their  nation,  had  had  their  dreams 

their  lives  in  support  of  the  divinity  of 

of  gold  and  power  in  connection  with  the 

their  travelling  companion.  At  the  end 

Messias,  at  his  voice  laid  aside  all  their 

of  four  days’  journey,  the  pilgrims  reached 

prejudices,  both  national  and  religious,  to 

the  Holy  City,  whither  an  immense  con- 

adopt  a  calumniated  doctrine,  whose  prin- 

course  of  foreign  Jews  gathered.2  The 

ciples  and  promises,  like  the  maledictions 

family  of  Joseph  and  Mary  assembled  to 

of  the  old  law,  spoke  but  of  sufferings 

eat  the  paschal  lamb,  which  the  priests 

to  endure,  and  persecutions  to  undergo. 

took  care  to  immolate  between  the  two 

They  bound  themselves  to  him  by  chains 

vesper  hours,3  in  the  court  of  the  temple  ; 

so  strong,  that  neither  the  princes  of  the 

to  this  theyr  added  unleavened  bread,  wild 

earth,  nor  cold,  nor  nakedness,  nor  famine, 

lettuce,  and  all  else  that  appertained  to 

nor  the  sword,  could  separate  them  from 

this  ancient  ceremony.  The  days  of  the 

his  love;  they  walked  in  his  footsteps, 

feast  being  over,  the  relations  of  Christ 

trampling  courageously  on  the  thorns 

assembled  to  return  to  their  province.  As 

which  the  world  strewed  in  their  path,  and 

they  returned  in  the  same  order  in  which 

suffering  themselves  to  be  treated  like  the 

they  had  come,  the  holy  couple  did  not 

offscouring  of  the  human  race.  They  were 

at  first  perceive  that  Jesus  was  missing. 

not  ashamed,  either  of  the  Son  of  man,  or 

Mary  thought  he  was  with  Joseph,  or 

of  his  gospel,  or  of  the  foolishness  of  the 

with  the  two  named  James  ;  Joseph,  for 

cross  !  Why  should  they  ?  It  is  for  im- 

his  part,  thought  he  was  with  his  young 

postors  to  blush,  and  the  apostles  never 

relations,  or  with  Mary.  In  the  evening, 

preached  but  from  their  own  intimate  con- 

the  several  companies  assembled  together, 

viction.  These  upright  and  guileless  hearts 

and  the  Blessed  Virgin  sought,  but  in  vain, 

gave  to  their  testimony  all  that  could  ren- 

for  Jesus  in  the  crowd  of  travellers  who 

der  it  credible  and  sacred  among  men  ; 

arrived  in  succession  at  the  caravansary  ; 

they  abandoned  all,  suffered  all,  forgave  all, 

no  one  knew  what  had  become  of  our  Sav- 

( ’ )  Pascal  has  said,  “I  readily  believe  histories, 

ible  as  he  believed  it  to  be,  had  the  people  num- 

whose  witnesses  give  themselves  to  death.” 

bered  by  priests.  At  the  feast  of  the  Pasch,  there 

( 8 )  The  feast  of  Pasch  collected  together  at 

were  slain  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand  six 

Jerusalem  as  many  as  two  million  five  hundred 

hundred  lambs ;  there  was  a  lamb  for  each  family. 

thousand  persons. — (Josephus,  Wars  of  the  Jews, 

( 8 )  That  is,  from  noon  or  one  o’clock  till  sun- 

- 

book  vii.,  c.  17.)  Cestus,  in  order  to  convince 

set. — (Basnage,  t.  v.,  liv.  vii.,  c.  2.) 

Nero  that  the  Jewish  nation  was  not  so  contempt- 

/ 

150 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


iour.  The  grief  of  the  two  holy  spouses 
was  unspeakable.  “The  trust  confided 
by  heaven,  the  Son  of  God!”  murmured 
Joseph,  sorrowfully.  “My  son  !”  said  the 
poor  young  mother,  in  a  tearful  voice. 
They  sought  him  all  night,  they  sought  him 
all  day,  calling  after  him  along  the  road, 
calling  him  by  name  in  the  woods,  looking 
anxiously  down  the  precipices,  sometimes 
fearing  for  his  life,  sometimes  for  his  lib¬ 
erty,  and  not  knowing  what  they  should 
do  if  he  was  lost.  They  re-entered  Jeru¬ 
salem,  ran  to  all  their  friends,  and  weary 
of  traversing  the  districts  of  that  great  city, 
they  at  last  made  their  way  into  the  tem¬ 
ple.  Under  the  portico,  where  the  doctors 
of  the  law  sat,  was  a  child,  who  delighted 
the  ancients  of  Israel  by  the  depth  of  his 
understanding,  and  the  clearness  of  his 
answers  to  the  most  difficult  questions ; 
they  gathered  round  him,  and  every  one 
was  in  admiration  at  his  precocious  and 
miraculous  wisdom.  “It  is  either  Daniel 


or  an  angel,”  said  some  one  at  a  little  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  afflicted  Virgin.  “It  is 
Jesus !”  said  the  young  mother,  pressing 
forward  toward  the  doctors.  Then,  com¬ 
ing  up  to  the  Messias  with  the  expression 
of  extreme  love,  which,  so  to  speak,  was 
tinged  with  the  last  rays  of  her  sorrow  : 
“My  son,”  she  said,  sweetly,  “why  hast 
thou  done  so  to  us?  Behold,  thy  father 
and  I  have  sought  thee  sorrowing !” 

The  child  had  disappeared  in  the  God  ; 
the  answer  was  short  and  mysterious. 
“  How  is  it  that  you  sought  me  ?  Did  you 
not  know  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father^ 
business  ?”  The  holy  couple  kept  silence  ; 
they  did  not  at  first  understand  the  mean¬ 
ing  of  the  answer  of  the  Messias.  ' 

Jesus  rose  up  and  followed  them  to  Naz¬ 
areth  ;  his  perfect  submission  to  their  will 
speedily  dispelled  this  slight  cloud.  “And 
his  mother  kept  all  these  words  in  her 
heart.  And  Jesus  increased  in  wisdom 
and  age,  and  grace  with  God  and  man.” 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

MARY  AT  THE  PREACHING  OF  JESUS. 


THERE  are  two  worlds  in  our  history,” 
as  one  of  the  finest  geniuses  of  our 
age  has  said,  “  the  one  beyond  the  cross, 
the  other  before  it.”  The  primeval  world, 
fallen  into  decrepitude  at  the  time  of  the 
regenerating  mission  of  Christ,  presented  a 
strange  spectacle,  for  the  ludicrous  touched 


the  horrible.  The  Arab  and  the  Gaul,  af¬ 
ter  having  retained  for  ages  the  primitive 
idea  of  the  unity  of  God,  adored  the  acacia 
and  the  oak  j1  the  Hindoo  deified  the  Gan¬ 
ges,  and  sacrificed  human  victims  to  Sactis, (*) 


(*)  The  Pagan  Gauls  of  the  sixth  and  seventh 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


151 


the  goddess  of  death  j1  the  Egyptian,  that 
eminently  wise  nation,  paid  devout  worship 
to  garlic,  to  the  lotus,  and  almost  every 
bulbous  plant  f  the  unknown  populations 
of  young  America  adored  the  tiger,  the 
vulture,  the  tempest,  and  the  roaring  cata¬ 
ract  f  in  fine,  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  by 
their  own  acknowledgment,  filled  their 
temples  with  demons,4  and  these  refined 
and  polished  nations  which  abound  in  su¬ 
perior  men,  had  deified  vice  in  its  most 
hideous  shades,  and  peopled  their  Olympus 
with  robbers,  adulterers,  and  murderers. 
Morals  corresponded  with  creeds  ;  corrup¬ 
tion,  rushing  down  like  a  vast  torrent  from 
the  heights  of  the  seven  imperial  hills,  in¬ 
undated  all  the  provinces.  Judea,  which 
had  not  escaped  the  contagion  of  vice  any 
more  than  other  countries,  grew  depraved 
with  frightful  rapidity ;  her  religion  no 
longer  rested  on  fundamental  dogmas,  but 
on  an  innumerable  multitude  of  parasitical 
overgrowths,  and  the  reveries  of  her  rab¬ 
bis  sat  enthroned  on  the  chair  of  Moses.6 


centuries  adored  the  oak ;  they  burned  torches  be¬ 
fore  these  trees,  and  invoked  them  as  if  they  could 
hear;  the  enormous  stones  which  were  near  these 
trees  shared  the  honor  which  was  paid  to  them. — 
(Hist.  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne,  t.  iv.,  seventh 
century;  Capitul.  Caroli  Magni,  lib.  i.,  tit.  64.) 

( '  )  See  Picture  of  India,  by  Buckingham. 

(a)  The  sarcasm  of  Juvenal  is  well  known: — 

“  0  sanctas  gentes,  quibus  haec  nascuntur  in  hortis 
Numina.” — (Sat.  xv.,  v.  10.) 

( * )  Garcilasso,  1.  i.,  c.  2  et  12. 

( 4 )  Prophyrius,  who  so  well  knew  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  polytheism,  acknowledges  that  the  demons 
were  the  objects  of  worship  among  the  Gentiles. 
“There  are,”  says  he,  “impure,  deceitful,  malev¬ 
olent  spirits,  who  would  pass  for  gods,  and  be 
adored  by  men :  they  must  be  appeased,  lest  they 


In  the  midst  of  these  deplorable  aberra¬ 
tions,  what  became  of  haughty  reason,  that 
queen  of  intelligences,  who  takes  her  own 
narrow  horizon  for  the  boundaries  of  the 
universe,  and  places  the  gods  upon  the  bed 
of  Procrustes  ?  Where  did  she  hold  her 
empire  ?  Where  had  she  planted  her  stand¬ 
ard,  while  on  every  side  breaches  were 
made  in  her  bulwarks  ?  If  she  could  with¬ 
out  foreign  aid  reconquer  the  territory 
which  she  had  lost,  why  did  she  not  do  so  ? 
.  .  .  .  But  she  felt  that  the  torrent  would 
overflow  her  weak  embankments,  and,  pow¬ 
erless  to  restrain  it,  she  was  content  to  note 
its  ravages.  Supported  by  philosophy,  she 
groaned  over  the  inanimate  remains  of  the 
social  body  whose  fall  she  had  been  unable 
to  prevent :  Christianity  came  and  said  to 
the  corpse,  “Arise,  and  walk!”  ....  And 
it  was  done  according  to  her  word. 

From  that  day  a  new  race,  healed  of  all 
its  evils,  washed  from  all  its  defilements  in 
the  sacred  pool,  gathered  around  the  cross 
which  the  Son  of  Mary  had  planted  on  the 


should  do  us  mischief.  Some,  who  are  lively  and 
joyous,  allow  themselves  to  be  propitiated  by  shows 
and  games  ;  the  gloomy  temper  of  others  requires 
the  odor  of  fat,  and  feeds  on  bloody  sacrifices.” 

( 6 )  It  is  a  maxim  among  the  Jews  that  the 
covenant  was  made  with  them  on  Mount  Sinai,  not 
on  the  basis  of  written  law,  but  on  that  of  oral  law. 
They  annul  the  former  to  enthrone  the  latter,  and 
reduce  all  religion  finally  to  tradition.  This  cor¬ 
ruption  had  risen  to  such  a  height  among  the  Jews, 
even  in  our  Saviour’s  time,  that  he  reproaches 
them,  in  St.  Mark,  with  having  destroyed  the  word 
of  God  by  their  traditions.  But  it  is  much  worse 
in  our  days ;  they  compare  the  sacred  text  to  water, 
and  the  Misnah,  or  Talmud,  to  the  best  wine  • 
moreover,  the  written  law  is  salt,  but  the  Talmud 
is  pepper,  cinnamon,  &c. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


152 


regenerated  earth,  as  the  trophy  of  God 
over  hell. 

This  glorious  revolution,  which  set  charity 
on  the  throne,  and  placed  all  the  virtues  in 
her  train, — this  ever-memorable  event, 
which  changed  the  face  of  the  world,  and 
the  echo  of  which  will  make  itself  heard 
even  to  the  consummation  of  ages, — had 
Nazareth  for  its  starting-point ;  from  the 
hollow  of  that  nameless  rock  flowed  humble 
Christianity,  “  an  obscure  spring,  an  unno¬ 
ticed  drop  of  water,  where  two  sparrows 
could  not  have  slaked  their  thirst,  which 
one  ray  of  the  sun  might  have  dried  up, 
and  which  at  this  day,  as  the  great  ocean 
of  minds,  has  filled  up  every  abyss  of  hu¬ 
man  wisdom,  and  bathed  with  its  inexhaust¬ 
ible  waters  the  past,  the  present,  and  the 
future.”1 

We  know  nothing  of  the  means  which 
ushered  in  this  great  fact,  which  towers  so 
high  over  the  history  of  modern  times. 
From  the  time  of  his  manifestation  in  the 
temple,  the  Son  of  God  led  a  hidden,  con¬ 
templative  life,  between  his  adoptive  father 
and  his  mother.  This  period,  lost  to  the 
world,  was  doubtless  that  in  which  the  Vir¬ 
gin  spent  her  most  tranquil  days.  It  is  not 
when  human  life  moves  on  in  commotion, 
like  a  wintry  torrent,  that  it  is  the  most 
happy  ;  it  is  when  it  resembles  the  stream 
that  meanders  in  a  silvery  thread  among 
the  grass  of  the  meadows.  Mary,  deprived 
indeed  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  luxury,  and 
all  the  sweets  of  comfortable  life,  but  living 
wi'h  her  Son.  working  for  him,  studying 
his  inclinations,  seeing  him  at  all  times, 

( 1 )  De  Lamartine,  Voyage  en  Orient. 


offering  herself  to  him  as  the  first-fruits  of 
his  sacred  harvest ;  making  herself  the  first, 
the  most  humble,  the  most  docile  of  his  dis¬ 
ciples,  and  bowing  down  her  perfected  rea¬ 
son  before  the  superior  reason  and  divinity 
of  her  Son,  Mary  must  then  have  been  a 
happy  Mother !  If,  at  those  times  when  Je¬ 
sus  revealed  to  her  the  most  profound  sense 
of  the  prophecies,  some  passage  came  which 
spoke  of  sufferings  to  be  undergone,  a  dark 
cloud  spread  over  the  chaste  brow  of  the 
Virgin  ;  but  soon  her  sweet  and  gracious 
countenance  resumed  somewhat  its  calm 
serenity.  The  storm  muttered  as  yet  in 
the  distance,  and  their  bark  was  moored  in 
a  tranquil  bay.  Her  Son  was  there  !  she 
hung  upon  his  looks,  his  words,  and  his 
smallest  actions.  How  eager  was  she  to 
serve  him — her  Son !  how  happily  did  she 
sit  up  whole  nights  to  spin,  to  weave  his 
work-day  tunics,  his  holiday  garments,  that 
seamless  coat,  a  masterpiece  of  ingenuity 

and  patience,  which  later  on  ! . but 

at  this  time  the  “Lord  had  anointed  his 
Christ  with  an  oil  of  gladness  only.”  A 
companion  of  the  spouse,  the  wise  Virgin 
of  the  gospel,  “left  the  morrow  to  provide 
for  itself,”  “and  the  peace  of  God,  which 
surpasseth  all  understanding,  kept  her  heart 
and  her  mind.” 

Jesus  was  perfection  itself,  the  omnis¬ 
cient,  thrice  holy,  eminently  the  mighty  and 
the  wise  ;  as  God,  he  could  be  indebted 
for  nothing  to  creatures,  but  as  man  he 
owed  something  to  Mary.  She  it  was  who 
initiated  him,  from  his  earliest  infancy,  in 
the  humble  virtues  inherent  in  humanity, 
and  in  her  own  simple  and  poetic  tastes. 
That  patient  and  unalterable  meekness 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


153 


which  he  united  with  the  firmness  of  a 
legislator  and  «a  prophet  ;  that  merciful 
compassion  which  tempered  the  wrath  of 
an  irritated  Giod,  and  rendered  him,  Him¬ 
self,  the  model  man,  the  accomplished  just 
one,  the  support  of  sinful  man  ;  that  heart¬ 
felt,  unaffected  love  for  children,  whom  he 
loved  to  caress  and  bless  during  his  divine 
mission  ;  a  thousand  imperceptible  shades, 
a  thousand  rays,  half  absorbed  in  the  large 
masses  of  light,  which  composed  the  mortal 
life  of  Jesus  Christ,  bear  the  impress  of 
Mary.1 — Thus  does  heaven  joyfully  breathe 
the  aroma  of  flowers,  though  flowers  are  but 
daughters  of  earth. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  Jesus  returned 
the  Virgin  love  for  love,  solicitude  for  so¬ 
licitude  ;  a  woman  so  noble  in  blood  and 
heart  was  entitled  to  the  respect  of  all,  and 
especially  of  a  Son,  for  whose  love  she  had 
imposed  upon  herself,  in  the  spring-time  of 
her  age,  so  many  privations,  labors,  and 
sacrifices.  He,  who  will  take  account  in 
heaven  of  a  cup  of  cold  water  given  in  his 
name,  must  have  affectionately  preserved 
the  memory  of  his  obligations  to  Mary  ; 
and  if  we  perceive  in  the  gospel,  that  he 
sometimes  spoke  to  his  divine  Mother  less 
as  her  son  than  as  her  Lord,  it  was  because 
at  those  times  that  he  detached  himself  from 
his  earthly  surroundings,  the  more  to  glo¬ 
rify  his  Father,  whose  interests  always  were 
foremost  in  his  mind.  The  Virgin  knew  too 
well  her  Son’s  sacred  mission,  to  be  troubled 
by  his  occasionally  severe  words  ;  she  wait¬ 
ed  for  the  legislator  to  give  place  to  the 

( 1 )  Nel  vestire  il  Verbo  d’nmana  came  non  gli 
iiede  ella  (la  Yergine)  pnnto,  o  di  potenza,  o  di 
■iantita,  o  di  giustizia  che  egli  (Gesil)  gia  da  se 
20 


young  Galilean  whom  she  had  nurtured 
with  her  milk,  and  the  transformation  was 
never  slow  in  coming ;  the  human  nature 
soon  granted  what  the  divine  nature  had 
refused. 

At  the  moment  when  Jesus  attained  his 
twenty-ninth  year,  the  angel  of  death  came 
to  decimate  the  Holy  Family.  Joseph, 
that  patriarch  of  ancient  manners,  whose 
submissive  faith  and  simplicity  of  heart 
recalled  Abraham  and  the  era  of  pastoral 
life,- — Joseph,  whom  the  Holy  Ghost  him¬ 
self  has  honored  with  the  beautiful  name 
of  “just,”  sweetly  fell  asleep  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Lord,  between  his  adopted  Son 
and  his  chaste  spouse.  Jesus  and  Mary 
wept  over  him,  and  kept  a  sad  death- 
watch  over  his  cold  remains  ;  the  midnight 
breeze  mingled  with  the  lamentations  of 
the  poor  family :  the  Nabals  of  Galilee 
died  more  sumptuously,  though  as  they 
bowed  their  heads  to  pass  beneath  the  low 
gate  of  the  sepulchre,  they  had  not  the  mag¬ 
nificent  hopes  of  the  carpenter  of  Nazareth. 

The  funeral  of  the  son  of  David  was 
humble,  like  his  fortune  ;  but  Mary  shed 
copious  tears  over  his  bier,  and  the  Son  of 
God  conducted  this  simple  funeral.  What 
emperor  ever  obtained  the  like  obsequies? 

At  length,  the  time  for  preaching  the 
gospel  approached,  and  He,  whom  God 
destined  from  all  eternity  to  be  its  high- 
priest  and  apostle,  left  Nazareth,  to  repair 
to  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  where  John 
was  baptizing.  There  must  have  been  an 
affecting  and  solemn  farewell  scene  bc- 

solo  non  possedesse;  ma  gli  die  molto  bensi  di 
misericordia. — (P.  Paolo  Segneri,  Magnificat  spie- 
gato.) 


•■a 

154  life  of  the  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

tween  the  Virgin  and  her  Son.  The  pub- 

tance,  when  she  found  herself  alone — ut- 

lie  life  of  Jesus  was  about  to  commence. 

terly  alone — in  that  house  ..where  she  had 

Alone,  poor,  sprung  from  the  people,  with 

spent  so  many  sweet  hours,  between  her 

no  resource  but  his  courage,  his  patience, 

Son  and  her  spouse,  she  buried  her  head 

and  that  gift  of  miracles  which  he  never 

in  her  hands,  and  remained  silent  and 

used  for  his  own  personal  benefit,  he  went 

thoughtful,  like  the  statue  of  grief  upon 

forth  to  confront  an  order  of  things,  “  not 

the  stone  of  a  mausoleum. 

strong  enough  to  resist  him,  but  strong 

The  absence  of  Christ  was  prolonged; 

enough  to  cause  his  death.”1  The  Virgin 

the  Virgin  learned  with  profound  admira- 

could  not  repress  a  pang  of  alarm  on  see- 

tion,  but  without  surprise,  the  wonders  of 

ing  Jesus  embark  upon  this  stormy  sea  of 

his  baptism,  during  which  the  Trinity  had, 

the  Jewish  world,  where  so  many  illus- 

in  a  manner,  become  palpable  and  revealed 

trious  prophets  had  been  wrecked.  She 

to  men.  They  told  her  of  the  white  dove, 

knew  the  insurmountable  pride  of  the 

extending  his  divine  wings  over  the  Sa- 

Pharisees,  the  narrow  and  malignant  fa- 

viour,  while,  at  the  same  time,  a  voice  from 

naticism  of  the  princes  of  the  synagogue, 

heaven  proclaimed  the  Son  of  the.  Most 

the  sanguinary  caprice  of  Herod  Antipas  ; 

High.  This  joy,  however,  gave  place  to 

she  knew,  too,  the  Messianic  oracles,  which 

an  extreme  anxiety,  when  she  knew  that 

spoke  of  suffering  and  ignominy !  .  .  .  . 

Jesus,  scarce  issuing  from  the  waters  of 

The  daughter  of  the  kings  of  Juda,  who 

the  Jordan,  had  plunged  into  the  deep  and 

was  not  of  the  race  of  the  feeble,  and  who 

perilous  defiles  of  the  high  mountain  of  the 

knew  that  her  Son  was  Gfod,  had,  never- 

Quarantine ,2  to  prepare  for  the  work  of  the 

theless,  her  soul  wounded  by  this  first 

salvation  of  the  world,  by  fasting,  meclita- 

separation,  which  seemed  to  her  the  prel- 

tion,  and  prayer.  How  much  she  must 

ude  and  image  of  a  far  more  cruel  separa- 

have  suffered,  when  she  thought  how  Jesus 

tion.  She  let  Jesus  depart  with  her  heart 

was  wandering  in  a  labyrinth  of  bare  rocks, 

bursting  with  agony  ;  and  when  the  sound 

where  the  bird  finds  not  a  tuft  of  moss  for 

of  his  footsteps  grew  fainter  in  the  dis- 

its  nest,  or  a  wild  berry  to  sustain  its  little 

( 1 )  De  Lamartine,  Voyage  en  Orient. 

from  the  foot,  is  by  a  slope  extremely  steep,  covered 

( 2 )  The  desert  where  Jesus  Christ  fasted  during 

with  pebbles,  which  roll  about  under  one’s  feet. 

lorty  days,  hence  called  the  Quarantine,  is  situated 

When  you  have  reached  this  fourth  part,  you  find 

m  the  mountains  of  Jericho,  at  about  a  league 

a  small,  very  narrow  path,  which  ends  in  a  small 

from  this  town,  and  toward  the  east  hank  of  the 

flight  of  steps,  surrounded  by  horrible  precipices. 

Jordan.  The  mountain  of  the  Quarantine  is  one 

to  the  top  of  which  you  must  climb,  with  the 

of  the  highest  on  the  north  side,  presenting  a  deep 

greatest  danger,  by  means  of  a  few  stones- which 

abyss,  hollowed  out  of  the  base  as  if  to  prevent 

project  a  little  in  certain  places,  to  which  you  arc 

access  to  it ;  from  the  west  to  the  north  it  exhibits 

obliged  to  cling  with  feet  and  hands;  and  if  these 

a  succession  of  steep  rocks,  rent  open  in  several 

supports  should  fail,  you  would  fall  from  the  height 

places,  and  containing  caves.  The  only  way  to  reach 

of  the  rock  down  a  frightful  precipice. — (Voyages 

even  the  fourth  part  of  the  height  of  the  mountain 

de  Jesus-Christ,  lime  Voyage.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


155 


life,  where  all  is  rock  and  heat!  What 
anguish  did  she  feel  when  the  tempest 
howled  without!  Where  was  Jesus?  What 
was  he  doing,  alone  and  unsheltered,  on 
those  high  mountains  of  Jericho,  where  the 
steep  paths,  full  stones,  wind 

among  frightful  precipices?1  No  means  of 
saving  himself  if  his  foot  slipped  on  the 
edge  of  an  abyss  !  No  help  if  during  this 
long  and  utter  fast,  so  little  proportioned 
to  the  strength  of  nature,  he  fell  through 
weakness  on  the  way.  These  forty  days 
were  to  Mary  forty  centuries, — maternal 
anxiety  making  every  minute  thus  passed 
an  eternity ;  but  Jesus  returned  to  Naza¬ 
reth,  with  his  disciples,  and  his  beloved 
presence  was  to  Mary  like  the  breath  of 
spring  after  the  frosts  of  winter. 

Then  it  was  that  the  marriage  took  place 
at  Cana,  in  Gralilee.  The  married  couple, 
who  were  related  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,2 
invited  Mary,  Jesus,  and  his  disciples.  All 
accepted  this  cordial  invitation;  and  Mary, 
ever  kind  and  obliging,  took  the  lead  in 
forwarding  the  preparations  for  this  feast, 
where  the  national  customs  required  a  cer¬ 


( 1 )  The  sacred  retreat  where  the  Cod-man  spent 
forty  days  is  a  natural  cave,  which  is  reached  only 
after  climbing  a  path  cut  in  the  rock.  A  recess 
lias  been  made  in  one  side,  as  if  to  set  up  an  altar. 
Some  frescoes  representing  angels  may  still  be  seen 
there,  though  almost  effaced.  A  thick  wall  en¬ 
closes  this  sort  of  chapel,  lighted  by  a  window, 
from  which  you  cannot  look  down  without  terror. 
— (Voyages  de  Jesus-Christ,  lime  Voyage.) 

( 2 )  The  oriental  tradition,  which  the  Mahome¬ 
tans  have  received  from  the  Christians,  is  that  St. 
John  the  Evangelist  was  the  bridegroom  of  the 
marriage  feast  of  Cana,  and  that,  after  witnessing 
the  miracle  whic  Jesus  Christ  performed  there, 


tain  degree  of -splendor.  The  assembled 
company  was  numerous,  and  the  family 
poor  ;  the  bridegroom  had  not  calculated 
well,  and  the  skins  of  wine  were  almost 
exhausted,  when  our  Lord,  who  was  pleased 
to  elevate  marriage  to  the  rank  of  holy 
things,  purifying  it  by  his  holy  presence, 
entered  the  banqueting-room,  followed  by 
Peter,  Andrew,  Philip,  and  Nathanael,  four 
young  fishermen,  whom  he  had  impressed 
with  confidence  in  his  character.  The 
wine  failed  entirely  in  the  midst  of  the 
repast,  and  Mary,  having  been  the  first  to 
perceive  it  upon  a  sign  of  distress  given 
by  the  newly-wedded  couple,  turned  her 
head  toward  Jesus,  who  was  seated  near 
her,  and  said  to  him  significantly,  “They 
have  no  wine.” 

Jesus  answered  in  a  low  and  emphatic 
voice,  “  Woman,  what  is  it  to  me  and  to 
thee  ?  My  .hour  is  not  yet  come.”3 

The  Virgin,  wishing  to  spare  her  rela¬ 
tives  a  humiliation  which  would  have 
filled  them  with  confusion,  did  not  con¬ 
sider  her  petition  refused  ;  she  judged  that, 
if  the  hour  of  manifestation  was  not  come, 


he  immediately  left  his  spouse  to  follow  him.— 
(D’Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orientale,  t.  ii.) ;  Baro-. 
nius,  t.  i.,  p.  106;  Maldonado  (in  Joan.)  also  adopts 
this  opinion,  which  we  do  not  guarantee'. 

( 3 )  Our  Lord’s  reply  to  his  Blessed  Mother 
must  have  been,  as  we  should  say,  aside;  the  gos¬ 
pel  narrative  gives  us  so  to  understand.  It  was 
impossible  in  the  outset  that  Jesus  Christ  should 
have  made  this  enigmatical  answer  aloud  to  his 
mother;  the  guests,  who  were  not  in  the  secret, 
would  have  regarded  it  as  very  harsh  to  Mary.  It 
is  evident  that  the  waiters,  by  their  listening  to 
what  the  Blessed  Virgin  said  to  them,  were  igno¬ 
rant  of  the  apparant  refusal  of  our  Saviour. 


156 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Christ,  notwithstanding  his  austere  words, 
would  anticipate  it  for  her  sake  ;  and  with 
that  faith  which  would  remove  mountains, 
she  said  softly  to  the  waiters,  “  Whatso¬ 
ever  he  shall  say  to  you,  do  ye.”  Now 
there  was  set  there  six  water-pots  of  stone, 
according  to  the  manner  of  purifying  of 
the  Jews  ;  and  by  the  command  of  Jesus, 
they  were  tilled  to  the  brim  from  a  neigh¬ 
boring  spring  ;  an  1  this  water  was  changed 
into  delicious  wine. 

Thus  had  the  Blessed  Virgin  the  first 
fruits  of  the  miracles  of  her  divine  Son, 
and  that  her  intercession  moved  even  the 
will  of  God. 

The  miracle  of  Cana  was  soon  followed 
by  many  others,  which  mark  the  high  and 
providential  mission  of  our  Saviour  with 
the  seal  of  the  Divinity.  At  his  voice 
storms  were  hushed,  human  infirmities  dis¬ 
appeared,  devils  sunk  back  to  their  gloomy 
kingdom,  dead  bodies  came  forth  from  the 
tomb,  and,  upon  that  corner  of  the  earth 
where  his  blessed  feet  trod,  there  came 
great  relief  of  all  sufferings  of  soul  and 
body.1  Men.  came  to  him  from  Sidon, 
Tyre,  Idumea,  and  Arabia  ;  and  crowds  of 
people,  gathering  together  on  his  way, 
kissed  the  hem  of  his  garments,  and  hum¬ 
bly  begged  of  him  health  and  life, — things 
which  a  God  alone  can  give. 


( ‘ )  A  Mussulman  poet  has  depicted  in  graceful 
verses,  this  command  which  Jesus  Christ  exercised 
over  the  maladies  of  the  soul ;  the  following  is  a 
translation  from  d’Herbelot: — 

“The  heart  of  the  afflicted  man  draws  all  its 
consolation  from  thy  words. 

“  The  soul  resumes  its  life  and  vigor  on  merely 
hearing  thy  name  pronounced. 


Mary,  whom  our  Lord  had  not  yet 
thought  fit  to  associate  with  him  in  his 
painful  and  wandering  life,  heard  these 
extraordinary  accounts  with  a  joy  mingled 
with  trouble  and  anxious  admiration.  Her 
alarm  was  well  founded  ;  for  if  the  people 
followed  the  Messias,  loading  him  with  ben¬ 
edictions,  the  Pharisees,  the  scribes,  and 
the  princes  of  the  synagogue  began  to  be 
greatly  scandalized, — worthy  souls ! — at  the 
conduct  of  the  Son  of  God.  He  forgave 
sins  ;  blasphemy !  He  consoled  and  con¬ 
verted  sinners  ;  degradation  !  He  healed 
the  sick  on  the  Sabbath-day  ;  crying  and 
notorious  impiety !  His  doctrine  fell  from 
his  lips  like  a  beneficent  dew,  and  not  like 
stormy  rain  ;  then  he  bore  no  resemblance 
to  the  prophets  of  old !  He  preached 
humility,  forgiveness  of  injuries,  voluntary 
poverty,  alms-giving  for  God’s  sake,  uni¬ 
versal  charity.  What  novel  doctrine  was 
all  this  ?  A  multitude  of  enemies  rose  up 
against  him  whenever  he  preached,  whether 
in  the  desert  or  in  the  cities.  He  could 
not  attack  hypocrisy  without  coming  into 
collision  with  the  Pharisees,  or  declaim 
against  avarice  without  alienating  from 
himself  the  doctors  of  the  law  ;  malcon¬ 
tents,  ever  ready  to  frame  dark  plots 
which  broke  out  into  mad  and  sanguinary 
revolts,  were  scandalized  at  him  for  not 


“If  ever  the  human  mind  can  soar  to  the  con¬ 
templation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Divinity, 

“  It  is  from  thee  that  he  derives  his  light  to  know 
them,  and  it  is  thou  who  givest  him  the  attraction 
with  which  he  is  penetrated.” 

A  Christian  could  not  have  explained  himself 
more  energetically,  observes  the  learned  orient¬ 
alist. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


157 


preaching  sedition  agajnst  Caesar ;  the 
Herodians  accused  him  of  aspiring  to  the 
throne  ;  and  the  Sadducees  could  not  endure 
that  he  should  proclaim  eternal  life.  These 
men,  divided  in  views,  creeds,  and  polit¬ 
ical  interests,  forgot  for  a  time  their  absurd 
antipathies  in  their  hatred  for  the  Galilean  ; 
the}’  girded  themselves  with  the  intention 
of  injuring  him,  and  pressed  forward 
against  him  to  destroy  him.  Every  word 
was  a  snare,  every  smile  was  a  treason. 
Some  treated  him  unsparingly  as  an  im¬ 
post#  r  and  a  Samaritan ;  others  gently 
hinted  that  he  was  a  madman  ;  the  dense 
mass  of  the  envious,  weary  of  the  praises 
which  the  people  bestowed  on  this  new 
prophet,  and  unable  to  deny  his  miracles, 
disputed  his  claim  to  them,  to  give  the 
honor  of  them  to  Satan.  “  If  he  casts  out 
devils, ”  said  they,  “  it  is  by  Beelzebub,  the 
prince  of  devils  :  in  Beelzebub ,  principe  doe- 
moniorum ,  ejicit  dcemonia.”1  These  vague 
rumors  alarmed  Mary,  and  the  bad  spirit  of 
her  own  neighborhood  was  little  calculated 
to  encourage  her.  Of  all  the  cities  of 
Galilee,  Nazareth  was  the  most  unbelieving 
and  hardened  against  the  sacred  Word  ; 
of  all  the  families  of  Nazareth,  the  family 
of  Jesus  Christ  was  apparently  the  least 
disposed  to  accept  him  for  the  kingly 
Messias.  As  the  divine  parturition  of  the 

( 1 )  The  Methnevi-Manevi,  speaking  of  the  im¬ 
potent  and  envious  hatred  of  the  Jews  against 
Christ,  expresses  its  opinion  in  these  terms  against 
those  attacks  so  common  against  all  that  meet  with 
success, — attacks  which  are,  in  the  end,  hurtful  to 
those  onlyAvho  make  them.  “The  moon  sheds  her 
light  and  the  dog  barks,”  says  the  Persian  author, 
“but  the  barking  of  the  dog  does  not  hinder  the 
moon  from  shining.  Sweepings  are  cast  into  the 


Virgin  had  never  been  revealed  to  her 

\ 

relations,  and  as  the  miracles  which  had 
been  wrought  during  the  infancy  of  the 
Lord  had  taken  place  in  distant  countries, 
they  saw  nothing  in  the  supposed  son  of 
Joseph  but  a  young  Israelite  without 
learning,  brought  up  among  themselves, 
fed  like  themselves,  more  poorly  lodged, 
more  simply  clad,  and  living  from  day  to 
day  by  severe  labor,  which  associated  him 
only  with  the  lower  classes.  Christ,  who 
would  ennoble  poverty  by  taking  it  as  his 
own  lot,  suffered  the  consequences  of  the 
position  which  he  had  chosen.  “  His 
brethren ,”  says  St.  John,  “  did  not  believe 
in  him.”2  .  The  renown  of  the  miracles 
which  accompanied  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  astonished  these  obstinate  Naza- 
reans,  yet  without  convincing  them.  Learn¬ 
ing  that  Jesus  was  hailed  throughout  Gali¬ 
lee  by  the  dangerous  title  of  Son  of  David, 
and  that  crowds  of  two  or  three  thousand 
persons  #  flocked  to  hear  him,  they  were 
afraid  that  these  numerous  assemblies 
would  give  umbrage  to  Herod  Antipas, 
and  that  they  themselves  might  be  mo¬ 
lested  on  account  of  the  young  prophet. 
With  this  idea  they  said  publicly  that 
Jesus  was  insane,  and  swore  that  they 
would  take  him  back  well  guarded  to  Naz¬ 
areth.  Concealing  this  family  conspiracy 

current  of  a  river,  and  these  ordnres  swim  on  the 
surface  of  the  water  without  stopping  or  disturbing 
it.  The  Messias,  on  the  one  hand,  raises  the  dead 
to  life,  and  you  see,  on  the  other,  the,  Jews  gnawed 
with  envy,  biting  their  nails  and  plucking  their 
beards.”  —  (Hussem-Vaez.  D’Herbelot,  Biblio- 
theque  Orient.) 

( 2 )  St.  J ohn,  c.  vii.,  v.  5. 


158 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


from  Mary,  they  induced  her  to  come  with 
them  to  Capharnaum,  so  as  to*  use  her 
name  in  order  to  approach  him.1 

The  Messias  was  teaching  in  the  syna¬ 
gogue,  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  attentive 
and  silent  hearers,  when  the  Nazareans 
arrived.  Ostentatiously  displaying  an 
authority  which  they  were  not  sorry  to 
enhance  in  the  sight  of  the  multitude,  as 
St.  John  Chrysostom  remarks,  they  delib¬ 
erately  caused  our  Saviour  to  be  notified 
that  his  brethren  and  his  mother  were 
without  seeking  him ;  Jesus  reading  the 
secret  thoughts  of  his  kinsmen  according 
to  the  flesh,  and  availing  himself  of  this 
circumstance  to  extend  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  old  law  by  adopting  solemnly  and 
without  respect  of  persons  the  whole  vast 
human  family,  made  this  admirable  reply 
to  the  indiscreet  message  of  his  kindred : 

“  Who  is  my  mother,  and  who  are  my 
brethren?”  Then  casting  his  eyes  over 
his  many  disciples,  “My  mother  and  my 
brethren,”  he  exclaimed,  “are  they  who 
hear  the  word  of  God,  and  do  it.”'  After 
this  severe  reprimand,  which  the  sons  of 
Alpheus  must  have  understood,  the  Son  of 
God  immediately  went  forth,  says  St.  John 
Chrysostom,  “to  pay  his  mother  all  the 
honor  which  propriety  required  of  him.” 

'When  he  had  greeted  Mary,  and  re¬ 
mained  some  time  with  her  on  the  sea¬ 
shore,  our  Saviour  went  up  into  a  ship, 
whence  he  began  to  teach  the  people.  The 
Virgin,  hidden  among  the  crowd,  but  pro¬ 
foundly  attentive,  heard  in  religious  silence 
the  parable  of  the  sower.  The  Nazareans, 


( ‘ )  St.  Mark,  c.  in.,  v.  21,  31-35. 


petrified  by  the  irresistible  eloquence  and 
superhuman  dignity  of  Jesus  Christ,  asked 
themselves,  in  surprise,  if  this  was  indeed 
the  son  of  Mary  :  they  experienced  that 
sort  of  fascination  which  charms  the  ser¬ 
pent  of  the  American  glades,  when  he 
hears  in  the  depths  of  the  woods  soft  music 
which  attracts  him.  They  had  come  with 
the  celerity  of  fear,  with  the  eloquence  of 
egotism,  with  the  arrogance  of  superiority, 
to  divert  Christ  from  his  compromising  and 
perilous  mission,  and  they  were  so  far 
unnerved  by  his  very  look  as  to  be  afraid 
to  open  their  mouths  in  his  presence.  This 
the  text  of  St.  Mark  clearly  indicates, 
where,  after  hinting  at  their  hostile  inten¬ 
tions,  he  nowhere  implies  that  they  even 
dared  to  speak  to  our  Lord. 

Some  time  after  this,  Jesus  returned  to 
Nazareth.  Great  was  the  joy  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  To  see  her  son  seated  on 
the  same  mat  on  which  he  sat  in  his  child¬ 
hood,  eating  the  bread  which  he  had  broken 
as  he  blessed  it ;  to  take  him  stealthily  to 
the  bedside  of  some  poor  invalid,  whom  he 
restored  to  health,  enjoining  him  secrecy; 
to  see,  powerful  in  word  and  work,  him 
who  had  so  long  been  the  man  of  silence 
and  labor,  was  too  much  happiness  in 
the  cup  of  her  existence !  Accordingly 
God,  who  afflicts  those  whom  he  loves, 
soon  dashed  it  with  a  drop  of  gall.  On 
the  Sabbath-day,  the  Son  and  the  Mother 
went  together  to  the  synagogue.  A  great 
concourse  of  people  had  assembled  there  to 
see  and  hear  Jesus  ;  but  the  eagerness  of 
the  Nazareans  had  not  that  character  of 
confidence  and  respectful  attention  which 
Christ  had  so  often  met  with  elsewhere. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


159 


They  were  there,  scandalized  in  advance 
at  what  the  Son  of  Mary  was  to  say  and 
do,  and  admirably  disposed  to  stone  him  if 
an  opportunity  offered. 

There  are  countries  bitterly  hostile  to 
all  that  does  them  honor,  till  the  very  grass 
grows  upon  the  tomb  of  what  they  envy. 

One  of  the  ancients,  however,  handed  to 
the  Saviour  of  men  the  book  of  the  prophet 
lsaias  ;  and  Jesus,  unrolling  the  parchment, 
read  this  passage,  with  simple  grace  and 
marvellous  dignity: — “The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  me :  wherefore  he  had 
anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
poor  ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  contrite 
heart ;  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  cap¬ 
tives  and  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  lib¬ 
erty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach  the 
acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,  and  the  day 
of  reward.”  Having  closed  the  book,  he 
sat  down,  and  speaking  with  that  animated 
and  natural  eloquence  which  so  strongly 
impressed  his  audience,  he  applied  to  him¬ 
self  the  oracle  relating  to  the  Messias,  and 
taught,  not  like  a  disciple  of  the  synagogue, 
but  as  the  actual  master  of  the  synagogue. 
A  low  murmur  ran  through  the  assembly. 
Some  wondered  at  the  power  and  grace  of 
his  words  ;  others,  faithful  to  their  system 
of  contemptuous  defamation,  said  aloud  : 
“  Is  not  this  the  carpenter’s  son  ?”  And 
Jesus,  penetrating  into  their  thoughts,  and 
reading  as  in  an  open  book  those  false  and 
envious  hearts,  hurled  at  them  that  true 
saying,  which  has  become  a  proverb,  “  A 
prophet  is  not  without  honor,  save  in  his 
own  country,  and  in  his  own  house.”  As 
he  knew  that  they  had  it  in  their  mind  to 
ask  him  for  prodigies,  like  those  of  which 


Capharnaum  had  been  the  theatre,  he  told 
them  plainly  that  their  unbelief  had  made 
them  unworthy  of  them,  and  that  to  obtain 
miracles,  these  must  be  solicited  with  faith. 
Thence,  in  allusion  to  the  propagation  of 
his  gospel,  and  to  that  wild  olive  engrafted 
on  the  old  trunk  of  the  synagogue,  which 
symbolized  the  vocation  of  the  Gentiles  : 
“  In  truth  I  say  to  you,  there  were  many 
widows  in  the  days  of  Elias  in  Israel,  when 
heaven  was  shut  up  three  years  and  six 
months :  when  there  was  a  great  famine 
throughout  all  the  land  :  and  to  none  of 
them  was  Elias  sent,  but  to  a  widow  at 
Sarepta  of  Sidon.  And  there  were  many 
lepers  in  Israel  in  the  time  of  Elias  the 
prophet :  and  none  of  them  was  ^cleansed 
but  Naaman  the  Syrian.” 

-  These  last  words  were  the  drop  of 
water  which  filled  the  vase  to  overflowing. 
Wounded  in  their  national  pride,  in  their 
hereditary  antipathies,  in  their  traditional 
expectations,  all  the  synagogue  were  filled 
with  bloodthirsty  rage.  “And  they  rose  up 
and  thrust  him  out  of  their  city :  and  they 
brought  him  to  the  brow  of  the  hill, 
whereon  their  city  was  built,  that  they 
might  cast  him  down  headlong.” 

Seated  among  the  poorer  women  in  a 
latticed  gallery,  the  Virgin  had  observed, 
with  anxiety  mingled  with  fear,  the  in¬ 
creasing  progress  of  the  storm.  Reading 
the  sinister  projects  of  the  Nazareans  in 
their  haggard  ejms  and  furious  gestures,  she 
did  not  hesitate  to  brave  danger  to  force  a 
passage  to  her  Son  ;  but  her  strength  be¬ 
lied  her  courage.  They  ran — those  Jews, 
ever  fleet  of  foot  to  shed  blood  ;  and  Mary, 
trembling  like  a  leaf,  scarcely  able  to  stand, 


# 

100  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

followed  them  at  a  distance,  as  if  in  a 
dream.  She  beholds  Jesus  on  the  top  of 
the  steep  rock  which  overhangs  a  frightful 
precipice  ;  she  hears  afar  off  the  cries  for 
death  ;  her  knees  yield  under  her  ;  a  mist 
spreads  over  her  sight ;  her  voice  expires 
in  a  sorrowful  moan  ;  she  falls,  broken 
down  like  a  blooming  bough  which  the 
tempest  has  torn  off  in  its  course,  and  lies 
stretched  out  with  her  face  on  the  ground 
upon  the  hill.1 

Meanwhile  the  wolves,  furious  in  pursuit 
of  the  lamb,  had  been  deceived  in  their 
expectation  ;  the  hour  of  sacrifice  had  not 
yet  tolled  for  the  Son  of  Man,  and  no  one 
could  take  his  life  unless  he  gave  it. 
Striking  this  murderous  horde  with  blind¬ 
ness,2  Jesus  passed  through  the  midst  of 
his  enemies  without  being  recognized  by 
them,  and  again  took  the  road  to  Caphar- 
naum,  whither  his  mother,  Mary  of  Cleophas, 
and  the  sons  of  Alpheus  came  to  rejoin  him. 

After  preaching  the  gospel  on  the  bor¬ 
ders  of  the  beautiful  lake  of  Tiberias,  whose 
waves  shone  like  light,  and  wrought  the 

great  miracle  of  the  multiplication  of  the 
loaves  in  the  desert  of  Bethsaicla,  Jesus 
with  his  disciples  reascended  the  Jordan 
to  Cmsarea  Philippi,  the  ancient  Dan  of 

Me ph tali,  the  name  of  which  Philip,  the 
son  of  Herod,  had  lately  changed  ;  and  he 
visited,  as  he  passed,  the  towns  and  villages 
lying  on  his  route. 

It  was  probably  at  this  time — for  Euthy- 
mius,3  who  relates  this  traditionary  fact, 
leaves  the  date  undecided — that  the  already 
hallowed  waters  of  Jordan  witnessed  an 
affecting  ceremony.  Jesus,  the  Virgin,  and 
the  apostles,  directed  their  steps,  one  day 
at  sunrise,  toward  this  deeply-enclosed 
river,  which  runs  through  two  lakes,  says 
Tacitus,  and  rushes  into  the  third.4  Mag 
nificent  vegetation  adorned  its  banks  ; 
islets  rising  here  and  there  from  its  hu¬ 
mid  bosom,  expanded  amid  its  golden 
waves,  like  graceful  baskets  of  verdure, 
fruit,  and  flowers  ;  blue  herons  skimmed 
over  these  flowery  isles,  where  the  wild 
pigeon  and  white  turtledove  still  hang 
their  nests  of  moss  upon  the  branches  of 

( 1 )  Between  the  steep  mountain  from  which 
the  Jews  had  formed  the  design  to  cast  down  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  town  of  Nazareth,  “You  perceive 
halfway,”  says  Father  de  Geramb,  “  the  ruins  of  a 
monastery  formerly  inhabited  by  monks,  and  those 
of  a  very  fine  church,  built  by  St.  Helena,  and  ded¬ 
icated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  under  the  name  of 
Our  Lady  del  Tremore  (of  Tremor).  According 
to  some,  Mary  was  already  in  this  place  when  the 
Jews  were  dragging  her  son  toward  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  thence  to  hurl  him  down.  According 

O 

to  others,  on  hearing  of  the  murderous  design  of 
these  madmen,  she  had  run  thither  in  great  haste, 
out  had  arrived  too  late;  seized  with  terror,  ‘she 
could  proceed  no  farther.’  ” 

(  )  The  most  ancient  heretics,  paving  the  way 

for  modern  rationalism,  which,  without  acknowl¬ 
edgment,  decks  itself  out  in  their  old  rags,  insisted 
that  our  Lord  had  passed  through,  by  means  of  an 
illusion  produced  by  a  fog,  “illudere  per  caligi- 
nem.”  Tertullian  strongly  opposes  this  supposi¬ 
tion. — (Adv.  Marcion.,  4,  8.) 

( 3 )  According  to  St.  Euthymius,  our  Lord  bap¬ 
tized  only  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Peter,  who 
afterward  baptized  the  other  apostles.  “Some,” 
says  this  abbot,  who  flourished  in  Palestine  in  the 
fourth  century,  “have  written  that  Jesus  Christ 
himself  baptized  the  Virgin  and  Peter.” 

( 4 )  “Nec  Jordanes  pelago  accipitur;  sed  unum 
atque  alterum  lacum  integer  perfluit ;  tertio  reti- 
netur.” — (Tacitus,  Historiarum,  lib.  v.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  161 


the  wild  pomegranate.  The  dew  sparkled 
upon  the  green  branches  of  the  willows, 
like  a  shower  of  pale  diamonds  ;  and  the 
rushes  of  Jordan,  sometimes  the  h'aunt  of 
,  tigers,  bent  softly  beneath  the  light  breeze 

m 

that  swayed  the  tops  of  the  palms,  whence 
drooped  rich  coral  clusters  of  dates. 
Far  off,  on  the  opposite  bank,  troops  of 
gazelles  were  seen  bounding  on  the  slope 
of  the  tall,  gray  fire-marked  mountains  ; 
and  in  the  sandy  plain  were  fl}ing  along, 
on  their  coarsers  fleet  as  the  wind,  some 
wild  sons  of  the  desert,  armed  with  those 
long  spears  of  cane  from  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates,  which  they  used  from  the  first 
ages  after  the  deluge,  if  we  believe  the 
Persian  legends.1  Clouds  of  the  richest 
violet,  or  of  soft  rose-color  paling  at  the 
edge,  floated  like  flowers  in  the  deep  blue 
sky,  and  the  nightingale  was  singing  in 
the  tall  sycamores  which  overshadow  the 
sacred  river  of  Palestine  :  nature  held  a 
festival  for  the  baptism  of  Mary. 

The  Virgin  was  robed  in  white,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  custom  of  the  Hebrews  when 
they  took  paid  alone  in  any  religious  cere¬ 
mony,  and  she  stood  in  grave  and  profound 
recollection  by  the  side  of  her  Son  and 
Saviour :  they  both  went  down  into  the 
river.  Then,  lifting  up  with  his  divine 
hand  the  Oriental  veil  of  his  fair  and  holy 
Mother,  Christ  fixed  upon  her  his  sweet 
and  penetrating  look  of  infinite  love  :  then 
he  poured  upon  the  Virgin’s  forehead  the 
sacred  water  of  regeneration,  and  He  who 
was  himself  one  of  the  Three  Divine  Per- 

( 1 )  Reeds  grow  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates 
which  are  almost  equal  to  the  bamboos  of  the 
Indies.  From  the  earliest  times,  the  Arabs  and 


sons,  baptized  her  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity. 

It  was  then  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  re¬ 
nounced  her  life  of  seclusion,  to  follow  her 
Son  in  his  journeys.  She  had  served  him 
for  thirty  years,  on  a  foreign  soil  and  in 
the  land  of  her  fathers  ;  she  had  toiled  for 
him,  wept  over  him,  suffered  for  him,  and 
adored  him,  without  a  single  omission,  night 
and  morning,  in  his  cradle,  while  he  still 
moaned  there,  as  Albertus  Magnus  informs 
us.  It  was  natural  for  her  to  follow  his  per¬ 
secuted  fortunes,  and  leave  the  peaceful 
roof  which  had  witnessed  her  birth  to  tread 
in  his  blessed  footsteps,  while  he  preached 
the  gospel  to  the  Hebrews.  Amid  the  agi¬ 
tations  of  this  life  of  trouble  and  alarm,  the 
Virgin  w*as  as  ever  admirable.  Loving  Je¬ 
sus  more  than  any  mother  ever  loved  her 
child,  and  alone  able  to  carry  this  extreme 
love  without  sin  to  the  farthest  limits  of 
adoration,  she  never  intruded  her  presence 
upon  him  to  divert  the  short  and  precious 
moments  of  his  mission  of  regeneration  in 
favor  of  her  own  maternal  love  ;  never  did 
she  speak  to  him  of  her  fatigue,  her  fears, 
her  dark  forebodings,  or  her  personal 
wants.  Mary  was  not  only  a  holy  dove 
hiding  in  the  clefts  of  a  rock — a  pure  vir¬ 
gin  called  to  feed  with  her  milk,  and  cradle 
in  her  arms  a  heavenly  guest. ;  she  was  a 
valiant  woman,  whom  the  Lord  was  pleased 
to  place  successively  in  every  situation  of 
life,  in  order  to  leave  to  the  daughters  of 
Eve  an  example  to  follow,  and  a  model  to 
imitate. 


Assyrians  have  made  spears  of  them—  (Firdousi, 
Book  of  Kings.) 


162 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


It  would  not  have  been  becoming  in  the 
Mother  of  God  to  follow  Jesus  and  his 
apostles  alone  throughout  Judea  ;  so  Mary 
of  Cleophas,  the  mother  of  James,  Simon, 
Joseph,  and  Jude,  commonly  called  the 
brothers  of  the  Lord  ;  Salome,  mother  of  the 
sons  of  Zebedee,  whom  the  Lord  especially 
loved  ;  Joanna,  wife  of  the  tetrarch’s  stew¬ 
ard,  and  several  wealthy  women  of  Galilee, 
who  had  made  themselves  poor  for  Christ, 
formed  the  companions  of  Mary.  One 
among  them,  a  young,  wealthy,  high-born 
Jewess  of  remarkable  beauty,  was  most  af¬ 
fectionately  attentive  to  the  divine  mother 
of  her  Lord.  This  woman,  whose  heart, 
strong  but  tempest-tossed,  like  the  waves 
of  the  Egean  Sea,  had  burned  with  a  thou¬ 
sand  impure  flames  in  the  sight  of  the 
world,  and  braved  public  opinion  with 
mockery  and  disdain,  had  come,  submis¬ 
sive  and  penitent,  to  lay  down  her  haughty 
head  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  and  to  beg  of 
him  whom  she  confessed  to  be  her  God,  the 
cure  of  the  maladies  of  her  soul.  And  the 

chaste  love  of  the  Lord  had  absorbed  all 

/ 

her  mad  passion,  all  the  worldly  attach¬ 
ments  of  the  young  lady  of  Magdalum.  She 
had  trampled  under  foot  her  necklaces  of 
pearl,  her  chains  of  gold  and  precious 
stones  ;  sold  her  villa,  buried  among  the 
rose-laurels  which  fringe  the  beautiful  Sea 
of  Galilee,  and  now,  with  no  ornament  but 
a  dress  of  coarse  cloth,  and  her  jet-black 
hair,  with  which  she  had  wiped  our  Lord’s 


feet,  the  young  patrician,  rich  in  her  alms- 
deeds,  adorned  with  new  virtues,  poured 
her  penitent  tears  into  the  pure  and  com¬ 
passionate  bosom  of  Mary.  The  immacu¬ 
late  Virgin  had  received  in  her  arms  and 
pressed  to  her  heart  the  grievous  sinner, 
and  cultivated  in  this  fertile  but  long  fal¬ 
low  soil  those  flowers  which  bloom  for 
heaven. 

After  many  sufferings,  many  terrors  too 
long  to  tell,  the  Virgin  entered  Jerusalem, 
the  fatal  city,  in  company  with  Jesus  Christ, 
to  celebrate  the  last  Passover  which  the 
Lord  kept  with  his  disciples.  She  saw  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city  of  kings  come  in 
crowds  to  meet  the  son  of  David,  who  came 
to  them  full  of  meekness,  riding  as  the 
young  princes  of  his  race  did  of  old,  and 
receiving  with  benignity  the  simple  honors 
which  this  multitude,  eager  to  behold  their 
prophet,  spontaneously  offered  him  ;  for 
Jesus  Christ  never  rejected  the  humble 
testimonies  of  gratitude  and  love  offered  to 
him  by  his  creatures.  However  small  these 
tokens  of  affection  and  gratitude,  they  were 
received  with  a  divine  goodness  from  the 
moment  that  they  arose  in  the  heart. 

Magdalen,  examining  by  turns  her  Lord, 
and  that  multitude  of  people  who  made 
the  air  resound  with  their  hosannas,  wept 
silently  beneath  her  veil.  Mary,  too,  had 
her  eyes  dimmed  with  tears  ;  but  her  look 
was  turned  to  the  northwest,  in  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  Calvary. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


163 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MARY  ON  CALVARY. 


THE  palms  which  the  children  of  the 
Hebrews  had  cast  beneath  the  feet 
of  Christ  still  strewed  with  their  green 
tufts  the  rugged  road  of  Bethany  ;  the  echo 
of  the  valley  of  cedars1  still  murmured  the 
dying  sounds  of  those  cries  of  triumph  and 
joy,  with  which  the  daughters  of  Zion  had 
saluted  the  King  who  came  to  them  poor , 
when  Jerusalem  was  deepty  moved  by  a 
new  event  of  great  and  sad  importance. 

The  chief  priests,  the  senators,  and  Phari¬ 
sees,  even  by  bribery,  and  without  shrink¬ 
ing  from  domestic  treason,  sought  to  secure 
a  great  criminal ,  who,  they  said,  imperilled 
both  religion  and  the  state.  This  man  must 
indeed  have  been  very  dangerous,  since 
these  honorable  personages  had  bound  them¬ 
selves  to  an  extraordinary  fast  to  lay  hold 
of  him,2  and  had  indeed  distributed  on  this 
occasion  alms  throughout  the  city  with 
sound  of  trumpet.  The  Pharisees,  those 
conscientious  Jews,  who  plundered  none 
but  the  uncircumcised,  and  who  would 


( 1 )  Valley  of  Cedars,  the  ancient  name  of  the 
valley  of  Josaphat. 

( 2 )  This  anecdote  is  found  in  the  Toldos,  pub¬ 
lished  by  Huldric,  pp.  56  and  60. 

( 8 )  This  office,  we  know  by  the  gospel,  which 
often  speaks  of  these  captains  of  the  temple,  who 
must  be  distinguished  from  the  Roman  commander, 
who  kept  guard  with  his  cohort  round  this  great 
edifice  to  prevent  crowds,  and  disorders  which  the 
multitude  might  occasion.  These  captains  of  the 
temple  were  of  course  Jews,  and  were  taken  from 


have  left  their  neighbor  at  the  bottom  of  a 
pit  on  the  Sabbath-day,  though  they  would 
have  speedily  drawn  out  their  ox  or  their 
ass,  had  zealpusly  spread  among  the  popu¬ 
lace, — so  easy  to  mislead  and  deceive, — 
frightful  reports  and  vague  rumors,  which 
had  thrown  them  into  a  kind  of  feverish 
restlessness,  only  to  be  dissipated  by  a  fit 
of  ferocity.  Things  being  thus  prepared,  a 
well-armed  troop  was  seen,  one  evening, 
descending  from  Mount  Moria,  comprising 
some  senators,  and  was  commanded  by  the 
captain  of  the  temple  guards;3  the  troop  of 
servants  of  the  chief  priests  followed  ;  and 
at  the  head  of  this  battalion,  which 
marched  on  with  a  measured  step  by  the 
light  of  those  large  lanterns  which  the 
Asiatics  attach  to  long  poles,  to  raise  them 
up  high,  and  of  some  resinous  torches,  was 
a  low-browed  man,  irresolute  in  look,  and 
abject  in  countenance,  whose  girdle,  heavy 
with  gold  robbed  from  the  poor,4  to  which 
he  already  added,  in  imagination,  the  thirty 


the  priestly  families  ;  they  had  the  care  and  the 
keys  of  the  temple,  in  order  to  provide  for  the 
safety  of  the  treasury  and  the  saci-ed  vessels:  by 
right  of  birth  this  officer  had  the  power  to  enter 
into  all  the  counsels  of  the  priests. — (Basnage,  liv. 
i.,  c.  4.) 

( 4 )  “Then  one  of  his  disciples,  Judas  Iscariot, 
he  that  was  about  to  betray  him,  said,  Why  was 
not  this  ointment  sold  for  three  hundred  pence, 
and  given  to  the  poor?  Now  he  said  this,  not 
because  he  cared  for  the  poor,  but  because  he  was 


164  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

pieces  of  silver  which  he  was  to  earn,  by 
delivering  up  to  the  princes  of  the  syna¬ 
gogue — too  shrewd  to  pay  for  his  treason 
beforehand  —  his  master,  his  friend,  his 
God !  For  it  was  the  son  of  David,  the 
triumpher  but  a  few  days  before,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  the  great  prophet  of  Galilee,  at 
whose  voice  greedy  death  gave  up  his 
jprey,  and  whose  commands  the  winds  and 
the  waves  respected,  whom  the  ruffians  of 
the  chief  priests  and  the  Pharisees  were 
seeking  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives,  whither 
he  retired  at  night,  after  teaching  in  the 
temple,  as  St.  Luke  relates.  They  had  not 
dared  to  arrest  him  in  open  day,  because 
they"  feared  some  resistance  on  the  part  of 
that  multitude  of  disciples  who  came  to 
hear  him  at  dawn  beneath  the  porch  of 
Solomon. 

The  armed  troop,  headed  by  the  Iscariot, 
crossed  the  ravine  where  flows  the  Cedron, 
that  torrent  of  dark  waters,1  which  wit¬ 
nessed  the  passage  of  King  David,  when  he 
fled  with  a  handful  of  faithful  servants  from 
the  rebellion  raised  by  the  money  of  his 
son  Absalom.  While  the  soldiers  of  the 
temple  followed,  fierce  and  silent,  along 
the  banks  of  the  torrent  which  reflected 

their  torches,  in  order  to  reach  the  heights 
of  Gethsemani,  and  while  the  night  winds 
shook  the  dishevelled  tops  of  the  willows, 
which  was  soon  to  behold  Judas  hanging 
upon  one  of  their  branches, — a  punishment 
too  light  for  such  a  traitor,  but  which  is 
continually  increased  by  the  undying  con¬ 
tempt  of  successive  generations  upon  the 
globe, — a  sad  and  solemn  scene  was  pass¬ 
ing  in  that  Garden  of  Olives  where  the 
unworthy  apostle  sought  his  Master  to  de¬ 
stroy  him. 

After  praying  a  long  time,  prostrate  on 
the  ground,  and  undergoing  that  frightful 
agony  which  covered  his  divine  brow  with 
a  bloody  sweat,  Christ  had  risen  up  with 
submissive  resignation  to  the  terrible  will 
of  his  Father,  and  quite  prepared  to  drink 
the  chalice  of  bitterness  to  the  dregs.  He 
raised  his  large,  soft,  and  piercing  eyes  to 
the  constellated  heavens,  whose  stars  told 
the  hour  of  midnight,  and  where  the  moon 
shone  on  high,  the  fair  lamp  of  the  firma¬ 
ment,  whose  useful  light  is  blessed  by  the 
children  of  Abraham  in  their  prayers  ;2 
she  was  then  at  the  full,  and  cast  a  sheet 
of  resplendent  light  upon  that  stern  land¬ 
scape,  where  the  dark  mountains  stood  out 

a  thief,  and  having  the  purse,  carried  what  was  put 
therein.” — (St.  John,  xii.,  v.  4,  5,  6.) 

( 1 )  The  Cedron  is  a  torrent  which  runs  down 
the  valley  of  Josaphat,  between  Jerusalem  and  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  It  was  called  Cedron,  because  it 
has  its  course  in  deep  and  dark  places;  its 
Hebrew  name  signifies  tenebrosus  it  was 

dark.” 

( 5 )  The  day  of  the  new  moon  is  a  holiday  with 
the  Hebrews;  the  women  abstain  from  work,  and 
the  devout  fast  on  the  eve.  After  reciting  a  number 
of  prayers  in  the  synagogue,  they  take  a  repast,  at 

which  they  make  merry.  Three  days  after,  the 

Jews  assemble-  on  a  platform,  where  they  look 
steadfastly  at  the  moon,  and  bless  God  by  a  long 
prayer  for  having  created  it,  and  for  renewing  it, 
to  teach  the  Israelites  that  they  ought  to  become 
new  creatures :  “  0  moon  !  blessed  he  thy  Creator, 
blessed  he  He  who  made  thee!”  and  then  they 
jump  three  times  as  high  as  they  can,  and  say  to 
the  moon,  “As  we  leap  toward  thee,  without  being 
able  to  touch  thee,  may  our  enemies  rise  up  against 
us  without  reaching  us!  .  .  .” — (Basnage,  liv.  vii., 
e.  10.) 

JESUS  IN  GETHSEMANE. 


* 


< 


b 

. 


’ 


‘t 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


165 


in  relief  from  the  limpid  blue  of  heaven. 
Jerusalem,  half-buried  in  shadow  and  bril¬ 
liantly  lighted  up  in  spots,  breathed  afar 
the  aromatic  perfume  of  the  rare  plants  of 
her  gardens,  and  waved  in  the  breath  of 
the  breeze  her  clusters  of  palm-trees,  amid 
which  white  marble  towers  rose.  Toward 
the  mountains  all  was  deep  silence,  but  a 
slight  murmur  arose  from  the  depth  of  the 
valley  :  Jesus  shuddered.  “It  is  they,” 
he  thought,  and  he  slowly  moved  toward 
the  place  where  he  had  left  three  of  his 
apostles,  whom  he  had  chosen  from  them 
all  to  share  his  solitary  vigil.  Alas !  fa¬ 
tigue,  or  the  soothing  breath  of  the  wind 
which  swajrnd  the  slender  foliage  of  the 
olive-trees,  had  gradually  lulled  these  neg¬ 
ligent  sentinels  to  sleep.  Jesus  for  a  mo¬ 
ment  gazed  upon  their  sleeping  forms  with 
a  holy  feeling  of  bitterness  ;  he  had  an¬ 
nounced  to  them  that  his  death  was  near, 
that  the  hour  of  peril  was  come,  and  they 
slept,  they,  his  kinsmen,  his  friends,  his 
chosen  disciples,  to  all  appearance  indiffer¬ 
ent  to  his  danger  or  his  death ! . 

0  the  vanity  of  benefits,  of  ties  of  blood 

and  friendship ! . They  were  awake 

on  Thabor  at  the  hour  of  the  glorious 
transfiguration,  but  they  slept  in  the  hour 
of  trial  and  distress  ! 

A  confused  noise  was  heard  in  the  hoi- 
low  path  which  led  up  to  the  little  village 
of  G-ethsemaui  ;  and  soon  the  glare  of 
torches  shone  upon  the  trees:  Then  Jesus, 
leaning  over  his  still  sleeping  apostles,  said 
to  them  in  a  low  but  deep  voice,  “Arise, 

(')  Peter  Ben- Cephas  (Peter,  son  of  Peter);  it 
is  by  this  name  that  the  prince  of  the  apostles  is 
known  in  the  East. 


let  us  go!  Behold,  he  that  betrayeth  me 
is  at  hand  !”  Scarcely  had  he  pronounced 
these  words,  when  Judas  and  his  band 
arrived.  Coming  up  to  Jesus,  with  bold¬ 
ness  in  his  eyes,  and  a  false  smile  on  his 
lips,  he  pointed  him  out  to  the  hostile 
troop  that  sought  him,  by  giving  him  that 
sacrilegious  kiss  which  has  taken  his  name. 
It  had  been  agreed  upon.  Christ  received 
the  traitor  with  kindness,  and  said  to  him 
with  touching  meekness,  “  Friend,  whereto 
art  thou  come  ?” 

Whereto  was  he  come?  He  was  come  to 
earn  the  synagogue’s  thirty  sides  of  silver. 
Avarice,  which  is  a  cold  and  calculating 
passion,  commits  ten  times  more  crimes 
than  violence,  and  far  blacker  crimes. 

Judas  had  not  time  to  answer  this  em¬ 
barrassing  question,  for  all  the  rest  advan¬ 
cing,  fell  upon  Jesus  and  laid  hold  of  him. 
Then  anger  rose  in  the  heart  of  Ben-Ce- 
phas,1  the  prince  of  the  apostles  ;  he  drew 
his  sword;  and  with  it  smote  one  of  the 
servants  of  the  high  priest;  but  Jesus, 
restraining  that  arm  which  was  the  only 
one  raised  in  his  defence,  bade  the  sword 
return  to  its  scabbard.  “  How  then  shall 
the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that  so  it  must 
be  done  ?”  The  Lamb  of  G!od  desired  to 
be  immolated  for  the  sins  of  the  world. 

Then  in  this  enclosure  rose  the  dull  sound 
of  hurried  steps,  broken  boughs,  and  cries 
of  alarm  ;  a  number  of  men  were  seen 
leaping  over  the  little  wall,  scarcely  three 
feet  high,2  which  surrounded  the  garden: 
they  were  the  disciples  in  flight !  .  .  .  . 

( 2 )  The  garden  of  Gethsemani  or  of  Olives,  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountain  of  that  name,  is  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  wall  three  feet  high;  its  length  is 


166  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  .VIRGIN  MARY. 

The  hostile  troop,  after  binding  Jesns 
like  a  criminal,  returned  by  the  road  to  the 
Holy  City,  taking  the  direction  of  the 
stone  bridge  which  the  Asmonean  princes 
had  thrown  over  the  Cedron  ;  but  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  come  out  in 
crowds,  already  tilled  it,  and  tradition 
relates  that  Jesus  was  dragged  through 
this  water-course  ;  which  accomplished  to 
the  letter  the  prophecy,  “  He  shall  drink 
of  the  torrent  in  the  way.”  The  sacred 
footsteps  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  impres¬ 
sion  of  one  of  his  knees,  are  marked  in  the 
bed  and  on  the  stony  margins  of  Cedron  ; 
at  least  this  is  asserted  by  the  Christians 
of  Jerusalem,  who  still  show  them.  After 
ascending  the  hill  of  Sion,  they  entered 
Jerusalem  by  the  Hate  of  the  Dunghill, 
and  repaired  to  Caiphas,  the  high  priest, 
where  the  scribes  and  ancients  were  assem¬ 
bled.  The  chief  priests  and  scribes  then 
asked  Jesus  if  he  was  the  Christ.  “If  I 
shall  tell  you,”  our  Saviour  meekly  an¬ 
swered,  “you  will  not  believe  me.”  “Art 
thou  the  Son  of  God?”  asked  Caiphas. 
“I  am,”  replied  Jesus.  “He  hath  blas¬ 
phemed  !”  cried  the  high  priest,  rending 
his  garments.  “He  is  guilty  of  death!” 
said  the  scribes  and  Pharisees. 

“  Then  did  they  spit  in  his  face,”  and 

they  struck  him  with  their  fists,  and  gave 
him  blows,  while  they  cried  out  to  him,  in 
derision,  “Prophesy,  Christ,  who  is  it 
that  struck  thee  ?” 

During  this  time  Peter,  who  had  sworn 
to  die  rather  than  abandon  him,  denied 
him  thrice  in  the  court  of  the  high  priest ! 

The  next  day,  the  chief  priests  and 
Pharisees  dragged  Jesus  before  Pontius 
Pilate,  who  was  supremely  odious  to  them 
since  the  affair  of  the  imperial  standards, 
which  he  had  introduced  by  night  into 
Jerusalem  ;*  but  as  they  hated  the  Son  of 

God  much  more,  and  as  the  Romans  alone 
could  condemn  him  to  death,2  they  over¬ 
came  their  repugnance  to  appear  at  the 
pretorium  of  that  idolater,  after  taking  the 
most  minute  precautions  to  avoid  exposing 
themselves  to  any  defiling  contact  with  his 
garments,  his  standards,  and  even  his  tribu¬ 
nal,  which  would  have  rendered  them  im- 

i 

clean  for  the  whole  day.  After  doing  every¬ 
thing,  therefore,  to  avoid  so  serious  an 
inconvenience,  these  scrupulous  men  accused 
Jesus  of  having  perverted  the  people  by 
his  doctrine,  of  having  prevented  their  pay¬ 
ing  tribute  to  Caesar,  and,  finally,  of  having 
assumed  the  seditious  title  of  the  King  of* 
the  Jews — every  word  a  falsehood 

Jesus  met  these  false  accusations  only 

two  hundred  paces,  by  a  hundred  and  forty  broad. 

In  it  stands  a  rock,  forming  a  reddish  grotto,  where 
the  three  apostles  are  said  to  have  slept. — (Voyages 
de  Jesus  Christ,  44  Voyage.)  Its  name  of  Geth- 
semani  is  derived  from  the  goodness  of  the  soil ; 
in  Hebrew  Gethsemani  signifies  “fat  valley.” 

( 1 )  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  liv. 
xviii.,  c.  4. 

( 2 )  Before  Judea  became  subject  to  the  Romans, 
the  sanhedrim  had  power  of  life  and  death ;  but 

• 

those  conquerors  deprived  them  of  that  privilege. 

It  Avas  the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  leave  to  con¬ 
quered  nations  their  temples  and  their  gods  ;  but 
in  civil  matters,  they  were  obliged  to  follow  the 
laws  and  orders  of  the  Republic.  At  the  time 
when  Christ  was  condemned,  the  Romans  were 
absolute  masters  of  temporal  jurisdiction,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Jewish  senate  was  limited  to 
affairs  purely  ecclesiastical.  This  the  Talmudists 
recognize,  for  they  acknowledge  that  the  power  of 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  167 

with  silence. '  Pilate,  convinced  of  the  pro- 

of  the  sentence  which  he  pronounced.1 

found  wickedness  of  the  accusers,  and  the 

After  which,  no  doubt  with  a  view  to  clear 

perfect  innocence  of  the  accused,  would 

himself  for ‘his  intended  clemency  toward 

have  saved  Jesus  ;  he  did  not  succeed. 

Jesus  Christ,  and  to  win  back  the  hearts 

The  Pharisees,  adroit  in  raising  popular 

of  the  populace  of  Jerusalem,  whom  he  had 

tumults  worked  up  the  people,  who  sedi- 

recently  dispersed  by  the  rods  of  his  lie- 

tiously  demanded  the  death  of  the  descend- 

tors,2  in  a  riot  concerning  the  sacred  treas- 

ant  of  their  ancient  kings,  and  the  govern- 

ure,  in  which  he  thought  to  plunge  his 

or,  ivlio  could  very  well  appease  the  clamors 

covetous  hands,  under  pretence  of  build- 

of  the  Jews,  in  a  way  perfectly  oriental, 

ing  an  aqueduct  which  was  not  required. 

when  he  chose  to  do  so,  contented  himself 

Pilate  caused  the  Son  of  David  and  of 

with  feebly  defending  against  the  madmen 

Solomon  to  be  beaten  with  rods,  amid  the 

who  sought  to  wrest  from  him  an  unjust 

applause  of  the  deicidal  people,  who  had 

judgment,  the  innocent  man  whom  he 

dared  to  invoke  upon  their  own  heads,  and 

should  have  energetically  protected.  Wea- 

those  of  their  children,  the  terrible  respon- 

ried  with  their  clamors,  overcome  by  their 

sibility  of  his  death.  This  done,  at  once 

persistence,  the  Roman  washed  his  hands 

admiring  and  deploring  Christ,3  he  deliv- 

judging  was  taken  away  from  the  senate  forty 

assembled  in  large  bodies  of  several  thousand  men 

years  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  that  is, 

in  the  streets  and  the  public  squares  of  Jerusalem, 

three  years  before  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ. — 

which  they  made  ring  with  vociferations  against 

(Basnage,  liv.  vii.,  c.  4.) 

Pilate,  and  there  were  some,  even,  says  Josephus, 

( 1 )  The  decree  pronounced  by  Pilate  against 

who  exasperated  the  governor  by  gross  insults,  as 

our  Lord  is  preserved  at  Jerusalem.  We  insert  it 

it  always  happens  with  riotous  people.  Pilate,  who 

here,  not  as  an  authentic  document,  but  as  a  local 

was  not  alarmed  at  so  little,  made  his  own  people 

tradition : — Jesum  Nazarenum,  subversorem  gen- 

take  great  bludgeons  under  their  garments,  and  sur- 

tis,  contemptorem  Cfesaris,  et  falsum  Messiam,  ut 

round  this  mob ;  when  the  seditious,  after  taking 

majorum  sine  gentis  testimonio  probatum  est, 

breath,  renewed  their  clamors  and  insults,  Pilate 

ducite  ad  communis  supplied  locum,  et  cum  ludi- 

gave  the  signal  to  his  men  to  lay  on  them,  and 

brio  regia!  magistatis  in  medio  duorum  latronum 

they  began  to  strike  more  than  they  were  ordered, 

affigite.  I,  lictor,  expedi  crnces.  “  Jesus  of  Naz- 

and  without  any  distinction  gave  great  blows  with 

areth,  the  subverter  of  the  people,  the  despiser  of 

their  cudgels  as  wTell  to  those  who  were  silent  as  to 

Caesar,  and  the  false  Messias,  as  it  has  been  proved 

those  who  made  a  noise.  These  poor  people,  who 

, 

by  the  testimony  of  the  ancients  of  his  nation, 

were  unarmed,  were  thus  inhumanly  treated,  adds 

take  ye  to  the  common  place  of  punishment,  and 

Josephus,  with  compassionate  sympathy  for  the 

crucify  him  with  a  mockery  of  royal  majesty 

Jewish  outbreak :  some  were  killed,  others  wound- 

between  two  thieves.  Go,  lictor,  prepare  the 

ed ;  and  by  this  means  was  the  tumult  appeased. — 

crosses.” — (Adricomius,  In  descript.  Jems.) 

(Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  lib.  xviii.,  c.  4.) 

(2 )  Pilate  undertook  to  build  an  aqueduct  with 

( 3 )  Tiberias,  on  the  report  made  to  him  by 

the  money  of  the  sacred  treasure,  to  bring  water  to 

Pontius  Pilate,  proposed  to  the  senate  to  grant 

Jerusalem  from  a  distance  of  two  hundred  fur- 

divine  honors  to  Jesus  Christ:  Tertullian  relates 

longs.  The  people,  violently  incensed  against  the 

this  as  a  well-known  fact  in  his  Apology,  which  he 

Roman  governor,  whose  intentions  they  discovered, 

presented  to  the-senate  in  the  name  of  the  Church, 

168  life  of  the  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

ered  him  up  to  the  insults  of  a  soldiery 

and  excruciating  wound.  After  stripping  him 

whom  the  princes  of  the  synagogue,  who 

like  a  slave,  they  threw  over  his  shoulders 

had  a  positive  horror  of  them,  had  stooped 

a  purple  rag,  they  put  a  reed  in  his  hand 

to  bribe,  that  their  own  hatred  might  be 

for  a  sceptre,  and  then  saluted,  with  bitter 

the  better  served  -1  for  they  could  hate 

sarcasms  and  derisive  genuflections,  that 

bitterly,  these  zealots  for  the  law  of  Moses, 

mockery  of  royalty.  His  whole  body  was 

who  wished  to  slay  and  deride  Christ 

but  one  wound,  for  under  the  steel-pointed 

“  for  the  love  of  God  !” 

scourges  red  pieces  of  his  flesh  flew  far  and 

When  Jesus  had  arrived  at  the  court  of 

wide  in  the  hall  of  executions  ;  spittle  dis- 

the  pretorium,  they  made  him  sit  down  on 

figured  his  face,  where  clots  of  dark  blood 

a  broken  column,2  and  the  whole  cohort 

congealed  here  and  there  from  his  wounded 

exhausted  their  skill  in  outraging  him  in 

forehead,  which  his  fettered  hands  could 

the  most  atrocious  and  insolent  manner. 

not  reach!  The  chief  priests,  the  doctors, 

It  was  the  season  when  the  dangerous 

and  Pharisees,  looked  upon  this  scene  with 

rhamnus,3  which  long  before  had  entangled 

deep  satisfaction ;  these  honorable  men  re- 

in  its  thorny  masses  the  symbolical  lamb 

garded  compassion  as  baseness  of  soul!5 

for  Abraham’s  sacrifice,4  was  in  full  bloom  ; 

When  the  Pharisees  thought  that  the 

one  of  the  soldiers  ran  to  gather  a  branch 

idolatrous  soldiers  had  sufficiently  degraded 

of  it,  and  made  a  mock  crown,  the  flowers 

Jesus  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  destroy 

of  which  were  soon  tinged  with  his  blood, 

the  idea  of  his  divinity,  the  approach  of 

while  every  thorn  inflicted  on  him  a  deep 

the  Sabbath  requiring  haste,  they  took  their 

and  he  would  not  have  weakened  a  cause  so  good 

feet  high,  is  in  the  church  of  St.  Praxedes,  at 

as  his  by  things  where  it  would  have  been  so  easy 

Rome. 

to  confound  him. — (Tertullian,  Apolog.  5 ;  Euse- 

( 3 )  Some  separate  thorns  of  this  crown,  which 

bius,  Hist.  Eccl.,  ii.  2.) 

we  still  possess,  are  now  recognized  as  the  rhamnus 

( 1 )  Salvador  would  fain  exculpate  his  co-re- 

spina  Cliristi  of  Linnaeus. 

ligionists,  by  imputing  to  the  Roman  soldiers  the 

( 4 )  St.  J erome  (on  Philemon)  says  that  the 

unheard-of  outrages  which  Jesus  received  in  the 

ram  which  Abraham  saw  in  the  bush  was  the  fig- 

pretorium ;  but  it  is  clear  that  the  Romans  acted 

ure  of  Jesus  Christ  crowned  with  thorns.  - 

only  at  the  instigation  of  the  enemies  of  Christ. 

(5)  Basnage,  liv.  vi.,  c.  17.  The  punishment  of 

The  following  is  the  opinion  of  St.  John  Chrysos- 

the  whip  was  of  very  ancient  usage  among  the 

tom  on  this  subject: — “It  is  the  Jews  themselves 

Jews,  and  was  not  considered  disgraceful.  Ac- 

who  condemn  Jesus  to  death,  although  they  shelter 

cording  to  the  Talmud,  kings  themselves  were 

themselves  under  the  name  of  Pilate.  ‘They  de- 

subjected  to  it  on  certain  occasions.  “  Tradition 

sired  that  his  blood  should  fall  upon  themselves 

informs,”  says  Maimonides,  “that  the  king  may 

and  upon  their  children.’  It  is  they  alone  who 

not  have  more  than  eighteen  wives ;  if  he  marries 

direct  all  these  insults  against  him,  who  bind  him, 

one  above  that  number,  let  him  be  whipped.  If 

who  lead  him  away  to  Pilate,  and  who  cause  him 

he  has  more  horses  than  he  has  need  of  for  the 

to  be  thus  cruelly  treated  by  the  soldiers.  Pilate 

service  of  his  chariot,  let  him  be  whipped.  If  he 

had  not  ordered  any  of  these  things.”— (Serm.  77, 

amasses  more  gold  and  silver  than  he  wants  for  the 

in  Matt.) 

payment  of  his  ministers,  let  him  be  whipped.” — 

( 2 )  This  pillar,  of  gray  marble,  being  only  two 

(Maimonides,  Halach.,  Malach.,  c.  3.) 

LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  169 


victim,  whom  the  Roman  governor  gave 
up  to  them  with  reluctance  ;  and,  after 
loading  his  bleeding  and  mangled  shoulders 
with  the  enormous  weight  of  the  cross,  they 
urged  on,  with  the  butts  of  their  spears,  his 
slow  and  painful  march  toward  Calvary, 
where  they  were  going  to  crucify  him. 

Hosts  of  spectators  lined  the  streets 
and  choked  up  the  squares  :  some  openly 
evinced  a  savage  joy,  and  cried  anathema 
to  the  son  of  David ;  others  pitied  the  fate 
of  that  young  prophet,  who  had  done 
naught  but  good  to  men,  and  whom  men 
had  forsaken  and  bet  raved.  But  these 
signs  of  barren  sympathy  were  scarcely 
evident ;  good  men  wept  in  silence  ;  all 
whom  he  had  fed  with  live  loaves  in  the 
desert,  those  whom  he  had  healed,  those 
whom  he  had  loved  were  there,  lost  in  the 
crowd,  and  no  voice  protested  against  his 
punishment  i1  that  one  among  the  apostles 
who  loved  him  most  had  cowardly  denied 
him!  the  rest,  with  only  one.  exception, 
had  fled  away  and  left  him ! 

As  he  painfully  descended  the  long  street 
which  leads  to  the  Judgment  Grate,  a  wo¬ 
man  made  her  way  through  the  crowd  ; 
this  woman,  remarkably  beautiful,  and 
bearing  in  her  mild  and  sweet  countenance 
the  type  of  virtue,  seemed  wholly  absorbed 
in  unutterable  grief ;  she  suffered  so  much  ; 
she  was  so  pale  ;  her  eyes,  which  had  shed 

( 1 )  We  read  in  the  Misnah  that,  in  the  time 
when  the  Jews  were  governed  by  their  own  laws, 
when  a  condemned  person  was  led  to  the  place  of 
punishment,  a  herald  at  arms  went  before  him,  on 
horseback,  making  this  proclamation, — “  Such  a 
one  is  condemned  for  such  a  crime ;  if  any  one 
can  adduce  anything  in  his  defence,  let  him  speak.” 
If  any  one  came  forward,  the  criminal  was  taken 
22 


all  their  tears,  cast  a  look  so  dead — a  look 
of  such  holy  sorrow  upon  the  frightful 
wounds  of  our  Saviour — that,  when  they 
beheld  her,  the  daughters  of  Jerusalem 
whispered  in  pity,  “Poor  Mother!”  She 
glided  through  the  people,  who  made  room 
for  her  by  an  instinctive  feeling  of  pity  and 
sympathy.  Some  of  the  Pharisees,  with 
hardened  hearts,  called  with  insulting 
names  to  Jesus,  bathed  in  sweat,  dropping 
with  exhaustion  beneath  the  cross  ;  she  did 
not  hear  them  :  the  foreign  soldiers  who- 
surrounded  her  Son  made  threatening  signs 
to  her  ;  she  did  not  see  them  :  but  when  a 
cluster  of  lances,  with  their  points  directed 
to  her  breast,  were  thrust  between  her  and 
Jesus,  there  came  from  her  fixed  and  ex¬ 
panded  eyes  a  lightning  flash  which  re¬ 
vealed  the  blood  of  David,  and  her  noble 
and  inspired  head  assumed  such  an  expres¬ 
sion  of  sorrowful  grandeur,  and  calm  con¬ 
tempt  of  death,  that  the  soldiers,  overcome, 
slowly  lowered  their  weapons  before  the 
heroic  and  saintly  woman.  Fierce  as  camp- 
life  had  made  them,  they  remembered  their 
own  mothers. 

Mary  turned  her  trembling  steps  toward 
our  Saviour ;  she  fixed  eyes  full  of  an¬ 
guish  on  that  humiliated  form,  dragging 
himself  nlong,  bleeding  and  half  clothed, 
beneath  a  heavy  burden  ;  on  that  impos¬ 
ing,  m  rciful,  and  mild  countenance,  which 

back,  and  two  judges,  who  walked  one  on  each 
side  of  him,  examined  the  validity  of  the  grounds 
alleged;  the  prisoner  might  be  led  back  in  this 
manner  as  often  as  five  times. — (Misnah,  Tract,  de 
Syned.,  c.  vi.,  p.  233.)  Jesus  Christ  being  con¬ 
demned  by  the  Romans,  could  not  profit  by  this 
national  custom. 


170  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  M  &RY. 


she  would  have  feared  to  mar  by  touching 
it  lightly  with  her  chaste  lips,  and  which, 
now  swollen,  livid,  covered  with  filth  and 
blood,  scarcely  retained  any  longer  the 
image  of  the  Creator.  She  passed  her 
hand  in  sorrow  across  her  brow,  as  if  to 
make  sure  that  she  was  not  the  sport  of 
some  horrible  hallucination.  Not  a  groan 
relieved  her  oppressed  heart,  no  gesture  of 
despair  revealed  to  the  spectators  the  mys¬ 
teries  of  her  agony  ;  they  only  thought  she 
•was  going  to  die  ;  and  indeed  she  would 
have  died  a  thousand  times  during  that 
solemn  and  heart-rending  pause,  if  Pie  who 
tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb  had 
not  divinely  supported  her.  Jesus  soon 
perceived  that  motionless  and  mute  figure, 
a  few  paces  from  him  ;  bending  down  be¬ 
fore  her,  his  forehead  bowed  beneath  the 
burden  of  the  cross,  he  pronounced  the 
name  of  “Mother!”  At  that  word,  which 
sounded  like  a  funeral  knell  in  the  ears  of 
the  holy  Virgin,  a  sharp  pain  pierced  her 
heart ;  she  was  seen  to  stagger  and  turn 
pale  ;  then,  sinking  down,  she  fell  at  full 
length  on  those  rough  and  reddened  stones 


( 1 )  Tradition,  fortified  by  the  authority  of  St. 
Boniface  and  St.  Anselm,  relates  that  Jesus  Christ 
saluted  his  mother  with  these  words,  “Salve, 
Mater!”  As  we  find  the  Blessed  Virgin  again  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross,  this  tradition  of  the  Fathers 
is  very  probable.  “Faith  is  not  opposed  to  these 
traditions,”  says  M.  de  Chateaubriand;  “they  show 
how  deeply  the  marvellous  and  sublime  history  of 
the  passion  is  graven  in  the  memory  of  men. 
Eighteen  centuries  have  elapsed;  endless  persecu¬ 
tions,  countless  revolutions,  have  been  unable  to 
efface  or  conceal  the  trace  of  a  mother  who  came  to 
weep  over  her  son.”  There  was  built,  in  memory 
CL  the  Blessed  Virgin’s  swooning  away,  a  church 


where  Jesus  had  left  traces  of  blood  as  he 
passed ! 1  .  .  .  . 

A  young  Galilean  with  a  dark  and  de¬ 
jected  countenance,  a  young  woman  bathed 
in  tears,  made  their  way  to  Mary ;  by  their 
care,  the  Virgin  of  sorrows  recovered  the 
use  of  her  senses  and  the  consciousness  of 
that  physical  and  moral  martyrdom  which 
no  martyr,  according  to  the  Fathers,  ever 
equalled.  John  and  Magdalen  used,  doubt¬ 
less,  every  effort  to  remove  her  from  the 
scene  of  blood  and  death  which  was  pre¬ 
paring  on  Golgotha  ;  but  their  entreaties 
were  useless  ;  and,  rising  with  difficulty, 
Mary  began  to  climb,  beneath  a  burning 
sun,  the  steepest  side  of  Calvary  ;  it  was 
the  shortest  way,  and  that  which  Jesus  had 
been  forced  to  take.2 

They  had  reached  the  fatal  and  hallowed 
place  where  the  Lamb  of  God  was  about 
to  satisfy  the  justice  of  incensed  Heaven, 
by  substituting  himself  for  all  other  vic¬ 
tims,  and  taking  on  himself  all  our  miseries. 
There  it  was  that  the  great  sacrifice  was 
about  to  be  offered,  whose  efficacy  reaches 
back,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  original  trans- 


wbich  was  dedicated  under  the  name  of  Our  Lady 
of  Spasm.  “  It  was  there,”  says  Father  Geramb, 
“that  Mary,  repulsed  by  the  soldiers,  met  her  Son 
painfully  dragging  along  the  ignominious  wood  on 
which  he  was  about  to  die,” 

(’)  This  way,  which  formerly  led  to  Calvary, 
and  by  which  our  Saviour  passed,  no  longer  exists : 
it  is  covered  with  houses,  in  the  midst  of  which  is 
found  a  large  pillar  which  marks  the  ninth  sta¬ 
tion.  The  fanaticism  of  the  Turks  has  delighted  in 
making  the  approach  to  it  disagreeable  by  heaps 
of  filth,  in  order  to  keep  the  Christians  away. — 
(Father  Geramb,  t.  i.,  p.  363.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  171 

gression,  and,  on  the  other,  in  the  night  of 
futurity,  even  to  the  consummation  of  ages. 
This  little  rocky  platform  was  the  new  al¬ 
tar,  whence  the  blood  of  Christ  was  to  flow 
in  streams  to  wash  away  the  sins  of  the 
world,  and  annul  forever  the  compact  of 
perdition,  which  delivered  us  over  at  our 
birth  to  the  angels  of  the  abyss.  But  what 
had  become  of  the  sacred  victim  ?  Where 
did  his  executioners  conceal  him  from  the 
distracted  eyes  of  his  mother  ?  Mary’s 
anxious  glances  ran  all  over  the  bare 
mountain  :  she  saw  the  expectant  people  : 
the  crosses  laid  upon  the  ground,  the  la¬ 
borers  digging  with  perfect  indifference  the 
deep  holes  which  were  to  receive  the  three 
instruments  of  punishment  .  .  .  And  Jesus, 
where  was  he  then  ? 

He  appeared,  but  in  what  a  condition  ? 
—  stripped  of  the  last  of  his  garments, 

.  without  a  shred  to  cover  his  discolored 
flesh  and  bleeding  wounds, — he  who  was 
so  chaste  and  pure  !  His  executioners, 
dragging  him  ignominiously  along,  exposed 
him  thus  for  some  time  to  the  jeers  of  the 
people  ;  then  the  Just  One  extended  him- 
'  self  upon  the  cross, — that  bed  of  honour 
proffered  to  him  by  mail’s  gratitude  as  the 
reward  of  his  immense  love !  It  was  a  spec¬ 
tacle  too  frightful  for  those  who  loved  him  to 
behold  :  they  drew  Mary  some  steps  aside, 
into  a  sort  of  natural  grotto,  where  she 
stood,  pale  and  cold  as  marble.1  From 
without  came  a  dull  murmur  like  the  sound 
of  the  bees  of  Eagaddi,  when  the  Israelite 
shepherd  drives  them  out  of  their  hollow 

oaks.  The  dismal  reading  was  suddenly 
interrupted  by  a  tempest  of  shouts,  cries  of 
derision,  and  frightful  bursts  of  laughter  : 
the  mob  in  all  nations  has  always  had  fero¬ 
cious  instincts,  but  that  of  the  Hebrews 
outdid  itself  on  this  occasion. 

In  an  interval  of  profound  silence,  due, 
no  doubt,  to  some  new  barbarity  which 
riveted  -the  attention  of  the  mob,  a  stroke 
of  the  hammer  was  heard, — a  dull  stroke, 
falling  upon  the  wood  and  the  bruised 
flesh.  Magdalen,  shuddering,  pressed  close 
to  Mary,  and  the  beloved  disciple  leaned 
instinctively  against  the  side  of  the  grotto. 
Again  a  second  blow,  duller,  more  stifled, 
and  more  agonizing,  was  heard  ;  it  was 
followed  by  two  or  three  others,  falling  at 
regular  intervals,  and  all  was  over.  “  See, 
they  are  nailing  him  to  the  cross,”  indif¬ 
ferently  remarked  a  Roman  soldier.  A 
look  of  woe  was  exchanged  by  John  and 
Magdalen  ;  they  were  oppressed  by  a  feel¬ 
ing  like  that  experienced  in  the  midst  of 
a  nightly  tempest,  when  the  cries  of  the 
wrecked,  whom  no  aid  can  reach,  are 
wafted  over  the  waves,  till  they  expire, 
one  after  another,  beneath  the  deep.  But 
Mary ! ....  a  cold  sweat  bathed  her  frame, 
a  convulsive  trembling  shook  her  limbs  ; 
she  too,  poor  feeble  woman,  had  just  been 
crucified  ;  for  never  did  martyr  amid  the 
flames,  undergo  in  soul  and  body  such  fear¬ 
ful  tortures. 

The  creaking  of  the  ropes  in  the  pulleys 
was  soon  audible  ;  the  cross  was  slowly 
raised  up  in  the  air,  and  the  Son  of  man. 

( 1 )  Near  the  place  where  our  Saviour  was  fast¬ 
ened  to  the  cross  by  the  hands  of  the  execution¬ 
ers,  is  seen  a  chapel  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of 

Dolors.  Here  it  was  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  re- 
tired  during  the  cruel  preparations  for  the  death 
of  her  Son.— (Father  de  Geramb,  t.  i.,  p.  151.) 

172 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


with  his  face  turned  toward  those  western 
lands,  which  had  so  long  awaited  the  light, 
was  reared  like  a  standard  in  the  sight  of 
unbelieving  nations  :  It  was  written.  Then 
the  reprobate  people  gave  a  long  hoarse 
roar  of  joy  :  “  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews  ! 
If  God  loves  him,  let  him  deliver  him!  If 
thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  0  Nazarean,  come 
down !  ”  And  the  thief  crucified  on  his 
left  hand  cursed  him  also,  amid  his  death 
rattle  ;  the  wretch  did  his  utmost  to  be  a 
Jew  to  the  last.  Jesus,  maintaining  with 
calm  and  sublime  dignity  his  great  char¬ 
acter  as  prophet  and  God  the  Saviour, 
silently  sealed  in  his  blood  the  exalted  doc¬ 
trines  of  the  new  law.  No  complaint,  no 
reproach  escaped  him  amid  the  infamous 
punishment  which  he  underwent  in  the 
sight  of  a  whole  city  :  he  cast  a  gaze  of 
mercy  upon  that  misled  people;  and,  to 
appease  the  divine  justice  in  favor  of 
those  who  crucified  him,  he  said  with  his 
dying  voice,  “ Father , forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  doJ ’ 

“  And  yet  for  eighteen  centuries  the 
Father  has  not  forgiven  them,  and  they 
drag  their  punishment  with  them  all  over 
the  earth,  and  all  over  the  earth  the  slave 
is  obliged  to  stoop  down  to  look  them  in 
the'face.” 1 

The  Virgin  had  left  the  temporary  asy¬ 


( 1 )  The  Abbe  de  la  Mennais. 

( 3 )  It  is  an  ancient  tradition  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  had  herself  wovgn  her  Son’s  tunic. 

( 3 )  The  cathedral  of  Treves  possesses  one  of 
these  sacred  garments,  and  when  it  was  exposed 
in  the  year  1845,  the  official  returns  of  the  police 
showed  that  twenty-five  thousand  pilgrims  had 
visited  the  city. 


lum  where  she  had  taken  refuge,  and 
moved  with  downcast  eyes  toward  the 
place  of  execution.  A  few  steps  from  the 
tree  of  infamy,  rough  soldiers  were  casting 
lots  for  the  seamless  robe  which  she  had 
spun  with  her  hands,2  and  were  noisily 
dividing  those  sacred  garments  which  had 
wrought  so  many  miracles.3  A  slight  shud¬ 
der  passed  over  Mary’s  features  ;  she 
thought  of  the  time  when,  rich  only  in  the 
love  of  Jesus,  but  free  from  immediate 
cares,  she  labored  at  even  beside  him 
weaving  this  holiday  tunic,  and  this  thought 
gave  a  desolating  sorrow,  for  the  lightning 
flash  which  showed  her  in  the  past  her 
days  of  happiness  only  deepened  the  dark¬ 
ness  of  her  misery.  She  raised  up  her 
eyes  to  heaven,  to  seek  thence,  as  she  ever 
did,  strength  to  suffer,  and  her  look  met 
that  of  the  crucified  God.  At  that  dread¬ 
ful  spectacle  her  languid  feet  were  rooted 
to  the  ground,  and  she  was  petrified  with 
so  great  horror,  with  so  frightful  a  shock, 
that  all  she  had  hitherto  undergone  ap¬ 
peared  to  her  simply  a  sorrowful  dream — 
a  frightful,  but  almost  effaced  vision  ;  all 
was  absorbed  in  the  cross.4 

Jesus,  casting  on  the  Blessed  Virgin  a 
sweet  and  mysterious  look,  seemed  to  say 
to  her,  as  on  the  previous  evening  to  his 
apostles,  “Mother,  the  hour  is  come  !” 


( 4 )  The  Fathers  and  the  doctors  of  the  church 
place  the  sufferings  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  Cal¬ 
vary  above  those  of  all  the  martyrs.  “Virgo  uni- 
versos  martyres  tantum  excedit  quantum  sol  ad 
reliqua  astra,”  says  St.  Basil;  and  St.  Anselm 
adds,  “  Quidquid  crudelitatis  inffictmn  est  corpori- 
bus  martyrum,  leve  fuit  aut  potius  nihil  compara- 
tione  tuse  passionis.” — (De  Ex.  Virg.,  c.  5.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


173 


And  what  hour  ? 

The  most  memorable  hour,  the  hour, 
most  fruitful  in  extraordinary  events, 
which  the  suids  shadow  had  marked  since 
man  had  parcelled  out  the  duration  to  keep 
account  of  time  ;  the  hour  when  the  Son 
of  God  was  about  to  triumph  over  the 
world,  over  death  and  hell,  and  even  the 
divine  justice  itself ;  the  hour  for  the  ful¬ 
filment  of  the  oracles,  for  the  abolition  of 
sacrifices,  for  the  rehabilitation  of  woman, 
for  the  enfranchisement  of  the  slave,  for 
our  eternal  redemption.  And  before  the 
Virgin’s  eyes  there  seemed  to  pass  the 
patriarchs,  the  just  kings,  the  God-inspired 
prophets,  bowing  before  the  Christ,  as  did 
the  sheaves  of  Jacob’s  sons  before  the 
mysterious  sheaf  of  Joseph.  And  she 
seemed  to  behold  Moses  and  Aaron  laying 
at  the  foot  of  the  new  tree  of  life  the  ark 
of  the  covenant,  the  ephod,  the  rational, 
the  plate  of  gold,  and  the  almond  rod,  the 
symbol  of  the  Hebrew  priesthood,  whose 
mission  was  about  to  end ;  then  David, 
placing  there  his  prophetic  harp  beside  the 
sword  of  Phinees,  the  sacred  knife  of 
Abraham,  and  the  brazen  serpent.  The 
priests  and  the  victims,  the  rites  and 
ordinances,  types  and  symbols,  grouped 
around  the  cross,  await  there  their  consum¬ 
mation.;  and  the  book  with  seven  brazen 
seals  lay  open  at  the  feet  of  the  Gfreat 
High-Priest  according  to  the  Order  of 
Melchisedech,  who  succeeded  the  sons  of 
Aaron.  The  old  world,  receding  like  the 
waves,  which  fall  slowly  back  on  them¬ 
selves,  gave  place  to  other  forms.  Mary 
then  beheld  in  thought  all  the  nations  of 
earth  waiting  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  to 


receive  the  gospel.  Ethiopia  and  the 
islands  stretched  out  their  hands  toward 
the  Messias  ;  the  desert,  which  began  to 
rejoice,  blossomed  like  the  rose  ;  knowledge 
of  God  filled  the  earth,  as  the  great  waters 
cover  the  sandy  bed  of  the  oceans  ;  and  a 
thousand  voices  seemed  to  repeat  in  a 
thousand  barbarous  tongues,  “  Christ  hath 
triumphed,  blessed  be  his  name  !’’ 

The  noble  and  generous  woman  forgot 
for  a  time  the  keen  sufferings  which  tor¬ 
tured  her,  and  united  in  sympathy  with 
the  triumph  of  the  law  of  grace,  and  the 
great  social  regeneration  ;  but  the  vision 
of  glory  ere  long  vanished,  and  sorrow  re¬ 
entered  at  every  pore  ;  like  Rachel,  Mary 
wept  over  her  firstborn,  and  would  not  be 
comforted ! 

Meanwhile,  all  nature  seemed  to  parti¬ 
cipate  in  the  suffering  of  her  God  ;  the 
daylight  gradually  became  obscured,  and 
the  decreasing  light  threw  its  saddening 
tints  over  that  grand  and  sterile  landscape, 
so  fit  a  scene  for  the  crime  of  which  it  was 
the  theatre.  Each  moment  the  darkness 
deepened  ;  the  dew  fell  by  the  sudden 
interruption  of  the  heat  ;  the  screaming- 
eagles  sought  their  nightly  eyries ;  the 
jackals  howled  along  the  banks  of  Cedron  ; 
and  Calvary — in  itself  so  melancholy — 
assumed  the  appearance  of  a  vast  bier  of 
black  marble.  The  crowd,  oppressed  by 
this  unwonted  event,  began  to  sink  into 
the  silence  of  awe  ;  and  a  few  scattering, 
disdainful  voices — the  voices  of  the  Phari¬ 
sees  and  chiefs  of  the  synagogue — alone 
continued  to  curse  the  Christ. 

Soon,  through  the  dark  crape  which 
veiled  the  face  of  the  firmament,  the  stars 


174 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


came  forth  like  funeral  torches  burning 
round  a  coffin,  and  cast  a  blue  unearthly 
light  upon  the  scene  of  the  deicide,  in  which 
the  masses  of  spectators  grouped  on  the 
sides  of  Grihon  appeared  like  an  assembly 
of  demons  and  spectres.  Looking  at  each 
other,  their  cheeks  blanched.  In  vain  did 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees — plunged  too 
deep  in  the  waters  of  crime  to  attempt  to 
regain  the  bank— strive  to  attribute  this 
prodigy  to  natural  causes  ;  the  more 
prolonged  the  absence  of  light,  the  less 
conclusive  did  their  reasons  appear.  The 
aged,  shaking  their  gray  heads,  declared 
that  they  had  never  seen  such  an  eclipse  ; 
and  the  learned,  versed  in  the  science  of 
the  Chaldeans,  maintained,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  no  eclipse  was  either  foreseen 
or  possible  in  the  actual  position  of  the  -r 
moon.1 

This  eclipse,  of  three  hours’  length,  was 
one  of  the  Messianic  prodigies  which  were 
to  mark  the  anger  of  Heaven  when  Christ 
was  put  to  death.  The  prophet  Amos  had 
said:  “In  that  day,  saith  the  Lord  Gfod, 
that  the  sun  shall  go  down  at  mid-day,  and 
I  will  make  the  earth  dark  in  the  day  of 
light.”  This  darkness  extended  to  Egypt, 
where  St.  Dionysius,  the  Areopagite,  was 
at  that  time  studying  philosophy  at  Her- 
mopolis.  Struck  with  terror,  the  young 


( 1 )  Phlegon  relates  that  in  the  202d  Olympiad, 
corresponding  with  the  year  33  of  our  era,  there 
was  the  greatest  eclipse  of  the  sun  ever  seen,  and 
that  at  the  hour  of  noon  the  stars  appeared  in  the 
heavens;  but  as  astronomy  shows  that  there  was 
no  eclipse  in  that  year,  it  obliges  ns  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  the  cause  of  that  darkness  was  wholly 
supernatural.  "  We  observed,”  says  St.  Dionysius 


Greek  cried  out  to  his  preceptor,  Apol- 
lophanes,  “Either  the  world  is  coming  to  an 
end ,  or  the  God  of  nature  suffers”2 

Amid  the  general  consternation,  Jesus 
was  engaged  with  the  faithful  friends  who 
had  rallied  round  his  cross  in  the  hour  of 
his  ignominy.  Touched  with  the  courage 
of  John,  and  the  profound  sorrow  which 
this  young  and  ardent  disciple  made  no 
effort  to  conceal,  he  would  fain  leave  him 
a  pledge  of  his  divine  affection.  He  could 
not  bequeath  to  him  a  part  of  his  earthly 
goods  ;  he  wh©  had  not  a  stone  whereon  to 
lay  his  head,  who  was  soon  to  be  indebted 
to  the  charity  of  a  disciple,  even  the  charity 
of  a  tomb  ;  he  had  nothing  left  in  the  world 
but  his  mother ! — his  mother,  who  had 
never  left  him,  and  who  was  dying  of  his 
death.  He  solemnly  bequeathed  her  to 
his  favorite  disciple,  as  an  earnest  of  those 
heavenly  goods  which  he  reserved  for  him 
in  the  kingdom  of  his  Father.  Knowing 
to  what  a  degree  he  was  loved  by  these 
two  holy  souls,  he  foresaw,  with  his  ador¬ 
able  goodness,  the  dreadful  isolation  in 
which  his  death  was  about  to  leave  them, 
and  would  strengthen  these  two  unsup¬ 
ported  plants,  by  intertwining  their  separ¬ 
ated  branches. 

By  this  disposition,  which  added  a  new 
and  cherished  interest  to  her  life,  the  Vir- 


the  Areopagite — who  was  at  that  time  at  Heli¬ 
opolis — -“that  the  moon  came  unexpectedly  to  in¬ 
terpose  between  the  sun  and  the  earth,  although 
it  was  not  the  time  for  such  a  conjunction  in  th<> 
natural  order  of  those  laws  to  which  the  heavenlv 
bodies  are  subject,  &c.” — (Seventh  Epistle  to  Polv- 
carp.) 

(2)  Ibid. 


■ 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  175 

gin  must  have  understood  that  it  was  not 

his  will,  he  uttered  a  loud  cry,  inclined  his 

granted  her  to  follow  her  Son  to  the  tomb, 

head,  and  expired  !  .  .  .  . 

and  that  she  had  not  reached  the  limit  of 

At  that  moment  the  idols  of  paganism 

her  pilgrimage*  on  earth.  She  resigned 

tottered  upon  their  pedestals  ;  the  star  of 

herself  to  the  divine  decrees  out  of  love 

Moses,  which  had  shone  for  only  one  point 

for  us,  whom  she  adopted  in  the  person  of 

of  the  globe,  and  was  to  shine  only  for  a 

the  holy  Apostle.  Humanly  speaking,  the 

time,  descended  to  the  horizon  of  the  val- 

sacrifice  of  Mary  then  almost  equalled  that 

leys,  and  the  sun  of  the  gospel,  destined 

of  Jesus.  He  willingly  consented  to  die  ; 

to  illuminate  the  world  from  pole  to  pole, 

she  to  live !  .  .  .  .  They  were  two  mighty 

and  to  endure  as  long  as  the  world,  arose 

hearts,  inflamed  with  love  for  men,  and 

brilliantly  in  the  east.  But  God  owed 

alone  fully  understanding  each  other  ;  for 

prodigies  to  the  despised  dignity  of  his 

their  thoughts  were  not  our  thoughts, 

Son,  and  they  were  not  delayed.  To  the 

and  the  gold  of  their  virtues  was  un- 

supernatural  darkness,  which  began  to 

alloyed. 

break  away,  succeeded  the  horrible  con- 

The  manner  in  which  Jesus  bequeathed 

vulsions  of  an  earthquake,  which  over- 

Mary  to  the  young  fisherman  of  Bethsaida 

threw  twenty  cities  in  Asia.1  At  the  same 

was  dignified  and  simple,  like  all  the  acts 

time,  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent,  the 

of  his  mortal  career:  “Woman,  behold 

rocks  were  split,  and  many  bodies  of  the 

thy  son,”  and  to  the  beloved  disciple,  “Be- 

saints,  which  were  in  the  sleep  of  death, 

hold  thy  mother.” 

arose  and  came  into  Jerusalem,  where  they 

If  he  did  not,  when  speaking  to  his 

spread  fresh  terror  among  the  affrighted 

mother,  use  a  more  tender  name,  it  was 

people. 

because  he  knew  the  power  of  the  name 

Then  came  a  wonderful  reaction  in  fa- 

which  he  thought  proper  to  omit,  and  be- 

vor  of  Jesus  :  the  centurion  and  his  sol- 

cause  he  would  not  reopen  such  deep  and 

diers,  who  had  presided  at  the  execution, 

sensitive  wounds. 

cried  out  with  one  voice  that  the  prophet 

“Afterward,  Jesus,  knowing  that  all 

of  Nazareth  was  certainly  more  than  man  ; 

things  were  now  accomplished,  that  the 

and  that  immense  multitude  of  people,  who 

Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled,  said,  I  thirst. 

had  overwhelmed  the  dying  Saviour  with 

“  Now  there  was  a  vessel  set  there  full 

insult,  shouts,  and  derision,  returned  down 

of  vinegar.  And  they  put  a  sponge  full 

the  mountain  striking  their  breasts,  and 

of  vinegar  about  hyssop,  and  put  it  to  his 

repeating  with  terror,  “  Indeed  this  was 

mouth.” 

the  Son  of  God  !” 

Infamous  to  the  very  end  ! 

In  the  midst  of  the  cries  of  distress  of 

Jesus  having  taken  the  vinegar,  said, 

— 

“  It  i*  consummated .”  Then,  wishing  to 

( 1 )  Pliny  and  Strabo  speak  of  this  earthquake. 

prove  to  the  world  that  he  died,  not  by 

“It  was  so  violent,”  say  both  these  authors,  “that 

• 

the  power  of  death,  but  by  a  formal  act  of 

it  was  felt  even  as  far  as  Italy.” 

- 

% 


176 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


the  people,  who  fled  without  knowing 
which  way  to  turn  their  steps,  and  while 
Golgotha  was  rending  her  rocky  sides, 
there  was  seen,  by  the  pale  light  which 
gleamed  on  this  scene  of  horror,  a  woman 
standing  completely  unmoved  amid  the 
convulsions  and  ruins  of  nature.  This 
woman  seemed  inaccessible  to  the  general 
alarm  ;  her  hands  clasped  in  the  attitude 
of  prayer,  she  was  absorbed  in  the  sor¬ 
rowful  contemplation  of  the  crucified 
prophet. 

And  the  daughters  of  Jerusalem  began 
to  shed  fresh  tears,  saying  with  compas¬ 
sion,  “Poor  mother!” 

Toward  evening,  the  Pharisees,  unwill¬ 
ing  that  the  bodies  should  remain  on  the 
cross,  lest  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath, 
which  began  at  nightfall,  should  be  vio¬ 
lated,  went  to  request  of  Pilate  permission 
to  take  them  away.  This  permission 
granted,  they  set  up  ladders  against  the 
gibbets  where  the  two  crucified  thieves 
were  hung  in  their  death-throes,  and  bru¬ 
tally  tearing  loose  their  feet  and  hands, 
they  hastened  death  by  breaking  their 
arms  and  legs.  As  Jesus  was  quite  dead,1 
a  soldier  contented  himself  with  piercing 


( 1 )  According  to  the  Mussulmans,  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  dead.  “The  Jews  did  not  put  Jesus  Christ 
to  death,”  says  Mahomet;  “a  phantom  body  dt- 
ceived  their  barbarity ;  they  did  not  crucify  him; 
God  assumed  him  to  himself.” — (Koran,  c.  4.) 
The  Mussulman  tradition  says,  that  when  the 
pidgment  trumpet  shall  sound,  A'isa  (Jesus)  will 
descend  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  announce  to 
all  its  inhabitants  the  great  day  of  the  last  judg¬ 
ment;  then  he  will  die,  and  be  buried  at  the  side 
of  Mahomet;  when  the  dead  shall  come  forth  from 
their  graves,  both  shall  arise  together,  and  ascend 


blis  side  with  a  lance,  and  the  divine  blood 
which  was  to  wash  the  world  from  crime 
gushed  in  full  torrents  upon  the  earth. 
At  some  distance,  two  women  covered 
with  veils,  one  of  whom  leaned  upon 
the  other  in  an  attitude  which  be¬ 
tokened  the  most  heart-rending  grief, 
timidly  beheld  the  work  of  the  Roman  sol¬ 
diers  :  they  were  Mary  and  Magdalen,  for 
Magdalen  too  was  there  ;  and  in  the  dis¬ 
tance  were  discerned  the  other  women  from 
Galilee,  who  had  left  all  to  belong  to 
Jesus,  and  who  had  not  forsaken  him  in 
the  hour  of  punishment  and  ignominy. 
“Honor  to  them!”  says  Abeilard,  “for 
when  the  disciples  and  apostles  fled  like 
cowards  to  the  mountains,  these  weak  but 
courageous  creatures  accompanied  Christ 
even  to  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  did  not 
leave  him  till  he  was  laid  in  the  sepul¬ 
chre  !” 

Then  came  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a  rich 
senator,  who  had  obtained  from  Pontius 
Pilate  the  body  of  Jesus,  of  whom  he  was 
secretly  a  disciple,  in  order  to  pay  him  the 
honors  of  sepulture.  He  took  him  down 
from  the  cross,  and  prepared  to  wrap  him  up 
in  a  winding-sheet  of  fine  Egyptian  linen, 


into  heaven.  Burckhardt,  who  visited  the  great 
mosque  of  Medina,  where  are  the  tombs  of  Ma¬ 
homet,  Aboubekir,  and  Omar,  three  tombs  of  black 
stone,  covered  with  precious  stuffs  and  surrounded 
with  magnificent  votive  offerings,  says  that  a  va¬ 
cant  place  has  been  left  by  the  side  of  Mahomet’s 
tomb  for  the  reception  of  Jesus  after  his  death. 
Above  this  place  and  the  tomb  of  Mahomet,  was 
hung  a  magnificent  brocade  enriched  with  dia¬ 
monds,  which  was  stolen  by  Sioud  when  he  took 
Medina. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


which  he  had  purchased  at  Jerusalem, 
when  he  beheld  at  his  feet,  a  woman  pale 
as  death,  with  arms  outstretched,  in  the 
most  touching  and  sublime  grief,  to  receive 
the  crucified  God.  This  woman,  whose 
whole  body  quivered  with  anguished  shud- 
derings,  could  no  longer  command  her 
voice  to  articulate  the  prayer  that  seemed 
to  hover  on  her  lips,  but  on  her  tear-stained 
countenance  there  was  not  a  muscle  that 
did  not  implore.  The  senator,  recognizing 
Mary,  made  a  gesture  of  compassionate 
sympathy,  and  laid  upon  her  trembling 
knees  the  divine  burthen  which  he  had 
respectfully  received  on  his  shoulders. 
Then  could  the  Blessed  Virgin  give  way 


177 


to  the  better  joy  of  clasping  to  her  heart, 
suffering  and  bleeding,  alas,  as  though 
pierced  by  a  thousand  swords,  the  dis¬ 
figured  body  of  her  Son,  and  of  pressing 
her  livid  lips  on  the  wounds  made  by  the 
nails  of  the  cross.  Magdalen  kneeling, 
bathed  in  her  burning  tears,  the  bleeding 
feet  of  her  Lord,  and  mourned  like  a 
wounded  dove.  In  the  background  of  this 
woeful  picture  were  the  weeping  women  of 
Galilee.1  During  this  time  some  of  Joseph's 
retainers  were  preparing  the  spices  on  the 
Stone  of  the  Unction,2  and  others  opened 
the  sepulchre  hewn  in  the  rock,  which  was 
to  receive  the  mortal  remains  of  the  Sod 
of  God. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

mary’s  death. 


STILLNESS  began  to  revive,  and  the 
signs  of  heavenly  wrath  had  ceased 
to  alarm  the  Jews  who  had  just  shed  the 
Saviour’s  blood.  Like  all  ferocious  animals, 
the  executioners  of  Christ  had  for  the 
moment  forgotten  their  savage  instincts  in 
the  hour  of  danger.  Terror-struck  at  first 
at  what  they  had  done,  they  trembled  lest 
the  tottering  rocks  of  Calvary  should  crush 
them  in  their  fall,  or  the  earth  engulf  them 

( 1 )  There  are  authors  who  maintain  that  these 
holy  women  gathered  the  earth  bedewed  with  the 
precious  blood  of  Jesus,  and  that  by  this  means 
some  churches  in  France,  such  as  St.  Denis  and 
the  Sainte  Chapelle  at  Paris,  have  obtained  it. 


alive  in  the  gloomy  depths  of  scheol ;  but 
their  remorse  vanished  with  their  fear,  and 
they  gradually  returned  to  their  venomous 
and  malicious  disposition  as  they  beheld 
the  heavens  grow  clear. 

Unable  to  deny  the  prodigies  to  which 
an  immense  people  had  been  eye-witnesses, 
and  which  were  attested  by  the  mountain’s 
yawning  sides,  the  scarce  closed  tombs,  and 
the  tattered  veil  of  the  temple,  they  as- (*) 

( * )  The  Stone  of  Unction  is  now  in  the  chapel 
of  Calvary.  In  order  to  preserve  it,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  cover  it  with  a  whole  marble  and 
surround  it  by  an  iron  railing. 


178 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


cribed  them  to  magic,  and  maintained  that 
Jesus,  so  mighty  in  word  and  work,  was 
only  a  son  of  Belial,  who  had  fascinated  the 
people  and  commanded  the  elements  by 
means  of  the  ineffable  name  of  the  God  of 
Israel,  which  he  had  stolen  by  strategem 
from  the  Holy  of  Holies.1  And  the  people 
allowed  themselves  to  be  caught  by  this 
ridiculous  falsehood  which  their  leaders 
gave  them  to  ruminate  on  •  for  no  absurd 
calumny  but  finds  credulous  ears  to  accept 
and  apt  tongues  to  spread  it.  However, 
a  vigilant  guard,  selected  from  the  high- 
priest’s  satellites,  kept  armed  watch 
around  the  sepulchre  ;  for  Jesus  had  an¬ 
nounced  that  he  would  rise  on  the  third 
day,  and  the  princes  of  the  synagogues 
pretended  to  fear  lest  his  disciples  should 
carry  him  off  by  night. 

The  third  day  began  to  dawn, .  and  the 
east  was  scarcely  tinged  with  color  when 
several  women  of  Galilee,  bearing  per¬ 
fumes  and  aromatic  plants  to  embalm  Jesus, 
after  the  manner  of  the  kings  of  Juda,2 
appeared  on  the  mount  of  execution, 
walking  pensively  toward  the  garden  which 
contained  the  sepulchre  of  Jesus.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  tradition  Mary  was  among  these  holy 
women.  Her  dejected  countenance  resem¬ 
bled  a  fair  ruin  prostrated  by  the  whirl¬ 
wind  of  adversity,  but  her  look  expressed 
more  than  grief— it  depicted  expectation. 
The  deicide  city  slept  wrapped  in  the 
transparent  mists  of  morning  ;  flowers 
were  opening  their  dew-laden  petals,  birds 
were  singing  on  the  humid  branches  of  the 

( 1 )  See  Basnage,  I.  vii.,  27,  28. 

( 1 )  It  is  evident  that  they  proposed  embalming 


wild  fig,  and  the  sun,  one  might  say,  was 
gemming  with  rubies  the  blue  vault  of  the 
firmament :  nature  seemed  to  put  on  with 
unwonted  joy,  her  brilliant  robe  of  light, 
and  that  imposing  but  sad  and  gloomy 
landscape,  which  surrounds  Jerusalem,  as¬ 
sumed  a  sweeter  and  more  cheerful  expres¬ 
sion  than  it  had  ever  yet  known,  proclaiming 
apparently  a  glorious  mystery,  which  it 
wished  to  keep  in  secret. 

Suddenly,  amid  this  smilng  scene,  a 
shock  is  felt ;  the  stone  which  closed  the 
sepulchre  rolled  over  as  if  pushed  by  a 
powerful  arm ;  the  guards  fell  on  their 
faces  on  the  ground  half  dead,  and  the 
women,  who  had  not  deserted  J esus  on  the, 
cross,  turned  pale  and  shrunk  back,  fearing 
to  behold  once  more  renewed  the  fearful 
prodigies  that  attended  the  Son  of  Man. 

But  an  angel  whose  robes  outshone  in 
whiteness  the  mountain  snows,  and  whose 
gracious  brow  flashed  like  lightning,  seated 
himself  on  the  stone  of  the  sepulchre,  and 
reassured  tl^e  handmaids  of  Jesus  Christ. 
“  Fear  not  you,”  said  he  in  a  gentle  voice, 
“for  I  know  that  you  seek  Jesus  who  was 
crucified  :  he  is  not  here,  for  he  is  risen  as 
he  said.  Come  and  see  the  place  where 
the  Lord  was  laid.” 3  While  the  pious 
women  of  Galilee  timidly  entered  the  sep¬ 
ulchre,  and  wondered  at  the  sight  of  the 
sudarium  and  the  cloths  perfumed  with 
myrrh,  which  were  left  on  its  edge,  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  her  countenance  radiant 
with  interior  joy,  remained  leaning  against 
an  aged  olive-tree  at  some  distance.  A 

Jesus  in  a  new  manner,  as  Mcodemus  had  already 
trapped  him  in  bands  of  myrrh. 

( 3 )  St.  Matthew,  xxviii.  5,  6. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


178 


young  man  in  the  careless  attire  of  the  com¬ 
mon  people,  was  conversing  with  her  in  a 
low  tone.  This  young  man  was  “  the  first¬ 
born  among  the  dead,”  the  glorious  con¬ 
queror  of  hell,  Jesus  Christ.1  What 
passed  in  that  solemn  interview  no  man 
hath  known,  but  we  may  believe  that 
Mary,  whose  valiant  soul  had  undergone 
the  highest  possible  paroxysm  of  grief, 
then  felt  a  degree  of  joy  which  we  could 
not  experience  and  live. 

Our  Lord,  during  the  forty  days  which 
followed  his  resurrection,  frequently  ap¬ 
peared  to  the  apostles,  and  conversed  with 
them  on  matters  which  concerned  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God,  and  the  regeneration  to  be 
wrought  by  baptism.  Pious  authors  have 
supposed  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  the 
most  favored  in  these  consoling  apparitions, 
and  there  enjoyed  a  foretaste  of  the  hap¬ 
piness  of  the  elect.  The  bitter  waters  of 
her  affliction  were  changed  into  fountains 
of  grace,  and  our  Saviour  fed  her  with  the 
hidden  manna  reserved  for  those  who  keep 
the  patience  prescribed  by  his  word. 

At  last  the  hour  arrived  when  the  divine 
decrees  recalled  the  Messias  to  heaven,  his 
mission  of  redemption  was  accomplished, 
and  the  apostles,  whom  his  resurrection  had 
fully  convinced  of  his  divinity,  had  re¬ 
ceived  from  him  the  necessary  instructions 
to  convert  the  nations  to  his  admirable 
gospel. 

( 1 )  Saint  Ambrose,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  cen¬ 
tury,  says  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  the  first  who 
had  the  happiness  to  behold  our  Lord  after  his 
resurrection ;  and  the  poet  Sedulius,  who  flourished 
Boon  after  Saint  Ambrose,  also  embodies  this  tradi¬ 
tion  in  verse.  Both  speak  of  it  as  a  generally 


In  the  noon  of  the  fortieth  day  he  pro¬ 
ceeded  with  them  forth  from  Jerusalem, 
and  bent  his  way  to  the  heights  of  Bethany. 
This  direction  was  not  taken  at  random  ; 
there  was  that  olive-crowned  mount,  where 
our  Saviour,  withdrawing  from  the  crowds, 
had  often  prayed  to  his  Father  at  the  hour 
when  the  silent  moon  illumined  with  its 
opal  disc  the  leaden  waters  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  the  green  valley  of  Jordan,  and  the 
giant  palms  of  the  plain  of  Jericho,  distant 
spots  that  seemed  spread  out  at  its  foot. 
There,  too,  was  that  celebrated  garden 
where  Jesus  had  undergone  in  pain  the 
first  pangs  of  his  agony.  It  was  just  that 
his  glory  should  commence  on  the  same 
spots  where  his  generous  sufferings  had 
opened,  and  that  these  fields,  these  woods, 
these  shady  solitudes,  which  had  so  often 
witnessed  his  meditations  and  prayers, 
should  receive  the  impress  of  the  last  step 
he  made  before  ascending  to  heaven. 

On  reaching  the  summit  of  this  high 
mountain  whence  he  could  descry  a  large 
part  of  Judea  and  bid  farewell  to  the  spots 
which  he  had  rendered  famous  by  his 
miracles  and  death,  our  Saviour  halted  on 
an  open  space,  a  slight  distance  from  a 
grove  of  olive-trees,  which  spread  their 
pale  foliage  to  the  burning  noonday  sun. 
There,  after  raising  his  hands,  still  pierced 
by  the  nails  of  the  cross,  towards  his  hea¬ 
venly  Father,  as  if  to  commend  to  him 

received  belief  among  Christians.  The  Arab  his¬ 
torians  have  preserved  this  tradition:  Ismael,  son 
of  Ali,  relates  that  Jesus  descended  from  heaven 
to  comfort  his  mother  who  was  mourning  for  him. 
An  altar  has  been  erected  on  the  spot  where  this 
touching  interview  occurred. 


180 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


his  infant  church,  he  lowered  them  over 
his  Mother  and  his  disciples,  as  Jacob  had 
done  for  the  sons  of  Joseph  ;  then  he  rose 
by  his  own  power,  and  ascended  slowly 
into  the  heavens.  This  last  of  our  Lord 
worthily  sealed  his  divine  mission.  During 
his  life  he  went  about  doing  good  ;  on  Cal¬ 
vary  he  prayed  for  his  executioners,  and  he 
ascended  to  heaven  blessing  the  humble 
friends  whom  he  left  behind  him  on  earth. 
While  he  still  held  his  hands  extended 
over  his  prostrate  disciples,  they  beheld 
him  enter  a  white  cloud  which  hid  him 
from  their  eyes. 

Our  Lord’s  ascension  had  none  of  that 
gloomy  and  terrible  character  which,  in  the 
olden  days,  froze  the  nations  with  fear. 
The  law  of  Moses  had  been  proclaimed  at 
the  sound  of  trumpets,  amid  the  roar  of 
thunders,  by  the  weird  gleam  of  lightning  ; 
Elias  had  been  rapt  to  heaven  in  a  fiery 
chariot,  but  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was 
borne  gently  on  a  light  cloud,  with  that 
serene  and  calm  majesty,  that  was  in  unison 
with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  and  the  touch¬ 
ing  character  of  its  Author. 

Angels,  those  spirits  of  good,  who  rejoice 
at  man’s  happiness,  also  took  part  in  this 
scene,  which  closed  the  great  drama  of 
Redemption.  Their  divine  chaunts  had 
announced  to  the  shepherds  the  birth  of 
the  Messias  King  ;  their  voices  had  pro¬ 
claimed  his  resurrection  from  the  dead  ;  it 
was  proper  that  their  words  should  come  to 
confirm  his  glorious  ascension. 

While  the  disciples  stood  watching  Jesus 
ascend  into  heaven,  two  men  clad  in  white 
suddenly  appeared  to  (hem  and  said  :  “  Ye 
men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  you  looking  up 


to  heaven?  This  Jesus  who  is  taken  up 
from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  as  you 
have  seen  him  going  into  heaven.” 1 

The  apostles  and  the  disciples  cast  down 
their  eyes  dazzled  at  the  voice  of  the 
angels,  but  did  the  Blessed  Virgin  look 
down  ?  Was  it  denied  her  to  see  her  divine 
Son  majestically  take  his  place  at  the  right 
hand  of  JehoVah  in  the  inaccessible  light 
of  the  saints?  Was  she  really  less  favored 
than  Saint  Stephen  and  fhe  beloved  dis¬ 
ciple?  This  is  scarcely  to  be  presumed. 
She  who  was  morally  crucified  with  Jesus 
on  Calvary  merited  to  be  glorified  with  him. 
It  was  her  right.  She  had  bought  it  at  a 
high  price !  Yes  ;  Mary’s  mortal  vision 
must  have  penetrated  to  that  peaceful, 
blessed  region,  whose  door  Jesus  had  just 
thrown  open  to  us  by  his  blood,  and  where 
he  himself  wipes  away  the  tears  from  the 
eyes*  of  the  just :  then  the  pearl  gates3  of 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem  closed  slowly  on 
the  triumphing  God,  and  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
parted  for  a  brief  time  from  Him  whom 
she  loved,  found  herself  alone  on  earth, 
like  an  uprooted  ivy. 

Forty  days  after  we  find  her  in  prayer 
in  the  Upper  Room,  where  she  received 
the  Holy  Ghost  with  the  apostles. 

Mary  was  the  pillar  of  light  which  guided 
the  first  steps  of  the  new-formed  Church. 
To  her  the  apostles  offered  in  homage  the 
countless  ears  of  wheat,  which  they  plucked 
from  the  rebellious  field  of  the  synagogue 
to  treasure  them  up  in  the  granaries  of  the  * 
Head  of  the  family.  She  accepted  this 


( 1 )  Acts,  i.  11.  ( a )  Apoc.,  xxi.  4. 

( ’ )  Apoc.,  xxi.  21. 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


181 


tribute  in  the  name  of  her  Son,  with  a 
humility  full  of  grace,  and  she  was  con¬ 
stantly  seen  surrounded  by  the  poor,  the 
wretched,  and  the  sinful ;  for  she  always 
loved  with  a  love  of  predilection  those 
whom  she  could  benefit.  The  evangelists 
came  to  ask  her  for  light ;  the  apostles  for 
unction,  courage,  constancy  ;  and  the  afflict¬ 
ed  for  spiritual  consolation  ;  all  departed 
blessing  her  ;  the  Sun  of  Justice  had  set 
beneath  the  bloody  horison  of  Golgotha, 
but  the  Star  of  the  Sea  still  reflected  its 
mildest  rays  upon  the  restored  world,  and 
shed  its  benign  influence  upon  the  cradle 
of  Christianity. 

The  Blessed  Virgin  remained  at  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  till  the  terrible  persecution  which  broke 
out  against  the  Christians  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  44,  compelled  her  to  leave  it  with 
the  apostles.  Her  adopted  son  then  con¬ 
ducted  her  to  Ephesus,  whither  Magdalen 
also  chose  to  follow  her. 

Nothing  remains  to  us  as  to  Mary’s  resi¬ 
dence  at  Ephesus  ;  this  silence  is  easily  ex¬ 
plained  by  the  preoccupations  of  the  time. 
After  our  Saviour’s  resurrection,  the  apos¬ 
tles,  devoted  exclusively  to  propagating  the 
faith,  assigned  a  secondary  place  to  all  that 
did  not,  in  a  direct  and  striking  manner, 
contribute  to  this  absorbing  interest.  Full 
of  their  high  mission,  given  wholly  to  the 
salvation  of  souls,  they  forgot  self  so  pro¬ 
foundly,  that  they  have  scarcely  left  us  a 
lew  incomplete  documents  on  the  evangel¬ 
ical  labors  which  changed  the  face  of  the 
globe,  so  that  their  history  resembles  a 
sublime  epitaph,  but  almost  effaced,  lacking 
both  the  commencement  and  the  close. 
That  the  Mother  of  Jesus  should  share  the 


*  lot  of  the  apostles  is  easily  conceived  ;  the 
last  years  of  her  life  having  glided  away 
far  from  Jerusalem,  in  a  strange  land,  where 
her  stay  was  unmarked  by  any  striking 
event,  offer  only  a  plain  surface,  which  has 
not  left  any  durable  impress  in  the  fugitive 
memory  of  man.  Nevertheless  the  flour¬ 
ishing  state  of  the  Church  at*  Ephesus,  its 
tender  devotion  to  Mary,  and  the  eulogiums 
bestowed  by  St.  Paul  on  their  piety,  show 
sufficiently  the  fruitful  care  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  the  divine  benedictions  which 
followed  her  wherever  she  went.  The  Rose 
of  Jesse  left  some  of  her  perfume  in  the 
air,  and  this  vestige,  slight  as  it  might  be, 
is  a  precious  revelation  of  its  passage. 

The  shores  of  Asia  Minor,  studded  with 
opulent  cities,  glowing  with  wondrous 
vegetation,  and  washed  by  a  sea  ploughed 
in  all  directions  by  countless  vessels,  would 
have  appeared,  to  ordinary  exiles,  a  splen¬ 
did  compensation  for  Palestine’s  tall,  sterile 
mountains  :  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  Vir¬ 
gin  of  Nazareth  so  regarded  it :  the  foot¬ 
prints  of  the  Man  God  had  not  hallowed 
this  enchanted  land ;  the  tombs  of  her 
fathers  were  not  there.  .  .  . 

How  often,  seated  beneath  a  plane-tree 
on  the  shore  of  that  fair  Icarian  sea  whose 
billows  died  away  at  the  foot  of  the  myr¬ 
tles  on  a  narrow  belt  of  sand,  did  Mary 
and  Magdalen,  following  with  their  eyes 
some  Greek  galley  as  it  turned  its  prow 
toward  Syria,  call  up  memories  of  their  na¬ 
tive  land!  The  unsullied  snows  of  Libanus, 
the  bluish  summits  of  Carmel,  the  waters 
of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  then  recurred  in 
their  conversation  ;  the  sites  of  their  distant 
fatherland,  beautified  by  absence,  passed 


182 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


one  after  another  before  them,  in  their  eyes 
a  thousand  times  to  be  preferred  before 
this  luxurious  and  smiling  Ionia,  which, 
compared  to  the  land  of  Jehovah,  is  as 
Anacreon’s  lyre  to  the  harp  of  David. 

It  was  during  her  stay  at  Ephesus  that 
the  Blessed  Virgin  lost  the  faithful  com¬ 
panion,  who,* like  another  Ruth,  had  left  her 
country  and  people,  to  follow  her  beyond 
the  seas  ;  Magdalen  died,  and  Mary  be¬ 
wailed  her  as  Jesus  had  wept  for  Lazarus.1 

Of  all  those  ties  of  affection  and  kindred, 
only  St.  John  was  left  to  Mary,  that  good 
and  amiable  disciple  to  whom  her  dying 
Son  had  bequeathed  her  ;  she  followed  him, 
it  is  believed,  in  his  journeys,  and  it  was 
doubtless  in  his  conversations  with  the 
Queen  of  Prophets  that  St.  John  perfected 
the  wondrous  science  which  he  displays  in 
his  gospel.  Aided  by  the  lights  of  her 
whom  the  Fathers  have  compared  to  the 
seven-branched  golden  candlestick,  the 
young  fisherman  of  Bethasida  penetrated 
more  deeply  than  any  other  has  done  into 
the  incomprehensible  mystery  of  the  un- 

( 1 )  We  read  in  some  Greek  authors  of  the 
seventh  and  succeeding  centuries,  that  after  our 
Lord’s  ascension,  Mary  Magdalen  accompanied 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  John  to  Ephesus;  that 
she  died  and  was  buried  in  that  city.  This  is  also 
the  opinion  of  Modestus,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
who  flourished  in  920;  of  St.  Gregory  of  Tours 
and  Saint  Willebald.  The  last-named,  in  the  ac¬ 
count  of  his  voyage  to  Jerusalem,  says  that  he  saw 
at  Ephesus  the  tomb  of  Saint  Mary  Magdalen. 
The  Emperor  Leo,  the  philosopher,  translated  her 
relics  from  Ephesus  to  Constantinople,  and  en¬ 
shrined  them  in  the  church  of  Saint  Lazarus  about 
890.  Another  tradition,  maintained  by  esteemed 
and  learned  men,  declares  that  Saint  Mary  Magda¬ 
len  terminated  her  days  in  Provence,  France :  we 


created  essence  of  the  Word,  and  his 
thought  soared  with  so  bold  a  flight  into 
the  mystical  heights  of  heaven,  that  beside 
him  the  other  evangelists  seem  but  to  skim 
along  the  earth.2 

Meanwhile  the  sowers  of  Christ  had 
scattered  the  good  seed  of  the  sacred  word 
over  all  points  of  the  Roman  world  ;  the 
gospel-harvest  was  green,  and  the  laborers 
of  the  Father  cultivated  with  ardor  the 
holy  field.  Mary  deemed  her  mission  upon 
earth  accomplished,  and  felt  that  the 
Church  could  henceforth  rely  upon  its  own 
strength.  Then,  like  a  wearied  harvester, 
who  seeks  at  noon  shade  and  repose,  she 
began  to  sigh  for  the  grateful  shade  of  the 
tree  of  life,  which  grows  by  the  Lord’s 
throne,  and  for  the  quick  and  sanctifying 
streams  which  water  it.3  He  who  sounds 
the  depths  of  the  soul  discerned  this  desire 
in  the  heart  of  his  Mother,  and  the  angel 
who  stands  on  his  right  hand  came  to 
announce  to  the  future  Queen  of  heaven 
that  her  Son  had  graciously  heard  her.4 

At  this  divine  revelation,  which  included, 

have  adopted  the  contrary  opinion  as  in  our  eyes 
more  probable,  but  without  deciding  the  question. 

( 2 )  Rupert,  the  abbot  (on  the  Canticle  of  Can¬ 
ticles),  assures  us  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  supplied 
by  her  lights,  what  the  holy  Ghost,  who  imparted 
himself  gradually  to  the  disciples,  had  not  chosen 
to  reveal  to  them,  and  the  Holy  Fathers  all  agree 
that  it  was  from  the  Blessed  Virgin  that  St.  Luke 
received  many  wonderful  and  detailed  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  childhood  of  Jesus. 

( 3 )  Apocalypse,  c.  xxvi.,  v.  1,  2. 

( 4 )  It  is  a  constant  tradition  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  received  the  announcement  of  her  ap¬ 
proaching  death  by  the  ministry  of  an  angel,  who 
informed  her  of ‘the  day  and  hour. — (Descoutures, 
p.  235 ;  F.  Croiset,  t.  xviii.,  p.  158.) 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  183 

as  Nicepkorus  assures  us,  that  of  the  day 

the  birthplace  of  Jupiter,  arose  in  turn 

and  hour  of  her  decease,  Abraham’s 

amid  the  waters,  with  their  verdant  moun- 

daughter  felt  her  heart  beat  quick  with 

tains  and  their  antique  temples,  people  full 

love  of  her  absent  country  ;  she  longed  to 

with  gods,  soon  to  be  banished  to  the 

gaze  once  more  on  the  lofty  mountains  of 

infernal  regions  by  the  God  crucified  on 

Judea, — still  throbbing  with  the  memories 

Golgotha.  At  some  distance  from  Cyprus, 

of  Redemption. — and  to  die  in  sight  of 

a  black  peak  was  distinguishable  in  the 

Calvary,  where  Jesus  had  expired.  St. 

clouds,  traced  upon  the  velvety  blue  sky  ; 

John,  to  whom  her  slightest  desires  had 

it  was  the  mount  where  the  prophet  Elias 

ever  been  as  commands,  immediately  pre- 

had  erected,  in  days  of  old,  an  altar  to  the 

pared  to  return  to  Palestine. 

future  Mother  of  the  Saviour,  and  where 

The  Hebrew  travellers  probably  em- 

his  disciples  were  about  to  place  themselves 

-barked  at  Miletus,  whose  famous  port  was 

under  her  powerful  protection.  The  next 

the  resort  of  the  galleys  from  Europe  and 

day,  the  oars  bore  the  galley  into  a  Syrian 

Asia,  which  navigated  those  seas.  While 

port,  perhaps  Sidon,  which  was  in  constant 

they  sailed  over  the  Grecian  seas,  the  Yir- 

commercial  intercourse  with  Palestine,  as 

gin  and  the  Evangelist  recognized,  as  they 

the  sacred  books  inform  us. 

passed,  the  island  of  Chios,  whose  people, 

They  returned  to  Israel,  after  an  absence 

long  holding  the  empire  of  the  sea,  were 

of  several  years.  Mary  retired  to  Mount 

the  first  to  introduce  the  odious  custom 

Sion,  not  far  from  the  ruined  and  deserted 

of  purchasing  slaves,  a  custom  which  the 

palace  of  the  ancient  princes  of  her  race, 

gospel  was  gradually  to  abolish  ;  then  Les- 

and  into  the  house  which  had  been  sancti- 

bos,  the  country  of  the  lyric  poets,  where 

tied  by  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

the  hymn  to  the  most  pure  Virgin  was  to 

St.  John  on  his  part  went  to  see  St.  James, 

succeed  the  burning  odes  of  Sappho,  and 

who  was  related  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

the  more  manly  songs  of  Alcaeus.  On 

and  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  to  inform  him,  as 

beholding  in  the  clouds  the  rounding  sum- 

well  as  the  faithful  who  composed  his  al- 

mit  of  the  temple  of  Esculapius,  which 

ready  numerous  Church,  that  the  Mother 

attracted  an  immense  concourse  of  strangers 

of  Jesus  had  come  among  them  to  die. 

to  the  island  of  Cos,  the  Mother  of  the 

It  was  the  day  and  the  hour  :  the  saints 

Saviour  of  men  bethought  her  of  her  divine 

of  Jerusalem  beheld  again  the  daughter  of 

Son,  who,  during  his  passage  upon  earth, 

David,  still  poor,  still  humble,  still  beauti- 

had  employed  his  divine  power  in  instantly 

ful ;  for  this  admirable  and  holy  creature 

healing  the  sick,  and  raising  the  dead  to 

seemed  to  have  escaped  the  destructive 

life.1  Delos,  the  cradle  of  Apollo,  Rhodes, 

agency  of  time,  and  predestined  from  her 

( 1 )  The  followers  of  Mahomet  have  preserved 

only  raised  the  dead,  but  could  even  give  life  to 

the  memory  of  the  miracles  of  Christ.  They  main- 

inanimate  things. — (D’Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Ori- 

tain  that  the  breath  of  our  Lord,  which  they  call 
“bad  Messih”  (the  breath  of  the  Messias),  not 

entale,  t.  i.,  p.  365.) 

184  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

birth  to  a  complete  and  glorious  immortal¬ 
ity,  nothing  in  her  was  to  decay.1  Serious, 
but  not  ill,  she  received  the  apostles  and 
disciples,  seated  on  a  small  bed,  poor  in 
appearance,  and  which  was  in  keeping  with 
that  of  a  woman  of  the  lower  orders, 
which  she  had  never  discontinued.  There 
was  something  so  solemn  and  affecting  in 
her  noble  and  modest  air,  that  the  whole 
assembly  burst  into  tears.  Mary  alone 
remained  calm  in  that  vast  and  lofty  cham¬ 
ber,  where  a  crowd  of  old  disciples  and 
new  Christians  gathered,  alike  eager  to 
hear  and  contemplate  her. 

Night  had  come  down,  and  many 
branched  lamps  seemed  to  throw,  with 
their  pale  light,  a  mysterious  solemnity 
upon  this  sad  and  silent  assembly.  The 
apostles,  deeply  moved,  stood  in  deep 
emotion  beside  the  death-bed.  St.  Peter, 
who  had  so  loved  the  Son  of  God  during 
his  life,  regarded  the  Virgin  with  intense 
sorrow,  and  his  speaking  look  seemed  to 
say  to  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  “How 
much  she  resembles  J esus  !  ”  The  likeness 
was  striking  indeed  ; 2  and  the  reclining 
attitude  of  Mary,  which  recalled  that  of 
our  Saviour  during  the  Last  Supper,  com¬ 
pleted  it.  St.  James,  who  received  from 
the  very  Jews  the  surname  of  “Just,” 
mastering  his  emotions,  suppressed  his 
tears  ;  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  a  man 
of  openness  and  first  impulse,  showed  how 
deeply  he  was  affected  ;  St.  John  hid  his 

head  in  one  of  the  folds  of  his  Grecian 
mantle,  but  his  sobs  betrayed  him.  There 
was  not  among  them  all  a  heart  that  was 
not  broken,  or  an  eye  which  was  not  moist. 
Mary,  sharing  the  general  emotion,  and 
forgetting  the  splendors  that  awaited  her 
on  high,  in  order  to  wipe  away  the  tears 
which  were  shed  on  earth,  raised  her  voice 
to  strengthen  the  faith  of  her  children,  to 
revive  their  holiest  hopes  and  enkindle 
their  charity  ;  she  spoke,  with  unrivalled 
eloquence,  those  lofty  and  sublime  things 
which  men  listen  to  breathlessly,  which 
exalt  man  above  himself,  and  strengthen 
him  to  undertake  what  is  most  arduous. 

Her  words,  so  sweet  that  the  Scripture 
poetically  compares  them  to  a  honeycomb, 
gradually  grew  stronger  ;  the  daughter  of 
David  and  Solomon,  the  inspired  prophet¬ 
ess  who  had  extemporized  the  “  Magnificat” 
hymn  of  triumph,  rose  to  such  sublime  con¬ 
siderations  that  every  one  forgot,  in  his  ec¬ 
stasy,  that  this  was  but  the  song  of  the  swan 
to  close  in  death.  The  fatal  hour  ap- 
jtroached.  Mary  extended  her  protecting 
hands  over  the  poor  orphans  whom  she  was 
about  to  leave,  and  raising  her  noble  coun¬ 
tenance  toward  the  stars  which  shone  with¬ 
out  in  serene  majesty,  she  beheld  heaven 
opened,  and  the  Son  of  Man  stretching  out 
his  arms  to  her  from  amid  a  radiant  cloud.3 

At  this  vision,  a  rosy  tint  overspread  her 
features,  her  eyes  expressed  all  that  a 
mother’s  love  combined  with  the  excess  of 

( 1 )  St.  Dionysius,  an  eye-witness  of  the  death 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  affirms  that  at  that  advanced 
period  of  her  life  she  was  still  wonderfully  beau¬ 
tiful. 

( 1 )  Christ’s  head  was  slightly  inclined,  and  this 

made  his  stature  appear  less ;  his  countenance  re¬ 
sembled  his  mother’s,  particularly  the  lower  part 
of  it. — (Nicephorus,  Hist.  Eccl.,  t.  i.,  p.  125.) 

( 8 )  St.  John  Damascenus. 

* 


V 


LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  185 


divine  joy  and  exstatic  adoration  can  ex¬ 
press,  and  tier  soul,  leaving  without  an 
effort,  her  beautiful  and  virginal  mortal 
shrine  sank  gently  into  the  bosom  of  God.1 

Mary  was  no  more,  but  her  face,  which 
had  assumed  the  expression  of  untroubled 
sleep,  was  so  sweet  to  look  upon,  that  Death, 
one  might  say,  hesitated  to  plant  his  banner 
on  that  trophy,  which  was  to  be  his  but  for 
a  day. 

The  lamp  of  the  dead  was  lighted  ;  all 
the  windows  were  thrown  open,  and  the 
summer  night-breeze  poured  into  the  apart¬ 
ment  with  the  pale  star-light.  A  miracu¬ 
lous  light  is  said  to  have  filled  the  chamber 
of  death  at  the  moment  when  Mary  drew 
her  last  breath  ;  it  was  perhaps  the  glory 
of  God  shining  round  the  immaculate  soul 
of  the  predestined  Yirgin.  When  it  wjjs 
no  longer  doubtful,  that  Mary  had  departed, 
naught  was  heard  at  first  but  deep  sobs 

( 1 )  Some  of  the  ancient  fathers,  and  among 
others  St.  Epiphanius,  seem  to  doubt  whether  the 
Mother  of  God  really  died,  or  whether  she  has 
remained  immortal,  and  was  taken  up  body  and 
soul  into  heaven  ;  but  the  opinion  of  the  Church 
is  that  she  really  died  according  to  the  law  of  all 
flesh,  and  this  is  plainly  declared  in  the  collect  of 
the  mass  for  Assumption  Day.  The  Blessed  Virgin 
died  in  the  night  before  the  15th  of  August.  The 
year  of  her  death  is  very  uncertain.  Eusebius  fixes  it 
in  the  year  48  of  our  era ;  thus,  according  to  him, 
Mary  must  have  lived  sixty-eight  years;  but  Ni- 
cephorus  (lib.  xi.,  c.  21),  says  decidedly  that  she 
ended  her  days  in  the  year  5  of  the  reign  of  Clau¬ 
dius,  that  is,  in  the  year  798  of  Rome,  or  45  of  the 
common  era.  Then,  supposing  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  sixteen  years  old  when  our  Saviour 
came  into  the  world,  she  would  have  lived  sixty- 
one  years.  Hippolytus_of  Thebes  assures  us  in  his 
chronicle  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  a  mother  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  and  died  eleven  years  after 


and  groans  ;  then  amid  the  silence  of  night 
rose  death  chaunts ;  the  angels  accom¬ 
panied  them  on  their  golden  harps,2  and 
the  echoes  of  the  mouldering  palace  of 
David  sorrowfully  repeated  them  to  the 
tombs  of  the  kings  of  Juda. 

The  next  day  the  faithful  brought,  in  holy 
profusion,  the  most  precious  perfumes  and 
the  finest  fabrics  to  enshroud  the  Queen  of 
"Virgins.  She  was  embalmed,  after  the 
manner  of  her  people,  but  her  blessed  le- 
mains  exhaled  an  odour  sweeter  than  the 
perfumed  bands  in  which  they  swathed  her. 
When  .the  body  was  arrayed  for  the  tomb, 
they  placed  the  Mother  of  God  upon  a  lit¬ 
ter  strewn  with  aromatic  herbs  :3  a  rich 
veil  was  spead  over  her,  and  the  apostles 
bore  her  upon  their  shoulders  to  the  valley 
of  Josaphat.4  The  Christians  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  bearing  lighted  torches,  and  sing¬ 
ing  hymns  and  psalms,  followed  the 

Christ.  According  to  the  authors  of  the  Art  de 
verifier  les  Dates,  the  Virgin  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six. 

( 2 )  “All  the  heavenly  hosts,”  says  St.  Jerome, 
“came  forth  to  meet  the  Mother  of  God  at  the 
moment  of  her  death,  with  hymns  and  canticles, 
which  were  heard  by  all  present.  ‘  Militiam  coelo- 
rum,  cum  suis  agminibus,  festive  obviam  venisse 
Genitrici  Dei  cum  laudibus  et  canticis,  eamque, 
ingenti  lumine  circumfulsisse  et  usque  ad  tronum 
perduxisse.’  ” 

(  3 )  The  coffins  among  the  Jews,  in  the  time  of 
Mary,  were  a  sort  of  bed,  made  so  that  the  body 
could  be  easily  carried ;  this  bed  was  filled  with 
aromatics.  Josephus,  describing  the  interment  of 
Herod  the  Great,  says  that  his  bed  was  ornamented 
with  precious  stones,  that  his  body  lay  on  purple, 
with  the  diadem  and  golden  crown  on  his  head, 
and  that  all  his  household  followed  his  bier. 

( 4 )  Metaphrastes  affirms  that  tho  apostles  bore 
the  Virgin  to  the  tomb  on  their  shoulders. 


186  LIFE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

funeral  of  Mary  with  a  sad  and  dejected 
mien. 

On  arriving  at  the  place  of  sepulture, 
the  mournful  procession  stopped.  The  holy 
women  of  J erusalem  had  stripped  the  tomb 
of  its  repulsive  aspect,  and  the  sepulchral 
grotto  presented  to  the  view  only  an  arbor 
of  flowers.1  There  the  apostles  gently  laid 
Mary,  and  as  they  laid  her  down,  they 
wept.  Of  all  the  panegyrics  pronounced 
on  this  circumstance,  that  of  Hierotheus 
was  the  most  remarkable.  St.  Dionysius 
the  Areopagite,  who  describes  this  scene  as 
an  eye-witness,  relates  that  in  praising  the 
Virgin,  the  orator  almost  rose  to  ecstasy.2 

For  three  days  the  apostles  and  the  faith¬ 
ful  watched  and  prayed  by  the  tomb,  where 
sacred  concerts  of  angels  seemed  to  lull  the 
last  sleep  of  Mary.3 

One  apostle,  returning  from  a  far  distant 
country,  too  late  to  witness  the  death  of 

the  Blessed  Virgin,  arrived  in  the  mean¬ 
time.  This  was  Thomas,  he  who  had  put 
his  hand  to  the  wounds  of  his  risen  Lord. 

He  hastened  to  take  a  last  look,  and  to 
water  with  his  tears  the  cold  brow  of  the 
privileged  woman  who  had  borne  in  her 
chaste  womb  the  sovereign  Lord  of  nature. 
Overcome  by  his  entreaties  and  tears,  the 
apostles  removed  the  slab  which  closed  the 
entrance  of  the  sepulchre  ;  but  they  found 
within  naught  but  the  flowers,  scarcely 
faded  yet,  upon  which  the  corpse  of  Mary 
had  lain,  and  her  white  winding-sheet  of 
fine  Egyptian  linen,  which  diffused  a 
celestial  odor.  The  most  pure  body  of 
the  immaculate  Virgin  was  not  a  prey 
intended  for  the  worms  of  the  grave  : 
during  her  life,  earth  and  heaven  shared 
alike  in  that  admirable  creature  ;  after  her 
death,  heaven  had  taken  all,  and  glorified 
all.4 

( 1 )  Gregory  of  Tours,  lib.  i.,  de  Gl.,  c.  4. 

( 3 )  Books  of  the  Divine  Names,  c.  iii.  These 
books  of  St.  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  are  rejected 
by  Protestants;  but  they  are  nevertheless  sup¬ 
ported  by  numberless  testimonies  of  the  most 
ancient  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church,  by  the 
third  ecumenical  council  of  Constantinople,  and 
also  by  others. 

( 3 )  Juvenal,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  who  lived 
in  the  fifth  century,  writing  to  the  Emperor  Mar- 
cian  and  the  Empress  Pulcheria,  says  that  the  apos¬ 
tles,  relieving  one  another,  spent  the  day  and  night 
with  the  faithful  at  the  tomb,  united  their  chaunts 
with  those  of  the  angels,  whose  heavenly  harmony 
was  unceasingly  heard  by  them  for  three  days. 

(4)  Godescard,  in  bis  French  translation  of 

Alban  Butler’s  Lives  of  the  Saints,  adds  a  very 
judicious  remark  in  support  of  the  Assumption : 
it  is  that  “neither  the  Latins,  nor  even  the  Greeks, 
so  eager  for  novelties,  and  so  easily  persuaded  in 
the  matter  of  relics,  relations,  and  legends — no 
people,  in  a  word,  no  city,  no  church  has  ever 
boasted  of  possessing  the  mortal  remains  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  nor  any  portion  of  her  body. 

Thus,  without  prescribing  the  belief  of  the  cor¬ 
poral  assumption  of  Mary  into  heaven,  the  Church 
indicates  sufficiently  the  opinion  to  which  she 
inclines.” — (Godescard,  t.  xiv.,  p.  449.) 

PART  II. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION 

TO 

THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


CHAPTER  I. 


ORIGIN  AND  ANTIQUITY 

THE  veneration  of  saints,  which  some 
heretics  in  bad  faith  impute  to  us  as 
idolatry,  and  which  a  Protestant  minister 
has  not  hesitated  to  call  the  malady  of  the 
Christians  of  the  fourth  century ,  is  so  far 
from  having  begun  at  that  comparatively 
recent  period,  that  it  is  of  apostolical  tradi¬ 
tion  and  of  Jewish  origin.  The  Hebrews 
implored  of  the  dead  counsel  and  miracu¬ 
lous  cures,  when  those  dead  had  been 
prophets  acknowledged  by  God.  The 
prophets  were  their  saints,  and  saints  who 
read  the  future  as  in  an  open  book,  from 
the  depths  of  the  sepulchral  cave,  where 
they  slept  by  the  side  of  their  fathers. 
See  Saul  with  the  witch  of  Endor ;  the 
soul  of  Samuel,  though  evoked  by  incanta¬ 
tions  which  the  law  of  Moses  condemns, 
appeared  by  permission  of  the  Lord,  to 
terrify  the  monarch  rejected  of  Heaven. 
The  prophet,  wrapped  in  his  mantle,  rises 
slowly  from  the  earth  with  a  dread  majesty ; 


OF  DEVOTION  TO  MARY. 

the  magician  utters  a  cry  of  terror  on  be¬ 
holding  the  mighty  dead,  whom  she  mis¬ 
takes  for  a  deity.  Saul,  bowing  down  before 
the  ghost  of  him  who  had  so  long  been  the 
supreme  judge  of  Israel,  questions  him  as 
to  the  result  of  the  battle  he  is  about  to 
give  the  Philistines  ;  and  the  prophet  an¬ 
swers  him  in  a  voice  unanimated  by  any 
breath  of  life,  for  his  body  lies  at  Ramatha, 
where  all  Israel  had  bewailed  him:  “To¬ 
morrow  thou  and  thy  sons  shall  be  with 
me  :  and  the  Lord  will  also  deliver  the 
army  of  Israel  into  the  hands  of  the  Philis¬ 
tines.”* 

The  Jews,  then,  did  believe  that  their 
saints  read  the  future. 

In  the  fourth  Book  of  Kings  we  see  a 
dead  man  come  to  life  again  on  touching 
the  bones  of  Eliseus. 

The  saints  of  Israel,  then,  wrought 
miracles. 

We  read  in  the  second  Book  of  Mac- 


188 


HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


chabees,  that  the  high-priest  Onias  and  the 
prophet  Jeremias  were  seen,  after  their 
death,  praying  for  the  people  ;  and  we 
find  in  the  Gemara  that  Caleb  escaped  the 
hands  of  those  who  sought  after  him,  be¬ 
cause  he  went  to  the  tomb  of  his  ancestors 
to  implore  their  intercession,  that  he  might 
elude  them.1 

The  Jews,  therefore,  did  believe  that  the 
intercession  of  departed  saints  was  of  some 
avail. 

From  the  time  of  their  settlement  in 
Palestine,  the  Israelites  visited  the  tomb 
of  Rachel,  a  primitive  monument  com¬ 
posed  of  twelve  enormous  stones,  on  which 
every  pilgrim  inscribed  his  name  ;  the 
tomb  of  Joseph,  the  saviour  of  Egypt, 
whose  bones  prophesied?  was  also  a  place 
of  pra  yer. 

During  the  dispersion  of  the  tribes,  such 
crowds  visited  the  sepulchral  grotto  of 
Ezochiel,  buried  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Chobar,  where  he  had  enjoyed  divine 
visions,  that  the  Chaldeans,  fearing  lest 
these  large  meetings  might  conceal,  under 
the  cloak  of  religion,  some  scheme  for 
political  revolt,  resolved  to  fall  upon  these 
pilgrims,  and  disperse  them  at  the  point  of 
the  sword.  A  massacre  would  inevitably 
have  ensued,  had  not  the  dead  prophet 
wrought  a  miracle  to  save  his  people,  by 

(' )  Wagenseil,  Excerpta  ex  Gem. 

( 3 )  Ecclesiastes,  ch.  xlix.,  v.  18. 

( 3 )  Benjamin  de  Tudela,  Itinerarium,  pp.  70-80. 

( 4 )  Epiphanius,  de  Vitis  Prophetarum,  t.  ii., 
p.  241. 

( 6 )  “  He  built  her  a  mausoleum  after  the  man¬ 
ner  of  the  Iranians  (Iran  was,  before  Cyrus,  the 
real  name  of  the  vast  kingdom  now  called  Persia), 


dividing  the  waters  of  the  Chobar.3  This 
tomb  of  a  saint  of  Israel,  around  which  a 
superb  edifice  had  been  built,  and  before 
which  a  golden  lamp  burnt  day  and  night, 
which  the  chiefs  of  the  captivity  were  re¬ 
quired  to  maintain,4  has  become  again  a 
mere  cavern  ;  but  this  cavern  is  visited  by 
all  the  Jews  of  Asia,  who  never  pass  to 
Bagdad,  without  turning  aside  to  pray  there. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Orontes,  whose  fair 
shady  woods  waved  above  a  thousand  sil¬ 
very  streams,  that  reflect  the  bright  Asiatic 
sun,  is  a  city  once  royal,  once  admired, 
which  lies  extended  in  the  midst  of  ruined 
towers,  temples  overthrown,  and  sarcoph¬ 
agi  of  red  granite,  covered  with  inscrip¬ 
tions  written  in  an  extinct  language  :  it  is 
Ecbatana,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Medes, 
now  the  obscure  Hamadan.  At  one  ex¬ 
tremity  of  the  fallen  city  rises  a  brick 
monument,  the  doorway  of  which,  after  the 
ancient  sepulchral  style  of  the  country,  is 
very  small,  and  cut  through  a  very  thick 
stone :  it  is  the  tomb  of  a  young,  fair, 
and  pious  queen,  who  confronted  death  to 
save  her  people,  of  the  noble  Esther,  who 
was  there  deposited  on  an  ivory  couch, 
inlaid  with  gold,  embalmed  with  musk  and 
amber,  and  wrapped  in  a  winding-sheet  of 
China  silk,6  laid  there  beside  the  great 
Hebrew  patriot  Mardochai.6  This  illustri- 


filled  her  skull  with  musk  and  amber,  swathed  her 
body  in  Chinese  silk,  placed  her  on  an  ivory  throne, 
as  kings  are  seated,  and  suspended  her  crown  oyer 
her  head;  the  door  of  the  tomb  was  then  painted 
red  and  blue.” — (Firdousi,  Book  of  Kings,  Kei 
Khosrou.) 

( 6 )  Travels  of  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter  in  Arme¬ 
nia  and  Persia.— The  present  tomb  of  Esther  and 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  189 

ous  tomb  which  is  regarded  by  the  Jews 

sake  of  those  who  loved  thee,  and  are  no 

of  Persia  as  a  place  of  particular  sanctity, 

more  ;  graciously  hear  us  for  the  sake  of 

and  which  they  visit  in  crowds  when  the 

Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Sara,  Rachel,  &c.” 

feast  of  Purim1  comes  on,  is  the  object  of 

The  Invocation  of  Saints  is  not,  then,  a 

a  pilgrimage  which  has  been  going  on  for 

thing  imagined  by  Catholics. 

two  thousand  years. 

Besides  the  saints,  the  Jews  prayed  to 

In  the  middle  ages,  during  the  Saracen 

the  angels,  who  were  invoked  by  the  ancient 

occupation,  the  Arabs  threatened  the  Jews 

Arabs,  and  to  whom  the  Assyrians,  while 

with  a  general  massacre,  during  a  great 

ascribing  most  charming  functions  on  earth, 

drought  which  made  Syria  and  Palestine  a 

offered  sacrifices,*  Jacob  acknowledges  his 

barren  waste,  unless  rain  fell  by  a  certain 

indebtedness  to  an  angel  for  his  deliverance 

day  ;  the  Jews  crowded  around  the  tomb  of 

from  the  evils  which  menaced  him,  and  he 

Zachary,  which  is  still  standing  near  Jeru- 

prays  to  him  to  bless  his  children :  The 

salem,  and  there  fasted  and  prayed  in  sack- 

angel  that  delivered  me  from  all  evils,  bless 

cloth  and  ashes  for  days  and  days,  to  ob- 

these  boys  :3 — this  prayer  is  addressed  to 

tain  by  that  prophet’s  intercession  with  God 

an  angel.  There  is,  indeed,  some  reason 

that  he  would  deliver  them  from  certain 

to  believe  that  the  Jews  carried  the  vene- 

death,  by  sending  rain  upon  the  earth. 

ration  of  angels  too  far,  since  they  were 

That  the  custom  of  applying  to  the  liv- 

suspected  of  adoring  them.4  This  venera- 

ing  the  merits  of  the  dead  is  of  Hebrew 

tion  did  not  cease  among  the  modern  Jews 

origin,  we  find  evinced  in  a  liturgy  of  the 

till  the  period  of  the  so-called  Reforma- 

synagogue  of  Venice.  In  the  office  entitled 

tion,  when  they  abandoned  it  to  please  the 

Mazir  Mehamot,  or  Remembrance  of  Souls, 

innovators  in  Germany.  There  is,  in  the 

we  read  a  prayer  expressed  in  these  terms  : 

Vatican  library,  a  Hebrew  manuscript  con- 

“  Graciously  hear  us,  0  Jehovah,  for  the 

taining  litanies  composed  by  Rabbi  Eleazer 

Mordecai,  occupies  the  same  site  as  the  former  one, 

the  care  of  seas,  rivers,  springs,  pastures,  flocks, 

which  was  destroyed  by  Tamerlane. 

trees,  herbs,  fruits,  flowers,  and  seeds ;  they  also 

( 1 )  This  feast,  which  was  instituted  at  Susa  by 

directed  the  stars ;  they  offered  up  prayers  to  the 

Mordecai  and  Esther,  was  celebrated  very  solemnly 

angels  to  obtain  protection  in  misfortune.  Modern 

on  the  14th  or  15th  day  of  the  month  of  Ader, 

Persians  still  sacrifice  to  the  angel  of  the  moon. — 

which  is  our  moon  of  February.  The  Jews  were 

(Eirdousi,  Book  of  Kings;  Chardin,  Voyage  en 

formerly  accustomed  to  make  a  wooden  cross,  on 

Perse.) 

which  they  painted  Aman,  whom  they  dragged 

( 8 )  Genesis,  xlviii.,  v.  16. 

about  the  city,  that  every  one  might  see  him. 

( * )  In  The  Preaching  of  St.  Peter,  a  very  an- 

They  afterwards  burnt  it,  and  threw  the 'ashes  into 

cient  work,  quoted  by  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria, 

the  river.  The  Emperor  Theodosius  forbade  this 

that  apostle  says,  that  we  must  not  adore  God  with 

comedy,  lest  it  might  really  contain  some  allusion 

the  Jews,  because,  although  they  profess  to  acknowl- 

to  the  death  of  Christ. 

edge  only  one  God,  they  adore  the  angels. — (Cle- 

( * )  Among  the  Persian®,  every  month  was  under 

ment  of  Alexandria,  book  v.) 

the  protection  of  an  angel;  to  angels  was  ascribed 

• 

190 


V  * 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Hakalir,  which  invokes  the  angel  Actariel 
in  these  words  :  “  Deliver  Israel  from  all 
affliction,  and  solicit  his  redemption  speed¬ 
ily.”  Similar  favors  are  besought  from 
Barachiel,  Wathiel,  and  other  angelic 
princes.  The  litany  concludes  with  this 
invocation  of  Michael :  ‘“Prince  of  mercy, 
pray  for  Israel,  that  he  may  rule  in  a  great 
elevation.” 

The  tombs  of  the  martyrs  were  vene¬ 
rated  by  the  Christians  of  Asia  at  a  very 
early  date  ;  the  first  visited  as  a  pilgrim¬ 
age  was  probably  that  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
which  is  the  most  venerated  by  the  Orien¬ 
tals,  without  distinction  of  creed,  next  to 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  the  tomb  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  The  body  of  the  precur¬ 
sor  of  the  God-Man  was  at  Samaria,  where 
St.  Paula  visited  it  in  the  fourth  century  ; 
and  his  head,  carefully  embalmed  by  his 
disciples,  was  at  Hems,  whence  it  was 
translated  to  Damascus,  in  the  reign  of 
Theodosius.  It  was  there  enshrined  in  a 
superb  church,  which  had  borne  the  title 
of  St.  Zachary,  but  which  from  that  time 
was  styled  St.  John’s.  The  Caliph  Abdel- 
melek  seized  this  church,  and  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  day  the  venerated  tomb  of  the  man 

( 1 )  St.  Augustine  speaks  of  miraculous  cures 
wrought  by  the  dust  from  the  tomb  of  St.  John, 
the  Evangelist.  The  church  of  St.  John,  trans¬ 
formed  by  the  Turks  into  a  mosque,  is  still  to  be  seen 
among  the  ruins  of  Ephesus. 

( a )  The  acts  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Polycarp, 
written  in  the  form  of  an  epistle,  in  the  name  of 
the  church  of  Smyrna,  by  those  who  had  been 
eye-witnesses,  and  addressed  to  the  church  of 
Philadelphia,  contain  these  words :  “  We  after¬ 
wards  took  up  the  bones,  more  precious  than  the 
richest  jewels  or  gold,  and  deposited  them  decently 


who  was  “  a  prophet,  and  more  than  a  pro¬ 
phet,”  is  within  the  precincts  of  a  Turkish 
mosque.  But  it  is  neither  solitary  nor  un¬ 
honored  ;  the  Mussulmans  make  pilgrim¬ 
ages  to  it  from  all  parts,  and  the  celebrated 
Saadi  himself  relates,  in  his  Gulistan,  that 
on  going  there  to  pray,  he  met  princes  of 
Arabia.  At  the  close  of  the  first  century, 
crowds  of  Christian  pilgrims  of  Asia  Minor 
visited  the  tombyrf  St.  John  the  Evangel¬ 
ist,  and  wondrous  cures  were  ascribed  to 
the  dust,  which  was  carefully  gathered  up.1 

St.  Stephen,  the  proto-martyr,  whose 
relics  wrought  so  many  miracles,  as  St. 
Augustine  attests,  and  who  died  before  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  was  in  like  manner  invoked 
at  a  very  early  period  by  the  primitive 
Christians,  who  also  paid  veneration  to  the 
blessed  remains  of  St.  Ignatius  and  St. 
Poly  carp.2  St.  Asterius  of  Amasea  has 
preserved,  in  a  sermon  on  the  martyrs,  this 
prayer  addressed  by  a  Christian  woman  of 
the  earlier  times  to  a  saint  whose  tomb  she 
visited:  “Thou  didst  invoke  the  martyrs 
before  becoming  a  martyr  thyself ;  thou 
hast  found  when  thou  didst  seek  ;  be  then 
liberal  of  those  good  things  which  thou  hast 
received.” 3 


in  a  place,  at  which  place  may  God  grant  us  to 
assemble  with  joy  to  celebrate  the  natal  day  of 
his  martyrdom,  as  well  in  memory  of  those  who 
have  endured  the  combat,  as  for  the  exercise  and 
encouragement  of  future  generations.”  St.  Poly¬ 
carp  consummated  his  sacrifice  on  the  23d  of  Jan¬ 
uary,  in  the  year  166 — on  which  day  the  church 
of  Smyrna  celebrated  his  feast  in  the  middle  of 
the  third  century,  as  we  see  by  the  Acts  of  St. 
Peter. 

( ’ )  Life  of  St.  Asterius,  in  Butler’s  Lives  of  the 
Saints,  October  30. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


191 


Eusebius  of  Cmsarea,  who  flourished  to¬ 
ward  the  end  of  the  third  century,  defend¬ 
ing  our  holy  dogmas  against  the  sophisms 
of  idolaters,  cites  the  honors  which  they 
paid  their  ancient  heroes,  to  justify  the 
veneration  of  saints,  and  continues  in  these 
terms :  “We  honor,  as  friends  of  God, 
those  who  have  combated  for  the  true  reli¬ 
gion  ;  we  go  to  their  tombs  ;  we  offer  our 
vows  to  them,  professing  to  believe  that  we 
are  powerfully  assisted  by  God  through 
their,  intercession.1  ”  These  words  of  Euse¬ 
bius,  who,  both  as  bishop  and  historian, 
must  have  been  well  informed,  plainly  in¬ 
dicate  an  ancient  usage,  a  custom  approved 
by  the  church,  and  generally  received.  On 
the  other  hand,  Yigilantius  and  Aerius,  who 
opposed  the  veneration  of  saints,  were 
openly  treated  as  innovators  and  heretics 
by  St.  Epiphanius,  St.  Jerome,  and  St.  Au¬ 
gustine.  Now,  is  it  to  be  presumed  that 
these  great  doctors  would  have  ventured  to 
treat  as  heretics  and  innovators  men  who 
labored  only  to  re-establish  the  ancient  doc¬ 
trine  of  the  church  in  its  native  purity  ? 
That  word  innovators  tells  the  whole  story  ; 
and  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  Yigilantius 
lived  at  a  time  so  near  to  the  age  of  the 
apostles,  that  there  were  only  between  them 
and  him  three  successive  lives  of  ordinary- 
aged  men. 

St.  Cyprian,  who  was  martyred  at  Car¬ 
thage,  in  the  year  261,  pictures  to  us  the. 
Christians  of  Africa  flocking  to  the  glorious 
tombs  of  the  martyrs,  giving  funereal  feasts 
on  the  day  of  their  anniversary,  and  so 

( 1 )  Praeparatio  Evangelica,  lib.  xiii.,  c.  7. 

( ’ )  St.  Cyprian,  Epistola  28. 


eager  to  invoke  them,  that  without  waiting 
for  their  death,  they  went  to  implore  the 
prayers  of  those  confessors  imprisoned  by 
the  pagans,  in  whom  the  torture  had  left 
the  breath  of  life.2  St.  John  Chrysostome, 
on  his  part,  informs  us  that  in  his  time  the 
tombs  of  the  martyrs  were  the  noblest  or¬ 
nament  of  royal  cities  ;  that  the  days  con¬ 
secrated  to  them  were  days  of  joy  ;  that 
the  nobles  of  the  empire,  and  the  emperor 
himself,  laid  aside  the  rich  insignia  of  their 
power  before  they  ventured  to  cross  the 
threshold  of  the  holy  places,  which  con¬ 
tained  those  glorious  sepulchres  of  the  serv¬ 
ants  of  a  crucified  God.  .  .  .  “  How 

much  more  illustrious  than  the  tombs  of 
kings,”  exclaims  the  great  Christian  orator, 
“  are  those  monuments  erected  to  those 
who  were  humble  and  poor  among  men ! 
Around  the  tombs  of  kings  reign  silence  and 
solitude  ;  here  gathers  a  great  concourse  of 
people.” 3 

Such  was  the  religious  veneration  of  the 
saints  called  dulia,  which  Protestants  stig¬ 
matise  as  idolatrous  and  detestable,  in  those 
ages  which  they  themselves  call,  pre-emi¬ 
nently,  the  pure  ages* * 

As  regards  the  veneration  of  hyperdulia 
(of  the  Blessed  Yirgin),  which,  without 
being  adoration,  which  God  forbid,  is  far 
superior  to  that  of  the  saints,  it  began,  to 
all  appearance,  at  her  very  tomb.  The 
Jewish  doctors  have  preserved,  in  the  Tal¬ 
mud,  an  historical  fact  long  unknown, 
which  establishes  the  high  antiquity  of  this 
pious  homage,  against  which  they  exhaust 

( 8 )  St.  Chrysostome,  Homily  66  to  the  People  of 
Antioch. 

( * )  Daill6,  Traditions  des  Latins,  lib.  iv.,  c.  16. 


192  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


their  blasphemies.  A  tradition  of  the  temple, 
preserved  in  their  Toldos,  that  book  where 
the  Blessed  Virgin  is  so  insultingly  treated, 
and  which  they  circulated  at  a  very  early 
day  in  Persia,  Greece,  and  wherever  they 
could  injure  early  Christianity,  relates  that 
the  Nazareans,  who  came  to  pray  at  the 
tomb  of  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  underwent  a 
violent  persecution  on  the  part  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  Synagogue,  and  that  the  erection  of 
an  oratory  over  her  tomb  cost  a  hundred 
Christians,  kinsmen  of  Jesus  Christ,  their 
lives.1  This  act  of  barbarous  fanaticism,  of 
which  they  boast,  being  quite  in  keeping 
with  their  conduct  toward  St.  Stephen,  St. 
James,  and  St.  Paul,  as  the  erection  of  an 
oratory  over  a  tomb  held  in  veneration,  had 
nothing  in  it  to  clash  with  their  traditions 
or  manners.  Hence,  this  fact,  it  appears  to 
us,  may  be  considered  authentic,  without 
incurring  the  imputation  of  excessive  cre¬ 
dulity. 

Tradition,  attested  by  religious  monu¬ 
ments,  assures  us  that  the  religious  homage 
paid  to  Mary  is  of  apostolic  institution.  St. 
Peter,  on  his  way  to  Antioch,  is  said  to 
have  erected  in  one  of  the  cities  of  ancient 
Phoenicia,  a  chapel  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  to  have  inaugurated  it  with  great  so¬ 
lemnity.  St.  John  the  apostle  placed  the 
beautiful  church  of  Lydda  under  the  invo¬ 
cation  of  his  adopted  mother ;  the  first 
church  at  Milan  was  dedicated  to  Mary  by 
the  apostle  St.  Barnabas.  Our  Lady  del 
Pilar,  in  Spain,  and  Our  Lady  of  Carmel, 

( 1 )  Toldos  Huldr.,  p.  115. 


in  Syria,  dispute  the  priority  with  these 
churches,  and  set  up  a  bolder,  but  more 
questionable  claim.  According  to  the  Span¬ 
ish  tradition,2  the  Blessed  Virgin  appeared, 
before  her  death,  to  St.  James,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ebro,  and  commanded  him  to 
erect  a  church  in  the  place  where  he  stood. 
According  to  tradition,  the  prophet  Aga- 
bus,  the  same  who  foretold  the  famine  which 
happened  under  Claudius,  erected,  in  like 
manner,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  that  church  which  is  visible  so  far 
off  at  sea,  and  where  pilgrims  and  travel¬ 
lers,  of  all  religions  and  all  nations  of 
the  globe,  receive,  in  Mary’s  name,  such 
touching  hospitality.  Without  denying  the 
antiquity  of  these  two  sanctuaries,  certainly 
very  venerable,  and  justly  reverenced  by 
the  people,  we  may  be  allowed  to  say  that 
it  is  by  no  means  probable  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  the  most  humble  of  the  daughters 
of  Eve,  would  have  required  altars  from 
the  apostles  in  her  lifetime.  That  the  grat¬ 
itude  of  the  people,  and  the  piety  of  the 
apostles,  may  have  erected  them  to  her  after 
her  death,  is  natural ;  but  that  she  gave 
orders  for  them  in  her  lifetime  is  doubtful. 

As  for  the  oratory  of  Carmel,  Flavius 
Josephus,  who  speaks  directly  of  the  dis¬ 
ciples  of  Elias,  with  reference  to  Vespasian, 
to  whom  one  of  them  promised  the  empire, 
does  not  at  all  say  that  they  were  converted 
to  Christianity,  and  the  contrary  follows 
from  his  account.  This  negative  authority 
is  of  great  weight. 

( a )  Cronologia  sacra  .  .  .  al  ano  35  de  Cristo. 


FIRST  EPOCH :  DEVOTION  TO  MARY  BEFORE  THE  TIME  OF  CONSTANTINE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  EAST.  IDOLS. 


AS  we  have  already  stated,  devotion  to 
the  Mother  of  God  had  its  cradle  in 
her  very  tomb  ;  and  the  first  lamp  lighted 
in  honor  of  Mary  was  a  sepulchral  lamp, 
around  which  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem 
came  to  pray.  This,  apparently,  did  not 
last  long  ;  the  synagogue,  violent,  like  every 
power  that  feels  the  fear  of  dissolution, 
and  suspicious,  like  all  who  have  a  bad  con¬ 
science,  was  alarmed  at  the  simple  homage 
paid  to  the  Mother  of  the  young  Prophet, 
whom  they  had  not  only  refused,  notwith¬ 
standing  his  miracles,  to  acknowledge  as 
the  Messias,  but  had  audaciously  crucified 
between  two  thieves,  as  a  seditious  man 
and  an  impostor.  The  synagogue  extin¬ 
guished  the  lamps,  silenced  the  hymns,  and 
slew  without  mercy  the  first  servants  of 
Mary  ;  at  all  events  she  herself  assures  us 
of  the  fact,  and  she  was  capable  of  the  act ! 
She  did  this  in  part  out  of  fanaticism,  in 
part  from  self-love,  and  in  part  from  fear. 
She  did  not  wish  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom 
she  had  unjustly  condemned  to  an  infamous 
punishment,  should  be  with  his  followers 
freed  from  the  ignominy  of  Golgotha.  It 
was  importunate  to  her  to  hear  that  the 
Galilean,  whom  she  called  a  son  of  Belial, 
and  whose  miracles  she  accounted  vain 
prestiges,  was  God,  and  his  Mother  a  great 

25 


saint ;  and  then  she  feared  that  this  new 
veneration,  analogous  to  the  religion  of  the 
tombs,  supported  as  it  was  by  the  incontest¬ 
able  miracles  which  the  apostles  wrought 
at  Jerusalem,  might  operate  dangerously 
upon  the  fickle  minds  of  the  multitude, 
and  provoke  a  dangerous  reaction  in  favor 
of  the  crucified  Prophet.  Now,  as  she  had 
openly  avowed  to  John  and  Peter,  she  had 
no  wish  to  be  called  to  account  by  the 
people  for  the  blood  of  Jesus. 

From  all  these  considerations,  the  sena¬ 
tors  and  chief  priests  went  a  step  farther 
in  the  slippery  descent  of  crime,  to  main¬ 
tain  the  rectitude  of  the  abominable  sen¬ 
tence  which  they  had  induced  the  Romans 
to  pass  ;  and  they  took  great  credit  to  them¬ 
selves  for  having  nipped  in  the  bud  the 
veneration  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Their 
iniquitous  expectation  was  disappointed. 
The  most  furious  and  best  obeyed  tyrants, 
in  the  dark  fantasies  of  their  cruelty,  can¬ 
not  destroy  memory,  that  flower  of  the 
soul  which  expands,  mysterious  and  con¬ 
soling,  in  the  inaccessible  region  of  our 
ideas,  and  which  the  powerful  storm  of  per¬ 
secution  only  causes  to  strike  deeper  root. 
That  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  resisted  this 
J ewish  hurricane  ;  they  chanted  no  longer 
in  her  grotto  ;  but  they  continued  to  come 


194  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

and  weep,  and  the  tears  which  devotion 
causes  outvalue  the  frankincense  of  Saba, 
which  comes  from  the  wounded  bark,  in 
the  form  of  tears. 

Violently  uprooted  by  the  sacrilegious 
hands  of  the  princes  of  that  people  rejected 
by  God,  devotion  to  Mary  was  trans¬ 
planted  by  the  apostles  to  a  foreign  and  still 
idolatrous  land.  In  their  lifetime  it  was 
seen  rising  in  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  Asia 
Minor,  Egypt,  and  Spain.  It  is  true  that 
this  tender  and  poetical  cuttus,  which  was 
to  supplant  the  impure  and  seductive  wor¬ 
ship  of  the  divinities  of  Olympus,  shone  at 
first  only  as  a  small  star  in  the  zenith  of  a 
few  cities  ;  for  Christianity  was  at  first 
.  only  the  religion  of  cities,  and  even  of  the 
common  people  in  the  cities.  Paganism, 
repudiated  by  thinking  minds,  despised  by 
philosophers,  ridiculed  in  the  theatres 
where  the  testament  of  the  deceased  Jupi¬ 
ter  was  publicly  read,  and  railed  at  with 
truly  infidel  malice  by  the  young  epicu¬ 
reans  of  the  court  of  the  Ciesars,1  still  pos¬ 
sessed  withal  an  incredible  number  of 
partisans ;  allied  to  numerous  interests, 
defended  by  prejudice  and  ancient  super¬ 
stitions,  attractive  by  the  splendor  of  its 
festivals,  and  intermixed  with  all  glorious 
memories,  though  in  its  decline  it  was  still 
effulgent.  Proud  of  its  advantages,  at 
first  it  would  not  deign  to  fear  the  carpen¬ 
ter’s  son  and  the  young  spinster  of  Naz¬ 
areth.2  How  could  it  fear  them  ?  It  did 
not  see  them.  The  religion  of  the  poor 

Deity,  and  of  his  holy  Mother,  advanced 
noiselessly  along  the  rough  and  painful 
pathway  of  the  common  people ;  it  ad¬ 
dressed  itself  from  choice  to  the  mechanic, 
to  woman,  to  the  slave,  to  all  who  were 
little,  feeble,  and  oppressed  by  the  society 
of  paganism,  that  profoundly  egotistical 
society,  avaricious,  effeminate,  and  cor¬ 
rupted,  which  was  brilliant  and  cold  as  its 
own  marble  gods. 

It  was  soon  perceived  that  the  moral 
world,  that  aged  Titan  bordering  on  de¬ 
crepitude,  acquired  fresh  youth  from  the 
potent  and  secret  influence  of  some  regen¬ 
erating  philter.  What  sorceress  had  re¬ 
stored  to  this  new  iEson  the  ardent  and 
active  blood  of  his  better  years  ?  What  Pro¬ 
metheus  had  scaled  heaven,  to  bring  down 
to  man,  bound  in  the  icy  fetters  of  egotism, 
a  spark  of  sacred  fire  ?  For  there  was  no 
dissembling  the  fact ;  society  was  in  travail, 
about  to  bear  some  strange,  grand  fruit, 
which  was  to  restore  its  potent  and  youth¬ 
ful  vigor  ;  it  was  visibly  becoming  again 
what  it  was  in  the  glorious  times  so  much 
regretted  by  Horace,  when  it  despised 
pomp,  honored  the  gods,  and  proudly  wore 
its  poverty.  Already,  unseen,  but  perse¬ 
vering  hands  seemed  to  have  raised  up 
again,  from  their  grass-grown  ruins,  the 
ancient  altar  of  Modesty,  and  the  austere 
temples  of  Faith,  Honor,  and  Virtue.  Be¬ 
neficence,  which  had  ceased  to  behold  the 
smoke  of  sacrifices,  since  material  enjoy¬ 
ments  had  come  to  be  so  madly  pursued, 

( 1 )  All  know  the  witticism  of  that  courtier  of 
Nero  who,  when  abused  and  threatened  by  an  old 
priestess  for  killing  one  of  her  sacred  geese,  called 
out  in  a  tone  of  derision,  as  he  threw  her  two 

pieces  of  gold,  “Here,  this  is  to  buy  gods  and 
geese.” 

( 8 )  See  Oelsus. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  195 

* 

was  apparently  beginning  again  to  be  mys- 

they  be  Stoic  philosophers  ?  No;  for  they 

teriously  honored.  The  ancient  equality 

shed  a  tear  of  compassion  over  the  indi- 

;of  Saturn’s  days  showed  itself  anew  here 

gent  beggar  before  they  slip  into  his  hand, 

and  there  upon  earth.  In  fine,  Humanity 

as  they  escape,  the  rich  alms  which  fills  him 

bore  in  her  arms  those  infants  whom  the 

with  astonishment.  Is  she  a  vestal  virgin, 

elegant  matrons  of  pagan  society  exposed 

then,  that'  maiden,  who  walks,  with  her 

on  the  banks  of  rivers,  in  the  depths  of 

clasped  hands  and  downcast  eyes,  beside  a 

forests,  ofi  the  brink  of  precipices,  where 

mother,  veiled  like  herself?  No  ;  for  she 

eagles,  wandering  dogs,  and  wild  beasts 

has  neither  the  embroidered  fillets,  nor  the 

tore  to  pieced  their  little  warm  and  bleed- 

purple-fringed  robe-dress  of  the  Amatce ,2 

ing  limbs.1  Supporting  with  one  manly 

and  her  only  ornament  is  modesty.  Those 

hand  the  laborer  panting  under  the  weight 

widows  of  twenty,  who  no  more  rekindle 

of  toil,  Charity  extended  the  other  to  the 

the  torch  of  Hymen,3  while  the  grand 

infirm  old  man,  abandoned  on  the  steps  of 

ladies  of  paganism  count  their  divorces  by 

the  temples.  \  0  ye  gods  of  Greece,  ye 

the  consulships,4  whence  come  they  ?  And 

travelling  deities,  who  were  hospitably  en- 

those  young  men,  who  bow  with  reverence 

tertained  beneath  the  thatched  roof  of 

before  the  aged,  blush  like  maidens,  and  yet 

Philemon  and  Baucis,  have  you  again 

are  not  the  less  lion-like,  brave  in  war,  who 

visited  earth  to  re-establish  the  beautiful  . 

are  they  ?  They  are  not  seen  in  the 

reign  of  virtue  ?  No  ;  for  you  were,  as 

theatre  ;  they  do  not  frequent  the  circus  ; 

the  Scripture  says,  deaf  gods,  impotent 

they  do  not  figure  in  the  pagan  mysteries 

gods,  blind  gods  ;  or,  to  speak  better,  you 

with  garlands  of  flowers  or  baskets  of  sa- 

were  nothing. 

cred  fruits  upon  their  heads  ;  they  pass  be- 

Behold !  amid  that  effeminate,  frivolous 

fore  pompous  temples  of  Greece  and  Rome 

society,  crowned  with  roses,  quaffing  their 

unentered.  They  fly  the  sight  of  a  sacrifice, 

golden  cups  to  the  gods  of  Olympus,  there 

and  they  shake  their  dark  mantles  well 

appear  here  and  there  groups  of  noble 

when  a  few  drops  of  the  lustra!  water 

countenances,  and  severe  mien,  who  avert 

chance  to  fall  upon  them.  In  a  word,  they 

their  eyes  from  these  pagan  orgies  with  in- 

would  rather  die  than  touch  any  meats 

dignation  blended  with  irony . Can 

which  had  been  offered  to  the  gods.  Are 

( 1 )  As  to  this  abominable  custom  of  exposing 

pagans.  St.  John  Chrysostome  relates  that  the 

children,  Philo  gives  details  that  make  one’s  hair 

famous  sophist  Libanius,  whose  lectures  on  oratory 

stand  on  end.  The  Jews  alone  at  that  time  con- 

he  attended,  learning  from  him  that  his  mother 

demned  the  barbarous  practice. 

had  been  a  widow  from  the  age  of  twenty,  and  had 

(’)  The  vestals  bore  the  name  of  Amatce,  in 

constantly  refused  a  second  husband,  exclaimed,  as 

memory  of  Amata,  the  first  Roman  virgin  who 

he  turned  to  his  idolatrous  auditory :  “  Ye  gods 

consecrated  herself  to  the  worship  of  Yesta. — 

of  Greece,  what  women  are  to  be  found  among 

(Aulus  Gfellius,  lib.  i.,  c.  12.) 

these  Christians  !” — (Sancti  Chrysostomi  vita.) 

(*)  The  austere  continency  of  the  Christian 

( 4 )  Seneca,  Treatise  on  Acts  of  Kindness,  lib. 

women  wrung  cries  of  admiration  from  the  very 

iii. 

196  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

they  impious,  these  men  whose  hands  close 
with  gold  the  frightful  wounds  of  misery, 
and  whose  lives  breathe  purity?  No  ;  for 
they  assemble  together  three  times  in  the 
day,  and  sometimes  in  the  night,1  to  pray 
in  common,  with  hands  lifted  up  toward 
heaven  to  an  unknown  God  ;  and  upon  the 
altar  of  their  former  Lares,  the  lamp  of 
which,  fixed  in  marble,  is  always  burning,2 
is  seen  the  graceful  image  of  a  young 
Asiatic  female,  half-veiled  in  light  blue 
drapery,3  holding  in  her  arms  a  divine 
Infant.  This  woman,  with  a  countenance 
calm  and  clear  as  the  waves  of  the  Aegean 
Sea,  when  Zephyr  gently  moves  them  with 
the  tip  of  his  airy  wing,  is  the  inspirer  of 
modesty,  chastity,  devotion,  and  mercy ; 
the  guardian  of  honor,  the  protectress  of 
the  fireside  ;  in  a  word,  she  is  that  sweet 
Yirgin  Mary,  to  whom  the  Greeks  have 
given  the  beautiful  name  of  Panagia 
( Jlavayia ),  which  means  “  the  all  holy.” 

Asia  claims  the  honor  of  having  first 
set  up  oratories  and  chapels  under  the 
invocation  of  Mary  ;  the  oldest  of  these 
sanctuaries  was  Our  Lady  of  Tortosa,  which 
St.  Peter  himself  founded,  according  to  the 
traditions  of  the  Bast,  on  the  coast  of  Phoe- 

nicia.  These  earliest  Syrian  churches 
were  only  at  first  very  simple  edifices,  with 
roofs  of  cedar  and  trellised  windows.  The 
altar  turned  to  the  west,  like  that  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  and  a  creen  of  open  wood-work  en¬ 
closed  the  choir,  in  memory  of  the  cele¬ 
brated  veil  of  the  Holy  of  Holies.  There 
were  crosses  in  these  churches  ;  and  ere 
long,  too,  images  of  Mary,  since  tradition 
records  that  she  was  painted  upon  one  of 
the  pillars  of  the  beautiful  church  of 
Lydda,  which  her  adopted  son  had  dedi¬ 
cated  to  her,  and  that  St.  Luke  presented 
to  the  cathedral  of  Antioch  a  portrait  of 
the  Blessed  Yirgin,  painted  by  himself. 

This  picture,  to  which  it  was  confidently 
said  that  the  Mother  of  God  had  attached 
many  graces,  became  so  famous  that  the 
Empress  Pulcheria  transferred  it  to  Con¬ 
stantinople,  where  she  built  a  magnificent 
church  for  its  reception. 

Edessa,  the  capital  city  of  that  king, 
Abgarus,  who  threatened  to  make  war 
upon  the  Jews  to  avenge  the  death  of  our 
Lord,  and  who  was  withheld  solely  by  the 
fear  of  incurring  the  anger  of  the  Romans, 
their  masters,  this  prince,  according  to 
Eusebius,  had  also,  in  the  first  century,  his 

( 1 )  The  first  Christians  assembled  for  prayer  at 
the  hours  of  Tierce,  Sext,  and  None,  as  it  is  noted 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  they  spent  the  night 
in  prayer  on  the  eves  of  great  feasts,  chanting 
hymns  in  honor  of  Our  Lord,  as  St.  Basil  and  So¬ 
crates  testify. 

( a )  The  gods  who  were  called  indifferently 
Lares  or  Penates  were  the  titular  gods  of  houses. 
They  had  a  worship  of  their  own.  Incense  and 
wine  were  offered  to  them ;  they  were  crowned 
with  flowers,  and  a  lamp  lighted  before  their  little 
statues.  In  1505,  a  copper  lamp  was  dug  up  at 

Lyons,  with  two  beaks,  the  chain  of  which  was 
fixed  into  a  piece  of  marble  which  bore  this  in¬ 
scription  : 

“  Laribus  sacrum. 

P.  P.  Eomum.” 

Which  means,  “To  the  public  felicity  of  the 
Romans.” 

( s )  In  the  most  ancient  pictures  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  those  painted  on  wood,  the  great  antiquity 
of  which  is  undisputed,  she  almost  always  wears  a 
blue  veil. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  197 

church  of  Our  Lady,  adorned  with  a  mira¬ 
culous  image.  Egypt  boasts  of  having 
had,  about  the  same  time,  its  Church  of 
Our  Lady  of  Alexandria,  and  the  Spanish 
Saragossa,  then  called  Caesar- Augusta,  its 
celebrated  sanctuary  of  Our  Lady  del  Pilar. 
But  no  place  in  the  world  welcomed  devo¬ 
tion  to  Mary  with  more  enthusiasm  than 
Asia  Minor.  Ephesus,  where  the  memory 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  still  fresh,  soon 
built  in  honor  of  Mary  the  Miriam,  a 
superb  cathedral,  in  which  a  famous  coun¬ 
cil  was  held  in  the  fifth  century,  which 
established  her  beautiful  title  of  Mother 
of  God. 

This  example  was  followed  from  one  end 
to  the  other  of  the  immense  province  of 
Borne.  Phrygia,  christianized,  forgot  her 
Trojan  deities  whom  Homer  chanted  ;  Cap¬ 
padocia  forgot  to  feed  the  sacred  fires, 
which  the  Persians  had  kindled  beside  the 
elegant  temples  of  the  deities  of  Greece  ; 
and  the  caverns,  which  but  of  yore  had  lent 
their  gloomy  recesses  to  the  bloody  mys¬ 
teries  of  Mithra,1  became,  during  the  relig¬ 
ious  persecutions,  which  nowhere  raged  with 
greater  fury  than  amongst  the  Greek  col¬ 
onies,  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  Christians 
and  their  proscribed  God.  At  last,  the 
gods  of  Greece,  those  indigenous  deities 

sprung  from  the  bright  foam  of  the  JEgean 

Sea,  born  beneath  the  still-standing  palm- 
trees  of  the  Cyclades,  or  cradled  in  the 
shade  of  the  woods  which  crown  the  lofty 
mountains  of  Crete,  were  abandoned  for 

t 

the  God  who  died  on  Calvary,  and  the 
Virgin  of  Nazareth  ;  and  so  utterly  for¬ 
saken,  that  Pliny  the  Younger,  on  his 
arrival  in  Bithynia,  of  which  he  had  just 
been  appointed  governor,  wrote  to  Trajan 
that  Christianity  had  invaded,  not  only  the 
cities  but  the  country,  so  that  he  had  found 
the  temples  of  the  gods  of  the  empire  for¬ 
saken.2 

Asia  Minor  possessed,  from  the  earliest 
times,  miraculous  images  of  Our  Lady. 

The  two  most  famous  were  that  of  Dy- 
dinia,  where  St.  Basil  went  to  pray  for  the 
afflicted  church  in  the  reign  of  Julian  ;  and 
dhat  of  Sosopoli,  a  picture  painted  on 
wood,  which  distilled  a  wondrous  oil  that 
wrought  the  astonishing  cures  discussed  at 
the  second  council  of  Nice. 

Nor  was  Greece,  that  brilliant  home  of 
letters  and  arts,  remiss  in  honoring  Mary. 

In  the  time  of  St.  Paul,  Corinth,  where 
Grecian  freedom,  like  an  expiring  lamp, 
cast  its  last  gleam  before  it  was  extin¬ 
guished,  was  almost  entirely  converted  to 
Christianity.  The  faithful  assembled  at 

(•*)  The  worship  of  Mithra,  before  it  reached 
Greece  and  Rome,  had  previously  passed  from 
Persia  into  Cappadocia,  where  Strabo,  who  had 
travelled  there,  says  that  he  had  seen  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  priests  of  Mithra.  The  mysteries  of  Mithra, 
which  were  celebrated  in  the  depths  of  caverns, 
were  something  horrible,  according  to  the  holy 
fathers.  Human  victims  were  there  immolated, 
as  appears  from  a  fact  related  by  Socrates  in  his 

Ecclesiastical  History,  that  the  Christians  of  Alex¬ 
andria,  having  discovered  a  cave  which  had  been 
long  closed  up,  in  which  tradition  stated  that  the. 
Mithraic  rites  had  been  formerly  celebrated,  they 
found  there  human  bones  and  skulls,  which  were 
taken  out  to  exhibit  to  the  people  of  that  great 
city. 

( 2 )  Plin.,  lib.  x.,  epist.  97. 

DEVOTION  TO  THE 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE 


first  in  the  spacious  halls  of  private  houses, 
where  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  solemnly  in¬ 
voked.  Gradually,  the  temples  of  pagan¬ 
ism  grew  empty,  and  a  century  later  only 
travellers  and  the  curious  climbed  the 
steep  sides  of  the  Acro-Ceraunium  to  visit 
the  temple  of  Venus,  whose  lofty  porticoes, 
towering  above  the  verdant  ocean  of  the 
treetops,  were  traced  upon  the  soft  blue 
sky  of  Greece.  The  protecting  goddess  of 
the  Corinthians  had  been  dethroned  by  the 
Holy  Woman  who  restored  slighted  mod¬ 
esty  and  despised  maternity,  in  their  effem¬ 
inate  country.  To  her  is  owing,  that  pure 
family  pleasures,  the  exquisite  enjoyments 
of  the  domestic  hearth,  were,  without  diffi¬ 
culty,  substituted  for  the  shameful  dis¬ 
orders,  the  monstrous  orgies,  and  the 
depraved  morals  of  that  little  republic, 
which  had  always  shone  in  the  foremost 
rank  among  corrupt  communities.  Corinth, 
transfigured,  became  a  Christian  Sparta, 
and  the  eulogium  which  St.  Clement  pro¬ 
nounces  upon  its  church,  toward  the  end 
of  the  first  century,  gives  us  a  marvellous 
idea  of  its  fervor. 

Arcadia,  whose  forests  were  peopled 
with  rustic  deities,  and  where  every  wild 
cavern  and  murmuring  stream  had  its  altar, 
abjured  also,  but  less  speedily,  the  worship 
of  Pan  and  the  nymphs,  for  devotion  to 
the  humble  Virgin,  whose  divine  Infant  had 
been  pleased  to  receive  for  his  earliest 
homage  the  artless  adoration  of  shepherds. 
But  as  old  superstitions  are  more  difficult 
to  eradicate  in  the  country  than  elsewhere, 
it  was  still  long  believed  in  Arcadian  ham¬ 
lets,  that  Diana  hunted  in  the  depths  of 
the  great  forests  of  Maenalus  and  Ly casus. 


Young  and  credulous  shepherdesses,  hesi¬ 
tating  between  Christian  dogmas  and  the 
superstitions  of  their  forefathers,  imagined 
that  they  sometimes  saw  by  the  uncertain 
light  of  the  moon  fair  white  Dryads  among 
the  trees,  Naiads  bending  their  pensive 
heads  over  the  margins  of  fountains,  or 
frolicsome  Napaeae  dancing  upon  the  golden 
buds  and  daisies  of  the  meadows.  But 
toward  the  time  of  Constantine,  the  Blessed 
Virgin  prevailed  over  deified  nature  ;  and 
the  numberless  churches  in  her  name,  which 
still  adorn  the  rural  sites  of  the  ancient 
Pelasgi,  attest  the  profound  attachment  of 
the  Arcadians  to  her  honor. 

Elis,  too,  at  a  very  early  period,  reared 
a  church  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  on 
the  banks  of  its  river  Alplieus,  sacred  to 
romantic  adventures  ;  and  as  it  was  sur¬ 
rounded  with  noble  vineyards,  gave  it  the 
name  of  Our  Lady  of  Grapes. 

Macedonia  took  the  lead  of  Greece,  prop¬ 
erly  so  called,  in  devotion  to  Mary  :  Thes- 
salonica  had  a  bishop’s  see  in  the  time  of 
the  apostles  ;  and  still  shows  a  superb  ba¬ 
silica,  with  jasper  pillars,  which  the  people 
of  Alexandria  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  but  which  the  Turks  have  converted 
into  a  mosque.1 

Nero,  travelling  in  Peloponnesus,  had 
not  dared  to  pass  the  frontiers  of  Laconia, 
deterred  by  the  austere  shade  of  Sparta. 
The  meek  and  timid  Virgin  of  Galilee  was 
braver  than  Caesar  ;  she  passed  the  Eurotas, 
which  hides  its  humbled  waters  beneath 
rose-bays,  and  presented  herself  to  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  Leonidas,  whose  ancient  virtue  had 


(  1 )  Wheeler’s  Travels. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


199 


been  again  steeped  in  the  bitter  but  strength¬ 
ening  waters  of  poverty.  She  was  welcomed 
with  enthusiasm,  and  they  hastened  to  build 
the  most  beautiful  church  in  Greece  to  the 
young  foreign  Virgin,  who  came  to  teach 
Sparta’s  maidens  a  downcast  eye. 

Since  then,  Mary  has  reigned  in  Sparta 
with  absolute  power  ;  for  her  open  the  first 
violets,  which  the  Eurotas  sees  blossom  on  its 
banks  ;  before  her  picture,  rudely  painted 
in  red  and  blue  upon  the  walls  of  their 
homes,  the  young  maidens  of  Lacedaemon 
light  every  evening  a  clay  or  bronze  lamp,  a 
pious  action  which  the  Greek  minstrels,  who 
sing  the  praises  of  the  dead,  never  fail  to 
celebrate  on  days  of  funeral  obsequies. 
Indeed,  the  inhabitants  of  Laconia  substi¬ 
tuted  the  names  of  Christ  and  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  wherever  their  forefathers  used  the 
name  of  Jupiter  in  their  affirmations  ;  and 
this  form  of  oath  grew  so  habitual  that  the 
very  Turks  of  Misistra,  before  the  Greek 
revolution,  instead  of  swearing  by  Allah 
and  Mahomet,  like  other  Osmanlis,  used  to 
swear,  Kke  the  Greeks  of  Sparta,  by  the 
Blessed  Virgin.1 

Elegant  and  learned  Athens,  famous  for 
its  monuments,  the  noblest  of  earth,  and  its 
schools  frequented  by  the  flower  of  the 
studious  youth  of  Europe  and  Asia,  was 
slower  in  its  conversion  to  Christianity  than 
the  other  countries  of  Greece.  From  the 
early  times,  however,  it  had  a  bishop,  and 
a  church  dedicated  to  Mary,  Our  Lady  Spi- 

( 1 )  Pouqueville,  Voyage  en  Moree,  t.  i. 

( ’ )  St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  t.  v.,  p.  2. 

( ’ )  While  the  sun  is  above  the  horizon,  as  the 
heat  is  excessive  in  their  climate,  the  Arabs  usually 
Keep  under  their  tents.  They  come  out  toward 


liotissa  (of  the  Grotto)  ;  but  polytheism  kept 
its  ground  under  the  brilliant  aegis  of  Mi¬ 
nerva,  and  Athens  was  at  the  same  time  full 
of  Christian  churches  and  of  idols.  It  was 
in  one  of  these  churches  that  Julian  the 
Apostate,  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Con- 
stantius,  filled  the  office  of  lector  ;  but  it 
was  in  the  Parthenon  that  he  went  to  dream 
the  re-establishment  of  idolatry,  while  read¬ 
ing  Homer. 

That  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  exert¬ 
ed  a  powerful  influence  on  the  propagation 
of  the  gospel  in  Greece  and  Asia,  is  a  fact 
which  the  manners  and  tastes  of  the  Levan¬ 
tines  would  render  probable,  even  if  it  had 
not  been  attested,  before  all  the  Oriental 
bishops,  by  St.  Cyril,  at  the  first  council  of 
Ephesus,  in  a  discourse  which  has  come 
down  to  onr  times.  “Hail  to  thee,  holy 
Mother  of  God,”  said  this  holy  and  learned 
bishop,  “by  whom  churches  have  been 
founded  throughout  the  world,”  in  cities, 
towns,  and  islands  where  the  true  faith  is 
received. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Great  Sea,  sev¬ 
eral  tribes  of  Arabs  had  been  converted  to 
Christianity,  and  greatly  honored  Mary, 
the  Sultana  of  Heaven,  as  they  still  call 
her.  Seated  beneath  the  shade  of  the  date- 
palm,  or  the  tamarisk  with  its  green  fruits, 
which  loves  the  margin  of  brackish  springs, 
and  inhaling  with  delight  the  coolness  which 
night  brings  amid  their  burning  sands,3  the 
story-tellers  of  Christian  tribes,  by  the 

sunset,  and  then  enjoy  the  charms  of  the  beautiful 
sky  and  the  cool  air.  Night  is  for  them  in  some  sort 
what  day  is  for  us.  Thus  their  poets  never  sing  the 
charms  of  a  fine  day,  but  these  words,  “Leilli! 
leilli !  ” — “  0  night !  0  night !  ”  are  repeated  in  all 


• 

♦  v  ■ 

200  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

light  of  those  eternal  lamps  of  God,  which 
they  suppose  fastened  with  golden  chains  to 
the  ceiling  of  the  firmament,1  related  the 
principal  facts  of  the  Blessed  Virgin’s  life, 
coloring  them  with  that  tinge  of  the  mar¬ 
vellous  so  agreeable  to  the  children  of 
Ismael.  They  told,  according  to  the  Arab 
gospel  of  the  infancy  of  Christ  and  the 
traditions  of  the  desert,  how  the  holy  angels 
came  bearing  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in 
the  temple  where  her  guardian  Zachary 
had  placed  her,  fine  dates,  amber  grapes, 
figs  sweeter  than  honey,  and  fragrant 
flowers,  gathered  in  the  gardens  of  Para¬ 
dise  which  abound  in  limpid  springs  and 
green  trees  :  for  Paradise  in  hot  climates 
has  always  been  composed  of  cool  waters 
and  delightful  shade.  And  then  they  re¬ 
lated,  still  in  their  own  way,  the  prodigies 
of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  which,  though  become 
Mussulmans,  still  they  call  Al  milad  (the 
birth  by  excellence).  They  placed  the 
scene  in  a  desert,  on  the  margin  of  a  spring, 
at  the  foot  of  a  withered  palm-tree,  without 
branches  and  foliage,  which  was  suddenly 
covered  with  leaves  and  fruit,  at  the  voice 
of  the  angel  Gabriel,  whom  God  had  sent 
to  Mary,  to  wipe  away  her  tears.  These 
marvellous  tales  increased  their  veneration 
for  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  they  believed  that 
in  course  of  time  they  should  be  able  to 

adore  her  in  heaven  whom  the  angels  had 
served  upon  earth,  and  they  in  fact  offered 
her  oblations  of  cakes  made  of  flour  and 
honey  :  whence  they  were  called  collyridians 
from  the  word  noWvpws,  a  cake.  St.  Epi- 
phanius  strongly  condemned  them  for  this 
worship,  which  exceeded  legitimate  limits, 
and  taught  them  that  oblation  and  sacrifice 
must  be  offered  to  God  alone.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  idolatrous  Arabs  had  set  up  the 
image  of  Mary  in  the  Caaba,  among  the 
angels,  whom  they  represented  under  the 
form  of  young  women,  and  whom  they  called 
the  daughters  of  God.2  Mary,  whom  they 
had  made  the  sister  of  those  pure  spirits, 
shared  with  them  divine  honors.  Victims 
were  immolated  to  her,  decorated  with  leaves 
and  flowers  ;  they  offered  her  the  lirst  ears 
of  the  harvest,  as  well  as  the  first  dates  of 
the  palm-trees,  and,  in  golden  vases,  the 
foaming  milk  of  the  sacred  camels.8  The 
image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  holding  the 
divine  Infant  in  her  arms,  remained  in  the 
temple  of  Mecca  till  the  time  of  Mahomet, 
who  had  it  removed  with  the  genii  and 
angels. 

The  holy  name  of  Mary  began  to  be 
invoked  among  the  people  who  dwell  be¬ 
tween  the  Caspian  and  Black  Seas  ;  but, 
alas !  the  sanctuaries  of  Judea  were  pro¬ 
faned  by  the  Greek  and  Syriac  idols, 

their  songs. — (Savary,  note  on  ch.  yii.  of  the  Ko¬ 
ran.) 

(*)  The  first  heaven  is  of  pure  silver;  from 
its  beautiful  ceiling  the  stars  are  suspended  by 
strong  golden  chains. — (Koran,  the  Legend  of  Ma¬ 
homet,  by  Savary,  p.  15.) 

( * )  Geladeddin,  note  on  ch.  xvi.  of  the  Koran. 

( ’ )  The  idolatrous  Arabs  had  several  female 

camels  consecrated  to  the  gods  of  the  Caaba ;  the 
cream  of  their  milk  was  used  in  libations. —  (Sav¬ 
ary,  in  a  note  on  ch.  v.  of  the  Koran.)  The  in¬ 
habitants  of  Mecca  offered  a  portion  of  their 
fruits  and  flocks  to  God,  and  another  to  their 
idols. — (Geladeddin,  note  on  ch.  vi.  of  the  Ko¬ 
ran.) 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


201 


which  were  not  overthrown  till  the  time 
of  Constantine.  The  statue  of  Jupiter 
rose  sacrilegiously  on  the  spot  where  Mary 


in  tears  hacl  beheld  Christ  crucified,  and 
they  sacrificed  to  Adonis  in  the  grotto  of 
Bethlehem. 


CHAPTEE  III. 


THE  WEST. 

THE  holy  vine  of  Christianity  already 
flourished  in  Asia  so  as  to  extend  its 
holy  branches  over  a  multitude  of  nations 
but  it  took  root  more  slowly  in  the  West. 
Rome,  intensely  idolatrous — Rome,  intoxi¬ 
cated  with  the  blood  of  martyrs,  which  she 
had  shed  like  water,  defended  polytheism 
with  all  her  might,  and  her  might  extended 
over  the  world.  In  the  East,  a  mysterious 
sign,  which  made  Satan  shudder  in  the 
depths  of  his  burning  realm,  proclaimed 
that  the  kingdom  of  Glod  was  at  hand  ;  but 
in  Italy,  and  in  those  regions  situated  be¬ 
yond  the  Alps,  Christianity  was  as  yet 
only  in  the  position  of  a  secret  society ; 
men  joined  it  with  every  precaution  and 
mystery ;  the  members  recognized  each 
other  by  recognized  signs  ;  and,  no  doub.t, 


( 1 )  We  learn  from  Arnobius  and  Eusebius  that 
the  Gospel,  in  the  first  three  centuries,  had  ex¬ 
tended  far  beyond  the  sway  of  the  Romans,  among 
the  Persians,  Parthians,  Scythians,  and  many 
others  whom  they  do  not  mention. — (Arnobius, 
adv.  Gentes,  lib.  ii.,  c.  xii. ;  Eusebius  Demonstratio 
Evang.,  lib.  iii.,  c.  v.) 

( ’ )  Micheas,  v.  7. 

( * )  One  of  these  altars,  on  which  it  is  believed 


THE  CATACOMBS. 

the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  origin  of  which 
is  unknown,  was  one  of  those  mysterious 
signs  which  made  known  a  Christian  stran¬ 
ger  to  brethren  scattered  among  the  crowd. 
Not  that  the  Christians  of  the  Western 
regions  were  few — they  might  already  have 
formed  armies  ;  but,  persecuted  by  idola¬ 
trous  governors,  tracked  like  wild  beasts, 
and  finding  no  support  from  the  Roman 
laws,  which  took  cognizance  of  them  only 
to  punish,  they  lived  isolated  “as  a  dew 
from  the  Lord,  and  as  drops  upon  the 
grass,  which  waite th  not  for  man,  nor  tar- 
rieth  for  the  children  of  men.” 2 

The  first  Latin  churches  were  domestic 
chapels,  and  the  first  altars  portable  chests 
of  wood,  like  the  ark,  which  they  resembled 
in  form  and  in  their  rings  of  brass.3  These 


St.  Peter  celebrated  the  divine  mysteries,  and 
which  Pope  Sylvester  enclosed  beneath  the  high 
altar  of  St.  John  Lateran,  was  examined  on  the 
29th  of  March,  1658,  under  Alexander  VII.,  by 
the  Chevalier  Baromini,  and  by  the  sacristan 
major  of  the  basilica;  it  is  four  palms  long  by 
eight  palms  wide.  Its  shape  is  that  of  a  chest. 
The  altar  was  carried  by  means  of  several  rings. 


20 


202 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


primitive  churches  of  Rome,  which  already 
existed  before  the  arrival  of  St.  Paul,  were 
chiefly  composed  of  Greeks  and  Jews  con¬ 
verted  to  Christianity ;  but  the  Roman 
people  soon  heard  of  this  new  law,  which 
declared  that  all  men  are  brethren,  that 
they  are  equal,  and  should  love  one  an¬ 
other.  They  saw  the  beauty  of  this  holy 
law  ;  they  wished  to  follow  it,  and  came 
in  crowds  to  receive  the  regenerating  water 
of  Baptism.  It  was  then  found,  to  the 
great  surprise  of  every  one,  says  Tacitus, 
that  Rome  contained  an  immense  number 
of  Christians.1  The  priests  of  the  idols 
were  excited  ;  Nero,  emperor  and  supreme 
pontiff,  took  alarm,  and  persecutions  began.2 

They  assembled  at  first  where  they 
could,  as  St.  Justin  Martyr  replied  to 
the  prefect  of  Rome,  who  asked  where 
these  meetings  were  held,  and  who  did  not 
learn  ;  but  the  halls  and  upper  chambers 
of  private  houses  becoming  too  confined, 
and  the  searches  made  by  the  senate  be¬ 
coming  daily  more  rigorous,  it  became 
necessary  to  seek  a  temple  vast  enough 
to  contain  a  great  multitude  of  people,  and 
so  hidden  as  to  escape  the  search  of  that 
swarm  of  informers  who  were  then  a  per¬ 
fect  plague  of  Egypt,  to  the  empire  a 
scourge.  Some  bold-hearted  Christians 
proposed  the  catacombs.  There  were  im¬ 
mense  gloomy  apartments,  interminable 
avenues,  where  the  darkness  was  so  dense, 

( 1 )  Tacitus,  Annals,  lib.  xv.,  c.  xliv. 

(*  * )  This  first  persecution  was  based  on  the 
burning  of  Rome,  which  Nero  had  kindled  him¬ 
self,  and  then  laid  to  the  Christians.  It  was  ex¬ 
tremely  cruel :  the  Christians  were  wrapped  in 
tunic  dipped  in  pitch,  or  other  combustible  mat- 


says  St.  Jerom,  that  one  seemed  to  de¬ 
scend  as  it  were  into  the  grave  alive,  and 
the  walls  of  which  were  studded  with 
bodies  buried  there.  This  labyrinth  of 
coffins,  from  which  it  was  all  but  impossible 
to  find  an  outlet,  and  which  it  was  almost 
certain  death  to  enter  without  a  guide  ;  those 
dizzy  vaults  where  reigned  silence,  fear,  and 
death,  had  no  terrors  for  the  first  Chris¬ 
tians  of  Rome.  On  the  Lord’s  day,  then 
called  the  day  of  the  Sun,  they  assembled 
in  this  awe-inspiring  metropolitan  church, 
to  read  the  writings  of '  the  apostles  or 
prophets  ;  then  they  offered  on  an  altar  of 
rough  stone  the  sacrifice  of  bread  and 
wine,  which  was  preceded  by  a  sermon, 
and  followed  by  a  collection  for  the  poor.8 
Rude  frescoes,  representing  our  Saviour,  or 
Mary,  such  as  may  still  be  seen,  half  ef¬ 
faced,  in  the  catacombs  of  Naples  and 
Rome,  were  the  only  decoration  of  this 
abode  of  prayer,  where  the  assembly  con¬ 
sisted  of  ten  generations  of  the  departed, 
and  one  of  the  living.  What  a  temple  ! 
Instead  of  vessels  of  gold,  encrusted  with 
precious  stones,  they  had  wooden  chalices  ! 
Instead  of  massive  silver  Roman  lamps, 
mournful  torches  !  Instead  of  rich  spoils, 
the  terrible  trophies  of  the  angel  of  death ! 
On  either  side,  in  front,  before,  and  behind 
the  place  where  the  assembly  of  the  faith¬ 
ful  gathered  close,  were  long  subterraneous 
avenues,  where,  from  time  to  time,  torches 

ter;  then  they  set  fire  to  them,  so  that  they 
served  for  torches  to  light  up  the  night.  Nero 
made  a  spectacle  of  them  in  his  gardens,  where  he 
himself  drove  chariots  by  the  light  of  these  fearful 
torches. — (See  Hist.  Eccles.,  t.  i.,  p.  98.) 

( * )  Apology  of  S.  Justin. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


203 


gleamed  iu  the  distance,  and  where  veiled 
figures  glided  along  like  spectres  !  Beneath 
their  feet  the  dust  of  a  republic,  which 
had  interred  its  virtues  in  the  folds  of  its 
great  winding-sheet :  terror  within  ;  and 
without,  in  case  of  discovery,  the  amphi¬ 
theatre,  whose  arena  was  red  as  a  wound, 
in  such  torrents  had  Christian  blood  been 
shed  there. 

When  we  reflect  on  all  this,  we  ask 
amazed,  who  were  the  intrepid  heroes  who 
came  to  brave  these  terrors  ?  .  .  .  Those 
heroes  who  faced  fear  and  death  were  poor 
and  ignorant  men,  who  had  grown  up  in 
the  midst  of  the  auguries,  the  omens,  and 
the  thousand  superstitious  fears  of  pagan¬ 
ism  ;  timid  virgins,  accustomed  to  bloom 
far  from  the  world,  like  solitary  roses 
opulent  and  fair  patrician  ladies,  served  by 
legions  of  slaves,  who  slept  upon  couches 
of  massive  gold,  ate  from  tables  of  citron- 
wood,  lived  in  apartments  ceiled  with  ivory, 
and  walked  upon  marble  floors,  sprinkled 
with  gold  or  silver  dust  ;  young  men 
enveloped  in  rich  scarlet  mantles,  an  Ani¬ 
cius,  an  Olibrius ,  a  Probus ,  or  a  Gracchus / 
in  fine,  the  flower  of  the  nobility  ;  knights 
known  by  their  equestrian  rings,  grand 
officers  of  the  palace,  tribunes  of  the  peo¬ 
ple,  favorites,  relatives  of  Caesar,  whose 
sons  were  by  decree  to  succeed  him  in  the 

( 1 )  S.  Ambrose,  de  Virginitate,  lib.  i.,  c.  vi. 

( 4 )  See  Prudentius,  in  bis  two  books  against 
Symmachus.  According  to  this  author,  the  family 
of  Anicius  was  the  first  patrician  family  at  Eome 
which  embraced  Christianity. . 

( ’ )  The  cousin-german  of  Domitian,  Flavins 
Clement,  whose  two  sons  had  been  named  by  the 
'  emperor  himself  as  his  successors  in  the  imperial 
dignity,  was  put  to  death  for  being  a  Christian, 


empire.3  .  .  .  Nay,  more.  Imperial  prin¬ 
cesses,  who  threaded  by  night  the  courts  of 
their  golden  palace  on  Mount  Palatine,  es¬ 
corted  by  a  few  faithful  slaves,  and  glided 
like  spirits  beyond  the  city  of  Romulus,  to 
go  and  adore  in  the  depths  of  the  cata¬ 
combs  the  Galilean,  as  the  haughty  pagan 
aristocracy  termed  him  in  disdainful  con¬ 
tempt,  and  to  invoke  that  sweet  Virgin 
Mary,  for  whom  the  noble  scions  of  the 
Gracchi  and  the  Scipios  abandoned  their 
favorite  temple  of  Juno  Lucina.4 

If  the  Tiber  overflowed,  or  rain  did  not 
fall,  or  an  earthquake  happened,  and  the 
Roman  people,  to  avert  such  disasters, 
raised  their  wonted  cry  :  “  The  Christians 
to  the  lions  !” 5  then  coffins  would  be  brought 
before  the  altar,  filled  with  bones,  piously 
gathered  in  the  amphitheatre.  Then  a 
canticle  of  triumph,  sweetly  chanted,  aris¬ 
ing  from  the  depths  of  the  earth,  mingled 
with  the  ceaseless  ripple  of  the  waters 
which  the  aqueducts  bore  over  the  walls 
of  Rome,  and  the  soft  and  gentle  murmur 
of  the  tall  Lombardy  poplars,  which 
echoes  the  sound  of  the  running  waters. 
Ofttimes  the  bishop,  a  holy  old  man,  lean¬ 
ing  on  a  real  shepherd’s  simple  crook,  re¬ 
proved  those  who  had  deserted  the  camp 
of  riches,  and  come  to  adore  the  King  of 
Poverty  for  a  lingering  attachment  to  Ro- 

having  hardly  ended  his  consulship.  The  princess 
Domitilla,  his  wife,  a  Christian  like  himself,  was 
banished  to  an  island. — (Hist.  Eccles.,  t.  i.,  p.  105.) 

( 4 )  The  temple  of  Juno  Lucina  was  the  favorite 
resort  of  the  grandest  ladies  of  Rome ;  courtesans 
were  forbidden  to  enter  it ;  mothers  there  offered 
vows  to  obtain  rich  matches  for  their  daughters. 

( ‘ )  Tertullian,  Apology. 


204 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


man  luxury.  He  would  tell  the  grand  ladies, 
who  listened  to  him  in  a  pensive  attitude, 
that  it  did  not  become  Christian  women  to 
wear,  in  rings  and  bracelets,  “  the  substance 
of  a  thousand  poor.”  Some  days  after, 
people  would  ask  what  one  of  the  daugh¬ 
ters  of  the  house  of  Anicius  had  done  with 
her  jewels.  The  poor,  both  pagan  and 
Christian,  around  about  her  could  have 
answered,  by  showing  bread  and  money ! 
Or  else  he  inveighed  against  slavery  ;  and 
the  next  day  it  was  everywhere  repeated 
with  profound  surprise,  that  a  certain  pre¬ 
fect  of  the  palace  had  just  freed  live  hundred 
slaves.  There  especially  was  charity  in¬ 
culcated  ;  and  what  kind  of  charity  ? 

4 ‘  Almsgiving  is  a  mystery,”  said  the  priest 
of  Jesus  Christ;  “when  you  exercise  it, 
close  the  doors !  ” 

And  issuing  from  those  meetings  where 
fervor  was  revived,  women,  poor  them¬ 
selves,  went  to  rescue  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber  the  children  exposed  there  by  the 
grand  pagan  ladies  ;  while  noble  ladies  set 
apart  a  portion  of  their  palaces  for  hos¬ 
pitals,  and  young  Christian  nobles  under¬ 
took  long  journeys  to  relieve  their  African 
and  Asiatic  brethren.  These  acts  of  char- 

( 1 )  Lucianus,  de  Morte  Peregrini. 

( 4 )  Astolfi,  Delli  Imagini  miracolose. 

( 3)  Raoul  Rochette  ascribes  the  introduction  of 
these  little  statues  to  the  Gnostics :  but  the  Gnos¬ 
tics  themselves  deemed  them  much  older  than  their 
sect.  According  to  all  appearance,  this  custom 
was  established  among  the  first  Roman  patricians 
who  became  converts  to  Christianity.  The  images 
of  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the 
apostles,  were  substituted  for  those  of  Fortune  and 
other  divinities,  which  were  set,  crowned  with  flowers, 
on  the  altar  of  the  Lares,  and  which  were  small 


ity,  self-denial,  and  devotedness  struck  the 
pagans  with  surprise  ;  they  were  unable  tc 
understand  them,  so  far  were  they  incapa¬ 
ble  to  perform  them.1 

The  noble  Roman  matrons  then  wore 
emerald,  cornelian,  or  sapphire,  graven 
with  the  image  of  Mary,  and  bequeathed 
them  at  death  to  their  daughters  as  symbols 
of  their  faith.  Years  after  Galla,  the  widow 
of  Symmachus,  built  a  superb  church,  to 
enshrine  one  of  those  precious  stones,  relic 
of  a  persecuted  faith  :  so  fine  was  the  work¬ 
manship  that  it  was  thought  to  have  pro¬ 
ceeded  from  a  superhuman  hand,  and  it  was 
venerated  as  a  gift  from  heaven.2 

Besides  these  religious  ornaments,  which 
enabled  Christian  women  to  recognize  each 
other,  they  exposed  among  flowers,  upon 
the  domestic  altar  where  the  Lares  or  house¬ 
hold  gods  had  long  reigned-,  little  statues 
of  silver  or  gold,  representing  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  apostles.  These 
little  statues,  any  discovery  of  which  would 
have  sent  the  whole  family  to  the  amphithe¬ 
atre,  were  generally  small  enough  to  be  put 
out  of  sight  at  the  first  signal,  and  even 
hidden  about  their  persons.3 

At  a  somewhat  later  period,  private 

enough  to  be  carried  about  the  person,  if  needed. 
One  of  these  little  statues,  representing  Harpoc- 
rates,  the  god  of  silence,  has  been  found  in  Brit¬ 
tany  ;  it  was  of  gold,  two  inches  long,  and  weighed 
two  louis. — (See  Iiistoire  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne, 
t.  iii.,  p.  358.)  We  know,  moreover,  that  the  ancients 
hung  around  their  necks,  or  fastened  to  their  gar¬ 
ments,  small  images  of  Fortune.  Thence  came 
the  custom  of  wearing  Madonnas,  doves  represent¬ 
ing  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  crosses  of  gold  or  precious 
stones.  Unable  to  abolish  that  ancient  custom,  the 
churchy  who  is  perfectly  wise,  changed  its  object. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  205 

chapels  received  the  bodies  of  the  martyrs, 
attired  in  very  rich  white  robes,  and  en¬ 
shrined  with  magnificence  in  marble  sarcoph¬ 
agi.  During  the  last  persecutions,  Aglae, 
a  rich  and  beautiful  Roman  matron,  sent 
for  a  martyr’s  body  to  the  remotest  part 
of  Bithynia,  where  the  Roman  governors, 
absolute  men,  who  traded  in  everything, 
even  in  the  dead,  sold  them  very  dear.1 

In  the  interval  between  the  persecutions, 
the  Christians  collected  their  dead  in  ceme¬ 
teries  situated  without  the  walls  of  Rome, 
and  often  went  thither  to  pray.  The  walls 
of  these  cemeteries,  painted  in  fresco,  rep¬ 
resented  Christ  upon  his  tribunal,  in  a  severe 
and  imposing  attitude  befitting  the  sovereign 
Judge  of  mankind ;  near  him,  Mary,  in 
a  Roman  veil,  stood  ready  to  implore  his 
mercy  for  sinners.2 

During  the  halcyon  days  of  the  reign  of 
Alexander  Severus,  the  Christians  of  Rome, 
knowing  that  this  prince  honored  Jesus 
Christ,  whose  image  he  had  set  up  in  his 
lararium,  among  the  holy  souls,3  and  count¬ 
ing  on  the  support  of  his  mother,  the  Em¬ 
press  Mamea,  who  was  a  Christian,  request¬ 
ed  and  obtained,  in  spite  of  the  clamors  of 
the  pagan  priests,  permission  to  erect  a 
church  on  the  site  of  an  abandoned  dwell¬ 
ing.  It  was  the  first  that  dared  to  raise  its 
cross  beside  the  marble  temples  of  the  gods 
of  the  empire  ;  it  was  dedicated  to  Mary,  and 
took  the  name  of  Our  Lady  beyond  the  Tiber. 

Christianity,  violently  repressed  in  Italy } 

was  cruelly  persecuted  in  Gaul,  where  it 
made  only  imperceptible  progress,  accord¬ 
ing  to  Sulpicius  Severus,  who  wrote  in  the 
fourth  century.  Nevertheless,  in  the  third 
century,  some  bishoprics  are  enumerated : 
among  others,  that  of  Paris,  founded  by  St. 
Denis,  who  suffered  martyrdom  in  272, 
during  the  persecution  of  Valerian :  and 
that  of  Lyons,  where  St.  Pothinus  had  es¬ 
tablished  the  devotion  to  Mary.  Mission¬ 
aries,  among  whom  we  see  even  Roman 
knights,  traversed  Gaul ;  but  these  sowers 
of  the  gospel  often  fell  beneath  the  impious 
sword  of  the  pagan  governors,  who  tracked 
them  like  wild  beasts,4  before  their  task  was 
far  advanced.  Their  unfinished  labors, 
however,  were  not  lost ;  their  noble  blood 
enriched  the  furrows  which  they  had  opened, 
and,  at  a  later  day,  other  laborers  came 
there  to  gather  the  harvest. 

The  island  of  the  Britons  boasts  of  having 
outstripped  Gaul  in  its  conversion  to  Chris¬ 
tianity,  and  if  its  more  ancient  chroniclers 
are  to  be  credited,  it  had  the  first  Christian 
king  in  the  world.  V enerable  Bede  relates 
that  in  the  time  of  the  emperors  Marcus 
Aurelius  and  Commodus,  a  prince,  named 
Lucius,  asked  Pope  Eleutherius  for  two 
Italian  missionaries  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  little  kingdom  which  he  governed  under 
the  Romans.  His  request  was  welcomed, 
and  two  apostolical  men,  to  whom  the  Britons 
subsequently  reared  altars,5  came  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  tribes  of  Great  Britain, 

(’)  Simplician,  governor  of  Cilicia,  sold  to  the 
servants  of  the  martyr  Boniface  the  body  of  their 
master  for  five  hundred  gold  crowns. 

( 1 )  A  very  ancient  painting  in  the  cemetery  of 

St.  Calixtus,  of  Rome,  still  represents  the  Blessed 
Virgin  in  this  costume. 

( 3 )  Lampridius,  in  Alexander  Severus,  c.  xxix.- 
xxxi. 

(*)  “You  have  escaped  us  then,  if  you  are  a 
Christian,”  said  Heraclius  to  St.  Symphorian,  “  for 
there  are  very  few  of  you  left.” 

(')  Harpsfield,  Hist.,  lib.  i.,  c.  iii. 

.  .« 

206  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

then  divided  between  Druidism,  still  in  its 

British  isle,  where  Roman  civilization  ex- 

vigor,  and  the  gods  of  the  Roman  emperors. 

panded,  like  a  pallid,  premature  flower, 

God  blessed  their  efforts  :  the  Britons,  still 

amid  barbarism — had  cities  adorned  with 

only  half-civilized,  crowded  from  their  hive- 

baths,  marble  palaces,  temples  glittering 

like  huts  to  listen  to  them  ;  and  sometimes, 

with  gold,  on  the  borders  of  heath  where 

amid  desert  heaths  studded  with  enormous 

menhirs  and  dense  virgin  forests  towered  ; 

stones,  where  the  missionaries  had  come  to 

but  Caledonia,  where  the  eagle  of  the 

meet  followers  of  Bsus,  assembled  by  the 

Caesars  had  not  penetrated,  was  still  the 

pale  moonlight1  for  some  secret. sacrifice, 

land  of  the  torrent,  the  mist,  and  the  rock, 

‘  a  young  Celtic  priestess,  after  listening  to  the 

and  had  no  religion  but  an  almost  extinct 

holy  doctrine  with  pensive  air,  as  she  leaned 

Druidism  confused  with  kindred  supersti- 

against  the  menhir,  which  threw  afar  its 

tions.  The  belief  of  these  races  was  all 

giant  shadow,  would  drop  from  her  hands 

vague  and  undefined,  like  a  landscape  en- 

the  golden  sickle,  beneath  which  the  mistle- 

veloped  in  fog.  The  Druids,  after  a  collis- 

toe  was  to  have  fallen,  that  sacred  plant 

ion  with  the  great  chiefs,  had  been  expelled 

which  still  grew  in  the  furrowed  bark  of  the 

as  early  as  the  fourth  century,3  and  their 

oak,  and  bow  before  the  minister  of  Christ, 

notions  of  the  unity  of  God  were  almost 

with  her  fair  head  still  wreathed  with  the 

forgotten  ;  but  men  believed  in  the  spirit 

priestly  garland  which  confined  her  dis- 

of  the  waters,  the  spirit  of  the  mountains, 

.  ; 

he  veiled  hair,  as  she  cried  out,  in  a  voice 

and  in  an  aerial  palace  were  the  shades  of. 

full  of  emotion  :  “lama  Christian  !  ”  And 

their  forefathers,  who  wandered  aimlessly 

the  priest,  dipping  from  the  still  worshipped 

by  night  on  their  chariots  of  cloud,  display- 

spring,  poured  the  sacred  water  of  Baptism 

ing  their  white  drapery,  gilded  by  the  moon, 

on  the  forehead  of  the  stately  young  neo- 

and  brandishing  as  a  sword,  in  their  trans- 

phyte,  who  discarded  her  name  of  Uheldeda 

lucent  hands,  a  half-extinguished  meteor.4 

(sublimity),  to  adopt  the  sweet  foreign  name 

The  Christian  apostles  of  these  then  almost 

of  Mary.2 

unknown  regions,  which  a  chilly  sun  illu- 

During  the  persecution  of  Diocletian,  ac- 

mines  as  if  reluctantly  through  nights  of 

cording  to  the  best  authorities,  Christianity 

rain,  took  possession  of  the  grottoes  which 

passed  beyond  the  double  wall  which  sepa- 

the  Druids  had  abandoned,6  and  planted 

rated  the  Britons,  whom  their  conquerors 

their  tents  on  the  banks  of  torrents,  in  the 

had  politically  enervated,  from  their  restless 

depths  of  woods,  or  on  the  mountain-side. 

and  wild  neighbors  on  the  north.  The 

Sometimes  it  happened  that  a  Highland 

1 

( 1 )  The  Gauls  and  island  Britons  assembled  in 

(2)  Venerable  Bede  assures  us,  in  his  Ecclesias- 

their  temples  only  at  night,  and  when  the  moon 

tical  History,  that  even  at  this  remote  period  a 

was  in  the  first  quarter,  or  at  the  full ;  this  tradi- 

great  number  of  Druids  became  Christians. 

tional  usage  came  down  from  the  highest  antiquity. 

( 3 )  Poems  of  Ossian  :  a  Dissertation  concerning 

— (Histoire  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne,  t.  iv.,  p. 

the  Era  of  Ossian. 

1 

540.) 

( 4 )  See  Ossian.  ( 6 )  Ibid. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  207 

hunter.1  forgetting  to  pursue  through  the 

wind  now  moans  through  its  venerable  ruins, 

mist  the  red  deer  and  the  roebuck,  would 

beneath  which  monarchs  repose. 

come  and  seat  him  upon  the  gray  moss- 

Four  ages  had  passed  over  Christianity, 

covered  stone  that  marked  the  burial-place 

which  already  extended  from  the  West  to 

of  a  warrior,  to  converse  with  the  old  man 

the  East.  “We  are  but  of  yesterday,” 

of  the  cave,  the  Christian  Culdee ,2  who 

said  Tertullian  to  the  pagan  senate  of  Rome, 

spoke  to  him  of  Christ  and  his  Mother. 

“  and  we  fill  your  palaces,  your  cities, 

With  one  arm  thrown  over  his  unstrung 

your  fortresses,  your  armies  on  land  and 

bow,  and  one  hand  placed  on  the  head  of  his 

sea  ;  we  leave  you  naught  but  your  tern- 

favorite  greyhound  that  lay  at  his  feet,  the 

pies !  ”  It  was  true  ;  but  what  showers  of 

Scottish  chief  would  hearken  with  a  re- 

blood  had,  during  this  period,  bedewed  the 

spectful  and  attentive  attitude  to  the  grave 

great  standard  of  the  cross !  The  last  per- 

words  of  the  hermit :  and  then,  when  the 

secution  failed  to  exterminate  Christianity, 

sanctity  of  the  Gospel  had  at  last  spoken 

like  that  plant  of  which  Job  speaks,  to 

to  his  heart,  when,  with  clasped  hands 

whom  the  earth,  which  had  produced  it, 

and  a  look  sparkling  with  enthusiasm,  he 

said,  “I  never  knew  thee!”  Diocletian 

had  said,  “I  believe!”  all  his  clan  re- 

had  demolished  or  closed  every  church,  put 

peated,  like  a  faithful  echo,  “We,  too, 

the  priests  in  irons,  given  Christian  cities 

believe !  ” 

to  the  sword,3  and  promised  the  most  bril- 

Not  content  with  having  spread  their 

liant  rewards  to  apostasy,  which  flourished 

doctrine  in  highland  and  lowland,  the  priests 

but  ill,  notwithstanding  the  imperial  en- 

of  Christ  yearned  to  dislodge  idolatry  from 

couragement,  for  the  Christians  of  that  day, 

the  most  ancient  and  most  remote  of  its 

as  a  rule,  preferred  martyrdom.  Christian- 

sanctuaries.  The  island  of  Iona,  one  of 

ity  was  deemed  annihilated  :  the  idolaters 

those  isles  of  the  group  of  the  Hebrides 

clapped  their  hands  over  its  speedy  fall, 

surrounded  by  an  emerald  but  stormy  sea, 

and  hell  already  raised  its  long  howls  of 

was  held  sacred  by  the  lords  of  the  isles 

triumph  ;  but  the  holy  angels,  regarding 

and  the  mountain  chiefs,  who  repaired 

each  other  with  a  smile,  said  :  “  The  victory 

thither  to  swear  peace  upon  an  ancient  dol- 

of  Christ  is  at  hand  ;  blessed  be  his  name  !  ” 

men,  which  they  called  the  Stone  of  Power. 

. The  fact  was,  that  a  young  woman 

The  dolmen  soon  disappeared,  and  there 

of  Bithynia,  named  Helen,  whom  the  Cassar 

rose  amid  the  picturesque  rocks, — which 

Constantius  Chlorus  had  married  for  her 

are  draped  by  the  nightshade,  the  bugloss, 

virtue  and  rare  beauty,  had  just  brought 

and  the  sea-holly, — the  most  ancient  and 

him  forth  a  son,  who  had  been  named  Con- 

venerated  of  the  abbeys  of  Scotland  :  the 

stantine. 

( 1 )  Highlands,  mountains  of  Scotland. 

( s )  Eusebius,  Historia  Eccles.,  Sulpicius  Se- 

(')  Culdee,  in  Gaelic  Culdich,  a  hermit,  a  soli- 

verus. 

tary,  or  rather  Giolla  Dei,  servant  of  God. 

208 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


SECOND  EPOCH:  FROM  CONSTANTINE  TO  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


CHAPTER  IY. 


THE  EAST.  THE 

ON  the  enchanted  banks  of  the  Bos¬ 
phorus  of  Thrace,  in  sight  of  the 
distant  mountains  of  Asia  Minor,  whose 
lofty  summits  are  tinged  every  evening 
with  a  robe  of  gold  and  carmine,  the  coast 
of  Europe  is  hollowed  into  a  wide  bay  of 
incomparable  beauty,  and  above  the  blue 
expanse  of  its  shining  waters,  which  seems 
to  roll  sapphires,  rises  a  vast  city,  all  white 
and  all  Christian,1  Constantinople,  which 
the  son  of  Helena  and  Constantius  Chlorus 
has  just  solemnly  dedicated  to  Mary  ;  for 
the  master  of  the  world,  still  held  as  a  god 
in  Rome,  which  remains  idolatrous,  belongs 
to  J esus  Christ,  and  the  cross  by  which  he 
has  conquered  adorns  his  banners,  shines 
upon  his  coins,  and  crowns  the  sumptuous 
basilicas  which  he  has  placed  under  the 
invocation  of  Saint  Sophia,  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  the  Twelve  Apostles. 

Idolatry  still  remains  erect,  but  it  is  a 
withered  palm-tree,  whose  highest  branches 
are  already  dead.  Naught  is  seen  but  de¬ 
serted  altars,  with  reptiles  crawling  over 
their  plinths  ;  birds  begin  to  make  their 
nests  in  the  porticoes  of  the  abandoned 
temples,  where  the  spider  spins  her  web  ; 

( 1 )  Constantine  wished  not  to  have  a  single 
idolater  at  Constantinople  ;  he  left  the  idols  in 


ICONOCLASTS. 

the  wild  vine  displays  its  broad,  green 
leaves  upon  their  walls  of  polished  marble, 
and  the  traveller  irreverently  cuts  his  walk¬ 
ing-stick  in  those  sacred  woods,  from  which 
a  branch  could  not  formerly  be  taken  away 
under  pain  of  death.  The  ceremonies  of 
pagan  worship  have  ceased  in  Greece  ;  the 
most  venerated  idols  now  serve  but  tc  or¬ 
nament  the  public  places  of  Constantino¬ 
ple  ;  but  no  one  is  compelled  to  enter  the 
church  ;  for  although  polytheism  is  a  wor¬ 
ship  radically  bad  and  unreasonable,  Caesar 
respects  liberty  of  conscience,  which  the 
pagans  so  ill  understood  when  they  abused 
the  terrible  right  of  the  strongest  ;  and 
Lactantius,  one  of  the  brightest  lights  of 
Christianity,  lays  it  down  as  a  maxim,  in  a 
celebrated  contemporary  work,  that  nihil 
est  tarn  voluntarium  quam  religio — nothing 
is  so  voluntary  as  religion.2 

It  is  with  such  moderation  that  a  sacred 
cause  must  triumph. 

Constantine  did  not  confine  his  testimony 
of  respect  for  Mary,  to  dedicating  to  her 
his  new  Rome  ;  at  his  request,  the  Empress 
Helena,  converted  by  him,  made  a  journey 
to  Palestine,  and  covered  it  with  sacred 

profane  places  only,  to  serve  as  ornaments. — (Hist 
Eccles.,  t.  i.,  p.  523.) 

( 11 )  Lactantius,  Institutes,  v.  20. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


monuments,  of  which  the*  Blessed  Virgin 
had  her  share.  The  cave  of  the  Nativity, 
encrusted  with  marble,  and  lighted  with 
lamps  of  gold,  was  surrounded  by  a  superb 
church,  which  bore  the  name  of  St.  Mary 
of  Bethlehem.  Saint  Mary’s  of  Nazareth, 
erected  on  the  site  of  the  humble  dwelling 
in  which  the  Holy  Family  had  lived,  was 
long  regarded  as  one  of  the  finest  churches 
of  Asia.  The  sepulchral  grotto  of  the  val¬ 
ley  of  Josaphat  was  considerably  enlarged, 
and  adorned  with  a  superb  marble  stair¬ 
case  ;  silver  lamps  were  hung  round  the 
tomb  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Finally  two 
sumptuous  churches  commemorated  the 
Visitation  of  Mary,  and  her  Swooning  near 
the  rock  from  which  the  Nazarenes  sought 
to  cast  Jesus  down  headlong. 

The  successors  of  the  first  Cmsar  of  By¬ 
zantium  showed  in  general  great  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Theodosius  the 
Younger,  learning  that  a  great  concourse 
of  Christians  of  Europe  and  Asia  visited 
the  tomb  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  erected 
there  a  superb  Byzantine  basilica,  which 
the  Arabs  called  the  giasmaniah  or  Church 
of  the  Body.  Kosrou-Paviz  (Chosroes  II.) 
razed  it  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jews,  when 
he  invaded  Syria  and  Palestine  ;  but  re- 
pentihg  this  act  of  violence,  with  which  his 
Christian  wife  Sira  with  tears  reproached 
him,  the  follower  of  Zoroaster  himself  built 
a  church  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  his  city 
of  Miafarkin.1  The  Empress  Pulcheria, 
daughter  of  Theodosius,  and  wife  of  the 
Emperor  Marcian,  herself  alone  erected 
three  churches  under  the  invocation  of  the 


( 1 )  D’Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orientale. 

27 


209 


Panagia,  within  the  walls  of  Constantino 
pie.  Being  unable  to  enrich  them  with 
relics  of  the  Mother  of  God, — as  the  body 
of  Mary  is  in  heaven, — she  endeavored  to 
supply  the  deficiency  by  some  of  her  gar¬ 
ments,  which  the  faithful  of  Jerusalem  sent 
her.  The  fine  church  of  Blaquerna  had 
her  robe,  and  that  of  Chalcopratum  her 
girdle  ;  but  that  of  the  Guides  obtained  the 
best  portion.  There  upon  an  altar,  daz¬ 
zling  with  gold,  and  embellished  with  jasper 
columns,  was  placed  a  portrait  of  Mary 
sent  from  Antioch,  which  was  said  to  have 
been  painted  by  St.  Luke  in  the  lifetime  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  to  which  the 
Mother  of  our  Saviour  had  attached  many 
graces.2 

This  portrait  was  regarded  as  the  palla¬ 
dium  of  the  empire  ;  it  was  called  vinone- 
gioov  (causing  victories),  and  the  emperors, 
among  others  John  Zimisces  and  the  Com- 
neni,  took  it  with  their  armies,  whence  it 
was  brought  back  on  a  triumphal  car, 
drawn  by  magnificent  white  horses.  On 
great  solemnities,  this  miraculous  picture 
was  taken  out  of  the  church  of  the  Guides, 
where  it  was  kept  with  jealous  care  and 
infinite  precautions.  The  people  always 
hailed  its  presence  with  shouts  of  joy  and 
hymns  of  praise.  The  fate  of  this  cele¬ 
brated  picture  remains  doubtful.  Some 
maintain  that  it  was  the  same  that  the  doge 
Henry  Dandolo  had  removed  to  Venice, 
after  the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Latins  in  1204  ;  others  maintain  it  to  be 
the  one  seized  by  the  Turks  during  the 
sack  of  the  city  of  Constantine,  and  igno- 


( * )  Nicephoros,  Historia  Eccles.,  lib.  xiv.  et  xv. 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO’ THE 

- 

miniously  trampled  under  foot  by  them, 
after  they  had  torn  off  the  gold  and  dia¬ 
monds  which  encrusted  it. 

Leo  I.,  in  460,  reared  a  superb  basilica, 
which  he  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of  the 
Fountain,  in  gratitude  for  an  apparition  of 
the  Blessed  Yirgin  to  him  beside  a  solitary 
spring,  to  which  he  was  leading  an  old 
blind  man,  when  he  was  as  yet  only  a 
young  Thracian  soldier,  and  her  then  prom¬ 
ising  him  the  empire.  No  sooner  did  the 
diadem  of  the  Cassars  touch  his  brow,  than 
he  proceeded  to  perpetuate,  by  this  monu¬ 
ment,  the  remembrance  of  Mary’s  protec¬ 
tion.1 

The  Emperor  Zeno,  son-in-law  ofvLeo  I., 
was  no  less  devout  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin 
than  his  father-in-law  ;  he  built  a  church 
to  her  on  Mount  G-arizim,  the  sacred  moun¬ 
tain  of  the  Samaritans,  and  as  that  restless 
people,  who  were  then  in  open  revolt,  had 
mutilated  some  images  of  Mary,  he  sur¬ 
rounded  the  mountain  with  a  wall,  on 
which  he  stationed  a  line  of  soldiers,  to 
prevent  any  renewal  of  such  sacrilege. 

The  Emperor  Justin  rebuilt,  magnifi¬ 
cently,  at  Constantinople,  Our  Lady  of 
Chalcopratum,  which  had  fallen  during 
an  earthquake.  Two  churches,  erected  in 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  at  Jerusalem, 

St.  Mary  the  New,  and  another  on  the 

Mount  of  Olives,  a  monastery  built  on  one 
of  the  plateaus  of  Mount  Sinai,  and  in  Af¬ 
rica,  a  sumptuous  basilica,  styled  Our  Lady 
of  Carthage,  attest  the  piety  of  the  Em¬ 
peror  Justinian  toward  the  Mother  of  our 

Lord.  Not  content  with  building  temples 
in  her  honor,  the  Cassars  of  Constantinople 
piously  venerated  Mary  in  their  domestic 
chapels  ;  they  offered  to  her  dazzling  gold¬ 
en  crowns,2  and  wore  on  their  persons 
small  images  of  her  in  solid  gold.3  To¬ 
ward  the  close  of  Lent  the  celebrated  im¬ 
age  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  Jiodegetria  (the 
Guide)  was  brought  from  the  monastery 
of  Hodegium  to  the  imperial  palace  of 
Constantinople,  where  it  remained  till 

Easter  Monday :  it  was  to  this  Madonna 
that  Michael  Palaeologus,  after  having  ex¬ 
pelled  from  Constantinople  the  race  of  the 

Lords  of  Courtenay,  ascribed  the  success 
of  his  project.4 

'  The  Greek  nation  joyfully  followed  the 
example  of  its  emperors :  the  Panagia 
almost  everywhere  took  the  place  of  the 
household  gods  and  Olympic  idols.  She 
was  to  be  seen  beneath  the  shade  of  the 
woods,  upon  the  purified  altar  of  the  Ore- 
ades  and  the  Napasae  ;  by  the  waterside, 
where  the  pensive  Naiad  lowered  he]*  urn  ; 

( 1 )  Nicephorus,  lib.  xv.,  c.  xxy.  This  church,  . 
which  was  built  with  great  magnificence,  had 
stained  glass,  but  no  historical  subjects  on  them. 
At  the  end  of  the  fifth  century,  painting  on  glass 
was  still  new. 

(a)  Leo  IV.,  son  of  Constantine  Copronymus, 
having  carried  off  from  the  church  of  St.  Sophia 
one  of  the  gold  crowns,  which  the  Emperor  Mau¬ 
rice  had  consecrated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  his 

■ 

death,  which  happened  very  soon  after,  was  attrib¬ 
uted  to  this  sacrilege. — (Blond.,  lib.  xxi.,  decad.  2.) 

(s)  The  Emperor  Andronicus  II.  habitually 
wore  on  his  neck  one  of  these  little  statues  of  the 

Blessed  Virgin  ;  it  was  of  gold,  and  so  small  that 
he  put  it  into  his  mouth,  as  a  viaticum,  at  the 
hour  of  his  death. 

( * )  Antiquites  de  la  Chapelle,  etc.,  du  Eoi  de 

France. 

1 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


211 


on  the  craggy  summit,  where  of  yore  men 
sacrificed  to  the  ocean  nymphs.  The  ivy- 
green  garlanded  altars  of  Bacchus  were 
laid  low,  and  amid  the  vineyards  Our  Lady 
of  the  Clusters  received  the  homage  of  the 
vinedressers.  Ceres  herself  was  sinking 
into  oblivion  in  the  ruins  of  her  mysterious 
sanctuary  of  Eleusis,  destroyed  by  the 
Goths  in  the  third  century,  with  the  temples 
of  Delphos,  Corinth,  and  Ephesus.  Finally, 
Mount  Athos,  the  mountain  of  Jupiter,  had 
become,  even  in  Constantine’s  days,  a  little 
colony  of  hermits  and  solitaries,  of  which 
Mary  had  been  proclaimed  the  Queen.  The 
Gospel  facts  of  her  life  were  reproduced, 
in  golden-ground  frescoes,  on  the  walls  of 
countless  chapels,  reared  in  her  honor, 
amid  the  vine  and  olive  that  clothe  the  lofty 
mountain’s  sides,  which  fling  their  shadow 
over  the  sea  to  the  distant  isle  of  Lemnos. 

Who  would  believe  it?  Among  these 
very  Greeks,  so  devoted  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  sprang  up  ideas  most  opposed  to 
her  personal  dignity,  and  the  perpetuity  of 
devotion  to  her.  Within  its  walls  Constan¬ 
tinople  beheld  the  heresy  of  Nestorius 
arise,  which  denied  to  Mary  her  title  of 
Mother  of  God  ;  and  the  heresy  of  the 
Iconoclasts,  which  dragged  her  images  in 
the  mire,  and  burnt  them  in  the  public 

( 1 )  Historia  Ecclesiastica.  Leo  the  Isaurian  was 
very  cruel.  Failing  to  make  the  learned  men  who 
were  custodians  of  the  public  library  share  his 
rage  against  images,  he  ordered  them  to  be  shut 
up  in  the  library,  heaped  wood  and  combustibles 
around  and  set  it  on  fire.  Medals,  pictures  innumer¬ 
able,  and  more  than  three  thousand  manuscripts, 
perished  in  the  conflagration. 

( *  )  The  Protestants  have  violently  declaimed 
against  this  council,  which  speaks  so  clearly  on  the 


squares.  Under  Leo  the  Isaurian,  who  is 
said  to  have  imbibed  among  the  Jews  a 
furious  hatred  against  painting  and  statu¬ 
ary,  as  applied  to  objects  of  devotion,  Cath¬ 
olics  who  were  faithful  to  the  traditions  of 
the  church  were  seen,  thrown  in  crowds, 
into  the  Bosphorus  of  Thrace,  or  beaten  to 
death  with  rods,  for  having  lighted  lamps 
before  a  domestic  Madonna,  prayed  at  the 
foot  of  the  Crucifix  of  our  Lord,  or  bent 
the  knee  when  passing  the  statue  of  a  saint.1 
Constantine  Copronymus,  the  successor  of 
this  wicked  prince,  exceeded  him  in  cruelty, 
and  Leo,  his  son,  walked  in  their  footsteps  ; 
but  under  Irene,  sincerely  attached  to 
Catholicism,  was  convoked  the  second  coun¬ 
cil  of  Nice,  where  the  veneration  of  images 
was  solemnly  restored  f  and  the  Empress 
Theodora,  assisted  by  the  patriarch  Metho¬ 
dius,  consolidated  the  pious  work  of  Irene. 

If  the  insult  had  been  grievous,  the  rep¬ 
aration  was  complete  ;  the  Greeks  from 
that  time  sought  to  honor  Mary  by  every 
means  which  they  could  devise.  Crowns 
of  gold  were  decreed  to  her ;  she  was  no 
longer  represented  except  in  a  purple' robe, 
a  tiara  of  pearls,  and  the  diadem  of  an 
empress  ;3  her  effigy  was  stamped  upon  the 
coins  ;  medals  were  struck  in  her  honor, 
and  battles  .fought  under  her  auspices. 

veneration  of  images.  In  the  sixteenth  century, 
they  were  shocked  at  the  Empress  Irene,  whom 
they  called  insane,  insisting  that  she  had  established 
the  adoration  of  images.— (Lettre  a  l’evfeque  d’ An¬ 
gers  sur  les  miracles  de  Notre  Dame  des  Ardilliers, 
en  1594.) 

( s )  It  is  in  this  costume  that  the  Blessed' Vir¬ 
gin  is  represented  in  the  medals  of  Zimisces  and 
Theophania. 


212 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


“Romans,”  said  Marses,  on  the  point  of 
giving  battle  to  the  Goths  at  Taginas, 
“  Romans,  tight  bravely  ;  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  is  for  us  ;  fail  not  to  invoke  her  in  the 
heat  of  battle  ;  for  she  looks  down  upon  our 
phalanxes,  and  will  deliver  up  to  us  these 
wicked  men  who  deny  her  title  of  Mother 
of  God.”1  At  once  the  rumor  ran  from 
rank  to  rank,  that  the  Panagia,  to  whom 
Narses  was  most  devout,  had  promised 
him  victory,  and  fixed  the  hour  for  the  on¬ 
set.  Convinced  that  heaven  favored  their 
cause,  the  Greeks  displajmd  an  unwonted 
energy.  Totila  was  slain  ;  his  army  fled, 
leaving  the  plain  strewn  with  the  dead  ; 
and  Italy,  delivered  in  the  name  of  Our 
Lady  of  Victory,  loudly  blessed  the  holy 
Virgin  and  Narses. 

Nicetas  hands  down  to  us  an  historical 
fact  attesting  how  much  the  Byzantine  em¬ 
perors  honored  Mary  “  John  Comnenus, 
after  gaining  a  battle,”  says  this  historian, 
“wished  to  enter  Constantinople  in  triumph 
as  he  was  entitled  to  do  ;  everything,  ac¬ 
cordingly,  was  prepared  for  the  triumphal 
ceremony  ;  the  streets  were  hung  with  silk 
and  gold  brocade,  and  stands  were  erected 
in  the  public  squares,  to  enable  people 
to  behold  the  passage  of  the  pompous  pro¬ 
cession,  which  had  attracted  hosts  of  spec¬ 
tators  from  every  province  of  the  empire. 

“  The  trumpeters,  wreathed  with  laurels, 
marched  at  the  head  of  the  procession ; 
then  appeared  representations  of  conquered 
cities  and  vanquished  enemies,  in  painting, 
in  sculpture,  in  marble,  in  the  most  finely 


wrought  ivory  f  then  the  spoils  of  enemies, 
arms,  precious  robes,  golden  vases  studded 
with  precious  stones,  which  enchanted  the 
spectators  ;  after  which  came  the  captives, 
barbarian  princes  of  tall  stature,  of  fierce 
aspect,  and  terrible  majesty,  who  walked 
in  chains,  according  to  custom,  with  de¬ 
jected  looks,  with  saddened  eyes,  some 
bowing  their  heads  in  shame  ■  others  bear¬ 
ing  them  erect,  moved  by  rage  and  despair. 
After  them  advanced  the  triumphal  car, 
drawn  by  four  white  horses  ;  people  ex¬ 
pected  to  see  the  emperor  upon  this  car, 
clothed  in  a  purple  or  scarlet  robe,  adorned 
with  the  richest  embroidery,  with  the  crown 
of  laurel  upon  his  head  ;  but  they  beheld 
only  the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who 
in  place  of  the  conqueror  triumphed  as  the 
cause  of  the  victory.  The  emperor  on 
horseback,  followed  by  his  brilliant  court, 
closed  this  Christian  procession,  happier  to 
have  made  Mary  triumph  than  to  have  tri¬ 
umphed  himself.” 

To  know  how  far  the  Blessed  Virgin 
was  revered  in  Asia  Minor,  it  will  suffice 
summarily  to  relate  what  occurred  at  Ephe¬ 
sus,  during  the  council  which  anathematized 
the  heresy  of  Nestorius,  in  431. 

On  the  day  when  the  council  was  to  pro¬ 
nounce  on  the  divine  maternity  of  Mary, 
the  populace,  uneasy  and  feverish,  filled 
the  streets  and  surged  around  the  magnifi¬ 
cent  temple,  which  the  piety  of  the  dwellers 
on  the  Icarian  sea-board  had  built  under  the 
invocation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  There 
two  hundred  bishops  examined  the  proposi- 

the  representations  of  cities  which  adorned  the 
triumphs. 


(  J )  Histoire  de  l’Arianisme,  par  le  P.  Maim- 
bourg,  t.  ii. 

(  )  Josephus  gives  a  magnificent  description  of 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  213 

tions  of  Nestorius,  who  dared  not  come  to 

strangers  who  had  flocked  thither  from  all 

defend  them,  so  little  confidence  had  he  in 

the  cities  of  Asia,  surrounding  the  fathers 

the  justice  of  his  cause  and  the  soundness 

of  the  council,  kissed  their  hands  and  their 

of  his  arguments.  The  waves  of  people, 

vestments,  and  burnt  cakes  of  perfumes,  in 

who  swayed  in  crowded  ranks  in  the  court 

the  streets  through  which  they  were  to 

of  the  basilica  and  the  neighboring  streets, 

pass.  The  city  found  itself  spontaneously 

kept  profound  silence,  and  anxiety  was 

illuminated,  and  never  was  joy  more  uni- 

depicted  on  the  changeful  countenances  of 

versal.  It  is  believed  that  it  was  at  that 

those  Greeks,  whose  beautiful  and  express- 

council  that  St.  Cyril,  in  concert  with  the 

ive  features  depict  so  well  the  various  im- 

holy  assembly  over  which  he  presided, 

pressions  of  the  soul.  A  bishop  appears  ; 

composed  that  beautiful  and  affecting  pray- 

he  announces  to  the  mute  and  deeply- 

er  to  the  Mother  of  God,  which  has  been 

affected  multitude,  that  the  anathema  of 

adopted  by  the  Church:  “  Sancta  Maria, 

the  council  has  been  fulminated  against  the 

Mater  Dei,  ora  pro  nobis  peccatoribus  nunc 

innovator,  and  that  the.  Virgin,  all  holy,  is 

et  in  hora  mortis  nostrse.  Amen !  ”  “  Holy 

gloriously  maintained  in  her  august  prerog- 

Mary,  Mother  of  God,  pray  for  us  sin- 

ative.  Then,  transports  of  joy  burst  forth 

ners,  now  and  at  the  hour  of  our  death. 

on  every  side.  The  Ephesians,  and  the 

Amen !  ” 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  EAST.  THE  HOLY  WARS. 

r  1  "HE  Christians  of  the  greater  Asia 

basilicas  of  the  Caesars.  Damascus,  the 

JL  were  no  less  zealous  than  the  Greeks 

emerald  of  the  desert,  cheerfully  expended 

beyond  the  sea  in  evincing  their  devotion 

two  hundred  thousand  golden  dinars  in 

to  Mary.  Before  Constantine,  a  church 

erecting  its  splended  church  of  Mart 

bearing  the  name  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 

Miriam  (Holy  Mary),  which  was  burnt 

arose  like  a  lighthouse  on  the  lofty  promon- 

down  by  the  Mahometans,  under  the  ca- 

tory  of  Mount  Carmel,  whose  base  is  worn 

liphate  of  Moctader,  in  the  year  of  the 

by  the  waves,  and  beneath  which  skims  the 

Hegira  312.1  Antioch,  too,  had  a  superb 

sea-swallow.  Tyre,  uncrowned,  but  mighty 

basilica  of  Our  Lady,  and  hung  up  gold 

queen  of  the  Levantine  seas,  was  distin- 

lamps  before  her  image,  which  it  was 

guished  for  her  marble  and  cedar  church 

of  Our  Lady,  which  eclipsed  the  Byzantine 

( 1 )  D’Herbelot,  Biblioth&que  Orientale. 

If 

214  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

4 

forced  fo  yield  to  the  pious  covetousness 
of  the  Empress  Pulcheria,  who  substituted 
for  it  a  small  cedar  statue  of  the  Mother 
of  G-od,  miraculously  discovered  in  the 
time-hollowed  trunk  of  an  enormous  cy¬ 
press,  whose  branches  were  bathed  by  the 
Orontes.1  Libanus,  that  beautiful  moun¬ 
tain  which,  beneath  a  fiery  sky,  “remains 
faithful,”  says  Tacitus,  to  snow  and  shade2 
— Libanus,  whose  cedars  the  Lord  planted 
with  his  own  hand,  harbored  within  its 

rocky  caverns  a  crowd  of  solitaries,  who 

• 

had  devoted  their  labor  to  Mary.  Seated 
on  the  banks  of  the  river,  which,  from 
their  vicinity  took  the  name  of  Holy,  and 
still  bears  it,  as  it  flows  between  •  two 
mossy,  picturesquely-shaded  banks,  these 
men  of  labor,  contemplation,  and  prayer, 
beneath  the  majestic  shades  of  the  cedars, 
which  shed  upon  them  through  their  rich 
foliage  a  light  like  that  which  pours  down 
in  purple,  sapphires,  and, gold,  from  the 
high  Glothic  rose-windows  of  our  cathedrals, 
carved  those  little  statues  of  the  Blessed 
Yirgin,  called  Black  Yirgins,  which  the 
pilgrims  of  thef  West,  who  visited  the  Holy 
Land  from  the  earliest  ages  of  Christianity, 
brought  back  into  Europe  to  deposit  in  the 
castle  chapels,  or  in  churches  which  they 
have  rendered  famous  by  their  miracles. 

Mary  had  sanctuaries  too  in  the  rocky  soli¬ 
tudes  of  Mount  Sinai.  In  the  bed  of  a  ra¬ 
vine  carpeted  with  verdure,  and  so  com¬ 
pletely  shut  in  between  enormous  perpendic¬ 
ular  rocks,  that  the  tops  of  the  highest  palm- 
trees  ever  retain  complete  immobility,  their 
leaves  being  never  rustled  by  the  slightest 

breath  of  air,  there  arose,  in  the  midst  of  a 
small  grove  of  olives,  poplars,  and  date- 
palms,  a  convent  placed  under  the  invocation 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin.  Nothing  disturbed 
the  sober  silence  of  this  oasis  set  in  stone  ; 
scarce  could  the  fearful  noise  of  those 
storms  which  often  burst  forth  in  those  ele- 
vated  regions,  be  heard  there — that  peace¬ 
ful  tomb,  for  the  use  of  a  few  living  men, 
was  never  animated  but  when  there  arose 
from  it  canticles  of  praise  for  Him  who  was 
before  the  mountains,  and  for  Her  in  whom 
he  hath  done  great  things. 

In  Persia,  where  you  may  still  see  the 
ruins  of  numerous  churches  and  monaste¬ 
ries  of  the  name  of  Mary,  the  Christians  also 
manifested  the  greatest  zeal  in  erecting 
these  places  of  prayer.  Elismus  Yartabed, 
a  much-esteemed  Armenian  author,  who 
flourished  in  the  fifth  century,  has  preserved 
to  us,  in  his  Religious  History  of  the  wars 
of  Armenia,  a  discourse  of  the  king  of 
kings  Jesgird,  in  the  West  called  Isdigerdes, 
which  attests  it.  “I  have  learned  from  my 
fathers,”  said  this  prince  in  a  great  council 
composed  of  satraps  and  magi,  in  which 
the  question  of  a  speedy  persecution  of  the 
Christians  was  debated,  “  that  in  the  time 
of  the  King  Chabouh  II.  (in  319),  when 
the  religion  of  Christ  began  to  be  spread 
in  Persia,  and  beyond  in  the  countries  of 
the  East,  our  principal  mobeds  (doctors) 
urged  the  king  to  abolish  Christianity  in 
his  dominions  ;  he  endeavored  to  do  so, 
but  in  vain  ;  for  this  religion  only  made 
greater  progress  after  his  effort  to  obstruct 
its  course.  So  bold  were  the  Christians  of 

( 1 )  Astolfi,  delle  Imagini  miracolose. 

( *')  Taeiti  Historiarum,  lib.  v. 

- - — - ^  — - - -  - - - -  - -  , 

* 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  215 

Persia,  that  they  erected  in  every  city 
churches  that  outshone  the  royal  palaces 
in  magnificence  ;  they  also  raised  oratories 
over  the  tombs  of  their  martyrs,  and  there 
was  not  a  place,  either  inhabited  or  desert, 
which  was  not  covered  with  their  con¬ 
vents.”  1 

The  extinction  of  Christianity  was  de¬ 
cided  in  this  council,  where  the  magi 
were  powerful ;  but  the  king  determined 
to  employ  corruption  before  resorting  to 
violence,  and  he  tried  first,  as  the  Persians 
express  it,  “  to  pour  mortal  poison  into  the 
cup  of  milk.”  Calling  to  his  Porte  the  na- 
Jcarars  or  grandees  of  Armenia,  who  feud¬ 
ally  governed  small  principalities  hereditary 
in  their  families,  under  the  authority  of  a 
marzban,  or  viceroy,  named  by  Persia,  he 
lavished  upon  them  praises,  flattering  words, 
and  dazzling  promises,  to  induce  them  to 
sacrifice  their  religion.  Those  who  yielded 
obtained  governments,  honorable  titles,  fair 
and  fertile  estates,  or  superbly-caparisoned 
Arabian  horses.  Never  had  royal  treasu¬ 
ries  poured  forth  so  many  emerald  bracelets, 
so  many  girdles  of  beaten  gold,  set  with 
rubies  and  pearls,  so  many  pieces  of  Roum 
brocade  on  gold  and  red  ground,  with  flow¬ 
ers  of  precious  stones.  To  gain  the  end  in 

view,  all  was  lavished  without  count  or 
number.  Still,  the  deserters  from  the  true 
faith  to  the  camp  of  the  magi  were  so  few 
in  number,  and  the  king  of  kings  was  so 
eager  to  crush  Christianity,  that,  violently 
throwing  off  the  mask  of  moderation  which 
he  wore,  he  issued  a  most  curious  edict, 
in  which,  after  praising,  according  to  the 
ancient  forms  of  the  court  of  Persia,  the 
holy  God,  “  Master  of  the  stars  and  of  the 
moon,”  from  whose  power  nothing  escapes, 

“  from  the  sun  to  the  dark  night,  from  the 
spring  of  water  to  the  blue  waves  of  the 
sea,”  he  proceeded  to  set  forth  the  funda¬ 
mental  points  of  his  own  false  creed,  and 
misrepresent  the  Christians  in  such  man¬ 
ner  as  in  reality  to  inspire  the  highest 
reverence  for  their  virtues.2  This  royal 
edict  was  quickly  followed  by  another,  re¬ 
quiring  the  Armenians  to  embrace  without 
delay  the  worship  of  fire  ;  to  contract 
marriages  with  their  nearest  relatives,  con¬ 
trary  to  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  de¬ 
clares  that  such  marriages  are  crimes  ;  and 
finally  commanded  them  to  sacrifice  white 
goats  and  bulls  to  the  sun. 

The  apostle  has  said  :  Be  subject  to  the 
higher  powers  (Rom.  xiii.  1) :  but  God  has 
commanded  us  to  prefer  death  to  idolatry. 

( *)  Elisseus  Vartabed,  History  of  the  Insurrec¬ 
tion  of  Christian  Armenia,  ch.  iii. 

( 1 )  “  Trust  not  your  chiefs,  whom  you  call  Naza- 
reans,”  said  he  to  the  Armenians,  in  that  royal 
edict  which  Elisseus  Yartabed  has  preserved  to  us, 

“  because  they  are  great  liars  and  deceivers.  What 
they  teach  you  by  their  words,  they  contradict  by 
their  works.  To  eat  meab  they  say,  is  no  sin — 
and  yet  they  do  not  eat  it !  To  take  a  wife  is  a 
proper  thing,  and  yet  they  will  not  even  look  at  per¬ 
sons  of  the  other  sex !  It  is  not  committing  a  sin  to 

amass  riches  honorably,  say  these  men,  and  they 
cease  not  to  preach  and  extol  poverty.  They  extol 
poverty  and  decry  prosperity;  they  hold  all  kinds 
of  glory  in  contempt ;  they  love  to  clothe  them¬ 
selves  in  coarse  garments  like  outcasts,  preferring 
what  is  vile  to  what  is  precious ;  they  praise  death, 
and  despise  life  ;  in  fine,  they  have  gone  so  far  as 
to  erect  chastity  into  a  virtue,  so  that  if  their  dis¬ 
ciples  obeyed  them,  the  end  of  the  world  would 
come.”  —  (Insurrection  of  Christian  Armenia, 
ch.  ii.) 

216 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Hence  the  Armenians,  instead  of  obeying 
the  impious  edict  of  the  Persian  court,  con¬ 
tinued  to  celebrate  divine  service  in  their 
cavalry  encampments,  and  to  hearken  to 
the  preaching  of  the  priests,  who,  like  the 
Levites  of  Israel,  in  days  of  yore,  accom¬ 
panied  them  to  the  army.  In  vain  did 
Isdigerdes,  separating  them  into  small 
corps,  scatter  them  along  the  most  remote 
and  dangerous  of  the  frontiers  ;  in  vain  did 
he  give  them  for  winter  quarters  the  gorges 
of  the  most  frightful  mountains,  or  most 
unhealthy  districts ;  in  vain  did  he  en¬ 
deavor  to  reduce  their  numbers  by  sub¬ 
jecting  them  to  hunger  and  thirst ;  whilst 
on  the  other  hand,  poor  Armenia,  crushed 
like  the  grape  in  the  wine-press,  gave  to 
the  Persian  treasury  her  last  drops  of  gold. 
The  tree  of  faith,  among  all  these  miseries, 
flourished  as  green  as  ever,  like  a  fair 
cypress  with  the  full  moon  above  it.  The 
Christians  of  Armenia  had  endured  all'; 
but  their  patience  was  exhausted  when  the 
king  of  kings  madly  undertook  to  demolish 
the  monasteries  placed  under  the  invoca¬ 
tion  of  the  saints,  and  to  transform  the 
churches  into  fire-temples.  They  rose 
from  one  extremity  of  the  kingdom  to  the 
other,  and  enthusiasm  supplying  deficiency 
of  numbers,  they  captured  every  Persian 
fortress  and  burned  every  fire-temple  up. 
A  great  battle,  in  which  the  Persians  were 
ten  to  one,  was  fought  on  the  Georgian 
frontiers,  on  the  banks  of  a  small  river 
which  bears  the  scanty  tribute  of  its  waters 
to  the  Gour  {Cyrus).  The  Persian  army 
presented  the  most  splendid  and  imposing 
spectacle ;  its  war-elephants,  laden  with 
towers,  from  which  able  archers  discharged 


their  arrows  of  poplar-wood,  extended 
along  the  wings,  and  in  the  centre  stood 
the  formidable  militia  of  the  left,  the  pha¬ 
lanx  of  immortals.  These  numerous  squad¬ 
rons,  all  glittering  with  gold,  charged  at 
the  sound  of  cornets,  trumpets,  cymbals, 
and  Hindoo  bells  :  red,  yellow,  and  violet 
banners  waved  like  tulips  from  the  tops 
of  the  lances  ;  the  warrior  chiefs  and  the 
satraps  drew  from  their  golden  scabbards 
their  India  swords,  and  pressed  on  their 
rapid  Arab  horses,  with  golden  bits  and 
glittering  caparisons.  Clad  in  sombre  hues, 
and  bearing  the  cross  on  their  standards  as 
sombre,  the  Armenians,  a  handful  of  brave 
men,  raising  to  heaven  their  hands  and 
hearts,  marched  against  the  enemy,  to  the 
chant  of  a  canticle  taken  from  the  psalms : 

Judge  between  us  and  our  enemies,  0 
Lord,”  sung  the  Christian  insurgents  ;  “take 
up  thy  bow  and  thy  shield  for  our  cause, 
which  is  thy  own  ;  strike  terror  into  the 
innumerable  squadrons  of  these  wicked 
ones.  Dissipate  and  disperse  them  before 
the  august  sign  of  the  holy  Cross.  We  are 
ready  to  die  for  thy  truth,  and  if  we  deal 
death  to  these  infidels,  we  shall  be  martyrs 
of  the  truth.”1 

Roused  by  this  prayer,  the  Armenians 
sprang  furiously  upon  the  Persians,  and  at 
the  first  onset  broke  their  right  wing.  The 
collision  was  terrible;  the  air,  bristling 
with  arrows,  was  like  a  vulture’s  wing,  and 
the  blue  swords  glittered  like  the  lightning 
which  rends  the  air  on  a  day  of  storm. 
Enthusiasm,  exalted  by  faith,  triumphed  ; 
the  rout  of  the  Persians  was  complete  ;  and 


(l)  Elisseus  Yartabed,  c.  iii. 


• 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  217 

the  bodies  of  nine  grand  satraps,  known  to 
the  king,  had  no  other  shrouds  but  the  wild 
flowers  of  the  plain,  no  tomb  but  the  maw 
of  wild  beasts.  The  waters  of  the  Lomeki 
were  changed  into  blood  ;  and  a  single  rider 
escaped  on  his  dromedary,  to  bear  to  the 
Persian  court  the  story  of  this  disaster. 

But  this  victory,  great  and  unexpected 
as  it  was,  could  not  be  finally  decisive  ;  the 
Christians  of  Armenia  had  neither  gold  nor 
allies.  Marcian,  the  Greek  emperor,  whom 
with  clasped  hands  they  had  implored,  in 
the  name  of  Christ  and  his  mother,  had 
basely  sent  an  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
Persia,  to  protest  to  the  king  of  kings  that 
he  was  not  a  party  in  the  insurrection  of 
Christian  Armenia,  and  that  he  would  not 
interfere.  Isdigerdes  saw  that  Caesar  was 
afraid  ;  and,  trusting  to  his  cowardice,  he 
determined  to  carry  out  the  extermination 
of  Christianity  in  Armenia  ;  but  lie  did 
not  succeed.  The  Christians,  overpowered 
by  numbers,  lost  a  great  battle,  where  the 
hero  who  commanded  was  slain — Yartan, 
the  Mamigonian,  a  prince  of  Chinese  origin, 
who  fell  after  prodigies  of  valor.  Arme¬ 
nia,  though  reduced  to  the  last  extremity, 
would  not  admit  that  she  was  vanquished  ; 
cities  were  deserted  for  the  forest  and 
mountain  defile ;  the  divine  office  was  cel¬ 
ebrated  in  the  depths  of  caves  ;  the  Arme- 

nian  bishops  suffered  martyrdom  with  un¬ 
shaken  constancy  ;  princes,  accustomed  to 
the  keen  fresh  air  of  their  lofty  mountains, 
were  transported,  loaded  with  fetters,  to 
Korassan,  where  the  fiery  sky  knows  no 
wind  but  the  simoom,  which  kills  like  light¬ 
ning,1  and  where  the  ground  is  a  sea  of. 
burning  sand.  There  they  would  have 
died  of  misery,  had  not  two  confessors, 
mutilated  by  the  Persian  sabres,  underta¬ 
ken  to  collect  alms  among  the  Christians 
of  the  neighboring  provinces,  which  they 
remitted  to  the  great  lords  in  their  captiv¬ 
ity.  This  lasted  about  seven  years.  One 
of  these  angels  of  charity  died  of  fatigue, 
in  the  burning  deserts  of  Kohistan,  whose 
heat  a  modern  traveller  compares  to  red- 
hot  plates  of  iron  ;  the  other  continued 
alone  the  same  work  of  mercy.  Isdigerdes, 
disarmed  by  such  constancy,  at  length  ter¬ 
minated  this  hard  captivity  ;  but  it  was  not 
till  after  fifty  years’  negotiations,  truces, 
and  combats,  that  Yahan  the  Mamigonian, 
nephew  of  the  great  Yartan,  the  hero  of 
Armenia,  terminated  this  holy  war,  which 
began  in  45 0.2 

If  the  Christian  churches  of  Persia  der 
served  to  be  compared  to  the  palaces  of  its 
kings,  of  whose  magnificence  the  Arab 
poets  have  left  us  fabulous  descriptions,8 
the  churches  of  the  tribes  dwelling  between 

( 1  )  The  simoom  is  a  deadly  wind,  which  suffo¬ 
cates  travellers  and  animals,  if  they  do  not  in  haste 
hury  their  faces  in  the  sand.  Curious  details  on 
the  simoom  may  be  found  in  Niebuhr’s  descrip¬ 
tion  (Copenhagen  ed.,  pp.  6-8).  This  wind  rises 
between  the  15th  of  June  and  the  15th  of  August; 
it  whistles  with  a  loud  noise,  appears  red  and  fiery, 
and  stifles  all  who  breathe  it.  Its  most  surprising 
effect  is,  not  that  it  causes  death,  but  that  the 

bodies  of  its  victims  are  in  a  manner  dissolved,  yet 
without  losing  their  form  or  color,  so  that  they 
seem  asleep.  If  you  touch  these  corpses,  the  part 
touched  adheres  to  your  hand. 

( ’ )  Continuation  of  Elisseus  Vartabed,  by  Laz¬ 
arus  Parbe,  c.  iii. 

( ’ )  Antar’s  description  of  the  palace  of  Chos- 
roes  reminds  one  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  He  depicts 
halls  of  marble  and  red  cornelian,  fountains  of  rose- 

218 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian  were  very 
wretched  in  comparison.  They  were  at  first 
wooden  structures,  to  which  the  faithful 
were  summoned  to  the  divine  offices  on  holi¬ 
days,  by  striking  two  boards  together,  for 
bells  were  as  yet  unknown.  The  first 
stone  church  of  the  Armenians,  built  near 
the  sources  of  the  Tigris,  was  placed  under 
the  invocation  of  Mary.  It  possessed,  like 
many  sanctuaries  of  Syria  and  Asia  Minor, 
a  miraculous  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
which  was  confided* *  to  the  keeping  of  holy 
women.1  • 

The  Cathedral  of  Mtzkhetha,  the  ancient 
capital  of  Georgia,  was  the  first  Christian 
church  of  that  country :  the  Georgians 
dedicated  it  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  The 
famous  khiton,  one  of  the  garments  torn 
from  our  Lord,  was  formerly  kept  there. 
Often  razed,  but  always  rebuilt  with  ele¬ 
gance  in  the  highest  style  of  Georgia,  it  is 
still  radiant  with  marble  and  green  jasper. 
An  inscription,  in  letters  of  gold  on  one  of 
the  columns,  tells  that  this  divine  and  ven¬ 
erable  temple  of  Mary,  Queen  of  the  Geor¬ 
gians,  Mother  of  God,  and  ever  Virgin, 
was  rebuilt  at  the  expense  and  by  the  care 
of  a  Georgian  princess  named  Pebanpato. 

The  metropolitan  church  of  the  Mingre- 
lians  was,  in  like  manner,  dedicated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  ;  there  was  venerated  one 
of  her  robes  kept  in  a  shrine  of  ebony  en¬ 
crusted  with  silver  flowers.  This  robe, 
of  precious  texture,  the  ground  of  nankeen 
color  and  with  bright  flowers  embroidered 


water,  basins  from  which  spring  columns  of  emer¬ 
alds,  surmounted  by  birds  of  burnished  gold,  with 
topaz  eyes,  etc. 


with  the  needle,  was  shown  to  Chardin 
when  he  passed  through  Mingrelia  on  his 
way  to  Persia. 

In  the  Caucasian  regions,  which  abound 
in  convents  dedicated  to  Mary,  the  finest 
monasteries  were  always  seen  on  lofty 
peaks,  difficult  of  access  :  often,  even,  they 
were  defended  by  strong  castles.  That  of 
Miriam-Nischin,  in  Georgia,  was  built  upon 
a  rock  of  Caucasus,  in  the  midst  of  a  beau¬ 
tiful  mountain-lake,  which  rendered  it  in¬ 
accessible  by  land  ;  a  fortress,  which  was 
considered  impregnable,  protected  it.  The 
castle  and  the  monastery  were  besieged  by 
Melik-Shah,  in  the  reign  of  Alp- Arslan, 
his  father,  the  second  sultan  of  the  race 
of  the  Seljucides.  At  the  moment  when 
the  army  of  the  Mussulman  prince  were 
preparing  to  enter  the  boats  to  begin 
the  assault,  and  when  the  garrison,  deci¬ 
mated  by  famine,  beheld  them  approach 
with  dejection,  mingled  with  dread,  a  hor¬ 
rible  earthquake  was  felt,  and  the  monas¬ 
tery  of  St.  Mary  fell  into  the  lake.3  This 
singular  result  was  regarded  as  miraculous. 
“  The  Blessed  Virgin,”  said  the  Georgians, 
“would  rather  see  her  sanctuary  thrown 
down  than  defiled.” 

Before  the  principal  gate  of  Djoulfa,  an 
ancient  commercial  city  of  Armenia,  situa¬ 
ted  near  one  of  the  most  convenient  fords 
of  the  Araxes,  rises  a  peak,  on  the  narrow 
platform  of  which  had  been  built,  in  the 
first  ages  of  Christianity,  a  monastery  in 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  The  declivi- 


( 1 )  Ancient  Geography  of  Armenia,  Venice, 
1822. 

( * )  D’Herbelot,  Biblioth&que  Orientate. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


219 


ties  of  this  precipitous  rock,  where  beau¬ 
tiful  blue  hyacinths  and  odoriferous  tufts 
of  marjoram  still  flourish,  are  covered 
with  rich  tombs  and  ancient  monumental 
stones — but  where  are  the  living  ?  .... 
One  day  it  pleased  an  Asiatic  despot1  to 
raze  Djoulfa,  a  city  of  forty  thousand  souls, 
from  the  number  of  cities  that  stud  the 
globe,  and  he  sent  Thamas-Kouli  Bey,  with 
orders  to  cause  its  evacuation  in  three  days. 
He  was  obeyed :  the  inhabitants  hastily 
buried  their  riches  in  secret  places,  hoping 
— vain  hope ! — that  Shah  Abbas,  when  the 
hurricane  of  his  passion  should  have  passed, 
would  permit  them  to  come  and  repeople 
their  city.  At  the  end  of  the  third  day, 
when  they  were  obliged  to  depart,  and  the 
last  moment  of  respite  expired,  each  citi¬ 
zen,  bearing  the  keys  of  his  house,  followed 
the  priests,  who  bore  those  of  the  churches. 
On  reaching  the  foot  of  the  rock  where 
Mary’s  sanctuary  still  overlooks  the  an¬ 
cient  tombs  of  their  ancestors,  their  despair 
burst  forth  in  heart-rending  sobs.  Forced 
to  march  on,  the  unhappy  exiles  cast  a  last 
look  upon  their  poor  depopulated  city,  and 
after  placing  their  churches  and  their  houses 
under  the  special  care  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
they  threw  the  keys  into  the  river. 

The  Egyptians,  who  had  never  bent  the 
knee  before  strange  divinities,  and  who 
seemed  inextricably  bound  in  their  beastly 
religion,  as  Flavius  Josephus  called  it  while 

( 1 )  Shah  Abbas  totally  depopulated  the  city  of 
Djoulfa  in  1605. 

( a )  J oseph  against  Appion,  lib.  ii. 

( ' )  According  to  Pliny,  and  some  other  ancient 
geographers,  Abyssinia  was  peopled  with  men  who 
had  no  nose  or  mouth  in  their  face,  and  whose 


it  still  flourished,  had  abandoned  their  graz¬ 
ing  gods,  and  given  back  to  the  reedy  Nile 
the  hideous  crocodiles,  which  devoured  their 
devotees,2  in  order  to  adore  the  God  of  Cal¬ 
vary.  The  descendants  of  the  ancient  people 
of  the  Pharaos  built  at  a  very  early  date  a 
fine  church  in  the  little  Egyptian  village, 
where  the  holy  family  took  refuge  to  escape 
the  impious  search  of*  Herod,  and  gave  it 
the  name  of  Our  Lady  of  Matarieh ;  a 
beautiful  fountain  where  the  Blessed  Virgin 
used  to  wash  the  clothing  of  the  Infant-God 
received  the  name  of  the  Fountain  of  Mary ; 
and  this  fountain,  as  well  as  a  gigantic  syca¬ 
more,  which  had  often  shaded  the  mother 
and  child,  was  the  object  of  numberless 
pilgrimages.  The  metropolitan  church  of 
Egypt  was  dedicated  to  our  Lady. 

The  church  of  Alexandria,  which  shone 
among  all  the  churches  of  the  Christian 
world  like  a  lighthouse,  casting  its  light 
afar,  had  attached  to  its  patriarchal  see,  in 
the  fourth  century,  a  kingdom  almost  un¬ 
known  to  the  Romans,  about  which  Pliny 
relates  the  wildest  things 8  —  Abyssinia, 
whose  people,  Jews,  Sabeans,  or  Fetichists 
at  their  pleasure,  were  governed  by  kings 
sprung  from  Makeda,  the  beautiful  black 
queen  who  filled  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
with  perfumes  and  precious  stones,  and 
who  had  a  son  by  king  Solomon.  A  young 
Tyrian  merchant,  who  traded  in  jewels, 
having  been  wrecked  on  the  African  shores 

eyes  were  in  the  pit  of  the  stomach  ;  headless  men 
were  met  there  and  others  who  had  asses’  heads, 
etc.  Pliny,  who  relates  these  wonderful  things, — 
b.  vi.,  c.  xxx.,  and  b.  v.,  c.  viii., — does  not  exhaust 
the  subject,  but  modestly  stops  short,  for  fear,  as 
he  says,  of  not  being  credited. 


220 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


of  the  Red  Sea,  was  first  plundered,  then 
taken  to  Axoum,  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
queen  of  Saba.  When  presented  as  a 
captive  of  distinction  to  the  neguz  or  em¬ 
peror,  that  prince  to  whose  name  the  lions 
show  reverence,  he  succeeded  so  well  that 
the  neguz  made  him  his  treasurer.  After 
the  death  of  the  sable  prince,  the  education 
of  his  son,  Abreha,  a  minor,  was  confided  to 
the  young  Tyrian,  who  secretly  instructed 
his  pupil  in  his  own  creed,  and  conceived 
the  magnificent  hope  of  becoming  the  apos¬ 
tle  of  these  half-savage  regions.  For  this 
end,  he  went  to  Alexandria,  where  St. 
Athanasius  consecrated  him  Bishop  of 
Axoum.  On  his  return,  Frumentius,  who 
was  surnamed  Abba  Salama  (the  father  of 
salvation),  baptized  Abreha,  with  the  prin¬ 
cipal  personages  of  his  court ;  a  large  por¬ 
tion  of  the  people  ere  long  followed  the 
example  of  their  leaders.  This  religious 
revolution  was  effected  as  every  religious 
revolution  should  be,  that  is,  without  shed¬ 
ding  a  drop  of  blood.  Abreha,  and  his 
brother,  Atzbeha,  who  reigned  together 
with  edifying,  good  harmony,  themselves 
preached  Christianity  to  their  subjects,1 
and  built  a  great  many  churches  in  honor 
of  the  true  God,  under  the  invocation  of 
Miriam  {Mary).  One  of  these  ancient 

( 1 )  “Hail,  0  Abreha,  and  Atzbeha,  who  reigned 
together  in  close  union,  who  preached  with  jour 
mouths  the  religion  of  Christ  to  those  who  prac¬ 
tised  the  faith  of  Moses,  and  who  erected  temples 
in  his  honor.” — (Abyssinian  Liturgy,  Commemora¬ 
tion  of  the  Dead.) 

( 3 )  Here  is  a  prayer  addressed  to  the  martyrs 
of  Nagran,  by  the  church  of  Abyssinia :  “  Saluto 
pulchritudinem  vestram  amcenam,  0  sidera  Na- 
grani!  gemmae  quae  illuminatis  mundum.  Con- 


churches,  from  the  shady  trees  round  about 
it  took  the  beautiful  name  of  Miriam  Cha- 
ou'itou  (Our  Lady  the  Green). 

Christianity  next  extended  over  the  op¬ 
posite  coast  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  Yemen, 
whose  inhabitants  worshipped  the  stars 
and  trees.  Among  them  were  a  good  num¬ 
ber  of  Jews.  A  prince  of  that  nation,  who 
had  usurped. the  supreme  power  in  Arabia, 
persecuted  the  Christians,  and  in  520  ban¬ 
ished  St.  Gregentius,  an  Arab  by  birth, 
and  Archbishop  of  Taphar,  the  metropolis 
of  this  country.  St.  Aritas,  governor  of 
Nagran,  the  ancient  capital  of  Yemen, 
would  not  apostatise  from  his  faith :  he 
was  apprehended  and  conducted  secretly 
out  of  the  city,  where  he  was  put  to  death 
on  the  banks  of  the  stream.  His  wife  and 
daughter  perished  also  in  the  midst  of  tor¬ 
ments,  with  three  hundred  and  forty  Chris¬ 
tians.2  And  as  Dunaan  continued  to 
martyr  all  who  refused  to  deny  their  faith, 
Caleb,  king  of  Abyssinia,  in  530,  led  an 
expedition  against  him  and  conquered  him. 
After  which  the  neguz ,  weary  of  the  throne, 
sent  his  diadem  to  Jerusalem,3  abdicated 
the  sovereignty  in  favor  of  his  son,  and 
retired  to  a  monastery,  taking  with  him 
only  a  drinking-cup,  and  a  mat  to  lie  upon. 
The  African  troops,  whom  he  had  sent  to 

ciliatrix  sit  mihi  ilia  pulchritudo,  et  pacificatrix. 
Coram  Deo  judice  si  steterit  peccatum  meum, 
ostendite  ei  sanguinem  quern  elfudistis  propter 
pulchritudinem  ej us. ’’—(Abyssinian  Liturgy.) 

(s)  “Hail,  0  Caleb!  who  abandoned  the  sign 
of  your  power,  when  you  sent  your  crown  as  an 
offering  to  the  temple  of  Jerusalem:  you  did  not 
abuse  your  victory  when  you  destroyed  the  army 
of  the  Sabeans.” — (Abyssinian  Liturgy.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  221 

the  relief  of  the  Christians  in  Asia,  allured 
by  the  beauty  and  richness  of  this  happy 
land,  resolved  to  remain  there.  It  was 
these  black  Christians,  commanded  by 
the  governor  of  Yemen,  who  maintained 
against  the  Arabs  of  Mecca  the  war  known 
as  the  Elephant  War.  Arabia  Felix,  how¬ 
ever,  did  not  long  remain  in  their  power  ; 
the  Persians  conquered  it  about  the  year 
590  ;  and  they,  in  their  turn,  were  expelled 
by  the  lieutenants  of  Mahomet. 

At  the  time  of  the  conversion  of  the 
Abyssinians,  the  doctrine  of  Nestorius 
agitated  the  church.  The  opinions  of  that 
bishop,  who  refused  to  Mary  the  title  of 
Mother  of  Grod,  were  condemned,  as  is 
well  known,  by  the  council  of  Ephesus. 
The  Abyssinians,  in  their  exaggerated  en¬ 
thusiasm  for  the  Blessed  Virgin,  were,  not 
satisfied  with  rejecting  the  heresy  of  Nesto¬ 
rius — to  the  title  of  Mother  of  Grod  they 
added  that  of  Mundi  Creatrix,  to  testify 
the  exalted  idea  which  they  had  of  Mary. 
Nothing,  in  fact,  can  exceed  the  love  and 
respect  paid  to  her  on  the  borders  of  the 
blue  Nile,  and  even  up  to  the  Mountains 
of  the  Moon.  Even  the  errors  of  Diosco- 
rus  and  Eutyches,  which  the  Abyssinians 
unhappily  adopted,  made  no  alteration  on 
this  point. 

The  ancient  East  seemed  renovated  by 
its  devotion  to  Mary  ;  it  loved  her  honor, 
and  pompously  solemnized  her  festivals, 
most  of  which  were  of  apostolic  origin. 
The  feast  of  the  Annunciation  was  con- 

sidered,  in  the  time  of  St.  Athanasius,  as 
he  himself  informs  us,  one  of  the  greatest 
festivals  in  the  year  ;  and  all  prepared  by 
a  two  weeks’  fast  for  the  feast  of  the  As¬ 
sumption,  which  was  magnificently  cele¬ 
brated,  from  the  Nile  to  Caucasus,  under 
the  name  of  Our  Lady’s  Easter.1 

Everything  foretokened  that  the  gospel 
was  about  to  spread  from  one  extremity  of 

Asia  to  the  other,  and  apostles  already  began 
to  announce  to  the  idolatrous  people  of  the 
Celestial  Empire  that  Holy  One,  born  of  a 
Virgin,  whom  the  earth  expected,  as  the 
disciples  of  Confucius  said,  as  the  withering 
plants  expect  the  dew  ;  but,  alas  !  a  hurri¬ 
cane — more  furious,  more  destructive,  and 
more  irresistible  than  the  burning  wind  of 
the  desert,  and  arising,  like  it,  in  the  sandy 
plains  of  Arabia,  came  to  drive  back  Chris¬ 
tianity  with  a  power  which,  no  doubt,  Satan 
had  imparted. 

At  first,  a  clash  of  arms  was  indistinctly 
heard  along  the  Sea  of  Reeds  ;  Arab  was 
fighting  furiously  against  Arab,  and  the 
Fetish  trees  fell  at  the  same  time  as  the 
Christian  temples  ;  then  all  was  silence  in 
that  direction,  and  legions  of  horsemen,  in 
black  and  white  striped  abbas,  descended 
upon  Syria  like  clouds  of  locusts,  demolish¬ 
ing  with  the  backs  of  their  scimitars  four¬ 
teen  hundred  Christian  churches  !  Thence 
they  fell  upon  Persia,  which  yielded,  leav¬ 
ing  in  their  hands  the  famous  standard  of 
Kawed,  on  which  hung  the  destinies  of  the 
empire  of  the  Magi ; 2  the  flames  of  the 

(J)  The  first  day  of  the  month  of  August  was 
called  in  the  Syriac  calendar  saum  Miriam,  the 
fast  of  our  Lady,  because  the  Oriental  Christians 
fasted  from  that  day  till  the  15th,  which  they 

called  fithr  Miriam,  that  is,  the  cessation  of  the 
fast,  or  the  Pasch  of  onr  Lady. — (D’Herbelot, 
Bibliotheque  Orientate,  t.  i.,  p.  2.) 

( 2 )  The  ancient  Romans  associated  the  destinies 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


222 


superb  library  of  Alexandria  lighted  their 
hurricane  passage  through  Egypt ;  they 
soon  bounded  upon  the  African  shore, 
where  of  yore  Carthage  ruled,  and  con¬ 
quered  it  as  they  rushed  onward.  Reach¬ 
ing  the  spot  where  antiquity  reared  the 
pillars  of  Hercules,  the  fierce  conquerors 
plunged  their  thoroughbred  coursers  into 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  cried  out,  as 


they  proudly  brandished  above  the  wave 
the  blue  blades  of  their  sabres,  “  God  of 
Mahomet !  thou  seest,  earth  hath  no  more 
for  the  true  believers  to  conquer.”1  Africa 
and  Asia  were  forced  to  bow  their  heads 
in  shame  beneath  the  brutalizing  and  fierce 
yoke  of  Islamism,  and  the  darkness  of 
ignorance  soon  ruled  the  splendid  and 
glorious  East. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  WEST.  THE  MADONNAS. 


CONSTANTINE,  after  erecting  in  the 
city  of  Rome,  that  goddess  city  to 
which  paganism  assigned  a  place  amid  the 
starry  heavens,2  the  superb  Lateran  basil- 


of  their  empire  with  those  of  their  temple  of 
Jupiter  Capitolinus,  which  was  burnt  exactly  on 
the  appearance  of  Christianity ;  the  Persians  had 
ancient  traditions,  which  announced  the  fall  of  the 
empire  of  the  Magi,  when  their  celebrated  stand¬ 
ard  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The 
empire,  in  fact,  did  fall  at  the  same  time  with  its 
standard,  at  the  battle  of  Kadesia.  This  banner, 
originally  a  blacksmith’s  apron  which  was  set  up 
in  a  war  of  independence  against  the  tyrant  Zohak, 
and  accepted  as  a  sign  of  good  fortune  by  Feri- 
doun,  one  of  the  greatest  kings  of  Iran  (the 
ancient  Persia),  was  covered  with  brocade  of 
Roum,  and  ornamented  with  a  magnificent  figure 
of  the  sun  in  precious  stones ;  a  golden  globe, 
which  represented  the  orb  of  the  moon,  sur¬ 
mounted  it,  and  around  it  waved  broad,  red, 
yellow,  and  violet  streamers.  This  standard  was 
called  kaweiani  direfsh  (the  standard  of  Kawed). 


ica,  had  closed  the  pagan  temples  ;  but  his 
hand  was  not  strong  enough  to  extirpate 
the  deep  roots  of  idolatry.  It  is  certain 
that  the  great  majority  of  the  Roman  pa- 

From  the  time  of  Feridoun,  the  kings  of  Persia 
had  made  it  a  duty  to  adorn  it  with  precious 
stones,  and  to  give  them  place,  they  had  been 
obliged,  from  time  to  time,  to  enlarge  this  famous 
banner.  It  had  reached  the  dimensions  of  twentv- 
two  feet  by  fifteen,  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Arabs,  who  tore  it  in  pieces,  and  distributed  it 
with  the  mass  of  spoils. — (Price,  Muhammadan 
History,  i.,  p.  116;  and  Huft  Kolkoum,  t.  iv., 

p.  126.) 

( 1 )  Florian,  Precis  Historique  sur  les  Maures. 

( a )  “  Hear  me,  0  magnificent  Queen  of  thy 
universe !  0  Rome !  admitted  into  the  starry  hea¬ 
vens,”  says  Rutilius,  a  celebrated  Roman  poet  of 
the  last  age  of  Roman  literature.  “  Thanks  to  thy 
temples,  I  am  not  far  from  the  heavens.”  Rome 
was,  in  fact,  a  city  honored  as  a  goddess,  and  had 
its  priests  and  its  temples. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


223 


tricians  remained  obstinately  faithful  to  the 
idols  of  the  empire  ;  the  senate  itself  was 
divided  into  two  parties,  the  pagan  and 
the  Christian,  so  that  St.  Ambrose  remarks 
that  there  were,  so  to  say,  two  senates.  It 
was  of  the  idolatrous  senators  that  Pru- 
dentius  said:  “The  successors  of  the 
Catos,  plunged  in  shameful  error,  still 
invoke  the  gods  of  Troy,  and  in  the  secret 
sanctuary  of  their  homes  venerate  the 
exiled  household  gods  of  Phrygia;  the 
senate,  I  blush  to  say  it,  the  senate  honors 
two-faced  Janus,  and  celebrates  the  feasts 
of  Saturn.” 

Of  the  immense  multitude  of  the  lower 
orders,  the  vast  majority  had  freely  given 
themselves  up  to  Christ,  and  despising  the 
altars  of  Jupiter,  they  crowded  round  the 
tomb  of  the  apostles.1 

The  Italian  peninsula  was  divided,  like 
its  capital,  between  Jupiter  and  Jesus, 
Juno  and  Mary  ;  the  night  of  error  strug¬ 
gled  with  all  its  might  against  the  Aurora 
of  truth.  The  priests  of  the  idols  attri¬ 
buted  to  the  desertion  of  their  gods  the 
calamities  which  were  visiting  the  empire. 
If  famine  was  unusually  pressing  in  Latium, 
it  was  because  Crnsar,  ill  advised  by  the 
Christians  who  composed  his  court,  had 
suppressed  the  privileges  of  the  Vestals  ; 
if  the  frontiers  were  harassed  with  impu¬ 
nity  by  the  barbarians,  if  the  Goths  pene¬ 
trated  to  the  very  heart  of  the  empire,  it 
was  because  the  altar  of  Victory  had  been 
overthrown.  “We  demand  back  the  state 

( 1 )  “  All  this  populace,  who  climb  up  to  the 
garrets  of  houses,  and  live  on  the  bread  dispensed 
to  them  from  the  thresholds  of  the  rich,  go  to  the 
foot  of  the  Vatican  hill  to  visit  the  tomb  where 


of  religion  which  so  long  served  as  a  sup¬ 
port  to  the  republic,”  said  Symmachus, 
prefect  of  Rome,  to  the  Emperor  Valen- 
tinian  II. ;  “  we  demand  peace  for  the  gods 
of  our  country,  for  our  native  gods.  Our 
worship  brought  the  whole  universe  under 
its  laws  ;  it  drove  Hannibal  from  our  walls, 
and  the  Gauls  from  the  capitol.  What! 
shall  Rome  reform  in  its  old  age  what  has 
already  proved  its  salvation  ?  The  reform 
of  old  age  is  tardy  and  insulting.”  .... 

Paganism  was  overcome  in  this  struggle 
by  St.  Ambrose  ;  but  it  nevertheless  con¬ 
tinued  to  oppose  the  new  religion,  which  it 
loaded  with  sarcasm,  bitter  disdain,  and 
calumny.  With  frenzied  joy  Rome  reared 
anew,  under  Julian,  the  altar  of  Victory, 
but  this  did  not  prevent  her  being  put  to 
ransom  by  the  barbarians  again  and  again. 
Demoralized  by  seeing  the  enemy  at  her 
gates,  she  became  again  half  pagan  ;  cere¬ 
monies  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  Gratian 
and  Theodosius  publicly  reappeared  ;  the 
prefect  of  Rome  called  in  the  Tuscan  sooth¬ 
sayers,  and  by  another  parody  the  last  of 
her  consuls  revived  the  augur’s  ceremonies 
on  the  day  of  his  installation.  “It  had 
gone  too  far,”  says  Bossuet ;  “  God  at 
length  remembered  the  many  cruel  decrees 
of  the  senate  against  the  faithful,  as  well  as 
the  furious  cries  with  which  the  people  of 
Rome,  thirsting  after  Christian  blood,  had 
so  often  made  the  amphitheatre  ring:  he 
delivered  up  to  the  barbarians  that  city, 
drunk  with  the  blood  of  martyrs . 

reposes  that  precious  hostage,  the  ashes  of  our 
Father  St.  Peter.”  —  (Prudentius  against  Sym- 
machus.) 


224 


HISTORY  OF  THB  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


That  new  Babylon,  who  imitated  the  old, — 
like  her,  inflated  with  her  victories,  tri¬ 
umphing  in  her  riches,  defiled  with  her  idol¬ 
atries,  a  persecutor  of  the  people  of  God, — 
falls,  too,  like  her,  with  a  great  fall;  the 
glory  of  her  conquests,  which  she  attribu¬ 
ted  to  her  gods,  is  wrested  from  her  •  she 
is  a  prey  to  barbarians  ;  taken  thrice  and 
again,  pillaged,  sacked,  destroyed ;  the 
sword  of  the  barbarians  spares  none  but 
the  Christians.  Another  and  all-Christian 
Rome  arises  from  the  ashes  of  the  first ; 
and  only  after  the  deluge  of  the  barbarians 
is  accomplished  the  victory  of  Jesus  Christ 
over  the  gods  of  Rome,  which  are  not  only 
destroyed  but  forgotten.” 

Idolatry  being  completely  extinct,  her 
marble  temples  were  reopened  ;  they  were 
purified,  and  the  finest  were  dedicated  to 
the  Blessed  Yirgin,  before  whom  all  Italy 
bent  the  knee  with  a  fervor  and  a  faith 
which,  thanks  be  to  God,  still  endure.  The 
patricians  vied  with  each  other  in  building 
churches  or  chapels,  and  adorned  them 
with  a  profusion  which  attested  their  piety ; 
the  altars  of  Mary  were  incrusted  with  sil¬ 
ver,  and  gold,  and  precious  stones  j1  lamps 
fully  as  rich  lighted  them  up  ;  naught  was 
spared  to  make  the  splendor  and  religious 
decoration  correspond  with  the  dignity  of 
the  holy  Yirgin. 

The  people,  who  had  no  gold  at  their 
disposal,  rendered  her  an  homage  more  af- 

(  )  The  fronts  of  some  of  the  altars  of  Venice 
were  of  solid  gold  :  that  of  the  altar  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  at  Saint  Sophia’s  in  Constantinople,  was  a 
composition  of  precious  stones  and  of  gold,  which 
had  been  cast  into  the  crucible  together. 

(  )  The  respect  paid  to  the  Madonna  by  the 


fecting,  more  home-like,  and  picturesque. 
On  the  smiting  hills  of  Baise,  in  the  fertile 
fields  of  Campania,  in  the  deep  gorges  of 
the  Apennines,  amid  the  glaciers  of  the 
Alps,  and  the  sterile  heaths  of  the  Abruzzi, 
rose,  at  intervals,  humble  altars  to  the  Ma¬ 
donna.  Those  little  primitive  chapels, 
wreathed  in  a  network  of  ivy,  or  a  green 
lace  of  vine-leaves,  hid  humbly  away  be¬ 
neath  the  green  boughs  of  ancient  forests, 
and  their  shadows  at  noon-day  fell  along 
the  brooks.  This  devotion,  fresh,  original, 
devotion  harmonizing  so  well  with  the  gen¬ 
tle  mind  and  simple  habits  of  Her  who  is 
the  object  of  it,  still  subsists  in  our  days 
with  its  religious  poetry.  Victorious  over 
time  and  political  commotions,  the  Madonna 
still  shelters  her  little  mysterious  lamp  be¬ 
neath  a  canopy  of  foliage  or  jessamine. 
Every  evening  the  mountain  shepherd,  the 
laborer  of  the  valley,  and  even— shall  I 
say  it  ? — the  bandit,  devoutly  rekindles  the 
flickering  flame  which  shines  like  a  protect¬ 
ing  star  from  the  mountain-top,  and  which 
appears  like  a  beacon  in  the  midst  of  the 
woods.  The  corner  of  the  earth  which 
surrounds  it  is  holy  land  ;  in  that  place, 
the  fiercest  brigand  of  Calabria  would  not 
dare  to  draw  his  poniard,  and  there  he 
prays,  when  the  distant  bells  slowly  sound 
the  Ave  Maria ;  it  is  the  last  link  which 
binds  him  to  humanity,  and  rarely  is  that 
link  broken.2 


Italian  banditti  is  well  known ;  one  of  them  allowed 
himself  to  be  taken  without  making  any  resist¬ 
ance,  because  the  sbirri  attacked  him  on  a  Satur- 
day,  on  which  day  he  had  vowed  before  the  altar 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  never  to  employ  arms,  even 
in  defence  of  his  life. — (See  P.  de  Barry.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  225 

« 

These  little  solitary  chapels,  lost  in  the 
midst  of  rocks,  or  among  woods,  revive  in 
the  soul  of  the  least  devout  traveller  a 
thousand  delicious  sensations,  like  the  long- 
forgotten  scent  of  some  flower  of  our  native 
land,  which  comes  unexpectedly  upon  us 
on  a  foreign  shore.  A  modern  author,  who 
does  not  pride  himself  on  Catholicism,  but 
the  contrary,  charmingly  describes  the 
emotions  he  experienced  at  the  sight  of 
one  of  those  Madonnas,  hid  away  in  the 
mountains  of  the  Tyrol.  “At  a  turn  of 
the  mountain,”  says  he,  “  I  found  a  little 
niche  hollowed  out  in  the  rock  with  its 
Madonna  and  lamp,  which  the  devotion  of 
the  mountaineers  keeps  up  and  rekindles 
every  evening  in  the  most  retired  solitudes. 
At  the  foot  of  the  rustic  altar  lay  a  bou¬ 
quet  of  cultivated  flowers,  fresh  gathered. 
This  lamp  still  burning,  these  flowers  of 
the  valley  still  quite  fresh,  several  miles 
up  a  barren  and  uninhabited  mountain, 
were  the  offerings  of  a  devotion  more  art¬ 
less  and  more  affecting  than  anything  of 
the  kind  that  I  had  ever  seen.  Two  paces 
from  the  Madonna  was  a  precipice,  on  whose 
very  verge  you  had  to  walk  in  order  to  issue 
from  the  defile  ;  to  those  who  travelled 
there  by  night  the  lamp  of  the  Virgin  must 
have  been  of  the  most  beneficent  service.” 

During  the  revolution  of  1793,  when  the 
French  were  coming  to  seize  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  the  rumor  was  spread  that  they 
were  going  to  shut  up  the  churches,  and 
abolish  all  veneration  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
At  these  tidings,  the  peasants  of  Calabria 

seized  their  long  guns  ;  every  steeple  of 
this  mountain  region  sounded  the  tocsin, 
and  the  very  banditti,  wearing  the  image 
of  the  Madonna  hung  by  a  red  riband,  en¬ 
listed  among  the  regular  troops,  and  fought 
like  lions.  These  Calabrian  bands  were 
the  last  to  lay  down  their  arms.1 

From  Italy  the  cultus  of  the  Mother  of 
our  Saviour  passed  beneath  the  sterner  and 
bluer  sky  of  Gaul.  The  gods  of  Olympus 
had  penetrated  there  with  the  victorious 
cohorts  of  Caesar,  and  the  temples  of  Au¬ 
gustus  and  Jupiter  arose  by  the  side  of  the 
dolmens,  the  menhirs,  and  the  less  an¬ 
cient  altars  of  Belenus.  The  idols  of 
the  emperors,  servilely  accepted  by  the 
Gallo-Roman  population  of  the  great  cities, 
disappeared  soon  after  the  conversion  of 
Constantine  ;  but  it  needed  centuries  to 
extirpate  the  worship  of  trees,  stones,  and 
fountains  of  materialized  Druidism.2  In 
vain  did  the  active  virtues,  the  edifying 
sweetness,  the  angelic  abstinence  of  the 
anchorets  win  the  admiration  of  the 
Gallic  tribes ;  in  vain  did  the  ingenuous 
charity,  spotless  integrity,  mild  and  com-, 
passionate  religion  of  the  bishops,  attract 
their  souls  to  the  crucified  God  by  a  holy 
and  powerful  charm :  the  sight  of  the  gi¬ 
gantic  menhirs,  which  arose  like  dark  phan¬ 
toms  amid  barren  wastes,  the  aspect  of  a 
moss-covered  oak,  or  a  deified  fountain,  de¬ 
stroyed  in  a  few  moments  the  slow  work  of 
the  Christian  pastors. 

In  this  state  of  things,  so  well  calculated 
to  discourage  the  most  tried  patience,  the 

( 1 )  Italy,  by  Lady  Morgan,  vol.  iii.,  c.  xxiv. ;  Trav¬ 
els  m  Italy,  by  M.  E.  C. 

29 

(*.)  See  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne, 
Introduction. 

226  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

• 

clergy  of  Gaul  showed  themselves  worthy 
of  the  religious  and  civilizing  mission  which 
they  had  received  from  their  divine  Master. 
They  were  naturally  charitable  and  humble 
of  heart ;  necessity  made  them  full  of  re¬ 
sources.  Unable  to  abolish  superstitious 
habits,  which  were  closely  interwoven  with 
the  deep  roots  of  the  old  Celtic  trunk,  they 
sanctified  what  they  could  not  abolish,  and 
made  even  the.  practices  of  idolatry  serve 
the  glory  of  God.  The  menhirs  of  the 
desert  heaths,  where  the  children  of  Teu- 
tates  often  went  to  pray  by  the  silvery 
light  of  the  beautiful  luminary  which  they 
called  the  fair  silent  one,1  were  surmounted 
by  a  cross  of  granite  which  turned  to  Chris¬ 
tian  thought  rites  once  instruments  of  idol¬ 
atry.  The  oaks,  which  had  witnessed  eight 
centuries,  and  from  which  the  Druids  had  cut 
down  with  their  golden  sickles  the  branch  of 
the  spectres ,2  received  in  their  hollow  trunks 
the  sweet  image  of  Mary  ;  and  it  was 
again  Mary  and  the  saints  whom  the  bar¬ 
barians  found  on  the  margin  of  their  fairy 
fountains.3 

This  substitution,  which  proclaims  in 
those  who  made  it  so  perfect  a  knowledge 
of  the  human  heart,  took  place,  not  only  in 
Gaul,  but  among  the  Belgians,  Spaniards, 
and  Britons.  It  was  everywhere  crowned 
with  success.  In  time,  the  mysterious  tra¬ 
ditions  of  Druidism,  from  hymns  of  the 
bards  became  popular  tales  ;  the  daisies  of 

the  field,  the  lily  of  the  valley,  the  fragrant 
stems  of  the  honeysuckle,  were  no  longer 
scattered  over  the  waters  in  honor  of  the 
deified  fountain, — they  were  laid  on  the 
rustic,  altar  of  Mary ;  and  the  little  lamp 
of  her  chapel  succeeded  the  torches  of 
resinous  wood,  which  the  Gauls  used  to 
light  around  those  old  oaks,  which  they 
then  called  the  oaks  of  the  Lord. 

At  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  the  bar¬ 
barians,  the  Christians,  anxious  to  secure 
the  revered  objects  of  their  worship  from 
the  profanation  of  these  furious  tribes, 
carefully  concealed  the  little  statues  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  most  retired  and 
inaccessible  places  of  their  forests.  There 
these  holy  images  remained  ;  not  that  they 
were  forgotten,  but  because  the  sword  of 
the  Goth,  the  Hun,  and  the  Vandal,  mowed 
down  the  people  as  the  mower  sweeps  down 
the  grass  of  the  meadows  ;  and  because, 
in  the  most  fertile  and  populous  countries 
of  the  Roman  world,  the  traveller  then 
could  travel  for  days  without  seeing  the 
smoke  of  a  cottage.4 

Long  after,  some  of  these  Madonnas  of 
the  fountains  and  groves  reappeared  in 
glory  ;  and  according  to  the  old  Belgian 
and  French  chroniclers,  miracles  accom¬ 
panied  their  discovery.  Sometimes  a 
bright  light  by  night  attracted  a  Spanish 
hunter,  or  a  Pyrenean  shepherd,  toward  a 
bush,  where  the  birds  sung  melodiously 

( 1 )  Bensozia,  ben ,  bel,  sos,  silent. — (Histoire  Ec¬ 
clesiastique  de  Bretagne,  t.  iv.,  p.  496.) 

( a )  Legui,  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne, 
t.  iv.,  p.  564. 

( * )  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne,  t.  ir.,  p. 
561,  et  t.  i.,  p.  293. 

(*)  The  general  depopulation  which  followed 
the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  exceeds  all  belief. 
Muratori  relates,  that  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  cen¬ 
turies,  Italy  was  so  bare  of  inhabitants  that  it  was 
infested  with  wolves. — (Muratori,  Antiq.,  t.  ii.,  p. 

163.) 

* 


,, 


•  f 


THE  ADORATION. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


227 


all  day  long  :  there  was  an  image  of  Mary 
hidden  among  the  flowers  of  a  thorny  shrub, 
and  embalmed  by  the  sweet  breeze  of  the 
woods.  Sometimes  the  shepherds,  seeing 
their  sheep  bend  their  knees  before  a  hil¬ 
lock  covered  with  short  grass,  and  studded 
with  white  violets,  dug  into  the  earth,  to 
find,  to  their  unspeakable  surprise,  a  small 
wooden  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  rudely 
carved,  but  in  perfect  preservation.  Else¬ 
where,  falling  stars,  streaking  the  night 
with  a  long  train  of  light,  and  all  descend¬ 
ing  at  the  same  place,  like  fireflies  on  the 
wing,  pointed  out  to  the  Spanish  troops 
encamped  under  the  towers  of  some  Moor¬ 
ish  city  the  place  where,  in  the  time  of 
Roderic,  religious  men  had  stealthily  hid- 
.  den,  on  some  night  of  flight  and  alarm,  a 
miraculous  image,  to  protect  it  from  the 
profanations  of  Islam.  And  then  there  were 
dauntless  knights,  illustrious  princesses, 
who,  galloping  with  the  falcon  on  their  wrist 
through  the  green  forests  of  France  and 
Portugal,  discovered  in  the  hollow  of  some 
old  oak,  white  with  lichen,  or  in  the  crevice 
of  a  rock  which  the  brambles  prevented 
their  approaching,  a  little  fugitive  Madonna.1 
On  beholding  it,  haughty  baron,  noble  dame, 
crossed  themselves  with  an  humble  and  de¬ 
vout  air,  dismounted  in  haste  from  their 
palfreys,  knelt  down  on  the  grass  before 
the  Madonna,  and  vowed  her  a  chapel. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Flowering  Thorns  was 
found  upon  a  bushy  rock,  with  marvellous 
circumstances.  This  is  how  it  is  related  by 
a  simple  legend  of  past  times  : — Not  far 
from  the  highest  point  of  Mount  Jura,  but 

( 1 )  Malfada,  Queen  of  Portugal,  when  out  hawk¬ 
ing,  found  a  small  Madonna,  which  took  the  name 


a  little  on  its  western  slope,  could  be  seen, 
half  a  century  ago,  a  mass  of  ruins,  which 
had  belonged  to  the  monastery  of  Our 
Lady  of  the  Flowering  Thorns,  built  by 
the  widow  of  a  knight,  the  last  of  his  race, 
who  died  for  the  conquest  of  the  Sepulchre 
of  our  Lord.  The  noble  lady,  walking  one 
winter’s  evening  in  the  long  avenue  of  her 
ancient  castle,  her  mind  occupied  with 
pious  meditations,  reached  a  thorny  thicket, 
which  afterward  became  the  site  of  the 
monastery,  and  was  not  a  little  surprised 
to  see  that  one  of  the  bushes  had  already 
put  on  its  spring-time  attire.  A  calm  and 
pure  light,  like  that  shed  by  the  dawning 
of  day,  showed  her  the  thorns  in  blossom, 
and  beneath  this  canopy  of  verdure,  em¬ 
broidered  with  little  white  stars  with  rose¬ 
ate  rays,  was  a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  very  plainly  carved,  of  coarse  wood, 
painted  in  natural  colors  by  an  inartistic 
pencil,  and  clothed  with  robes  which 
showed  a  rural  luxury.  It  was  from  this 
that  the  miraculous  light  proceeded  which 
illuminated  the  place.  The  holy  image 
was  piously  transported  with  great  pomp 
to  the  chapel  of  the  castle  ;  but  the  next 
day  it  was  not  to  be  found  there.  The 
Queen  of .  Angels  preferred  the  modest 
shade  of  her  favorite  thicket  to  the  splen¬ 
dor  of  the  baronial  chapel ;  she  had  re¬ 
turned  to  the  midst  of  the  cool  woods  to 
enjoy  the  peace  of  solitude,  and  the  sweet 
incense  of  the  flowers.  All  the  inmates  of 
the  castle  repaired  thither  in  the  evening, 
and  found  her  there,  shining  more  brightly 
than  the  previous  evening.  They  fell  on 

of  Our  Lady  of  the  Forest. — (See  Vasconeellius, 
In  descriptione  regni  Lusit.,  c.  vii.,  1,  5.) 


228 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


their  knees  in  respectful  silence.  “Pow¬ 
erful  Lady,”  said  the  baroness,  “blessed 
Saint  Mary,  this  is  the  dwelling  that  thou 
dost  prefer  ;  thy  will  shall  be  done.”  And 
ere  long  a  fine  Gothic  abbey  arose  on  the 
very  spot  where  the  miraculous  Madonna 
had  been  found.  The  nobles  of  the  king¬ 
dom  enriched  it  with  their  gifts,  and  kings 
endowed  it  with  a  tabernacle  of  pure  gold.” 

Britanny  abounded  in  oaks  consecrated 
to  Mary  ;  the  most  celebrated  one  extended 
its  branches  on  the  sea-shore,  on  an  isolated 
hill,  which  rises  at  some  distance  from  Les- 
neven.  There  was  venerated  Our  Lady 
of  the  Gates,  whose  solid  silver  statue  was 
from  time  immemorial  an  object  of  profound 
veneration  to  the  devout  Arm  or  jeans.  The 
sanctuary  is  now  deprived  of  its  Madonna, 
which  the  incorruptible  agents  of  the  repub¬ 
lic  stole ;  but  it  is  none  the  less  frequent¬ 
ed  by  crowds  of  long-haired  pilgrims,  in 
wide  breeches,  and  garments  of  goats’  skin, 
who  come  to  ask  of  the  Mother  of  God  fine 
weather,  abundant  harvests,  or  the  health 
of  some  sick  relative.  To  see  them  in  this 
primitive  costume,  of  earlier  date  than  the 
Roman  conquest,  devoutly  kneeling  in  the 
shade  of  the  woods,  in  sight  of  the  ocean, 
which  lashes  their  granite  rocks  with  its 
green  waves,  and  of  the  dolmens  of  the 
ancient  heroes,  who  marched  to  the  con¬ 
quest  of  the  Capitol,  you  would  imagine 
yourself  transported  to  the  Gallia  comata 
of  Pliny,  and  the  illusion  would  be  irre¬ 
sistible  if  they  intoned  a  hymn  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  the  antique  and  sonorous 
idiom  of  the  Celts — their  own  peculiar 
language. 

Berry  had  also  its  celebrated  Madonna 


of  the  Oak,  which  a  certain  lord  of  Bou- 
chet,  when  looking  for  his  hawk  in  the 
midst  of  the  woods,  had  found  in  the  hol¬ 
low  of  one  of  these  aged  sacred  trees  of 
the  Gauls,  upon  which  the  bird  of  the  chase 
had  perched,  as  if  on  purpose  to  entice  his 
master  to  it.  The  oak,  which  diffused  its 
soft  shade  over  the  graceful  statuette  of 
Mary,  around  which  the  ivy  entwined  itself 
like  a  gothic  frame,  crowned  a  small  island 
of  short,  close  grass,  surrounding  which  was 
a  small  lake,  with  its  beautiful  sheet  of  clear 
water.  It  had  been  named,  I  know  not 
why,  the  Red  Sea.  This  oak  became  the 
object  of  so  many  pilgrimages,  that  after 
an  embankment  had  been  run  out  to  it,  it 
was  surrounded  by  a  religious  edifice.  The 
image,  adorned  no  doubt  over-richly  by  the 
piety  of  the  inhabitants  of  Berry,  was 
stolen  during  the  civil  wars  by  the  Protest¬ 
ants  ;  but  the  Count  de  Maur  had  another 
made  of  the  wood  of  the  oak  which  had  so 
long  sheltered  it,  and  which  might  have 
said,  like  the  perfumed  earth  of  the  Per¬ 
sian  poet,  “I  am  not  the  rose,  but  I  have 
lived  near  it.”1 

In  Picardy  a  small  Madonna  was  set  up 
in  the  hollow  of  an  old  oak,  on  the  road 
which  led  from  Abbeville  to  Hesdin.  This 
miraculous  image,  over  which  the  honey¬ 
suckle  let  fall  its  sweet-scented  festoons, 
like  a  veil  of  flowers,  overlooked  an  oasis 
of  verdure,  which  contrasted  with  the  bar¬ 
renness  of  the  sun-baked  road,  and  offered 
a  delicious  resting-place  to  the  foot  travel¬ 
ler,  and  the  pilgrim  of  high  birth  who  went 
barefoot,  like  the  King  St.  Louis  and  the 

( 1 )  Saadi,  Gulistar 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Sire  de  Joinville,  to  some  shrine  to  fulfil 
a  vow  made  for  himself  or  some  one  dear 
to  him.  The  bandit  of  the  feudal  times 
himself  muttered  an  Ave,  taking  off  his 
hood  of  coarse  cloth,  before  Our  Lady  of 
Faith  ;  and  the  chatelaine,  after  praying  at 
the  feet  of  the  Madonna,  opened  her  alms- 
box,  wrought  with  her  arms  in  gold,  and 
dropped  from  her  delicate  white  hand  a 
little  shower  of  silver  into  the  trunk  of  the 
aged  oak,  where  the  true  gospel  modesty 
of  the  faithful  of  the  middle  ages  secretly 
deposited  the  alms  which  the  poor  took 
thence  without  shame,  and  which  no  one 
would  touch  but  themselves.1  The  travel¬ 
ler,  when  he  had  said  his  prayers,  sat  down, 
with  his  feet  stretched  out  upon  the  soft, 
fresh  grass,  which  revived  him  after  his 
long  journey  ;  he  inhaled  the  scent  of  the 
flowers,  listened  to  the  bubbling  of  the 
neighboring  spring,  and  deeply  enjoyed  the 
contrast  between  his  past  fatigue  and  pres¬ 
ent  repose.  But  he  must  depart :  how  re¬ 
gretfully!  the  shade  was  so  grateful,  the 
turf  so  soft,  the  murmuring  of  the  fountain, 
which  seemed  to  suppress  its  voice  so  as 
not  to  overpower  the  low  sound  of  the 
prayer  which  was  softly  put  up  to  Mary, 
was  so  charming !  He  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  he  whispered  a  parting  prayer  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  he  slipped  an  alms  into  the 
hand  of  the  poor  old  man  kneeling  on  the 
bank,  whose  blessing  followed  him  on  his 
way  :  “Good  traveller,  may  Our  Lady  pre- 

( 1 )  These  trees,  where  travellers  deposited  their 
alms,  which  the  poor  might  come  and  take,  unob¬ 
served,  at  night,  were  so  revered,  says  Mr.  de  Mar- 
cliangy,  that  none  but  a  poor  person  would  have 
dared  to  take  a  cent  from  them. 


229 


serve  you  from  all  accidents !  ”  And  he 
turned  his  head  back  at  the  bend  of  the 
road,  to  take  a  last  look  at  Our  Lady’s  Oak. 

Anjou,  where  pilgrimages  to  Mary  are 
of  so  ancient  date,  had  near  the  town  of 
Sable  its  oak,  contemporary  with  the  Plan- 
tagenets,  adorned  with  its  equally  ancient 
Madonna. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Vosges,  on  the  fron¬ 
tiers  of  Lorraine,  an  enormous  Gallic  oak, 
which  the  peasants  still  call  by  old  custom 
the  tree  of  the  fairies,  held  in  its  bosom, 
softly  carpeted  with  moss,  a  mysterious 
white  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  before 
which  Joan  d’Arc,  the  holy  maiden,  de¬ 
voutly  went  to  pray,  with  her  whole  heart, 
against  the  English,  whom  she  was  soon  to 
see  flying  before  her  standard.  Hainault, 
too,  had  its  ancient  oaks  with  miraculous 
images.  Nor  were  Spain  and  Portugal 
without  them  ;  England,  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  still  beheld  her  children  invok¬ 
ing  on  their  knees  the  absent  Madonna, 
and  Evelyn  informs  us  that  they  styled 
these. trees  “procession  oaks.”2 

But  of  all  the  monuments  of  the  vegeta- 
ble  kingdom,  which  have  been  consecrated 
to  Mary,  there  is  none  which  for  beauty 
can  compare  with  the  oak  of  Allouville,  in 
the  land  of  Caux.  The  circumference  of 
this  ancient  child  of  earth  is  thirty-four 
feet  above  its  roots,  and  twenty-six  at  a 
man’s  height.  Its  broad  spreading  top  re¬ 
sembles  the  cedar,  and  its  vast  branches, (*) 

( * )  In  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  there  were  still 
standing  in  several  counties  in  England  ancient 
oaks,  which  were  commonly  called  “procession 
oaks.” — (Evelyn’s  Memoirs.) 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


which  spring  from  the  trunk  at  eight  feet 
from  the  base,  spread  out  horizontally,  so 
as  to  cover  a  great  extent  of  ground.  The 
interior  of  the  tree  is  hollow  throughout, 
the  heart  having  decayed  several  centuries 
ago  ;  it  is  only  by  its  bark  and  by  the  in¬ 
terior  layers  that  it  still  keeps  alive  ;  yet 
it  is  covered  every  year  with  acorns,  and 
clothed  with  thick  foliage.  In  the  hollow 
of  this  oak, — which  is  at  least  nine  hundred 
years  old,  and  which  beheld  in  its  day  the 
fall  of  the  Druidical  forests, — has  been 
built  a  charming  little  chapel,  lined  with 
marble,  the  image  of  Mary  adorning  the 
altar.  A  grating  encloses  this  sanctuary, 
without  hiding  the  holy  image  from  the 
sight  of  the  pilgrim  and  traveller.  Above 
the  chapel  is  a  cell,  a  fit  habitation  for  some 
new  Stylites,  reached  by  a  spiral  staircase 
winding  round  the  trunk.  This  aerial  cell; 
covered  with  a  pointed  roof,  forms  a  steeple 
surmounted  by  an  iron  cross,  which  towers 
in  a  picturesque  manner  above  the  branches 
of  the  oak.1 

On  certain  festivals,  and  especially  the 
patron-feast,  the  chapel  is  used  for  divine 
worship,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh¬ 
boring  villages  repair  in  crowds  to  the  feet 
of  the  Gallic  Virgin,  who  seems  maternally 
to  enfold  them  in  her  cool  mantle  of  ver¬ 
dure.  These  good  people  love  their  Ma¬ 
donna,  and  have  proved  it  well.  At  that 
disastrous  period  when  everything  con¬ 
nected  with  worship  was  proscribed,  and 
when  the  least  manifestation  of  Catholicism 

( 1  )  See  the  Antiquit6s  Normandes  of  Ducatel. 

O  “It  was  in  the  feasts  of  Reason,”  says  La- 
harpe,  “that  the  bust  of  Marat  was  placed  upon 
the  altar,  and  those  who  were  suspected  of  fanati- 


was  punished  with  death,  a  troop  of  revo¬ 
lutionists  from  Rouen  marched  in  order  of 
battle  toward  Allouville,  with  the  avowed 
intention  of  burning  down  the  time-honored 
oak,  with  the  Virgin  it  sheltered.  The 
Norman  peasants,  though  far  less  given  to 
enthusiasm  than  the  Bretons,  rallied  in 
arms  beneath  the  oak,  and  so  bravely  re¬ 
pulsed  the  republicans,  that  they  drew  off 
heartily  ashamed  of  their  failure.  At  the 
height  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  when  hymns 
had  ceased  in  every  part  of  the  territory 
of  France,  when  a  misguided  people,  ador¬ 
ing  Marat  upon  the  altar  of  Christ,®  cried 
out,  “  There  are  no  more  saints ,  no  God , 
no  immortal  soul !  ”  up  amid  the  knotty 
branches  of  the  oak  of  Allouville  was  still 
to  be  seen  the  iron  cross  of  the  hermitage, 
and  on  the  front  of  her  chapel  was  still  to 
be  read  the  calm  and  touching  inscription  : 
“  To  Our  Lady  of  Peace.” 

Under  the  successors  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  Gaul,  where  paganism  was  daily 
losing  ground,  had  become  almost  entirely 
Christian.  In  the  time  of  Theodosius  it 
contained  seventeen  archiepiscopal  cathe¬ 
drals,  nearly  all  dedicated  to  Mary,  and  a 
hundred  and  fifteen  bishoprics,  governed 
by  bishops  of  great  learning,  rare  piety, 
charity  unbounded,  and  illustrious  birth, 
which  added  to  their  influence.  Christian¬ 
ity  was  then  laboring  to  win  to  holy  and 
austere  morals  those  Gallic  people,  pas¬ 
sionately  fond  of  the  games  of  the  circus, 
chariot  races,  and  the  seductive  pleasures 

cism,  that  is,  of  believing  in  God,  were  compelled 
to  bend  the  knee  before  Marat.”— (See  Du  Fana> 
tisme  dans  la  langue  revolution naire,  p.  51.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  231 

of  the  theatre — enervating  and  pernicious 

warriors  of  the  north,  whose  gods  bore  the 

enjoyments  which  pagan  and  corrupt  Rome, 

significant  titles  of  depopulators  and  fa- 

in  order  to  diminish  their  courage,  cast,  as 

thers  of  carnage  ;  they  burst  upon  Gaul  like 

a  stroke  of  policy,  like  chains  of  flowers, 

the  avalanche  which  loosens  from  the  side 

over  those  primitive  people,  whom  she  had 

of  the  mountains.  The  warrior  has  no 

found  it  difficult  to  conquer.  The  bishops, 

time  to  seize  his  arms  ;  dismay  banishes 

who  have  been  too  lightly  accused  of  hav- 

the  very  thought  of  flight ;  poverty  and 

ing  made  a  compromise  with  paganism,  be- 

wealth  meet  no  difference  of  fortune.  .  .  . 

cause  they  were  unable  to  eradicate  those 

A  thick  dark  veil — like  to  that  which  the 

evil  pagan  roots,  used  every  means,  on  the 

tempest  spreads  along  the  horizon  at  sea, 

contrary,  to  extirpate  them,  and  flattered 

when  the  foaming  waves  break  furiously 

themselves  that  they  should  succeed,  when 

over  the  reefs  and  strew  them  with  sea- 

all  at  once,  in  the  midst  of  profound  peace, 

weeds — covers  the  fair  Roman  province, 

and  while  Gfaul  lived  thinking  only  of  to- 

and  leaves  nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  color 

day  without  any  forecast  for  the  morrow, 

of  blood  and  the  glitter  of  arms  ;  from  the 

confiding  in  her  legions  encamped  in  her 

Rhine  to  the  Pyrenees,  from  the  Mediterra- 

great  cities,  and  the  sixty  fortresses  which 

nean  to  the  ocean,  Gaul,  hitherto  so  flour- 

protected  her  frontiers  against  the  barbari- 

ishing,  is  no  longer  anything  but  one  vast 

ans,  behold  the  trumpets  of  war  are  heard 

theatre  of  desolation  and  carnage.  This 

on  the  banks  of  the  river  which  separates 

disastrous  period,  which  saw  the  Roman 

her  from  Germany.  .  .  .  Thick  hostile  bat- 

colossus  fall,  and  which  changed  the  form 

talions  at  once  rush  down  precipitately 

of  Western  Europe,  was  the  gulf  in  which 

upon  the  plains,  the  echoes  of  which  yet 

ancient  civilization  was  entirely  swallowed 

feebly  repeated  the  last  burdens  of  the 

up  ;  and  Robertson,  the  great  English  his- 

Gaulish  songs  ;  steel  and  fire  devour  the 

torian,  does  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  if  he 

fields ;  the  rivers  dyed  with  blood,  the 

was  called  upon  to  determine  the  most  de- 

cities  given  up  to  pillage,  the  amphitheatres 

plorable  period  in  the  history  of  the  world, 

demolished,  the  marble  temples  of  the  an- 

he  should  unhesitatingly  name  that  which 

cient  deities  of  the  empire  thrown  down, 

extended  from  the  death  of  Theodosius  the 

the  Christian  churches  profaned,  announce 

Great  to  the  establishment  of  the  Lorn- 

* 

the  irresistible  approach '  of  those  savage 

bards  in  Italy. 

— 

232  HISTORY  OF  THE 

DEVOTION  TO  THE 

THIRD  EPOCH:  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

CHAPTER  YII. 

TIMES  OF  THE 

BARBARIANS. 

I  A0  religion,  as  well  as  those  nations 
A  who  live  enervated  and  civilized  be- 

general  transformation,  Christianity,  which 
was  to  console  the  conquered  and  humanize 

neath  the  shadow  of  the  Roman  eagles, 

the  conquerors. 

the  incursion  of  the  barbarians  was  a  day 

The  veneration  of  Mary,  weakened  for 

of  mourning,  of  terror,  and  of  tears,  a 

a  time  by  Arianism,  which  fatally  prevailed 

night  of  blood,  illumined  by  the  distant 

after  the  invasion  of  the  Goths  and  Yan- 

glare  of  conflagrations,  resounding  with 

dais,  flourished  again  under  the  victorious 

the  clash  of  swords,  and  traversed  by  war- 

banners  of  the  Franks.  Clovis,  the  only 

rior  chiefs,  who  assumed  the  fearful  title  of 

Catholic  king  of  his  age,  conceived  the  de- 

the  Scourges  of  God.  When  the  noise  of 

sign  of  building,  under  the  invocation  of 

this  great  march  of  men  had  ceased,  and 

Our  Lady,  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 

men  began  to  distinguish  something  through 

city,  a  metropolitan  church,  of  which  he 

the  smoke  of  conflagrations,  and  the  dust 

laid  the  corner-stone,  and  which  his  son 

of  battle-fields,  the  face  of  Europe  was 

Childebert  completed.1  This  church,  built 

found  to  be  changed.  The  Saxons  occupied 

on  the  site  of  a  Druidic  temple,  was  orna- 

fertile  England,  the  Franks  had  seized  upon 

mented  with  marble  columns,  with  frescoes 

Gaul,  the  Goths  Spain,  amd  the  Lombards 

on  golden  ground,  and  a  mosaic  pavement. 

Italy.  Not  the  slightest  vestige  remained  of 

The  poet-bishop  Fortunatus  extols  espe- 

the  sciences,  the  arts,  the  civil  and  political 

daily  the  glass  windows,  which  gave  great 

institutions,  of  the  powerful  people  of  Rom- 

light  inside  :  these  glass  windows  were  a 

ulus,  —  barbarism  had  invaded  all,  and 

luxury  imported  from  Greece  and  Rome, 

swept  off  all  before  her.  Everywhere  new 

which  had  but  just  been  introduced  into 

forms  of  government  were  to  be  seen,  new 

Gaul.2 

customs  ;  one  thing  alone  had  resisted  the 

Clovis  I.  also  built  Our  Lady  of  Argen- 

( *)  Falibien,  Histoire  de  Paris,  t.  i. 

to  whom  we  owe  a  very  detailed  description  of  the 

( 3 )  The  oldest  author  who  speaks  of  painted 

Church  of  Sancta  Sophia,  as  it  then  was,  has  also 

glass  is  St.  J erome,  in  his  commentary  on  Ezechiel, 

given  a  description  of  the  beautiful  windows  of 

quoted  by  Ducange,  verio  Vitro}.  After  St.  Jerome 

colored  glass  which  adorned  the  dome  of  the  By- 

come  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  Fortunatus.  Paul 

zantine  basilic. — (See  the  Histoire  de  Byzance,  by 

, 

the  Silent,  a  contemporary  writer  with  Fortunatus, 

Ducange.) 

- - - - « 

J 

V — 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  233 

teuil,  where  the  Princess  Theodrade,  daugh- 

taire  I.,  Queen  Waltrade,  and  a  daughter 

ter  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne,  took  the 

of  the  same  king,  Princess  Engeltrude, 

veil,  after  accompanying  her  father  into 

founded  a  fine  abbey  at  Tours  under  the 

Italy;  this  abbey,  which  then  stood  in  the 

invocation  of  Our  Lady  of  the  JEscrignol 

midst  of  woods,  was  ruined  by  the  Normans, 

(jewel-box),  probably  because  those  prin- 

and  magnificently  rebuilt  by  the  pious 

cesses  employed  their  jewels  to  erect  it.1 

Queen  Adelaide,  the  wife  of  Hugh  Capet, 

Many  maidens  of  high  birth  retired  with 

who  took  delight  in  adorning  its  altars  with 

them  to  this  monastery,  which  was  destroyed 

beautiful  works  of  her  own  hands. 

by  the  Normans. 

The  other  Merovingian  princes,  not  ex- 

Gregory  of  Tours  informs  us  that  there 

cepting  Chilperic,  the  sanguinary  husband 

was  then  in  the  capital  of  Touraine  a  church 

of  Fredegondes,  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 

of  Our  Lady,  the  sanctity  of  which  was 

Virgin  many  chapels  and  abbeys.  Bade- 

awful.  On  solemn  occasions,  men  swore 

gundes,  daughter  of  Berthaire,  King  of 

with  one  hand  laid  upon  the  altar  of  the 

Thuringia,  the  holy  and  deserted  wife  of 

Blessed  Virgin,  and  those  who  perjured 

King  Clotaire,  begged  with  tears,  on  her 

themselves  were  sure  to  die  during  the 

death-bed,  to  be  interred  in  the  unfinished* 

year.2 

Church  of  St.  Mary,  which  she  was  then 

Bathildes,  the  royal  consort  of  Clovis 

building  at  Poictiers.  This  same  pious 

II.,  that  fair  and  saintly  princess  who  was 

princess,  who  refused  to  resume  the  queenly 

the  pearl  of  those  barbarous  times,  founded 

crown,  which  her  fierce  and  fickle  husband 

the  superb  Abbey  of  Chelles,  whither  she 

offered  her  once  more,  founded  in  Neustria, 

retired  at  the  close  of  her  glorious  regency. 

near  a  Druidical  fountain  which  the  Gauls 

This  abbey,  situated  in  the  middle  of 

in  her  time  persisted  in  secretly  worshipping, 

the  dense  forest  where  Chilperic  had  met 

the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Caillouville, 

his  death,  was  placed  under  the  invoca- 

which  was  decorated  with  so  many  holy 

tion  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  A  great  lady 

pictures  that  people  in  their  simplicity  com- 

of  the  Merovingian  court,  Lutrudes,  wife 

pared  it  to  paradise.  Of  the  Merovingian 

of  Ebroin,  that  celebrated  mayor  of  the 

church  nothing  now  remains  ;  but  the  fount- 

palace,  who  has  been  surnamed  the  Marius 

ain  still  pours  forth  its  beneficent  waters, 

of  the  Franks,  because  he  assumed  the 

and  people  come  from  a  great  distance  in 

popular  mask  in  order  to  attain  absolute 

search  of  health.  When  the  water  is  calm 

power,  founded,  after  the  death  of  her  ter- 

and  still,  there  may  still  be  seen  on  the 

rible  spouse,  the  splendid  abbey  of  Our 

slab  beneath  the  water  of  the  fountain  the 

Lady  of  Soissons,  which  was  inaugurated 

figure  of  St.  Radegundes,  with  this  inscrip- 

by  St.  Dronsin.  Six  Carlovingian  princesses 

tion  :  “  Pray  for  us.” 

in  uninterrupted  succession  governed  this 

About  the  year  600  another  wife  of  Clo- 

abbey  for  a  hundred  and  forty-five  years. 

( 1 )  Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv. 

30 

( * )  Gregory  of  Tours,  de  Gl.  M.,  c.  xix. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


234 


At  that  time  Our  Lady  of  Soissons  was 
considered  the  flower  of  the  nunneries  in 
the  empire  of  the  Franks,  and  the  daugh¬ 
ters  of  the  highest  families  took  the  veil 
there.  The  resort  to  it  became  such,  that 
it  was  necessary  to  check  it ;  at  the  peti¬ 
tion  of  the  Abbess  Imma,  Charles  the  Bald 
fixed  the  number  of  the  religious  at  two 
hundred  and  sixteen.  This  prince  also 
ordered  the  establishment  in  front  of  the 

abbey  gate,  of  an  inn  for  travellers,  and  an 

» 

almonry.  Everything  breathed  piety  in 
this  opulent  house  ;  the  office  was  never  in¬ 
terrupted,  and  they  kept  watch  all  night 
long  before  the  blessed  Sacrament.  When 
the  king  was  with  the  army,  or  his  life  in 
any  danger,  the  number  of  nuns  who  spent 
the  might  in  prayer  before  the  altar  of  Our 
Lady  was  greater.  According  to  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  the  feudal  times,  this  monastery 
was  bound  to  send  to  the  army  its  contin¬ 
gent  of  men  at  arms.  Its  importance  de¬ 
clined  with  that  of  the  empire  of  the  Franks, 
but  two  relics  of  Our  Lady  attracted  thither 
a  great  concourse  of  pilgrims  from  all  coun¬ 
tries  throughout  the  middle  ages.  Naught 
now  remains  of  this  Merovingian  cloister 
but  a  few  ruined  arches. 

An  Austrasian  princess,  Plectrudes,  wife 
of  Pepin  d’Heristal,  built  also,  under  the 
first  race,  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Co¬ 
logne,  which  still  subsists. 

But  of  all  the  pious  foundations  in  honor 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  are  of  these  re¬ 
mote  times,  there  is  no  one  that  recalls  a  more 
dramatic  fact  than  that  of  Our  Lady  of  Treves, 
in  the  ancient  country  of  Tongres,  the  coun¬ 
try  of  the  Franks,  which  then  formed  part  of 
the  duchy  of  Austrasia.  Who  does  not  re¬ 


member  the  popular  legend  of  Genevieve  of 
Brabant?  that  legend  which  was  told  by 
so  many  troubadours  and  minstrels  in  the 
guardrooms  of  the  great  barons  of  the 
feudal  times,  and  which  the  cottagers  have 
fastened  up  to  their  black  chimney  corners 
for  a  thousand  years  and  more,  ever  sing¬ 
ing  in  their  long  evenings  the  Gothic  plaint 
which  charmed  the  court  of  Charlemagne  ? 
This  history  of  the  barbarous  ages,  attested 
by  a  monument,  recalls  the  memory  of  a 
really  tragical  event.  Siegfried,  Count 
Palatine  of  Treves,  tears  himself  violently 
away  from  the  arms  of  his  beloved  wife,  to 
go  and  fight  against  the  Moors  under  the 
glorious  standard  of  Charles  Martel.  Golo, 
.  the  first  servant  of  the  prince’s  palace, 
that  is,  one  of  his  principal  lords,  to  whose 
care  he  had  confided  his  young  spouse,  a 
mirror  of  virtue  and  a  pearl  of  beauty, 
conceived  for  the  holy  and  charming  prin¬ 
cess  an  audacious  passion,  which  he  declared 
to  her  in  a  very  insolent  manner.  Repulsed 
with  that  contempt  which  his  treachery  de¬ 
served,  the  worthless  favorite,  who  had  coolly 
intended  to  dishonor  a  man  who  loved  him, 
did  not  scruple  basely  to  calumniate  the 
woman  whom  he  failed  to  corrupt ;  for  all 
base  acts  are  closely  connected  together. 
Siegfried  believed  him  ;  he  was  at  a  dis¬ 
tance  ;  he  ardently  loved  his  wife  ;  he  was 
jealous.  In  the  first  impulse  of  indignation 
he  deemed  just,  he  condemned  Genevieve 
to  die  with  her  infant ;  but  the  servants 
appointed  to  execute  the  sad  sentence,  in  the 
depth  of  a  dark  forest,  had  not  the  heart  to 
do  it,  and  the  Belgian  princess  hid  herself  in 
this  wood,  full  of  wild  beasts,  with  her  new¬ 
born  infant,  which  was  suckled  by  a  fawn. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  235 

For  six  years  the  innocent  and  calumniated 
wife  lived  upon  roots  and  wild  fruit,  inces¬ 
santly  beseeching  God  with  tears  to  estab¬ 
lish  her  innocence.  The  merciful  Virgin, 
moved  at  so  many  tears  and  so  much  misery, 
appeared  to  her  one  day  by  the  side  of  a 
spring,  and  promised  her  that  it  should  be. 
Shortly  after,  Siegfried,  who  still  loved  his 
wife,  and  whom  nothing  could  console  for 
the  loss  of  her,  when  hunting,  found  her 
again  at  the  bottom  of  a  cave,  covered  with 
poor  rags,  and  having  no  veil  but  her  long 
hair.  Golo  confessed  his  infamy,  and  was 
torn  to  pieces  by  four  wild  cattle  of  the 
Black  Forest.  After  this  act  of  severe 
justice  had  been  executed,  Genevieve  built 
a  church  in  honor  of  Mary  in  the  midst  of 
the  woods,  where  she  had  wandered  so  long, 
and  on  the  very  spot  where  the  mother  of 
God  had  appeared  to  her.  Hydolph,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Treves,  consecrated  this  church 
in  the  year  746.1 

Notwithstanding  these  marks  of  respect 
paid  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  it  would  be 
historically  false  to  represent  the  venera¬ 
tion  of  her  as  having  attained  its  highest 
point  under  the  first  race  of  our  kings ; . 
this  veneration  was  then  only  as  it  were  in 
its  dawn.  Local  devotions  absorbed  the 
attention  of  the  great  and  of  the  people: 
St.  Martin  of  Tours,  St.  Denis,  St.  Germa- 
nus,  St.  Hilary,  were  objects  of  veneration 
so  exclusive,  that,  excepting  our  Blessed 
Lord,  all  was  cast  into  the  shade.  The 
altars  of  these  saints  were  plated  with 
gold  ;  their  tombs  were  covered  with  plates 

of  silver  ;  beneath  the  vaulted  ceilings  of 
their  Romanesque  churches  were  suspended, 
as  votive  offerings,  mantles  of  gold  tissue 
embroidered  with  pearls.2  The  white  image 
of  Mary,  the  grand  countenances  of  the 
apostles,  the  army  of  martyrs,  were  effaced 
before  the  primitive  bishops  of  Gaul.  Thus 
an  impostor  named  Didier,  who  aimed  at 
forming  a  sect  in  the  sixth  century,  gave 
himself  out,  with  curious  effrontery,  as 
greater  than  the  apostles,  and  almost  as 
great  as  St.  Martin.3  This  point  of  view, 
to  us  somewhat  surprising,  proceeded 
from  the  gradual  extinction  of  light  ;  it 
was  because  legendary  histories  were  more 
popular  than  the  Gospel,  and  ignorance, 
which  has  always  been  an  evil,  did  not 
always  stop  at  the  threshold  of  the  Christian 
temple ;  it  was  because  the  successors  of 
the  Basils,  the  Ambroses,  the  Chrysostoms, 
deserved  what  Alfred  the  Great  said  with 
melancholy  discouragement :  1  ‘  From  the 
Thames  to  the  Humber  men  no  longer 
understand  the  Our  Father,  and  in  the  rest 
of  the  island  it  is  still  worse.”4 

Gaul  was  not  entirely  converted  to  the 
Gospel  under  the  Merovingian  kings ;  the 
Franks  had  completely  abjured  their  sav¬ 
age  German  divinities,  but  there  still  re¬ 
mained  some  vestiges  of  polytheism  among 
the  Romans  of  the  cities,  who  continued  to 
draw  auguries  from  the  flight  or  the  chant 
of  birds  ;  keep  Thursday  in  honor  of  Ju¬ 
piter  ;  swear  by  Neptune,  Pluto,  Diana,  or 
the  genii ;  in  fine,  who  dared  to  light  up 
lamps  in  the  temples  abandoned  by  the 

( 1 )  Add.  ad  Molan.  de  Belgie. 

( 1 )  See  Vie  de  Dagobert,  by  the  Monk  of  St. 
Denis. 

( * )  Gregory  of  Tours. 

( 4 )  Robertson’s  History  of  the  Emperor  Charles 

V..  yoI.  i.,  p.  186. 

236 


HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


idols,  and  hang  up  offerings  in  them,  as  St. 
Eligius  reproaches  them  in  his  Homilies. 
These  feeble  offshoots  of  Greek  and  Roman 
idolatry  soon  withered  of  themselves  on  a 
soil  which  would  no  longer  nourish  them  ; 
but  the  worship  of  the  Celts,  as  we  have 
already  said,  resisted  the  priestly  axe  with 
all  its  might,  and  took  ages  to  die  out  en¬ 
tirely.  In  the  fourth  century  we  still  see 
the  image  of  the  cultivated  earth  borne  in 
procession  through  the  fields  ;  in  the  fifth, 
a  canon  of  the  second  council  of  Arles 
declares  that,  “  if  any  lord  castellan  allows 
a  torch  to  be  lighted  before  trees,  fountains, 
or  rocks,  he  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  com¬ 
munion  of  the  faithful,  after  having  been 
first  admonished  and  solemnly  warned.” 
At  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  the  coun¬ 
cil  of  Auxerre  forbids  performing  vows  to 
bush,  tree,  or  fountain.1  In  a  council  of 
Nantes,  the  date  of  which  is  fixed  by  Flo- 
doard  at  the  year  658,  bishops  are  recom¬ 
mended  to  have  the  trees  rooted  up,  to 
which  the  people  of  Britanny  persist  in 
paying  a  superstitious  worship,  and  for 
which  they  have  so  much  veneration  that 
they  dare  not  cut  off  a  branch.  The  priest 
Paulinus  represents  these  same  Gauls,  be¬ 
come  mere  fetichists,  serving  up  meats 
upon  the  sacred  stones  which  were  found 
at  the  foot  of  these  trees,  and  beseeching 
an  aged  oak,  which  had  served  perhaps  as 

( 1 )  This  canon  is  expressed  in  these  terms : 
“Non  licet  inter  sentes,  ant  ad  arbores  sarcivos, 
vel  ad  fontes  vota  exsolvere.” 

( 1 )  After  removing  the  bark  of  the  oak,  they 
cut  a  square  opening  in  it,  where  they  inserted 
■  the  corpse  of  the  Druid  :  they  closed  it  up  with  a 
piece  of  green  wood,  over  which  they  replaced  the 


a  tomb  for  some  old  chief  Druid  hidden 
under  its  bark,  with  the  humble  funeral 
oblation  of  a  handful  of  beech-nuts,2  to 
take  under  its  protection  their  wives,  their 
children,  their  servants,  and  houses.3  The 
Capitularies  of  Charlemagne  decree  severe 
penalties  against  these  superstitions,  which 
had  survived  the  dynasty  of  Meroveus,4 
which  proves  that  they  deserved  the  trouble 
of  being  considered  in  the  earlier  years  of 
the  ninth  century.  It  was  especially  in  the 
two  Armoricas,  the  Eastern  and  Western, 
where  the  gospel,  late  sown,  grew  but 
slowly,  that  the  indigenous  worship,  favored 
by  forests  as  old  as  the  world,  maintained 
its  ground  in  defiance  of  councils  and 
bishops,  who,  nevertheless,  used  every 
effort  to  extirpate  it.  The  desert  of  Scycy, 
in  the  peninsula  of  Cotentin,  was  inhabited, 
in  the  seventh  century,  by  idolatrous  Gauls, 
who  lived  there,  as  the  canons  of  certain 
councils  of  the  time  say,  positively  like 
wild  beasts.  But  if  idolatry,  supported  by 
prophets,  bards,  and  a  few  Druids  wander¬ 
ing  in  the  woods,  was  obstinate,  Christian 
zeal  had  the  ardor  needed  to  defeat  it, 
.  and  showed  it.  In  the  depths  of  these 
lost  solitudes,  the  reputed  haunt  of  devils, 
where  strange  enough  things  were  seen, 
when  the  resinous  torches  of  the  Gauls, 
repairing  by  night  to  some  forbidden  cere¬ 
mony,  gleamed  red  beneath  the  foliage  of 


bark.  The  tree,  thus  become  a  tomb,  still  con¬ 
tinued  alive.  Trees  of  this  kind  have  been  found, 
where  with  the  bones,  almost  reduced  to  dust, 
were  found  walnuts  or  beech-nuts  in  good  pre¬ 
servation. 

( s )  Paul.,  lib.  i.,  Paschalis  Operis,  c.  ii. 

( 4 )  Capital.,  Caroli  Magni,  lib.  i.,  tit.  64. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  237 

the  huge  oaks,  or  formed  sheets  of  flame 

through  the  aged  Neustrian  forests,  other 

around  black  dolmens  erected  on  the  heath 

anchorets  flocked  to  place  themselves  under 

in  the  silvery  light  of  the  moon,1  hermits, 

its  discipline.  Then  they  cleared  the  dry 

often  men  of  high  birth,  came  to  take  up  th'eir 

and  hard  earth,  which  had  been  for  ages 

abode  in  poor  hovels  of  turf  covered  with 

obstructed  by  the  heather  and  the  bramble  ; 

reeds,  which  were  soon  surrounded  with 

then  the  wheat  began  to  whiten  on  the 

ivy  and  moss.  Dry  leaves,  sometimes  even 

sides  of  the  uncultivated  hills  ;  then  in  the 

the  bark  of  trees,  was  their  bed  ;  fruits, 

evening,  at  the  hour  when  the  birds  warble 

berries,  wild  roots  their  food  ;  a  plain  white 

in  the  trees,  the  hymn  of  the  Irish  Sedulius 

garment  of  coarse  wool,  such  as  the  Roman 

in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

populace  wore,  was  their  clothing.2  Mak- 

arose  in  slow  and  grave  melody,  in  the 

ing  their  way  through  the  tree-ferns  of 

very  places  where  the  victim  doomed  to 

these  virgin  forests,  whose  secret  paths 

die  by  the  stony  knife  of  the  ovate,  to 

were  unknown  to  them,  these  good  pastors 

appease  the  gods  of  Gaul,  had  uttered  his 

went  everywhere  in  search  of  the  wandering 

death-song.3 

sheep  whom  they  wished  to  induce  to  bring 

Woman,  that  sex,  at  once  timid  and 

into  the  fold  of  Jesus  Christ.  When  the 

intrepid,  who  experiences  every  fear  and 

good  odor  of  the  sanctity  of  one  of  these 

faces  every  danger,  eager  to  contribute  her 

solitaries  was  diffused,  like  the  sweet  and 

share  in  the  overthrow  of  paganism,  came 

penetrating  scent  of  the  lily  of  the  valley, 

like  flights  of  white  turtle-doves  to  hide  in 

( 1 )  The  most  august  assemblies  of  the  Druids 

( ’ )  M.  Pitre-Chevalier,  in  his  interesting  and 

were  those  of  the  new  and  full  moons;  that  of  the 

patriotic  work  on  Britanny,  has  inserted  a  very 

new  moon  began  when  this  planet  shone  enough  to 

curious  bardic  hymn  attributed  to  the  victim  upon 

light  the  fields,  that  is,  on  the  sixth  day ;  but  the 

the  dolmen;  this  hymn  was  discovered  byM.de 

moonlight  did  not  prevent  them  from  carrying 

la  Villemarque  : — “  Hu  !  0  thou  whose  wings  rend 

torches. — (See  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  de  Bretagne, 

the  air ;  thou  whose  son  was  the  protector  of  great 

Introduct.,  p.  184.) 

privileges,  the  bardic  herald,  the  minister.  0 

( 1 )  Down  to  the  sixth  century,  the  clergy  wore 

Father  of  the  abyss !  My  tongue  shall  sing  my 

the  white  and  close  toga  of  the  Roman  people. 

death-song  in  the  midst  of  the  circle  of  stones 

Pope  Celestine,  in  the  year  428,  blamed  the  eccle- 

which  incloses  the  world.  Support  of  Britanny! 

siastics  of  Vienne  and  Narbonne,  who,  instead  of 

Hu  !  whose  forehead  is  radiant,  support  me !  It  is 

the  toga,  began  to  wear  a  mantle  and  girdle.  He 

the  feast  around  the  two  lakes;  one  lake  surrounds 

shows  them  that  it  is  only  the  love  of  chastity  that 

me  and  surrounds  the  circle ;  the  circle  surrounds 

is  commanded  to  us  by  what  the  gospel  says  of 

another  circle  of  deep  posts.  A  fair  retreat  is  in 

girding  the  loins ;  that  they  must  not  corrupt  by 

front ;  great  rocks  cover  it ;  the  serpent  comes 

superstition  the  discipline  which  so  many  holy 

forth  gliding  on  toward  the  vessels  of  the  sacri- 

bishops  have  authorized  ;  and  that  the  clergy 

ficator  with  golden  horns.  The  golden  horns  in 

ought  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  faithful  by 

his  hand,  his  hand  upon  the  knife,  the  knife  upon 

their  dress,  but  by  learning  and  purity  of  life. — 

my  head.” 

(Fleury,  Moeurs  des  Chretiens,  ch.  xli. ;  ibid.,  t.  ii., 

p.  185.) 

• 

238 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  shade  of  still  idolatrous  woods,  under 
the  protection  of  Mary.  St.  Fremond,  a 
great  lord,  weary  of  the  world, — whom  the 
episcopal  mitre  sought  out  beneath  the 
straw  thatch  of  a  hermit’s  cell,  and  in  the 
episcopal  palace  of  Contentin,  who  regret¬ 
ted  his  cell  at  Ham, — built,  in  his  regretted 
solitude,  a  monastery  of  nuns,  which  is  one 
of  the  first  of  which  the  memory  has  been 
preserved  in  Neustrian  Armorica  ;  he  added 
to  it  a  very  fine  church,  which  he  dedicated 
to  the  Mother  of  God.  This  monastery, 
built  about  the  year  674,  was  destroyed  by 
the  Norman  idolaters,  and  splendidly  re¬ 
built  by  their  descendants  the  Norman 
Christians. 

The  vicinity  of  the  Isle  of  Britain,  which 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  conquering  the  native 
inhabitants,  had  replunged  into  idolatry, 
was  fatal  to  the  Neustrian  pastors  ;  for  the 
idolaters  of  Great  Britain,  making  common 
cause  with  those  of  Gaul,  encouraged  their 
resistance.  The  gospel,  favored  by  a  Me¬ 
rovingian  princess,  had  again  penetrated 
into  the  British  Isle,  toward  the  end  of  the 
sixth  century,  and  was  established  there, 
thanks  to  the  wise  measures  of  St.  Gregory 
the  Great ;  but  this  disputed  triumph  was 
as  yet  only  partial.  Edwin,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  princes  of  the  Saxon  hep¬ 
tarchy,  h^d  the  glory  of  firmly  establish¬ 
ing  it.  Having,  like  Clovis,  made  a  vow 
to  embrace  Christianity,  if  he  should  gain 
a  victory  over  the  perfidious  kings  of  W es- 
sex,  who  sought  to  assassinate  him,  and 
having  gained  it,  he  convoked  the  Wittena- 
gemote,  that  is,  the  great  council  of  the 
wise  men,  lords,  and  warriors  of  his  small 
kingdom,  and  after  laying  before  them  his 


motives  for  abjuring  his  old  deities,  he  re¬ 
quested  their  opinion. 

It  was  a  strange  and  imposing  spectacle, 
this  Anglo-Saxon  senate,  deliberating  on 
the  change  of  religion  proposed  to  them. 
The  brave,  young,  handsome  king,  pre¬ 
sided  over  the  assembly,  the  crown  upon 
his  head,  a  naked  sword  in  his  hand,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  usage  of  the  time,  and 
draped  in  a  long  mantle,  clasped  upon  his 
shoulder  ;  on  each  side  of  him  were  the 
wise  men  of  the  nation,  old  men  unarmed, 
with  long  robes  and  mantles,  wearing  a  cap 
of  Phrygian  form  ;  then  the  warrior  chiefs, 
with  short  and  tight  clothing,  over  whose 
round  helmets  without  visors  drooped  a 
plume  ;  on  their  arms  shone  heavy  brace¬ 
lets  of  gold ;  from  a  narrow  belt,  which 
passed  over  the  shoulder,  hung  their  bat¬ 
tle-axe  and  their  sword  ;  with  one  hand 
they  held  a  lance,  and  with  the  other  a 
round  buckler,  studded  with  golden  nails  ; 
at  the  farther  end  were  the  Christian 
priests,  and  the  high-priest  of  the  idols. 

The  result  of  this  conference  exceeded 
the  expectation  of  the  bishops.  The  high- 
priest  of  the  pagan  divinities  was  the  first 
to  declare  that  they  were  powerless.  A 
warrior  proprietor,  a  thane,  compared  the 
life  of  man  to  the  flight  of  a  little  bird  that 
crosses  a  room  in  its  course.  “You  see 
the  door  by  which  he  enters,”  said  the  Sax¬ 
on  chief,  “  the  window  through  which  he 
passes  out  ;  but  whence  does  he  come  ?  and 
whither  does  he  go  ?  This  is  the  emblem 
of  our  existence.  If  the  new  faith  clears 
up  this  uncertainty,  we  ought  to  adopt  it.”1 


( 1 )  History  qf  England,  by  M.  de  Boujoux,  t.  i. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  239 

Upon  this,  the  king  declared  himself  a 

trace  remaining  of  their  former  worship  ; 

Christian ;  the  whole  assembly  solemnly 

and  no  sooner  had  they  substituted  the 

renounced  the  worship  of  idols,  and  the 

cross  of  our  Lord  upon  their  banners  for 

people  imitated  the  senate  and  the  prince. 

the  white  horse  of  Hengist,  than  they  vied 

This  religious  revolution  took  place  in  620. 

with  each  other,  in  all  parts  of  England,  in 

The  German  divinities  were  vanquished 

erecting  convents,  cathedrals,  churches, 

in  Great  Britain,  but  Druidism  was  not ;  it 

hermitages,  and  chapels  in  honor  of  Bless- 

survived  in  the  old  insular  forests,  where, 

ed  Mary,  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  asso- 

in  the  very  heart  of  the  eighth  century, 

ciated  with  one  of  the  apostles  or  Saxon 

the  English  still  tattooed  themselves,  like 

saints,  when  they  possessed  them.  Noth- 

American  Indians,  though  councils  had  de- 

ing  was  more  plain  and  simple  than  most 

dared  that  this  strange  fashion,  which  had 

of  these  primitive  Anglo-Saxon  chapels. 

procured  for  the  Scotch  and  North  Britons 

Enormous  trunks  of  trees,  taken  from  the 

the  name  of  Piets,  or  painted  warriors, 

neighboring  forests,  and  cemented  with 

was  an  invention  of  the  devil.1  King  Ed- 

moss  or  turf  mixed  with  clay,  formed  the 

gar  forbade,  by  a  law  dated  in  967,  the 

outward  walls  ;  the  interior,  which  was  en- 

superstitious  assemblies  called  Frithgear, 

tered  by  a  low  porch  decorated  with  some 

held  round  druidical  stones,  which  were 

lozenge-shaped  mouldings,  was  plastered 

still  worshipped  in  Northumberland,  Cum- 

with  a  chalky  earth,  which  admitted  of  a 

berland,  Yorkshire,  Devonshire,  and  espe- 

sort  of  polish,  and  upon  which  were  traced 

dally  on  Salisbury  Plain,2  the  Carnac  field 

colored  figures  of  barbarous  design.3  At 

of  the  English,  where  was  the  celebrated 

the  extremity  of  the  little  edifice,  where 

Stonehenge  (the  chorea  giganteum  of  the 

the  wind,  rain,  and  light  came  in  together 

ancients).  This,  law  seems  not  to  have 

through  the  lattice  of  osier-work  which 

been  scrupulously  obeyed,  since  as  late  as 

served  for  windows,4  upon  a  tomb-shaped 

the  eleventh  century  Canute  or  Cnut  the 

altar,  covered  with  a  red  cloth  with  long 

Great,  a  celebrated  sea-king,  was  obliged 

fringe,5  stood  a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Yir- 

to  forbid  the  worship  of  rocks,  fountains, 

gin  attired  as  a  Saxon  lady.  An  open 

and  trees.  As  to  the  Anglo-Saxons,  they 

belfry,  where  hung  a  weather-stained  bell, 

became  entirely  converted,  without  any 

surmounted  the  thatched  roof  of  the  chapel, 

( 1 )  This  tattooing  was  condemned  in  787  by  a 

land. — (See  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Transac- 

council  of  Northumbria,  as  a  pagan  impiety  and  a 

tions.) 

diabolical  rite. — (See  Labbe  Councils,  t.  vi.) 

( 6 )  It  must  he  remembered  that  the  primitive 

(’)  See  Camden’s  Britannia. 

altars  of  Christianity  were  the  tombs  of  the  mar- 

( * )  History  of  England,  by  M.  de  Koujoux,  t.  i. 

tyrs  ;  the  draperies,  often  very  rich,  which  covered 

( 4 )  Sir  James  Hall  Douglas,  in  his  Essay  on 

the  old  altars,  were  red,  to  imitate  the  color  of 

Gothic  Architecture,  traces  the  light  and  elegant 

blood ;  people  went  sometimes  to  Borne  for  veils 

stone  mullions  of  the  great  ogee  windows  to  the 

from  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. — (His- 

imitation  of  those  lattices  of  wicker-work  men- 

toire  Eccl6siastique  de  Bretagne.) 

tioned  in  the  earliest  Christian  legends  of  Eng- 

240 


HISTOEY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


waving  with  grass.  In  front  of  this  prim¬ 
itive  monument  was  seen  a  cross,  formed 
of  two  trees  fastened  together  with  branches 
of  willow,  and  crowned  with  a  garland  of 
box  or  ivy  ;  this  was  the  sign  of  the  change 
of  worship,  and  the  trophy  of  Christ  over 
Zernebock  and  Hertha.  Somewhat  later, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  bishops  procured  from 
Rome  painters,  glaziers,  and  builders  ;*  but 
the  cathedrals  and  abbeys  which  they 
erected  under  the  invocation  of  Mary  and 
the  saints  partook  of  the  massive  and  un¬ 
graceful  style  which  prevailed  at  that  re¬ 
mote  period. 

When  William  of  Normandy  had  con¬ 
quered  England,  the  Anglo  -  Norman 
churches,  with  their  bold  spires,  their 
splendid  belfries,  and  their  towers  darting 
up  to  the  clouds,  were  introduced  in  all  the 
pride  of  their  fairy  architecture,  by  the 
side  of  the  massive  churches  and  poor  rude 
chapels  of  the  Saxons.  But  inelegant  as 
they  were,  these  held  a  powerful  charm 
which  appealed  strongly  to  the  conquered 
multitude  :  it  was  in  these  chapels  that  the 
vanquished  came  to  pray  and  weep.  The 
Blessed  Virgin,  whom  they  had  venerated 
there  in  better  days,  the  Virgin,  who,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  custoni  of  the  time,  wore  their 
national  costume,  seemed  to  them  more  at¬ 
tentive,  more  indulgent,  more  disposed  to 
succor  them  in  those  religious  enclosures, 
where  she  reigned  over  the  tombs  of  their 
forefathers  and  the  saints  of  Old  England. 

Christianity,  which  was  carried  into 


0)  “  Misit  legatarios  in  Galliam,  qui  vitri  fac- 
tores,  artifices  videlicet  Britanniis  ea  tenus  incog¬ 
nitos,  ad  cancellandos  ecclesiae  porticus  et  coena- 


Spain  by  St.  James,  four  years  after  the 
death  of  our  Lord,  according  to  the  an¬ 
cient  Spanish  tradition,  and  which  made 
rapid  progress  there,  flourished  in  that 
country,  mingled  with  the  tares  of  Arian- 
ism,  from  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  the 
G-oths  and  Vandals.  Devotion  to  Mary 
was  already  popular,  though  somewhat 
eclipsed  by  that  to  St.  Vincent,  the  great 
martyr  of  Cassar- Augusta,  now  Saragossa, 
whom  Prudentius  has  celebrated  in  his 
hymns,  which  are  truly  classic  in  form  and 
sublimity.  Our  Lady  of  the  Pillar,  which 
was  at  first  only  a  poor  chapel  of  boulders 
and  turf,  had  already  become  a  Roman¬ 
esque  church,  and  a  pious  pilgrimage, 
where,  from  the  top  of  its  rich  marble  pil¬ 
lar,  the  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  seemed 
to  smile  on  the  kneeling  people  of  Spain. 
Our  Lady  of  Toledo,  the  metropolitan 
church  of  all  Spain,  whose  foundation  is 
ascribed  by  some  Spanish  historians  to  the 
primitive  ages  of  the  Church,  had  been 
authentically  consecrated  jn  the  year  630, 
by  the  G-othic  King  Recared,  the  first  king 
of  Spain  who  merited  the  title  of  Catholic, 
as  he  expelled  the  Arians  from  his  king¬ 
dom,  after  the  condemnation  of  their  errors 
by  a  council  at  Toledo,  held  under  his 
influence.  But  the  sanctuary  of  Mary, 
most  visited  by  the  people  of  Spain,  in 
those  remote  times  of  which  we  are  at¬ 
tempting  to  sketch  the  history,  was  that  of 
Our  Lady  of  Covadonga,  in  the  Asturias. 
It  was  because,  beneath  the  natural  vault 


culorum  ejus  fenestras,  abducerent.” — (Bede,  lib 
de  Wiremuthensi  monasterio,  c.  v.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  241 

of  this  Asturian  grotto,  consecrated  to 
Mary  by  the  ancient  anchorets,  when  they 
combated  Druidism  in  the  depths  of  the 
Spanish  forests,  where  it  maintained  its 
ground  a  long  time,1  because  it  was  here 
that  the  flag  of  freedom,  the  sacred  banner 
of  the  cross,  had  taken  refuge  as  in  its  last 
asylum  after  the  battle  of  Xerxes,  which 
delivered  up  Spain  to  the  Caliphs.  Aban¬ 
doning  forest  after  forest,  mountain  after 
mountain,  and  retreating  with  heroic  stub¬ 
bornness  to  Mount  Antiba,  which  overlooks 
the  Cantabrian  Sea,  the  farthest  limit  of 
Spain,  Pelayo,  the  sole  hope  of  his  coun¬ 
try,  took  refuge  for  a  short  time,  with  a 
handful  of  heroes,  in  this  inaccessible  cav¬ 
ern,  which  the  piety  of  the  Asturian  moun¬ 
taineers  had  consecrated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  which  was  adorned  by  her 
sweet  image,  placed  upon  a  rock,  which 
served  as  an  altar.  As  he  made  his  way 
into  this  wild  temple,  the  Spanish  hero  con¬ 
ceived  some  hope,  and  kneeling  with  his 
companions  at  the  foot  of  the  revered  im¬ 
age,  he  solemnly  placed  himself  and  the 
desperate  affairs  of  Spain  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  JVuestra  Sehora  de  Covadongci , 
took  Mary’s  name  for  his  battle-cry,  and 
intrenched  himself  in  the  mountain  which 
she  protected.  The  Mother  of  God  gra¬ 
ciously  accepted  the  vows  of  the  Gothic 

prince,  and  was  pleased  to  manifest  her 
protection  by  enabling  the  Spaniards  to 
win  a  great  victory  over  the  Moors,  com¬ 
manded  by  the  Mussulman  governor,  Al- 
cama.2 

Attributing  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin  this 
unexpected  victory,  Pelayo,  as  a  token  of 
his  gratitude,  built,  near  the  natural  cavern, 
which  opened  far  into  the  side  of  a  pre¬ 
cipitous  rock  whose  foot  was  bathed  by  the 
Auseba,  a  church,  under  the  title  of  Our 

Lady  of  Covadongci  (the  cavern),  where 
all  Spain  came  to  pray.3 

The  descendants  of  Clovis  the  Fair,  the 
Long-haired,  as  he  is  called  in  the  prologue 
of  the  Salic  law,  had  degenerated  sadly 
from  the  bravery  and  abilities  of  this  prince. 

The  lamp  of  the  Merovingians,  almost  ex¬ 
tinct,  was  expiring  without  the  smallest 
spark  ;  the  indolent  kings,  no  better  than 
vain  phantoms,  showed  themselves  to  the 
people  seldom  more  than  once  a  year,  and 
then  on  a  chariot  adorned  with  green  boughs 
and  flowers,  drawn  by  four  oxen,  who  drew 
to  the  Champ  de  Mai  those  phantom  prin¬ 
ces  whom  the  breath  of  Charles  Martel 
could  have  dispersed,  and  disdained  to  do 
it.  Still  they  were  pious,  and  built  monas¬ 
teries  ;  but  it  needs  more  than  piety  to 
wield  a  sceptre  ;  the  sceptre  of  France  is 
heavy,  and  requires  a  firm  arm,  a  fearless 

( 1 )  The  twelfth  and  sixteenth  councils  of  To¬ 
ledo,  one  held  in  the  year  681,  and  the  other  in 
693,  show,  by  their  eleventh  and  twelfth  canons, 
that  those  who  pay  a  religious  worship  to  stones  or 
trees,  sacrifice  to  Satan. 

(  )  According  to  Father  Mariana,  this  was  an 
army  of  sixty  thousand  men ;  Sebastian,  Bishop 

31 

of  Salamanca,  and  Amhrosio  de  Morales,  estimate 
it  still  higher. 

( s )  The  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Covadonga 
remained  standing  till  1775,  when  it  fell  a  prey  to 
the  flames;  the  pious  King  Charles  III.  wished  to 
rebuild  it  magnificently,  and,  in  fact,  commenced 
the  work,  which  is  yet  unfinished.  This  sanctuary 
is  situated  in  the  province  of  Oviedo. 

242 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


heart,  a  strong  head,  and  a  wise  mind. 
Happily  for  Christian  Europe,  which  soon 
saw  itself  embroiled  with  Islamism,1  the 
mayors  of  the  place  had  all  these. 

The  Moorish  masters  of  Spain  had  cast 
from  the  heights  of  the  Pyrenees  a  covet¬ 
ous  eye  upon  France,  the  fairest  kingdom 
of  the  West;  it  seemed  good  to  them  to 
introduce  Islamism  there,  and  to  change 
the  churches  into  mosques.  This  project 
was  no  sooner  conceived  than  executed. 
The  rich  plains  of  the  south  were  soon 
covered  with  a  numerous  army,  which 
plundered  the  sanctuaries  on  its  way,  and 
threw  down  the  statues  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  and  the  saints  from  their  ancient  ped¬ 
estals,  contemptuously  treating  them  as 
idols.  From  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Rhine, 
all  France  trembled  ;  the  churches  were 
too  small  to  contain  the  kneeling  crowds 
who  implored  from  God  and  his  holy 
Mother  aid  and  succor  against  the  infidels  ; 
bishops  took  up  arms  ;  mitred  abbots 
marched  to  battle  beneath  the  banners 
of  their  abbeys  ;  the  abbot  of  St.  Denis 
had  the  oriflamme  borne  on  high,  then  only 
the  banner  of  his  own  convent :  Aquitaine 
displayed  the  figure  of  St.  Martial,  and 
Charles  Martel  the  cloak  of  St.  Martin  of 
Tours,  which  was  then  the  royal  standard 
of  France.  It  was  really  a  holy  war  ;  and 
hence  we  see  that  those  who  fell  in  this 
warfare  were  ranked  among  the  martyrs. 

The  battle  where  the  Moorish  scimitar  and 
the  battle-axe  of  the  Franks  were  to  de- 
'cide  the  destiny  of  the  world,  and  estab¬ 
lish  the  triumph  of  the  Gospel  or  of  the 
Koran,  was  fought  in  the  plain  of  Poictiers. 
The  two  armies  viewed  each  other  at  first 


with  equal  surprise  ;  the  French  could  not 
gaze  with  admiration  on  that  brilliant  Ori¬ 
ental  cavalry,  proud  of  its  many  triumphs, 
and  laden  with  the  spoils  of  Africa  and 
Asia.  The  earth  trembled  under  the  fiery 
tramp  of  those  Arab  coursers  who  pawed 
up  the  ground,  and  seemed  to  say,  “  Come 
on !  ”  like  their  type  immortalized  in  the 
sublime  description  of  Job  ;  the  eye  was 
dazzled  with  the  splendor  of  the  flowing 
garments  of  the  Saracens,  the  fabulous 
richness  of  their  turbans,  and  the  fire  that 
flashed  from  their  cuirasses  and  scimitars. 

The  army  of  the  Franks,  which  was 
drawn  np  in  a  wedge  for  battle,  presented 
to  the  children  of  Ismael  a  spectacle  no 
less  new  and  imposing.  Those  active  war¬ 
riors,  clad  in  short  garments,  who  outran 
the  fleetest  horses  ;  that  formidable  in 
fantry,  which  combined  in  its  manoeuvres 
the  ancient  tactics  of  the  Roman  legions 
with  the  ferocity  of  the  Germans,  and 
whose  triangular  mass,  bristling  with  bat¬ 
tle-axes  and  swords,  was  advancing  with 
impetuosity,  but  with  a  steady  movement, 
to  break  through  the  Moorish  squadrons, 
struck  the  Arabs  with  surprise.  They 
soon  perceived,  say  the  old  chroniclers, 
that  it  was  no  degenerate  Goths  they  were 
to  meet,  and  that  Charles  was  far  more 
difficult  than  Roderic  to  overthrow. 

The  battle  of  Xeres,  which  had  given 
Spain  to  the  Moors,  lasted  a  whole  week  ; 
the  battle  of  Tours,  which  delivered  France 
from  them,  lasted  but  a  sun.  The  Arabs 
repeatedly  charged  the  army  of  Charles, 


( 1 )  The  word  Islamism  signifies  consecration  to 
God. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


hurling  their  battalions  into  the  mel6e  like 
waves  on  the  sea ;  but  their  disorderly 
fury  was  spent  upon  the  formidable  masses 
of  the  Franks,  who  are  compared  by  a 
contemporary  Portuguese  author,  Bishop 
Isidore,  “to  a  wall  of  ice,  against  which 
the  clouds  of  the  Arabs  came  to  break  and 
dissolve,”  without  leaving  any  trace  behind 
them.  At  length  the  ferocious  Abderrah- 
man,  lieutenant  of  the  caliph  of  Bagdad, 
whose  authority  extended  even  to  Spain, 
fell  beneath  Charles’  ponderous  axe.  The 


243 


shades  of  night  separated  the  combatants, 
and  when  on  the  morrow  the  Christian 
troops  rushed  upon  the  African  camp  to 
complete  the  ruin  of  their  foes,  they  found 
it  empty :  the  Moors  had  fled !  and  each 
conquering  battalion  was  received  in  its 
own  city,  now  secure,  amid  the  joyful  sound 
of  bells  and  the  chanting  of  psalms,  and  on 
all  sides  were  heard  repeated  those  words 
of  the  Salic  law,  “  G-lory  to  Christ,  who 
cherishes  the  Franks,  protects  their  armies, 
and  holds  their  kingdom  in  his  keeping,” 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  MEN  OF  THE  NORTH. 


THE  last  of  the  Merovingians  had  ex¬ 
changed  the  white  and  blue  dalmatic, 
the  golden  diadem  set  with  precious  stones, 
and  the  golden  staff  six  feet  in  length, 
curved  like  a  crosier,  which  formed  the 
sceptre  of  the  long-haired  kings,  for  the 
brown  habit  of  the  monasteries  ;  it  was  one 
phantom  less.  The  mayors  of  the  palace 
had  long  been,  in  fact,  kings,  and  the  dis¬ 
appearance  of  the  last  descendant  of  Clovis 
made  so  little  noise  in  the  world,  that  the 
chronicles  of  the  time  simply  say,  with  a 
conciseness  where  contempt  seems  to  lurk 
beneath  indifference,  that  the  Franks  as¬ 
sembled  at  Soissons,  deposed  Childeric,  and 
gave  the  crown  to  Pepin.  This  prince  of 
Austrasia,  who  had  just  boldly  set  upon  his 
brow  the  crown  of  France,  violating  in 


concert  with  the  lords  every  law  of  the 
monarchy,  had  a  sword  able  to  defend  it, 
and  a  head  strong  enough  to  bear  it.  His 
valor  was  unquestioned,  his  prudence  was 
proverbial,  and  he  evinced  greater  piety 
than  his  father,  Charles  Martel,  of  glorious 
memory,  who  had  freely  pillaged  the  church 
after  saving  it.  Pepin,  who  was  distin¬ 
guished  for  his  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  was  crowned  by  Boniface,  Archbishop 
of  Mentz,  in  the  celebrated  abbey  church 
of  Our  Lady  of  Soissons,  where  G-isella, 
one  of  his  daughters,  the  favorite  sister  of 
Charlemagne,  took  the  veil.  It  was  this 
prince  who  gave  the  Merovingian  monas¬ 
tery  of  Our  Lady  of  Argenteuil  part  of 
the  immense  forest  adjoining  it.  Pepin 
the  Short  also  founded  in  the  old  Herman 


244 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


forest,  which  afterward  became  so  cele¬ 
brated  and  dreaded  under  the  name  of  the 
Black  Forest,  a  charming  rustic  chapel  in 
honor  of  Mary.  It  was  on  the  following 
occasion.  One  day,  when  he  was  hunting 
the  stag  in  these  vast  woods  with  his  lords, 
he  inadvertently  strayed  from  his  train  ; 
having  lost  his  way,  and  not  knowing  what 
direction  to  follow,  he  was  hesitating  to 
take  a  certain  path,  when  the  faint  sound 
of  a  hermitage-bell  reached  him,  borne  on 
the  autumn  breeze.  The  Frank  prince 
turned  his  horse’s  head  in  Ihe  direction 
whence  the  religious  summons  had  come,  and 
ere  long,  in  a  wild  but  charming  situation, 
where  a  spring  of  fresh  water  bubbled  up, 
perceived  a  small  forest-chapel,  built,  or 
rather  roughly  put  together,  by  a  poor  Scot¬ 
tish  monk.  This  modest  edifice,  constructed 
withoui  the  compass  of  the  architect  and  the 
trowel  of  the  mason,  had  none  the  less  a 
magnificence  of  its  own ;  the  bramble  had 
interwoven  in  the  narrow  openings  its 
brown  circlets  ornamented  with  broad  dark 
green  leaves,  while  the  gold  and  purple 
foliage  of  the  wild  vine  seemed  to  gild  the 
tottering  wall  with  the  rich  hues  of  the 
setting  rum. 

E^igs  in  that  day,  proud  enough  in  dis¬ 
position,  laid  aside,  however,  their  haughty 
habits  before  any  Christian  emblem.  On  dis¬ 
cerning  the  black  cross  of  the  hermitage,  the 
descendant  of  the  conqueror  of  the  Moors 
bent  his  head,  and  bowed  down  like  the 
humblest  shepherd  of  his  kingdom  ;  then, 
tying  his  horse  to  a  tree,  he  entered  the 
poor  sanctuary  placed  under  the  invocation 


{  )  Astolfl,  Delle  Imagini  miracolose. 


of  Mary.  The  utter  poverty  of  the  sacred 
place — through  the  ruined  roof  of  which 
the  pines  were  seen  waving  and  the  clouds 
flitting  by — did  not  in  any  way  cool  the 
genuine  piety  of  the  brave  king.  After 
having  respectfully  prayed  before  a  rudely 
carved  Madonna,  which,  in  these  days, 
would  make  a  child  cry  and  madden  an 
artist,  the  prince,  taken  unawares,  and  un¬ 
willing  to  leave  the  holy  place  without 
some  token  of  his  visit,  laid  at  the  foot 
of  the  altar  his  cap,  embroidered  with 
gold  and  set  with  precious  stones.  When 
he  returned  to  his  hereditary  palace  of 
Heristal,  Pepin  did  not  forget,  amidst  the 
cares  and  festivities  of  royalty,  the  little 
hermitage  of  Mary,  which  he  rebuilt  mag¬ 
nificently,  and  suitably  endowed.1 

Charlemagne,  or  Karl  the  Great ,  as  the 
chronicles  of  the  Franks  say,  did  not  re¬ 
pudiate  the  pious  heritage  of  his  father’s 
devotion  ;  the  remembrance  of  one  of  his 
pious  visits  to  Our  Lady  du  Marillais,  in 
Anjou,  has  been  preserved — a  pilgrimage. 
This  pilgrimage  dates,  it  is  affirmed,  from  the 
fourth  century,  and  which  was  then  one  of 
the  most  frequented  in  the  Christian  world.2 
During  his  stay  in  Italy,  his  rich  gifts  to 
St.  Mary  Major  quite  dazzled  the  people 
of  Rome,  though  their  eyes  were  used  to 
splendor  and  magnificence.  Germany  was 
endowed  by  him  with  three  churches  with 
the  title  of  Our  Lady :  yet  this  was  not 
all. 

After  exhuming  the  city  of  Granus,  fa¬ 
mous  for  its  baths,  the  remains  of  which  he 
accidentally  discovered  beneath  the  moss 


( a )  Grandet,  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  d’Anjou, 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


245 


and  brambles  of  the  beautiful  valley  bor¬ 
dered  by  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  Charles, 
who  would  fain  make  it  the  seat  of  the 
empire  of  the  Franks,  built  there,  adjoining 
his  vast  palace,  a  chapel  or  oratory,  under 
the  invocation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  oc¬ 
tagonal  in  form,  the  marbles  of  which  he 
brought  from  Italy,  and  which  he  lighted 
with  stained-glass  windows  cased  in  gold, 
and  which  he  enclosed  with  gates  of  brass. 
This  chapel,  which  in  extent  rivalled  the 
basilicas,  and  which  subsequently  afforded 
a  magnificent  asylum  to  the  mortal  remains 
of  the  great  emperor,  soon  became  so  cele¬ 
brated,  that  the  German  city,  which  owed 
its  chief  glory  to  it,  accounted  itself  honored 
to  bear  its  name.  From  the  Emperor 
.  Louis  I.,  to  the  year  1556,  thirty-six  kings 
and  ten  queens  were  crowned  in  the  church 
of  Our  Lady.1  This  sanctuary  was  so  fre¬ 
quented,  that  in  1496,  in  one  single  day,  a 
hundred  and  forty-two  thousand  pilgrims 
were  counted. 

The  court  of  Charlemagne  imitated  his 
deep  and  tender  piety  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
When  he  published  the  ban  of  war  against 
the  Mussulman  King  of  Cordova,  and  sum¬ 
moned  all  the  counts  of  southern  France 
beneath  the  glorious  banner  on  which  was 
figured  the  archangel  Michael,  the  hero  of 
the  French  of  this"  time,  the  celebrated 
knight-errant  Roland,  his  nephew,  before 
crossing  the  Pyrenees,  which  were  to  be  so 
fatal  to  him,  made,  with  a  number  of  high 
and  mighty  lords,  a  pilgrimage  to  Our 
Lady  of  Roc  Amadour.  The  Carlovingian 
prince,  after  piously  invoking  Mary,  offered 


(  )  At  Aix-la-Chapelle  or  Aquisgran. — (Trans.) 


at  her  shrine  the  weight  of  his  sword,  or 
bracmar,  in  silver,  and  consecrated  to  her 
that  blade  which  had  gained  so  great  re¬ 
nown.  As  he  was  returning  to  France, 
covered  with  glory,  the  rear-guard  of  the 
French  army,  which  he  commanded,  was 
surrounded  and  attacked  on  every  side  in 
the  valley  of  Roncevaux.  In  vain  did  the 
French  meet  the  inevitable  danger  with 
undaunted  courage  ;  they  were  cut  to  pieces  : 
none  would  surrender  ;  all  perished,  com¬ 
manders  and  soldiers.  To  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  this  disastrous  day,  over  the 
bones  of  these  warriors  of  fabulous  bravery, 
a  chapel  was  erected  dedicated  to  Mary, 
in  which  was  set  up  an  inscription  bearing 
the  names  of  Thierry  d’Ardennes,  Rioles 
du-Mas,  Guy  de  Bourgogne,  Ogier  the 
Dane,  Oliver,  and  Roland.  This  chapel, 
situated  near  the  Abbey  of  Roncevaux, 
was  adorned  with  battle-scenes  in  fresco, 
and  for  ten  centuries  none  but  French¬ 
men  were  interred  there.  The  last  thought 
of  the  paladin  Roland,  on  the  field  of  bat¬ 
tle,  where  he  sank  under  the  arrows  of 
treachery,  was  an  act  of  respect  toward 
the  Blessed  Virgin he  wished  his  sword 
carried  to  Our  Lady  of  Roc  Amadour,  and 
it  was  done  as  he  had  commanded.  „ 

Louis  the  Pious,  or  Debonnaire,  the  son 
of  Charlemagne,  always  carried  about  him 
the  image  of  Mary  in  the  chase  and  on  his 
journeys.  Whenever  he  happened  to  be 
separated  awhile  from  his  court,  and  found 
himself  alone  in  the  woods,  he  quickly 
drew  off  his  gold-studded  gauntlets,  and 
taking  from  his  bosom  the  venerated  image, 
he  would  place  it  at  the  foot  of  an  oak, 
and  there  perform  his  devotions.  He  sub- 


246 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


sequently  deposited  it  in  the  superb  Abbey 
of  Hildesheim,  which  he  built  in  honor  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,1  and  there  planted  with 
his  own  hand  a  rose-bush,  which  remained 
almost  as  long  as  his  beautiful  monastery. 

Under  Charles  the  Fat,  a  cowardly  and 
deceitful  monarch,  whose  sad  and  disturbed 
reign  hastened  the  fall  of  the  race  of  Char¬ 
lemagne,  the  Normans,  under  the  command 
of  Siegfried,  laid  siege  to  Paris.  This  an¬ 
cient  capital  of  the  Parish,  the  favorite 
residence  of  Julian  the  Apostate,  was  not 
then  of  greater  extent  than  in  the  time 
of  Caesar :  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame, 
built  by  King  Childebert  on  the  east,  two 
great  towers  on  the  south  and  north,  and 
the  king’s  or  count’s  palace  on  the  west, 
formed  tne  four  extremities  of  its  walls. 
The  Seine  surrounded  it  with  its  blue 
waters.  The  river-side  on  the  north  was 
covered  with  a  forest,  and  the  octagon 
tower,  at  the  corner  of  the  cemetery  of  the 
Innocents,  served  as  a  watch-tower  against 
robbery  in  this  forest  of  rather  evil  repute. 
On  the  site  of  the  quarter  of  the  Halles, 
and  in  the  environs  of  St.  Opportune,  was 
an  hermitage  which  was  called  the  Hermit¬ 
age  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Woods,  because 
it  was  at  the  entrance  of  the  forest.  The 
mount  of  St.  Genevieve  was  covered  with 
vineyards  ;  and  the  faubourg  St.  Germain, 
famed  for  its  meadows  bordered  with  wil¬ 
lows,  was  a  small  abbey  village. 

Siegfried  had  at  first  requested  permission 
for  a  passage  through  Paris  for  the  troops 
which  he  was  marching  into  Burgundy  ;  the 
Parisians  refused  to  open  their  gates,  and 

( 1 )  Triple  Oouronne,  n.  75. 


the  Norman  swore  by  the  bracelets  of  Thor 
that  his  sword  should  break  them  down. 

Eudes,  son  of  Robert  the  Strong,  shut 
himself  up  in  Paris,  and  resolved  to  defend 
it  against  these  barbarians,  who,  not  satis¬ 
fied  with  pillaging  houses  and  churches, 
stole  even  the  venerated  bodies  of  the 
saints.2  The  siege  was  long  and  deadly ; 
seven  hundred  Norman  barks  blocked  up 
the  Seine  ;  on  both  sides  were  employed, 
in  the  attack  and  defence,  battering-rams, 
balistae,  and  catapults  ;  they  hurled  at  each 
other  fire  and  burning  darts.  The  Nor¬ 
man  towers  were  opposed  to  the  towers  on 
the  besieged  ramparts,  and  the  enemy  ap¬ 
proached  the  walls  by  covered  galleries, 
which  the  Parisians  often  succeeded  in  set¬ 
ting  on  fire,  or  crushing  in  beneath  the 
weight  of  beams  and  stones. 

From  the  beginning  of  this  heroic  and 
hopeless  contest,  Paris  had  placed  herself 
under  the  special  protection  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  The  clergy  bore  her  statue  in  pro¬ 
cession  round  the  ramparts  during  the  bat¬ 
tle,  the  Normans  often  making  it  a  target 
for  their  arrows,  but  always  in  vain  :  the 
archers  invoked  Mary  aloud,  as  they 'dis¬ 
charged  clouds  of  arrows  and  stones  from 
the  tops  of  the  towers  ;  in  her  honor,  as 
often  as  they  had  repulsed  the  northern 
pirates,  the  city  was  magnificently  illumi¬ 
nated  with  tapers  of  white  wax.  “It  is 
she  who  saves  us,”  said  Abbo  ;  “it  is  she 
who  deigns  to  support  us  ;  it  is  by  her  aid 
that  we  still  enjoy  life.  Amiable  Mother 
of  our  Saviour,  brilliant  Queen  of  Heaven, 
it  is  thou  who  hast  vouchsafed  to  rescue  the 


( * )  See  Antiquit6s  de  Rouen,  p.  102. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


247 


people  of  Lutetia  from  the  threatening 
sword  of  the  Danes  !  ” 

Some  years  later,  the  Blessed  Virgin 
miraculously  aided  the  recovery  of  the  city 
of  Nantes  from  the  Normans,  and  their 
expulsion  from  Brittany,  which  they  had 
invaded.  Alain,  afterward  surnamed  Barbe- 
Torte  (twisted-beard),  having  taken  refuge 
in  England,  with  the  flower  of  the  young 
Breton  nobility,  undertook  to  reconquer 
his  country.  He  was  twenty  years  old,  he 
was  an  exile,  and  possessed  little  else  than 
his  sword  and  the  protection  of  Mary  ;  but 
a  sword  is  something  in  the  hand  of  a  brave 
man,  and  the  protection  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  is  equal  to  many  squadrons.  He 
landed  with  a  few  Bretons  at  Cancale,  and 
march  after  march,  leaving  behind  him  a 
long  train  of  Norman  dead,  the  Breton 
hero  at  length  arrived  under  the  walls  of 
Nantes,  where  the  northern  pirates  had 
taken  refuge  as  their  last  asylum.  Re¬ 
pulsed  with  loss  by  the  Normans,  who  had 
collected  a  large  force  around  the  city, 
Alain,  driven  even  to  the  extremity  of  the 
mountain  with  his  troops,  stretched  himself 
out  upon  the  ground,  "greatly  wearied,” 
says  an  old  Breton  chronicler,  and  suffer¬ 
ing  wonderful  thirst.  ‘‘He  began  then  to 
weep  bitterly,  and- by  humble  prayers  to 
invoke  the  aid  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
Mother  of  our  Lord,  begging  her  to  open 
a  spring  of  water,  that  he  himself  and  his 
horsemen  might  quench  their  thirst,  and 
recover  their  strength.  Which  prayers 
being  heard  by  the  Virgin  Mary,  she 
caused  a  fountain  to  spring  up  for  him, 
which  is  still  called  St.  Mary’s  Fountain, 
with  which  he  and  his,  being  sufficiently 


refreshed  and  revived,  recovered  their 
strength,  and  returned  valiantly  to  battle. 
They  assaulted  the  Normans,  killed  them, 
and  cut  them  off,  excepting  those  who  fled, 
carrying  with  them  their  booty  on  board 
their  vessels.” 

Alain  found  the  city  of  Nantes  sacked 
and  burnt.  All  dusty  and  gory  the  youth¬ 
ful  liberator  had  long  gazed  about  the 
wretched  city  where  naught  was  left  but 
fragments  of  Avails  blackened  by  the  flames, 
looked  for  the  majestic  basilica  of  St.  Fe¬ 
lix,  whose  roof,  covered  with  fine  tin  from 
Cornwall,  was  so  bright,  says  a  contempo¬ 
rary  monk,  that  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  or 
moon,  it  looked  like  polished  silver.  Alas ! 
this  roof  had  disappeared,  and  the  sky 
bent  as  a  dome  over  the  ancient  church, 
where  the  altars  were  broken,  and  the 
tombs  laid  open.  To  reach  the  place  where 
the  altar  had  stood,  Alain  had  to  clear 
a  way  by  cutting  down  the  brambles  with 
his  sword.  The  Te  Deum  of  victory,  and 
hymns  of  praise  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
were  sung,  nevertheless,  amidst  the  ruins 
of  this  temple,  with  religious  fervor  :  and 
before  he  rose  up,  the  young  Breton  duke, 
grateful  for  the  tutelary  aid  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  promised  to  dedicate  this  cathedral 
to  her,  and  it  took  the  name  of  Our  Lady 
of  Nantes. 

Under  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Simple 
was  effected,  at  the  expense  of  the  finest 
gem  in  the  crown  of  the  Frank  kings,  the 
conversion  of  a  whole  army  of  those  fierce 
bold  pirates  of  the  north,  who  had  so  long 
desolated  the  coasts  of  the  west  of  Europe. 
Neustria,  which  they  had  been  devastating 
for  almost  a  century,  and  which  they  had 


248 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


even  won  over  to  the  rude  worship  of  their 
gods,  with  the  Danish  sword  at  the  throats 
of  the  people,1  was  ceded  to  them  with  the 
rights  of  suzerain  over  Brittany,  on  condi¬ 
tion  that  Rollo,  their  chief,  whose  way 
through  startled  France  had  been  marked 
with  torrents  of  flames  and  blood,  should 
become  a  Christian.  The  condition  was  ac¬ 
cepted  ;  the  Norman  pirate  espoused  a  Car- 
lovingian  princess,  who  lived  but  a  short 
time,  and  he  became  a  sincere  convert.  A 
religious  element,  strangely  enough,  ruled 
these  northern  pirates,  who  more  than  once 
sent  presents  and  wax  tapers  to  abbeys 
which  they  had  come  expressly  to  plunder, 
when  a  tempest  at  sea,  arising  in  sight  of 
the  coast  where  they  intended  to  land,  led 
them  to  believe  that  the  Christian  sanctuary 
was  defended  by  a  heavenly  and  powerful 
protector.2  The  first  question  put  by  the 
new  duke  of  Normandy  to  Franco,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Rouen  (his  tutor  in  the  mysteries 
of  Christianity),  was  to  ascertain  who  were 
the  most  renowned  saints  of  France  and 
Neustria.  The  prelate  at  once  named  Our 
Blessed  Lady,  and  expatiated  on  her  power. 
“Well  then,”  said  the  Northman  prince, 

( 1  )  For  seventy-four  years,  says  Rouault,  Co- 
tentin  had  the  misfortune  to  be  profaned  by  the 
ceremonies  used  before  the  idols  of  the  North,  and 
the  sacrifices,  which  were  offered  to  them  in  the 
town  of  Coutances.— (Abrdge  de  la  Vie  des  Evb- 
ques  de  Coutances,  p.  151.) 

( 2 )  A  Danish  army,  which  had  landed  on  the 
coasts  of  Brittany,  to  plunder  the  rich  and  cele¬ 
brated  Abbey  of  Rhedon,  was  so  terrified  at  a  storm 
which  burst  over  their  camp,  that  instead  of  plun¬ 
dering  and  firing  the  abbey,  the  pirates,  regarding 
it  as  defended  by  a  God  worthy  of  their  respect, 
brought  presents,  lighted  it  up  with  tapers,  and 


after  a  moment’s  reflection,  ‘  ‘  we  must  do 
something  for  her,  as  she  is  so  powerful.” 
And  he  made  on  the  spot  a  grant  of  wide 
lands  to  Our  Lady  of  Bayeux.  The  city 
of  Rouen  had  dedicated  to  Mary  its  metro¬ 
politan  church,  burnt  by  the  Normans  of 
Hastings,  and  repaired  in  some  sort  shortly 
after  :  here  the  duke  was  baptized  with 
most  of  his  Danish  captains,  and  began  the 
work  of  its  enlargement  and  embellishment, 
which  his  successors  continued  with  mag¬ 
nificence.3  Our  Lady  of  Evreux,  one  of  the 
oldest  churches  of  Normandy,  if  we  be¬ 
lieve  the  chronicles  which  record  that  St. 
Taurinus,  the  first  bishop  of  Evreux, 
founded  it  about  the  year  250,  and  conse¬ 
crated  it  to  the  worship  of  the  true  God, 
under  the  invocation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  received  immediately  rich  presents 
from  Rollo,  who,  up  to  the  hour  of  his 
death,  gave  proofs  of  the  most  sincere  piety 
toward  Madam  Saint  Mary ,  as  the  princes 
and  great  ones  of  that  time  respectfully 
styled  her. 

Those  Norman  dukes,  generous  and  val¬ 
iant  by  nature,  were  in  general  very  devout 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  at  her  altar  they 

placed  sentinels  all  round  to  save  it  from  pillage. 
Sixteen  soldiers,  having  infringed  the  orders  of 
Godfrey,  their  commander,  and  having  carried  off 
something  from  the  abbey,  were  punished  with 
death  the  same  day. — (Mabillon,  in  Actis  SS.  Or- 
dinis  S.  Benedicti,  sect,  iv.,  2d  part.) 

(’)  This  prince  was  interred  in  the  Cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame,  which  he  was  then  rebuilding. 
“  He  ended  his  days  like  a  good  Catholic,”  says 
Taillepied,  “and  was  buried  with  great  pomp  and 
solemn  obsequies  in  the  great  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  on  the  south  side.” — (Antiquites  de  la  Ville 
de  Rouen,  p.  107.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  249 

received  the  investiture  of  that  fine  duchy, 
which  they  proudly  called  their  kingdom 
of  Normandy.  Beneath  the  gray  walls  of 
her  chapel,  hung  with  fine  tapestry  of  silk 
and  gold,  representing  the  principal  facts 
in  the  life  of  the  Mother  of  God,  and 
worked  by  the  duchesses  of  Normandy,1 
the  dukes  came  to  sleep  their  last  sleep. 
Robert  the  Magnificent  alone  built  three 
churches  to  the  name  of  Mary  :  Our  Lady 
of  Deliverance,  to  fulfil  a  vow  made  during 
a  tempest,  which  assailed  his  vessel  in  the 
dangerous  waters  of  the  islands  of  the 
Norman  archipelago  ;  Our  Lad}7  of  Grace, 
near  Honfleur  ;  and,  finally,  Our  Lady  of 
Pity,  below  the  ducal  castle  which  de¬ 
fended  Harfleur. 

This  prince,  so  devoted  to  Mary,  re¬ 
solved  to  visit  her  tomb,  and  that  of  Christ 
at  Jerusalem  ;  he  set  out  on  horseback,  ac¬ 
companied  by  the  richest  and  most  stately 
lords  of  his  court,  all  covered  with  gold, 
glittering  with  precious  stones,  and  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  crowd  of  attendants,  squires, 
and  pages,  as  if  going  to  a  tournament. 
On  the  road  people  crowded  to  see  them  ; 
their  entry  into  Rome  was  an  event.  The 
Romans  beheld  with  admiration  and  aston¬ 
ishment  these  northern  barbarians,  who 
had  spread  terror  even  into  Italy,  and  who 
reminded  them  in  feature  and  stature  of 
the  heroes  of  antiquity.  Seeing  their  gra¬ 
cious  looks,  their  bright  coats  of  mail,  the 

long  gold-hilted  Danish  swords,  which  hung 
at  their  side,  and  their  pointed  helmets, 
from  beneath  which  their  light  hair  escaped, 
they  asked  one  another  who  were  these 
princes  of  the  north,  who  came  to  visit,  as 
poor  pilgrims,  the  city  of  the  apostles.  The 
pope  gave  them  a  distinguished  reception, 
bestowed  upon  them  his  blessing,  and  with 
his  own  hands  laid  the  pilgrim’s  staff  on  the 
shoulder  of  their  chief  and  lord.  Thence 
they  continued  their  way  to  Constantinople, 
the  city  of  Mary,  which  they  dazzled  with 
their  magnificence.  They  scattered  pearls 
and  gold  as  they  passed  ;  Robert’s  mule 
was  shod  with  gold,  and  when  a  shoe  fell 
off,  a  Norman  would  not  condescend  to 
stoop  to  pick  it  up  ;  it  was  for  Greeks  to 
stoop  and  pick  out  of  the  dust  the  golden 
nails  which  the  Norman’s  horse  had  lost.3 

When  they  drew  near  to  the  holy  places, 
the  Christian  spirit  was  shown  ;  these  same 
travellers,  who  had  traversed,  or  braved, 
with  heads  erect,  and  without  acknowledg¬ 
ing  any  one’s  right  to  levy  toll  upon  them, 
so  many  well-defended  rivers,  and  embat¬ 
tled  walls,  these  bold  companions,  who  al¬ 
ways  let  the  end  of  a  sword  be  seen  be¬ 
neath  the  pilgrim’s  garb,  hitherto  proud 
even  to  insolence,  no  one  could  now  recog¬ 
nise,  so  humble,  modest,  and  devout  had 
they  become  at  the  near  approach  to  that 
holy  land  whose  rocky,  burning  soil  they 
trod  barefoot.  Robert,  so  justly  named 

( 1 )  “  The  Duchess  Gonnor,  second  wife  of  Rich¬ 
ard  the  Fearless,  Duke  of  Normandy,  gave  great 
possessions  to  the  churches,”  says  Taillepied,  “and 
especially  to  Our  Lady  of  Rouen,  where  she  gave 
beautiful  vestments  which  she  made,  together  with 
the  embroiderers  and  workmen ;  she  also  made 

32 

tapestry  of  all  kinds  of  silks,  and  embroideries 
worked  with  beautiful  scenes  and  figures  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  the  saints,  to  ornament 
the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Rouen.” — (Antiquites 
de  la  Ville  de  Rouen,  p.  112.) 

( * )  See  La  Normandie,  by  M.  Jules  Janin,  c.  ii. 

250 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  Magnificent,  visited,  with  the  most 
edifying  piety,  the  two  holy  sepulchres 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
Christians  and  Mussulmans  received  from 
him  alms  so  royal,  that  the  emir  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  roused  to  a  sense  of  honor,  refused 
in  his  turn  to  accept  the  tribute  due  him 
from  these  splendid  pilgrims.  Robert  must 
have  left  a  considerable  present  at  the  holy 
sepulchre  ;  Richard  II.,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
had  already  made  a  gift  to  it  of  a  hundred 
pounds’  weight  of  gold. 

When  the  pilgrimage  was  accomplished, 
the  duke  returned  by  land  on  the  way  to 
his  fine  duchy,  which  he  was  never  more 
to  behold !  He  died  at  Nice,  in  Bithynia, 
joking  at  the  approach  of  death,  like  his 
ancestors,  the  sea-kings,1  and  commending 
himself  to  Madam  Saint  Mary,  as  his  Chris¬ 
tian  predecessors  had  done. 

The  Norman  nobles,  who  began  to  dream 
of  kingdoms  beneath  the  bright  sun  of  Italy, 
were  no  less  devoted  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
than  their  valiant  princes.  Neither  dis¬ 
tance  nor  the  din  of  arms  prevented  their 
founding  churches  in  her  honor.  The  fa¬ 
mous  Tancred,  and  Robert  Guiscard,  lords 
of  the  little  maritime  village  of  Hauteville, 
which  has  not  preserved  a  stone  of  their 
castle,  but  which  still  possesses  the  old 

( 1 )  A  Norman  pilgrim  having  met  the  duke, 
who  was  borne  along  by  some  Arabs  in  a  litter, 
sorrowfully  approached  the  dying  prince,  and  said 
to  him:  “My  lord!  what  tidings  can  I  bear  from 
you  to  Normandy?” — “You  may  say,”  answered 
Robert,  with  a  smile,  pointing  to  his  bearers,  “  that 
you  saw  me  carried  to  heaven  by  four  devils.” 

(’)  This  letter,  which  was  at  first  translated 
into  Greek  by  Lascari,  who  is  accused  of  having 
invented  it,  was  subsequently  found  in  Syriac, 


church  without  a  steeple,  all  covered  with 
moss  and  grass,  where  these  Norman  lions 
received  Baptism,  sent  from  the  extremity 
of  Apulia,  where  they  forced  sixty  thousand 
Saracens  to  recoil  before  five  hundred  Nor¬ 
man  lances,  half  of  a  new-found  treasure  to 
Geoffroy  de  Monbray,  Bishop  of  Coutances, 
to  build,  under  the  invocation  of  St.  Mary, 
that  fine  and  fairy  cathedral  which  ex¬ 
torted  even  from  Vauban  that  exclamation 
of  admiration  and  astonishment,  “  What 
sublime  madman  raised  this  noble  edifice 
to  the  sky  !  ” 

Precisely  at  the  same  epoch,  a  brother 
of  Robert  Guiscard,  the  Count  Roger  de 
Hauteville,  founded  in  conquered  Sicily  the 
celebrated  cathedral  of  Messina,  which  he  did 
not  fail  to  dedicate  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
according  to  the  custom  of  his  house.  This 
sumptuous  edifice,  which  was  consecrated 
in  the  year  1097,  partook  somewhat  of  all 
the  known  styles  of  architecture  ;  Byzan¬ 
tine  mosaic  is  combined  with  the  arabesque 
of  the  Saracens,  and  with  the  graceful 
Gothic  turrets,  adorned  with  lavishly- 
gilded  statues  of  saints  and  angels.  In  the 
sumptuous  treasury  of  this  cathedral  is 
preserved  a  letter  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
on  which  the  devotion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Messina  prides  itself,8  and  on  which 

among  the  MSS.  of  the  Bishop  of  Mardin,  in 
Syria,  and  was  translated  into  Latin  by  D.  Joseph 
Assemani,  a  noble  Maronite,  interpreter  of  Oriental 
languages  at  the  Vatican  library.  We  have  not  to 
examine  the  value  of  this  piece,  which  is  ranked 
among  apocryphal  writings,  in  spite  of  numberless 
protests :  we  merely  give  it  as  a  curious  and  ancient 
document. 

“Maria  Virgo,  Joachim  et  Annae  filia,  humilis 
ancilla  Domini,  Mater  Jesu  Christi,  qui  est  ex  tribu 


HLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


several  Sicilian  bishops  have  written  vol¬ 
umes,  to  demonstrate  its  authenticity,  which 
is  somewhat  disputed.  In  the  same,  cathe¬ 
dral  is  annually  celebrated  the  feast  of 
Varra,  intended  to  perpetuate  the  remem¬ 
brance  of  the  defeat  of  the  Saracens  by 
the  Norman  heroes  ;  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
represented  by  a  young  girl,  figures  in  this 
festival,  borne  on  a  magnificent  triumphal 
car,  while  hideous  colossal  figures  represent 
the  Mussulmans  overthrown  by  Count 
Roger. 

From  Normandy  came  the  religious  light 
which  scattered  the  pagan  darkness  of  the 
North,  and  it  was  the  Blessed  Virgin  who 
received,  in  her  beautiful  cathedral  of 
Rouen,  the  first-fruits  of  that  holy  harvest. 
Harold  II.,  King  of  Denmark,  who  had 
come  at  the  head  of  a  hundred  galleys  to 
the  succor  of  Richard  the  Fearless,  there 
abjured  paganism,  and  Olaus,  King  of  Nor¬ 
way,  who  had  joined  his  standard  to  the 

Juda,  et  de  stirpe  David,  Messanensibus  omnibus 
salutem,  et  a  Deo  Patre  omnipotente  benedictionem. 

“  Per  publicum  documentum  constat  vos  mississe 
ad  nos  nuncios,  fide  magna;  vos  scilicet  credere 
Filium  nostrum  a  nobis  genitum  esse  Deum  et 
hominem,  et  post  resurrection em  suam  ad  coelum 
ascendisse ;  vosque,  mediante  Paulo,  apostolo 
electo,  viam  veritatis  agnovisse.  Propterea  vos 
vestramque  civitatem  benedicimus  et  protegimus, 
et  defendimus  earn  in  ssecula  saeculorum. 

“Data  fuit  hsec  epistola  die  quinto,  in  urbe 
Hierusalem,  a  Maria  Virgine,  cnjus  nomen  supra, 
anno  xxxxn  a  Filio  ejus,  sseculo  primo,  die  3 
Junii,  luna  xxvn.” 

La  chiesa  metropolitana  de  Messina  fu  dedicata 
alia  beatissima  Y.  M.  della  Sacra  Lettera,  e  vi  si 
celebra  tutti  gli  anni  una  grande  festa.  “  L’antica 
e  pia  tradizione  della  sacra  lettera  della  gran  M adre 
di  Dio  sempre  Virgine  Maria,  scritta  alia  nobile  ed 


251 


banner  of  Normandy  in  a  short  war  which 
Duke  Richard  II.  waged  against  Eudes, 
Count  of  Blois,  was  converted  to  Christian¬ 
ity,  by  Robert,  Archbishop  of  Rouen,1  and 
became  its  apostle  in  his  own  states.  This 
holy  king  overthrew  with  his  own  hands 
the  statue  of  Thor,  the  tutelary  divinity  of 
Norway,  in  the  old  temple  of  Drontheim, 
which  the  Norwegian  pirates  had  encircled 
with  a  chain  of  gold,  and  where  they  came 
to  swear  upon  the  armlets  of  that  god  of 
war,  whose  club  was  so  formidable  to  the 
giants  of  frost.  Olaus  sent  into  Sweden 
Christian  missionaries,  who  were  well  re¬ 
ceived,  and  the  gilded  walls  of  the  temple 
of  Upsal,  freed  from  their  idols,  purified 
from  their  human  sacrifices,2  received  the 
blessed  images  of  Christ  and  his  Mother. 

It  was  not  the  fault,  of  the  princes  of 
Christian  Europe,  if  the  sun  of  the  gospel 
rose  so  late  on  the  horizon  of  the  northern 
kingdoms  ;  in  the  middle  of  the  seventh 

exemplare  cita  di  Messina,  illu strata  con  nuovi 
documenti,  ragioni  e  verisimili  congetture,  dal  P. 
Maestro  D.  Pietro  Menniti,  abbate  generate  di  S. 
Basilio  Magno.” 

( 1  )  Antiquites  de  la  Ville  de  Rouen. 

( a )  The  Scandinavians  sacrificed  to  Odin  pris¬ 
oners  in  time  of  war,  and  criminals  in  time  of 
peace ;  but  they  did  not  always  confine  themselves 
to  persons  so  vile,  and  in  great  calamities  they  sac¬ 
rificed  even  kings  to  appease  the  gods.  Thus  the 
first  king  of  Vermelande  was  burnt  in  honor  of 
Odin,  to  procure  the  cessation  of  a  great  famine ; 
and,  as  we  learn  in  the  history  of  Norway,  kings 
did  not  spare  their  own  children, — Hacco,  King  of 
Norway,  offered  his  in  sacrifice  to  obtain  a  victory ; 
a  king  of  Sweden  consecrated  his  sons  to  Odin, 
that  the  god  might  prolong  his  life. — (See  Wor- 
mius,  Monumenta  Danica  and  Saxo  Grammaticus, 
lib.  x.)  - 


252 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


century,  the  Saxon  Willibrod  had  made 
fruitless  attempts  to  convert  Jutland,  which 
the  missionaries  sent  by  Witikind,  Charle¬ 
magne’s  convert,  renewed  without  success 
in  the  course  of  the  eighth  ;  the  ninth 
opened  under  more  favorable  auspices. 
Driven  from  his  states,  Harold  Klack, 
king  of  a  part  of  Jutland,  sought  refuge 
at  the  court  of  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  where 
he  embraced  Christianity.  A  contempo¬ 
rary  chronicler,  Ermold  the  Black,  abbot 
of  a  monastery  of  the  Frank  empire,  de¬ 
scribes  in  a  picturesque  manner  the  arrival 
of  the  sea-king  and  his  Danish  fleet. 
“  What  do  I  see  shining  in  the  rays  of  the 
aurora,  and  covering  afar  the  waters  of 
the  river  ?  What  ships  sail  up  the  proud 
Rhine  with  warlike  pomp  ?  How  these 
silver-white  sails  glitter  in  the  sunshine  on 
the  mirror  of  the  waters  and  the  dance  of 
the  waves  !  ”  This  conversion  of  the  Jut¬ 
land  prince  was  almost  a  solitary  one,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  exertions  of  Anschar,  the 
apostle  of  the  North  ;  and  those  ships  with 
gilded  prows,  the  object  of  the  natural 
admiration  of  the  warrior  Franks,  remem¬ 
bered  only  too  well  the  course  to  Western 
Europe. 

The  conversion  of  King  Harold  II.  was 
of  more  avail  to  the  Christian  religion  than 
that  of  the  Jutland  prince.  On  his  return 
home,  he  forbade  the  sacrifices,  closed  the 
temples  of  false  gods,  built  Christian 
churches,  and  favored  with  all  his  power 
the  propagation  of  the  Gospel.  His  son, 
Sweno,  a  savage  prince  and  pirate  at 
heart,  who  had  set  himself  up  as  the  cham¬ 
pion  of  idolatry,  treacherously  sent  an 
arrow  to  his  heart,  reopened  the  temples 


of  Odin  and  Thor,  and  razed  the  Christian 
churches.  After  his  death,  which  occurred* 
in  the  year  1014,  Christianity  again  raised 
its  head,  and  began  to  spread.  The  transi¬ 
tion  from  one  worship  to  another,  however, 
was  not  sudden,  as  it  was  with  the  young 
and  ardent  conquerors  of  Haul  and  Eng¬ 
land  ;  the  Christian  churches  of  Den¬ 
mark  arose  for  a  century  by  the  side  of 
the  stone  of  sacrifice.  If  Christ  and  his 
Mother  were  venerated,  neither  were  the 
gods  of  the  Walhalla  without  sway  ;  Thor’s 
hands  in  their  iron  gauntlets  still  wielded 
his  club,  and  if  a  hymn  echoed  to  Mary 
beneath  the  vault  of  her  chapel,  it  was  the 
hymn  of  Odin  which  they  intoned  in  bat¬ 
tle,  it  was  Odin  whom  they  thanked  for 
victory,  by  offering  him  birds  of  prey  as  a 
sacrifice.  It  seemed  hard  for  these  North¬ 
ern  warriors  to  renounce  altogether  those 
warlike  divinities  whose  tombs  thej7-  pos¬ 
sessed,  and  who  had  made  their  fathers  so 
brave.  They  acknowledged  that  Christ 
was  God,  and  consented  to  adore  him  as 
such  ;  but  why  drive  from  their  thrones 
the  ancient  gods  of  the  country,  to  make 
room  for  a  strange  God  ?  Could  they  not 
reign  together?  The  Walhalla  was  full  of 
chaste  women  ;  it  might  receive  the  Virgin 
Mary.  In  this  last  entrenchment,  paganism 
was  more  formidable  than  ever,  and  the 
first  Christian  neophytes  made  a  monstrous 
mixture  of  the  two  religions  with  a  view  to 
conciliation.1  This  state  of  things  continued 
till  the  reign  of  Canute  the  Great,  who  se¬ 
cured  the  preponderance  to  Christianity. 


( 1 )  Muntev.,  Hist,  de  Danemark ;  Mallet,  Hist, 
de  Danemark. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  253 

The  worship  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  con¬ 
tributed  greatly  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Scandinavians.  From 
time  immemorial  they  had  placed  virginity 
in  heaven,  under  the  figure  of  Falla,  whose 
flaxen  hair  was  bound  with  a  golden  fillet, 
and  of  Gesione,  who  admitted  in  her  celes¬ 
tial  train  chaste  young  women,  after  their 
death.  Three  virgins,  seated  under  the 
sacred  ash,  disposed  of  the  destiny  of  men  ; 
and  those  white  ladies  also  were  virgins, 
who  walked  upon  the  lakes  like'  a  column 
of  mist,  seated  themselves  at  midnight 
beneath  the  frozen  shadow  of  the  pines, 
and  in  soft  and  slow  voices  sung  Runic 
hymns,  which  the  scalds  had  graven  with 
the  points  of  their  swords  on  the  rocks 
which  overhung  the  mound  where  the 
heroes  lay  buried  whom  the  ravens  of  the 
sky  bewailed.1  It  went  hard  to  abjure 
those  handsome  fairies  of  the  North,  which 
were  said  to  glide  invisibly  into  the  cot¬ 
tage  of  the  peasant  and  the  fortress  of 
the  jarl  (earl),  and  in  whose  train  good 
fortune  entered  also.  These  superstitions, 
equally  dear  to  prince  and  peasant,8  would 
perhaps  never  have'  been  totally  effaced 
had  not  the  Blessed  Virgin  become  pro¬ 
tectress  of  cottage  and  palace.  The  influ- 

ence  of  the  Queen  of  heaven  in  the  con¬ 
version  of  the  Scandinavians  is  proved  by 
a  fact  which  no  one  gainsays,  that  Chris¬ 
tianity  owed  its  progress  among  these 
people  to  the  mothers,  who  afterward  won 
over  the  warriors.3 

The  first  kings  of  Denmark  were  fer¬ 
vent  servants  of  Mary.  St.  Canute,  Duke 
of  Schleswig,  dedicated  to  her  three  superb 
churches  ;  Waldemar  II.  placed  her  image 
upon  his  gold-plated  shield,  and  having 
learned  that  the  Russians,  leagued  with  the 
Esthonians,  threatened  the  infant  church 
of  Riga,  he  solemnly  bound  himself  to 
enter  Esthonia  the  next  year,  for  the 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  for  the 
remission  of  his  sins.4  It  was  in  this  war, 
begun  under  the  auspices  of  Mary,  that 
the  Danes,  surprised  in  their  camp,  lost 
their  national  flag.  As  they  began  to 
waver  before  the  pagans,  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  whom  they  had  piously  invoked 
before  they  entered  Esthonia,  gave  them, 
it  is  said,  a  sensible  mark  of  her  power¬ 
ful  protection  ;  a  red  banner  with  a  white 
cross  fell  from  heaven,  according  to  contem¬ 
porary  chroniclers,  and  with  this  banner 
victory  returned.5  Devotion  to  Mary 
flourished  long  in  the  three  kingdoms  of 

(i)  “When  Rogvald  was  killed,”  says  the  fa¬ 
mous  northern  Scald,  Regnier  Lodbrog,  in  his 
Epicedium,  or  Funeral  Hymn,  “all  the  ravens  of 
the  sky  bewailed  him.”  Apparently  because  he 
gave  them  sumptuous  feasts  of  carcasses. 

( ’ )  The  religion  of  the  Scandinavians  had  be¬ 
come  entirely  corrupt ;  it  no  longer  insisted  on 
the  worship  of  one  supreme  God  ;  the  intelligences 
which  had  emanated  from  him  seemed  no  longer 
to  depend  upon  him,  and  from  that  almost  invin¬ 
cible  tendency  which  has  always  led  men  to  mul- 

tiply  the  objects  of  adoration,  they  acquired  an 
equal  right  to  the  government  of  the  world. 

The  worship  of  fairies  and  genii,  auguries  and 
divinations,  had  gradually  become  the  essential 
part  of  the  religion  of  the  north. — (Mallet,  Hist, 
de  Danemark.) 

( * )  Ibid.  ( * )  Livonian  Chronicle,  p.  122. 

( 6 )  Mallet,  who  criticises  this  legend,  acknowl¬ 
edges,  however,  that  no  Danish  historian  explains, 
in  a  satisfactory  manner,  the  origin  of  this  banner 
apart  from  the  prodigy. 

% 

254 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  North,  as  the  great  number  of  cathe¬ 
drals,  hermitages,  and  monasteries  dedica¬ 
ted  to  her  prove.  When  the  burning  wind 
of  the  Reformation  had  blasted  this  heav¬ 
enly  flower  of  Catholicity,  this  devotion 
was  still  kept  up  secretly,  and  fifty  years 
after  Luther,  people  still  came  to  venerate 
Mary  in  the  subterranean  chapel  of  Upsal.1 
This  consoling  devotion  ceased  in  these 
hyperborean  regions  as  it  had  begun  at 
Rome,  among  the  tombs. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  Mary  that 
Prussia,  with  all  the  coast  of  the  Baltic 
Sea,  received  the  light  of  the  Gfospel.  The 
Brothers  Hospitallers  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  better  known  under  the  name  of  Teu¬ 
tonic  Knights,  civilized  these  barbarous 
countries,  of  which  Poklus,  or  hell,  and  Per- 
konnas,  the  god  of  thunder,  were  the  prin¬ 
cipal  divinities. 

Among  the  nations  of  Sclavonic  and 
Eastern  origin,  who  substituted  Christianity 
for  their  sanguinary  rites,  and  refined  their 
manners  under  its  civilizing  influence,  no 
people  more  devoutly  honored  the  Blessed 
Virgin  than  the  Hungarians. 

Toward  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century,  St.  Stephen,  the  first  Christian 
king  of  the  Huns  or  Hungarians,  founded, 
in  thanksgiving  for  a  victory  won  over  the 
Prince  of  Transylvania,  Our  Lady  of  Al- 
baregia.  This  fine  Magyar  basilica  did  not 
yield  in  magnificence  to  the  most  sump¬ 
tuous  churches  of  the  East.  Its  walls 
adorned  with  superb  sculptures,  its  marble 
pavements,  its  altars  covered  with  plates 
of  gold,  and  inlaid  with  valuable  stones  ; 

0  )  M.  Marmier,  Lettre  a  M.  Salrandy. 


its  vessels  of  silver,  gold,  and  onyx,  made 
it  a  wonder  to  look  upon.  On  the  altar  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  were  certain  silver 
dishes,  on  which  two  old  men,  familiar 
with  the  exploits  of  Attila,  burned  the 
rarest  perfumes  of  Asia.  Processions  came 
several  times  a  day  to  honor  the  Mother  of 
Gfod  in  her  sanctuary. 

These  splendors  did  not  appear  sufficient 
to  the  piety  of  the  Hungarian  prince  ;  this 
descendant  of  the  Scourge  of  God  wished 
his  royal  sceptre  to  come  from  the  Virgin, 
whom  he  declared  the  sovereign  of  his 
states.  Thus,  every  time  that  the  name 
of  Mary  was  pronounced  throughout  the 
extent  of  this  vast  kingdom,  there  was  not 
a  Hungarian  noble,  however  high  his  lin¬ 
eage,  who  did  not  bend  his  knee  to  the 
ground,  as  a  vassal  before  his  sovereign 
lady,  and  bow  his  head  in  token  of  pro¬ 
found  respect.2  In  the  fortified  precincts 
of  every  castle,  small  chapels  were  found, 
lighted  by  several  bronze  or  solid  silver 
lamps,  which  burned  night  and  day  before 
the  image  of  Mary.  The  palatine  princes 
even  carried  her  image  with  them  into  bat¬ 
tle,  and  set  up  oratories  to  it  in  their  tents. 

Nor  was  devotion  to  Mary  received  more 
coldly  on  the  banks  of  the  Vistula.  Dat¬ 
ing  from  the  day  when  Dumbrowka,  the 
fair  Bohemian  princess,  converted  King 
Micislas,  and  induced  him  to  destroy  the 
idols  which  his  fathers  had  set  up  to  Pa¬ 
goda  ( calm  air),  to  Pochwist  ( cloudy  sky), 
and  to  the  sombre  divinities  of  the  deep, 
the  Poles,  become  thoroughly  Catholics, 
vied  with  each  other  in  building  chapels  of 

(’)  Bonifacius,  Hist.  Virg.,  lib.  ii.,  c.  ii. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


larch  to  the  Mother  of  God.  Pagan  ban¬ 
ners,  won  on  twenty  battle-fields,  were  the 
sole  embellishments  of  these  primitive 
churches,  concealed  beneath  the  evergreen 
pines  of  the  Sclavonian  forests ;  but  when 
the  priest  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  celebrated 
mass,  read  the  Gospel  to  these  northern 
heroes,  kneeling  before  an  altar  as  poor 
as  the  willow  manger  of  our  Saviour,  you 
would  have  seen  all  their  swords  half-drawn 
out  of  their  sheaths  in  token  of  protection 
and  defence.1  Nor  was  this  a  vain  demon¬ 
stration.  Poland  was  long  the  bulwark  of 


255 


Christendom  ;  but  for  John  Sobieski,  the 
crescent  would  perhaps  have  surmounted 
the  towers  of  every  city  beyond  the  Rhine. 

Poland  was  early  consecrated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin ;  Mary  was  solemnly  in¬ 
voked  under  the  title  of  “  Queen  of  Po¬ 
land  ”  long  before  John  Casimir  renewed 
the  consecration.  Every  time  the  Polish 
army  was  formed  to  march  against  the  Tar¬ 
tars,  Mary’s  banner  guided  its  warlike  pha¬ 
lanxes  ;2  the  name  of  Jesus  twice  repeated 
was  the  war-cry-;  a  canticle  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  the  hymn  of  battle.8 


CHAPTER  IX. 

_  CHIVALRY. 


THE  gigantic  empire  of  Charlemagne 
had  disappeared  like  a  brilliant 
phantom  ;  the  last  of  the  Carlovingians 
had  been  despoiled  of  his  kingdom,  which 
by  the  imprudent  liberality  of  his  fathers 
had  dwindled  almost  to  nothing  ;  and  the 
dukes  of  France,  who  likewise  claimed  to 
be  descended  from  Charlemagne,  after  twice 
assuming  the  royal  mantle,  finally  seized  it 


( 1 )  This  custom  goes  back  to  Micislas,  who  was 
the  first  king  of  Poland. — (Hist,  de  Pologne,  by 
M.  L.  S.,  t.  i.,  p.  43.) 

( 'J )  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  was  Queen  of  Po¬ 
land;  accordingly,  whenever  they  took  up  arms 
against  the  Tartars,  her  image  adorned  the  national 
standard. — (La  Pologne  Historique  et  Litt6raire, 
t.  i.,  p.  396.) 


absolutely.  Before  they  united  the  im¬ 
poverished  crown  to  their  own  great  fief, 
with  which  they  endowed  it,  the  counts  of 
Paris  had  given  striking  proofs  of  their 
devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  When 
that  unknown  and  terrible  malady,  which 
was  called  “feu  des  ardents,”  after  ravag¬ 
ing  the  south  of  the  kingdom,  reached  the 
Isle  of  France,  Hugh  the  Great  supported, 


( 3 )  In  the  tenth  century,  we  see  St.  Adalbert, 
Bishop  of  Prague,  composing  sacred  canticles  for 
the  Polish  troops  who  fought  against  the  pagan 
Pomeranians  and  Prussians.  One  hymn  of  St. 
Adalbert’s,  Boga-Rodziga  (Mother  of  God),  has 
long  been  the  battle-hymn  of  the  Poles. — (Alb. 
Sowinski,  Coup  d’ceil  historique  sur  la  musique 
religieuse  et  populaire  en  Pologne.) 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


256 


at  his  own  expense,  the  poor  sick  pil¬ 
grims  who  came  to  seek  and  obtain  their 
care,  at  Notre  Dame,  Our  Lady’s,  in 
Paris.1 

Hugh  Capet,  the  founder  of  the  third 
dynasty,  had  a  sincere  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin ;  and  Queen  Adelaide  of 
Aquitaine,  his  pious  spouse,  enriched  with 
her  gifts  the  fine  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  of 
Argenteuil,  which  already  possessed  the 
holy  relic  still  to  our  day  exposed  to  the 
veneration  of  the  faithful. 

Robert,  who  proclaimed  Mary  the  Star 
of  his  fine  kingdom,  built  monasteries 
in  her  honor  at  Poissy,  Melun,  Etampes, 
and  Orleans,  as  we  learn  from  Helgaud. 
The  church  at  Orleans  was  called  Our 
Lady  of  Good  Tidings,  and  built  on  the 
very  spot  where  Robert,  at  that  time  only 
heir  presumptive  to  the  throne,  learned 
that  his  father,  Hugh  Capet,  had  just 
escaped  death. — How  worthy  a  son  of  a 
king ! 

Under  the  reign  of  Philip  I.,  grandson 
of  Robert,  a  prince  who  showed  more 
inclination  to  plunder  the  church  than  to 
enrich  it,  a  great  event  happened,  which 
made  the  kings  of  England  vassals  to  the 
kings  of  France.  William  the  Bastard, 
son  of  that  duke  Robert  the  Magnificent, 
who  died  in  the  course  of  his  pilgrimage  to 
the  Holy  Land,  conquered  England  in  a 
single  battle,  and  established  there  the 
Norman  rule.  William,  like  his  father 
Robert,  held  Mary  in  wonderful  reverence  ; 
that  brave  conqueror  and  able  politician, 
whose  very  frown  made  England  tremble 


( 1 )  Felibien,  Hip^oire  de  Paris,  t.  i. 


from  one  end  to  the  other,  was  no  sooner 
attacked  by  fever,  than  he  humbly  joined 
his  warlike  hands  to  recommend  himself  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  Falling  sick  in 
the  castle  of  Chierbourg,  a  small  town 
defended  at  that  time  by  good  ditches  and 
certain  round  towers,  which  the  ocean 
lashed  with  its  green  billows,  he  made  a 
vow  to  build  a  chapel  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  if,  by  her  powerful  intercession,  he 
speedily  recovered  his  health  ;  his  health 
was  restored,  and  he  religiously  performed 
his  vow.  He  rebuilt,  at  his  own  expense, 
the  superb  Abbey  of  Jumieges,  where  the 
cleric  found  learning  and  the  poor  man 
bread,  on  condition  that  its  church,  which 
Queen  Bathildes  had  dedicated  to  St.  Peter, 
should  be  placed  under  the  invocation  of 
the  Mother  of  God.  On  the  1st  of  July, 
in  the  year  of  grace  1068,  he  attended  in 
person  with  the  Duchess  Matilda,  and  all 
his  great  Norman  barons,  the  dedication  of 
this  church ;  and  some  years  later  he 
crossed  the  sea  to  be  present  at  that  of 
Our  Lady  of  Bayeux,  with  his  two  sons, 
William  and  Robert ;  Lanfranc,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  Thomas,  Archbishop 
of  York,  by  invitation  of  the  bishop,  Philip 
d’Harcourt,  who  had  rebuilt  it.  It  was 
doubtless  on  this  occasion  that  the  Duchess 
Matilda  Offered  as  a  homage  to  St.  Mary 
of  Bayeux,  that  celebrated  historical  tap¬ 
estry  in  which  her  patient  needle  has 
worked  the  great  epoch  of- the  conquest  of 
England  ;  ‘  ‘  this  drapery,  embroidered  with 
figures  and  inscriptions,”  was  hung  the 
whole  length  of  “  the  nave  of  the  church 
on  the  day  and  during  the  octave  of  the 
relics,”  says  an  inventory  of  the  treasure 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  -  257 

of  Our  Lady  of  Bayeux,  drawn  up  in 
1476.1 

This  fair  and  pious  princess,  whose 
memory  was  in  so  great  veneration  that 
the  Saxon  wife  of  her  son,  Henry  I.  of 
England,  had  to  change  her  pleasing  name 
of  Editha  for  that  of  Matilda,  “  to  please 
the  Norman  knights,”  has  left  other  proofs 
of  her  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  be¬ 
sides  the  memorial  tapestry  which  she  con¬ 
secrated  to  her. 

She  was  walking,  about  the  end  of  the 
month  of  October,  in  one  of  those  beauti¬ 
ful  Norman  meadows,  the  grass  of  which  is 
like  an  immense  carpet  of  velvet,  enamelled 
with  flowers,  with  her  two  young  sons,  two 
future  heroes,  the  elder  of  whom  was  to 
immortalize  himself  by  his  chivalrous  ex¬ 
ploits  at  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  and  some 
ladies  of  her  court,  when  a  courier  from 
Duke  William,  galloping  at  full  speed  to¬ 
ward  Rouen,  stopped  his  powerful  horse, 
and  rushed  with  one  bound  into  the  mea¬ 
dow  when  he  perceived  her.  “  What  news 
of  my  lord  and  the  Norman  army  ?  ”  asked 

Matilda,  pale  with  emotion . “the 

battle?” . “Is  gained,  noble  lady,” 

replies  the  courier,  as  he  bends  his  knee 
and  presents  to  the  youthful  duchess,  whose 
trembling  hand  was  reached  out  to  him,  the 
despatch,  with  pendent  seal,  which  con- 

firmed  the  truth  of  his  words  ;  “  the  per¬ 
jured  Harold  has  been  conquered ;  his 
body,  which  ought  not  to  have  had  any 
other  burial-place  than  the  sands  of  that 
shore  which  he  unjustly  kept  from  us,  rests 
in  the  choir  of  the  Saxon  abbey  of  Wal¬ 
tham  ;  England  is  the  vassal  of  Normandy !” 

The  Norman  princess  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross  for  joy,  and  uttered  a  vow  to  raise  on 
the  very  spot  where  she  heard  the  brilliant 
success  of  the  expedition  of  William  and 
his  knights,  a  memorial  church,  under  the 
name  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Meadow,  which 
was  afterward  changed  into  that  of  Our 
Lady  of  Good  Tidings.  She  actually  be¬ 
gan  it  some  years  later,  and  her  son.  Henry 

I.,  after  completing  it,  magnificently  en¬ 
dowed  it.2 

In  his  last  war  against  France,  William 
the  Conqueror  gave  up  Mantes  to  the 
flames  ;  but  those  flames  which  consumed 
the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  cast  a  glare  so 
fearful,  that  the  horse  of  the  King  of  Eng¬ 
land  backed,  reared  up,  and  threw  his 
rider,  who  received  injuries  that  proved 
fatal.  Attributing  the  accident  which  de¬ 
prived  him  of  life  to  the  burning  of  the 
beautiful  church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  he 
left  in  his  will  a  considerable  sum  to 
restore  it.  Being  removed  to  a  neighbor¬ 
ing  abbey  of  Rouen,  the  conqueror  of 

( 1 )  This  precious  tapestry,  contemporaneous 
with  the  conquest  of  England,  remained,  so  to  say, 
unknown  for  six  centimes.  Exposed  on  certain 
days  of  the  year  only,  in  the  nave  of  the  cathedral, 
tradition  had  surnamed  it  Duke  William’s  toilet. 
Father  Montfaucon  succeeded  in  discovering  that 
it  was  from  Bayeux,  and  enriched  his  Monumens 
de  la  Monarchie  Fran9aise  with  illustrations  from 

33 

this  tapestry,  which  till  then  was  so  little 
known. 

( * )  “In  the  time  of  Archbishop  Godfrey,  Henry 

I.,  king  of  England,  completed  the  Priory  of  du 

Pre,  called  Nostre  Dame  de  Bonne  Nouvelle  lez 
Rouen,  which  his  late  mother,  Matilda,  had  begun 
with  the  bridge  of  Rouen.” — (Antiquites  de  la  Ville 
de  Rouen,  p.  136.) 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


258 


England  was  awakened,  at  daybreak  of 
the  9th  of  September,  1087,  by  the  sound 
of  a  matin  bell:  “What  is  that?”  he 
asked,  painfully  lifting  up  his  head,  emaci¬ 
ated  indeed,  but  still  full  of  that  proud 
and  masculine  beauty  which  the  Saxon 
chroniclers  themselves,  who  held  him  much 
more  in  fear  than  in  love,  could  not  deny 
him.  As  he  was  answered  that  it  was  the 
bells  of  St.  Mary’s  church  ringing  for 
prime;  “My  Lady,  St.  Mary,”  said  the 
Norman  hero,  lifting  up  his  hands,  “I 
commend  my  soul  to  thee :  mayst  thou 
reconcile  me  to  thy  Son,  my  Lord  Jesus !  ” 
Saying  these  words,  he  expired. 

Henry  I.,  his  son,  usurped  the  crown 
from  Robert,  his  elder  brother,  whose  eyes 
he  had  put  out.  His  devotion  was  prob¬ 
lematical,  though  he  paraded  it  ;  yet  he 
made  some  magnificent  foundations  in  Eng¬ 
land,  where  he  introduced  the  architecture 
of  the  Normans,  which  did  not  in  any  way 
hinder  him  from  setting  fire  to  many  a 
church  in  Normandy.  He  burnt,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  in  1120, — the  date  is  remarkable, 
— the  cathedral  of  Lisieux,  with  the  city 
itself ;  that  ancient  cathedral,  which  could 
be  traced  back  to  the  first  ages  of  Chris¬ 
tianity,  was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  like  almost  all  the  Norman  cathe¬ 
drals. 

The  punishment  for  this  sacrilegious  act 
of  incendiarism  followed  him  closely  ;  at  the 
end  of  the  same  year,  the  ship  which  had 
on  board  the  only  son  of  King  Henry,  the 
prince  William  of  England,  and  two  other 
royal  children  less  legitimate,  went  down, 
in  a  fine  calm  sea  and  in  broad  moonlight, 
in  the  current  of  Gatteville,  near  Barfleur. 


From  that  day,  no  man  ever  saw  King 
Henry  smile. 

The  Empress  Matilda,  daughter  of  this 
prince,  had  a  signal  proof  of  the  protec¬ 
tion  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  her  power 
over  the  elements.  Forced  to  embark  for 
Normandy  in  uncertain  weather,  which  soon 
became  stormy  during  the  war  which  she 
waged  against  Stephen  of  Blois,  she  was 
assailed,  in  the  dangerous  sea  where  her 
brother  William  had  perished  with  half 
the  English  court  a  few  years  before,  by 
one  of  those  violent  tempests  which  are 
seen  only  on  the  angry  ocean.  The  hori¬ 
zon  spread  out  a  vast  black  current  which 
reached  from  sea  to  sky,  like  a  funeral  pall, 
mountain-like  waves  loaded  with  sea¬ 
weeds  of  a  bluish  green,  swelled  up  dark 
and  slow  ;  then  broke  with  a  loud  crash 
against  the  sides  of  the  royal  vessel,  which 
they  lifted  up  upon  their  watery  crests  to 
precipitate  the  next  moment  in  the  hollow 
of  the  waves,  where  it  disappeared  alto¬ 
gether.  The  sailors  shook  their  heads  as 
they  did  their  work,  while  the  English 
lords,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  through 
fear,  recommended  themselves  to  God,  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  St.  George,  the 
patron  of  chivalry.  Matilda  stood  upon 
the  deck,  and  her  firm  though  pale  counte¬ 
nance  did  not  belie  her  stout  ancestry. 
“Have  good  hope,  my  lords,”  she  said, 
turning  to  her  faithful  noblemen,  “  Our 
Lady  is  good  and  powerful ;  Our  Lady  will 
save  us ;  I  will  sing  a  canticle  of  thanks¬ 
giving  to  her  as  soon  as  the  coast  appears, 
and  I  make  a  vow  to  build  her  an  abbe}r 
on  the  shore  where  we  land.”  Scarcely  had 
the  Anglo-Norman  princess  pronounced  her 

/ 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MAR V, 


259 


vow,  than  the  waves  were  seen  to  become 
smooth  ;  the  wind  fell,  and  the  ship  skim¬ 
med  over  the  waves  like  a  sea-gull.  A 
dark  spot  was  soon  seen  in  a  blue  corner 
of  the  sky  left  by  the  flying  clouds  ;  it 
grew  larger  and  larger  still ;  it  was  a 
mountain  of  moderate  size,  the  bare  top  of 
which  was  crowded  with  a  hermitage  ;  a 
vast  forest  was  seen  through  a  gorge  in 
the  background  of  the  picture.  Then  the 
hoarse  shrill  voice  of  the  man  on  the 
watch  called  out  from  the  main-top  the 
words,  so  impatiently  expected:  “  Cante, 
reyne !  .  .  .  .  vechi  terre  ”  (Sing,  Queen ! 
there  is  the  land)  ;  and  the  daughter  of 
Henry  I.  began  to  sing  with  a  sweet  and 
grave  voice  a  hymn  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
which  the  English  barons  joyfully  repeat¬ 
ed,  with  hands  joined  and  heads  uncovered. 

Ere  long  the  vessel,  saved  miraculously 
from  shipwreck,  cast  anchor  in  the  little 
bay  of  Equeurdreville,  in  Lower  Norman¬ 
dy.  The  first  care  of  the  princess,  on 
disembarking,  was  to  mark  out  the  site  of 
her  monastery,  which  she  named  the  Ab¬ 
bey  of  the  Vow,  and  before  leaving  the 
district  she  herself  laid  the  corner-stone. 

Matilda  did  not  live  to  see  the  church 
and  abbey  of  the  Vow  finished  ;  her  son, 
Henry  II.,  King  Qf  England,  inaugurated 
them.  In  the  necrology  of  that  abbey  we 
read: — “On  the  4th  of  the  ides  of  Sep¬ 
tember  died  the  Empress  Matilda,  foun¬ 
dress  of  this  monastery  ;  a  ‘  Libera  ’  is  to 
be  said  for  her,  as  for  a  canon.” 

Let  not  our  age,  which,  is  so  cold  as  to 
what  regards  God  and  the  saints,  make 
too  light  of  those  vows  made  to  our  Lady 
amid  storms  :  the  greatest  infidel  believes 


in  something  on  board  a  vessel  on  the  point 
of  perishing:  Volney  is  a  proof.  While 
sailing  with  some  friends  along  the  coast  of 
Maryland,  the  wind  suddenly  arose,  and 
the  little  American  bark,  which  had  on 
board  some  of  the  most  prominent  infidels 
of  both  worlds,  seemed  every  moment  in 
danger  of  perishing.  Every  one  fell  to 
prayer,  and  the  author  of  the  “Ruins” 
like  the  rest,  when  the  storm  gradually 
abated.  Some  one  who  had  seen  Volney, 
rosary  in  hand,  reciting  Hail  Marys  with 
edifying  fervor,  as  long  as  the  danger 
lasted,  approached  him  when  calm  returned, 
— “My  dear  Sir,”  said  he,  with  malicious 
courtesy,,  “whom  were  you  addressing  a 
little  while  ago  ?  ”  “We  are  freethinkers 
in  our  cabinets,”  replied  his  travelling  com¬ 
panion,  somewhat  disconcerted  at  the  oc¬ 
currence,  “  but  nobody  is  in  a  storm.” 

The  Empress  Matilda  wished  her  mortal 
remains  interred  in  the  most  celebrated  of 
the  Norman  abbeys  in  lionor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  at  St.  Mary  du  Bee  ;  her  son  Henry, 
as  yet  only  Duke  of  Anjou  and  Normandy, 
erected  a  tomb  for  her,  which  he  covered 
with  plates  of  silver.  When  he  became 
King  of  England,  he  continued  to  protect 
and  honor  this  abbey,  out  of  reverence  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  to  his  mother, 
which  was  in  part  restored  by  his  royal 
liberality.  In  1178  it  was  reconsecrated 
by  Rotrou,  Bishop  of  Rouen  ;  Henry  II. 
attended  the  pious  ceremony  with  his  son, 
Henry  Shortmantle. 

Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  son  and  succes¬ 
sor  of  Henry  II.,  built,  before  his  depart¬ 
ure  for  the  crusade,  Our  Lady  of  Bon 
Port,  in  the  diocese  of  Evreux,  and  with 


260  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


his  brilliant  chivalry  attended  the  dedica¬ 
tion  of  that  monastery,  which  took  place 
in  the  year  1190.1  When  his  eventful  life 
was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  when  mortally 
wounded  with  an  arrow  at  the  inglorious 
siege  of  a  castle,  he  dictated  his  last  will  ; 
he  thereby  directed  that  his  heart  should 
be  taken  to  Our  Lady  of  Rouen,  1  ‘  for  the 
fervent  devotion  which  he  had  for  that 
place  and  that  heart,  the  bravest  per¬ 
haps  that  ever  beat  beneath  the  breastplate 
of  a  knight,  “  was  honorably  deposited  on 
the  side  of  the  choir,  toward  the  sacristy, 
in  a  case  of  silver,  which  was  afterward 
taken  for  the  ransom  of  St.  Louis,  King  of 
France,  who  was  made  prisoner  among  the 
Saracens,  and  in  its  place  one  was  made  of 
stone.”2 

This  valiant  champion  of  the  Cross, 
whose  name  the  Saracens  never  uttered 
without  piously  adding — “  Cursed  be  he!" 
and  who  took  their  strong  cities,  wished  as 
the  seventh  of  their  line  to  be  interred  be¬ 
side  his  father,  at  Our  Lady  of  Fonte- 
vrault.  There  by  his  side  reposes  Beren- 
garia  of  Navarre,  his  wife  ;  recumbent 
upon  their  stone  tombs  are  their  effigies, 
painted  and  gilt,  and  among  her  queenly 
ornaments,  Berengaria  bears  over  her 
heart  a  large  square  medallion,  on  which 
is  seen  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  surrounded 
with  many  wax  tapers.  Some  years  after 
the  celebrated  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  mother 
of  King  Richard,  retired  to  this  abbey,  and 
added  her  tomb  to  those  royal  tombs  placed 


( 1 )  Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv. 

(*  * )  Antiquites  de  la  Ville  de  Kouen,  p.  137. 

( * )  According  to  the  Saxon  chronicles,  King 


beneath  the  Gothic  roof  of  the  fine  abbey 
church  of  Our  Lady. 

At  his  own  request,  John  Lackland,  who 
died  of  indigestion  in  a  Saxon  abbey,3  was 
interred  in  great  pomp  in  the  beautiful  An¬ 
glo-Norman  Cathedral  of  Our  Lady  at 
Worcester ;  but  if  we  believe  the  old 
chroniclers,  the  body  of  this  base  and  cruel 
prince,  who  had  imbrued  his  hands  in  the 
innocent  blood  of  Arthur  of  Brittany,  his 
lawful  sovereign,  and  who  had  even  thought 
of  becoming  a  Mohammedan  to  secure  an 
alliance  with  the  Moors  of  Spain,  did  not 
long  defile  the  sacred  abode  of  Mary. 
They  relate,  that  in  this  dishonored  tomb 
there  were  heard  strange  noises  in  the 
night ;  blasphemies,  frightful  bursts  of 
laughter,  orgies,  terrible  things  .  .  .  which 
induced  the  monks  of  Worcester  secretly 
to  disinter  the  body  of  the  reprobate 
prince,  and  cast  it  out  of  the  consecrated 
ground. 

The  Plantagenets  were  distinguished  for 
their  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  and 
covered  England  with  those  fine  Gothic 
churches  dedicated  to  Mary,  which  still 
remain  in  every  county,  and  which  are  the 
brightest  gems  of  her  archmological  crown  : 
Our  Lady  of  York,  which  the  sublime 
lightness  of  its  aerial  architecture  has 
made  connoisseurs  compare  it  to  a  vessel 
under  sail ;  Our  Lady  of  Salisbury, 
another  diamond  cut  in  the  noblest  style, 
which  used  to  be  covered  with  Flemish 
hangings,  and  be  filled  with  lights  and 


John  died  of  indigestion  of  peaches  and  ale,  which 
he  had  had  in  a  convent  of  Bernardines  at  Swines 
head. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


261 


flowers  on  the  solemn  feasts  of  Mary ;  Our 
Lady  of  Westminster,  where,  says  Frois- 
sard,  there  was  an  image  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  in  which  the  English  kings  had 
great  faith,  and  which  wrought  many  great 
miracles ;  the  superb  Gothic  Abbey  of 
Walsingham,  the  favorite  pilgrimage  of 
Edward  I.  and  his  chivalrous  court  ;  the 
beautiful  cathedral  of  Wells,  of  which  the 
Lady  Chapel  is,  by  the  admission  of  con¬ 
noisseurs,  the  pearl  of  the  Gothic  monu¬ 
ments  of  Great  Britain, — are  still  standing 
to  bear  witness  to  the  piety  of  those  princes 
toward  the  Holy  Mother  of  Our  Lord. 

The  Anglo-Saxons,  who  constituted  the 
poorer  classes,  the  merchants,  and  burghers 
of  England,  were  no  less  devout  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  than  the  continental 
princes  who  ruled  them  by  right  of  con¬ 
quest.  Differing  from  their  conquerors  on 
almost  every  point,  they  agreed — and  it  is 
an  immense  point  —  on  the  subject  of 
religion :  and  the  two  races  united  went 
fraternally  together,  with  the  staff  in  their 
hands,  in  pilgrimage  to  St.  Mary’s  Redcliff, 
a  fine  old  church  full  of  Saxon  monuments  ; 
and  to  Our  Lady  of  Worcester,  where 
Lady  Warwick,  the  wife  of  the  “king-ma¬ 
ker,”  offered  sumptuous  vestments  for  the 
service  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  after  she  had 
prayed  for  the  red  rose ,  or  the  white  rose , 
according  to  the  party  protected,  at  the 
time  of  the  pious  pilgrimage,  by  her  brave 
husband.1 

The  Saturday  fast,  in  honor  of  the 

( 1 )  The  custom  of  dressing  statues  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  Avhich  still  subsists  in  France, 
Spain,  and  Italy,  obtained  also  in  England.  The 
Countess  of  Warwick  frequently  made  offerings  \ 


Blessed  Virgin,  was  observed  by  the  Eng¬ 
lish,  from  the  time  of  William  Rufus.  A 
celebrated  robber — a  Saxon,  no  doubt,  for 
St.  Anselm,  the  Norman  prelate,  who 
relates  this  contemporary  anecdote,  calls 
him  a  robber,  in  plain  English — made  his 
way  one  fine  morning  into  the  cottage  of  a 
poor  widow  to  rob  it ;  finding  nothing  to 
suit  him  in  this  poor  dwelling,  the  famous 
bandit  seats  himself  upon  the  only  stool  of 
the  dark  room,  on  the  floor  of  smooth  clay, 
where  the  widow  is  spinning,  and  says  to 
her,  with  a  gracious  air,  affecting  the  Nor¬ 
man  nobleman,  “  Well,  my  good  gossip, 
have  you  breakfasted  ?  ”  “I,  my  gentle¬ 

man  ?  ”  replies  the  poor  woman,  her  hands 
forgetting  to  twist  her  ashen  spindle,  “  God 
forbid!  is  not  to-day  Saturday?  I  fast 
every  Saturday  in  the  year.”  “Every 
Saturday !  ”  repeats  the  astonished  rob¬ 
ber  ;  “but,  why?”  “Why,  in  honor  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  Don’t  you  know  that 
it  is  the  way  to  obtain  from  her  the  grace 
not  to  die  without  confession?”  “Ah!” 
says  the  robber,  “lam  very  glad  to  know 
this  ;  and,  henceforth,  I  make  a  vow  to  fast 
also.”  He  kept  his  word ;  and  on  her 
part,  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  did  not  dis¬ 
appoint  him  at  the  hour  of  his  death  : 
fatally  wounded,  in  a  dangerous  expedi¬ 
tion,  she  miraculously  prolonged  his  life, 
to  afford  him  time  to  be  reconciled  with 
God. 

St.  Anselm  further  informs  us,  that  the 
bold  and  haughty  Norman  knights  de- 

of  her  richest  robes  and  veils  to  Our  Lady  of 
Worcester;  and  we  see,  in  Leland’s  History  of 
Ireland,  that  these  statues  wore  rings  of  great 
!  value. 


262  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

voutly  honored  Mary,  though  all  the  while 
oppressing  to  their  utmost  those  who  were 
conquered  at  Hastings.  One  of  them,  a 
very  great  lord,  had  for  his  varlets  and 
pages  a  troop  of  profligates  always  ready 
for  evil,  and  for  a  steward  an  incarnate 
devil,  who  continually  persuaded  this  poor 
baron,  sometimes  to  outrage  this  one, 
sometimes  to  plunder  that  one,  sometimes, 
in  fine,  to  kill  that  other,  so  that  not  a  day 
passed  which  was  not  marked  by  some 
heinous  crime.  In  the  midst  of  this  fine 
life,  he  devoutly  prayed  to  the  Blessed 
Yirgin,  night  and  morning,  saluting  her 
with  seven  Hail  Marys,  accompanied  with 
seven  profound  genuflexions,  which  pre¬ 
vented  his  infernal  steward  from  strangling 
him  as  he  desired  to  do,  and  which,  in  the 
end,  obtained  for  him  the  grace  of  a  sin¬ 
cere  conversion.1 

The  Saxon  outlaws,  who  had  taken  ref- 

uge  in  the  depths  of  forests,  where  they 
had  become  the  most  expert  archers  of 
England,  in  order  to  escape  the  capital  pun¬ 
ishment  which  the  Norman  law  attached 
to  offences  regarding  game,  regretted  only 
one  thing,  which  was  that  they  could  not 
go  and  pray  at  the  altar  of  Mary, — when 
some  old  Saxon  abbey  sent  forth  in  their 
hearing  the  sound  of  its  religious  bells  in 
the  green  woods,  where  the  lark  was  sing¬ 
ing  merrily,  and  where  the  king’s  roe¬ 
bucks  were  coursing.  These  old  black-let¬ 
ter  English  ballads,  which  we  think  cheap 
in  our  days,  says  an  antiquary  of  Great 
Britain,  when  bought  at  their  weight  in 
gold,  describe  Robin  Hood,  the  forest-king, 
risking  his  head,  after  recommending  him¬ 
self  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  to  go  and  pay  his 
devotions  at  the  monastery,  where  the  dis¬ 
tant  bells  seemed  to  call  him.2 

Spain,  which  was  no  less  devoted  to 

(' )  St.  Anselm,  in  his  book  of  the  Miracles  of 
Our  Lady. 

( * )  Eohyn  Hode  and  the  Munke,  from  a  MS.  in 
the  Public  Library,  Cambridge,  Ff.  v.  48  ii.,  quoted 
in  Jamieson’s  Popular  Ballads,  pp.  54,  55,  et 
seq.  : — 

“  In  somer,  when  the  shawes  be  sheyn, 

And  leves  be  large  and  long, 

Hit  is  full  mery  in  fayre  forest, 

To  here  the  fouly’s  song ; 

“  To  se  the  dere  draw  to  the  le, 

4  And  leve  their  hillis  hee, 

And  shadow  hem  in  the  levis  grene, 

Under  the  grene  wode  tre. 

“  Hit  befel  on  Whitsontyde, 

Erly  in  a  May  mornyng, 

The  sun  up  feyre  can  spring  (that  day), 

And  the  birddis  mery  can  syng. 

“  ‘This  is  a  mery  mornyng,’  said  Littil  John, 

‘  By  hym  that  dyed  on  tre, 

*  And  more  mery  man  than  I  am  one, 

‘Was  not  in  Cristante.’ 

“  ‘  Pluk  up  thi  hert,  my  dere  mayster,’ 

Littil  John  can  say, 

‘  And  thynk  hit  is  a  full  feyre  tyme, 

‘  In  a  mornyng  of  May.’ 

“  ‘  The  on  thyng  greves  me,’  sayd  Kobyn, 

‘  And  does  my  hert  much  woo, 

‘  That  I  may  not  no  solemn  day 
‘  To  mas  ne  matyns  goo.’ 

“‘Hit  is  a  fourtnet  and  more,’  said  Eobyn, 

‘  Syn  I  my  Savyor  see. 

‘  To  day  wil  I  to  Notyngham,’  sayd  Eobyn, 

‘  With  the  myght  of  mylde  Mary.’ 

*  *  *  ***** 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  263 


Mary  than  the  British  Isle,  had  by  that 
time  erected  numerous  sanctuaries  to  her, 
and  fought  under  her  standard.  In  1212, 
Alphonsus  IX.,  having  gained,  under  the 
standard  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  of  the 
Seven  Dolors,  his  great  Victory  of  Las 
Navas,  where  the  Moors  experienced  one 
of  their  most  bloody  defeats,  erected  Our 
Lady  of  Victory  at  Toledo,  to  receive  that 
holy  banner  of  Mary.  The  King  St.  Fer¬ 
dinand,  that  excellent  prince,  who  could 
not  bring  himself  to  increase  the  burdens 
of  his  people,  and  who  feared  a  poor 
woman’s  curse  more  than  all  the  armies  of 
the  Moors,  attributed  to  the  protection  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  his  conquests  of  Cor¬ 
dova,  Jaen,  and  Murcia  :  in  fine,  Alphonsus 
the  Learned  composed  hymns  in  honor  of 
the  Mother  of  God,  and  founded  an  order 
of  knighthood  in  her  honor.1 

Portugal  followed  the  same  path  and 
with  equal  ardor.  In  1142,  after  having 
defeated,  by  the  protection  of  Mary,  to 
whom  he  had  commended  himself  before 
the  battle,  five  Moorish  princes,  from  whom 
he  captured  their  five  standards  in  the 
plains  of  Alemtejo,  Alphonsus  I.  founded  in 

“Then  Robyn  goes  to  Notyngham, 

Hymselfe  mornyng  allone, 

And  Littil  John  to  mery  Scherewode, 

The  path  he  knew  alkone. 

“When  Robyn  came  to  Notyngham, 

Sertinly  with  owten  layn, 
fl.“  prayed  to' God,  and  Mary  may 
To  bryng  hym  out  save  agayn. 

“  He  goes  into  Seynt  Mary’s  chyrche. 

And  kneyld  down  before  the  rode : 

Alle  that  ever  were  the  chyrche  within 
Behold  wel  Robyn  Ilode. 


her  honor  the  superb  monastery  of  Aleo- 
ba?a ;  but  not  confining  his  gratitude  to 
this,  he  did  homage  for  his  kingdom  to  Our 
Lady  of  Clairvaux,  and  decreed  that  a 
tribute  of  fifty  maravedis  of  gold  should 
be  annually  paid  on  the  feast  of  the  An¬ 
nunciation,  in  token  of  vassalage,  to  the 
Lady  Suzerain,  in  the  person  of  the  abbots 
of  Clairvaux.2  One  of  the  successors  of 
this  prince,  Dom  John  I.,  after  a  victory, 
offered  to  Our  Lady  of  the  Olive-tree  as 
much  silver  as  he  weighed  in  complete 
armor,  and  hung  upon  the  walls  of  the 
chapel  of  Mary,  as  an  ex  voto,  his  lance  and 
his  brilliant  coat  of  mail.3  About  the  same 
time  the  kings  of  Denmark  undertook  cru¬ 
sades  against  the  pagans  of  the  north,  in 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin ;  and  the 
Poles  defeated  the  pagans  of  Prussia  and 
Pomerania,  singing  the  celebrated  Boga- 
Rodziga  (Mother  of  Ood),  a  war-hymn 
addressed  to  Mary,  which  St.  Adalbert, 
Bishop  of  Gnesnen,4  composed  in  the  tenth 
century. 

The  kings  of  France  were  far  from  yield¬ 
ing  to  foreign  kings  in  devotion  to  the 

Queen  of  Angels.  Louis  the  Young,  and 

* 

“  Be  side  hym  stode  a  gret  hedit  munke, 

I  pray  to  God  woo  he  be. 

Ful  some  he  knew  gode  Robyn, 

As  sone  as  he  hym  se.” 

(’)  El  rey  don  Alonso  el  Sabio  dedico  varios 
libros  de  poesias  a  la  Madre  de  Dios;  y  con  re- 
specto  a  algunas  ordeno  en  su  testamento  que  se 
cantasen  en  sus  Estados. — (See  Poetica  Espanola, 

p.  162.) 

( 5 )  Angelus  Manrique,  Annal.  Cisterc.,  c.  v.,  ad 
ann.  1142. 

( ’ )  F.  Paul  de  Barry,  Paradis  Ouvert,  etc. 

( 4 )  See  note,  p.  255. 


264 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Philip  Augustus,  of  glorious  memory,  con¬ 
tributed  liberally  to  rebuild  Notre  Dame 
at  Paris,  which  Maurice  de  Sully,  a  very 
eminent  bishop,  of  plebeian  origin,  rebuilt, 
in  place  of  the  old  Merovingian  cathedral 
of  King  Childebert. 

Attributing  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  his 
brilliant  victory  of  Bouvines,  Philip  Au¬ 
gustus  founded,  on  the  skirts  of  the  forest 
of  Chantilly,  by  the  banks  of  the  deep  and 
fish-loving  Oise,  a  superb  royal  abbey. 
Guerin,  Bishop  of  Senlis,  minister  of  the 
king  and  his  companion  in  war,  who  had 
ably  acted  as  field-marshal  during  the  bat¬ 
tle  ;  Matthew  de  Montmorency,  who  had 
immortalized  himself  by  capturing  sixteen 
of  the  enemy’s  banners  ;  Enguerrand  de 
Coucy  and  William  des  Barres,  who  during 
this  battle,  where  the  king’s  life  was  in  im¬ 
minent  danger,  stood  like  a  rampart  before 
him,  which  the  whole  Anglo-German  army 
had  failed  to  break  through,  all  these  wished 
to  join  in  this  commemorative  foundation, 
made  in  reverence  to  the  Holy  Virgin  Mary , 
as  the  Cartularies  express  it. 

Blanche  of  Castille,  the  celebrated  re¬ 
gent  of  France,  founded  two  fine  abbeys 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  :  the  abbey  of-Mau- 
buisson,  which  she  called  Our  Lady  the 
Royal,  and  Our  Lady  of  the  Lily.  In 
obedience  to  her  orders  these  two  royal 
monasteries  shared  her  mortal  remains. 

King  Louis  IX.,  the  most  holy  and  just 
prince  who  ever  wore  the  crown  of  France, 
the  best  of  kings  and  model  of  knights,  was 
distinguished  for  his  tender  piety  toward 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  He  contributed  to  the 
completion  of  Notre  Dame  of  Paris,  and 
after  having  built  that  marvel  of  highly- 


wrought  stone-work,  called  La  Sainte  Cha- 
pelle ,  under  the  direction  of  Peter  de  Mon- 
tereau,  the  most  celebrated  architect  of  his 
time,  in  order  to  enshrine  Our  Lord’s  Holy 
Crown  of  Thorns,  he  solemnly  dedicated 
the  lower  portion  of  it  to  Our  Lady,  whose 
statue,  placed  under  the  porch,  one  day 
wrought  a  charming  miracle  in  favor  of  a 
very  good  little  girl,  if  we  may  believe  tra¬ 
dition.  As  this  pious  young  child,  mounted 
on  a  stone  seat  for  the  use  of  the  poor, 
stood  on  tiptoe,  stretching  up  her  little  arms 
as  high  as  she  could,  to  place  on  the  head 
of  the  Madonna  a  crown  of  white  roses,  the 
good  Virgin  graciously  bent  down  her  fair 
marble  forehead  to  the  little  angel  of  the 
earth  ;  and  for  this  reason,  says  a  religious 
of  the  time  of  Louis  XIII.,  she  still  has  her 
head  inclined. 

St.  Louis  recited,  with  his  chaplain,  the 
office  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  daily,  even  on 
his  journeys,  and  forbade  any  one  to  inter¬ 
rupt  him  ;  he  fasted  on  bread  and  water  on 
the  eves  of  the  feasts  of  Our  Lady,  and 
gave  great  alms  on  Saturdays  in  her  honor. 

‘  ‘  When  he  resolved  to  undertake  the  cru¬ 
sade,  he  came  to  Notre  Dame,  Paris,  ac¬ 
companied  by  his  barons,  barefoot,  with 
the  scarf  on  his  neck  and  the  staff  in  his 
hands,  and  heard  mass  there  with  great 
devotion.” 

On  arriving  in  Egypt,  the  king  found,  at 
the  spot  where  he  proposed  to  land,  a  Mus¬ 
sulman  army,  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle. 
The  air  was  darkened  by  the  clouds  of  ar¬ 
rows  discharged  at  the  French  boats  by  the 
Saracens,  whose  lances  glittered  through 
the  dust  raised  by  their  horses,  like  fire  be¬ 
hind  a  dark  curtain ;  their  commander  wore 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


265 


“  armor  of  fine  gold  so  bright/’  says  Join- 
ville,  in  his  simple  language,  “  that  it 
seemed,  when  the  sun  shone  upon  it,  that 
it  was  that  heavenly  body  itself.”  Their 
standards  were  surmounted  with  that  an¬ 
cient  gold  crescent  which  was  the  emblem 
of  the  Turkish  kings  long  before  the  days 
of  Cyrus  j1  and  their  warlike  weapons 
made  a  “  noise  frightful  to  hear,  and  very 
strange  to  the  French.”  But  Louis  IX. 
and  his  brave  men  were  not  so  easily 
daunted.  As  they  were  but  a  short  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  shore,  the  holy  king,  after 
commending  himself  to  God  and  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  springs  first  into  the  sea  ;  the  foam¬ 
ing  waves  cover  him  to  the  shoulders  ;  a 
cloud  of  arrows  falls  round  about  him  ;  but 
neither  waves  nor  arrows  can  arrest  him : 
with  his  shield  hanging  from  his  neck,  his 
helmet  on  his  head,  and  sword  in  hand,  he  , 
rushes  upon  the  Saracens  with  a  true  f  ur ia 
Francese ;  the  whole  army  pour  on  after 
him,  and  the  Africans  are  complete^ 
routed  to  the  loud  cries  of  “  Mont  Joie 
Saint  Denis  !  ”  When  the  Egyptian  horse¬ 
men  had  vanished,  driven  by  the  wind  of 
fear,  the  gates  of  Damietta,  the  key  of  the 
Delta,  opened  to  the  crusaders,  whose  first 
care  was  to  make  the  triumphant  chant  Te 
Deum  resound  in  the  mosque  of  the  Mus¬ 
sulmans,  which  was  consecrated  by  the 


( 1 )  See  Firdousi,  Mceurs  des  Rois. 

(s)  The  Sire  de  Join  ville,  who,  during  his 
residence  in  Asia,  went  to  Our  Lady  of  Tortosa,  re¬ 
lates  that  in  his  time,  that  celebrated  Syrian  Madon¬ 
na  wrought  a  miracle  in  favor  of  a  poor  man  pos¬ 
sessed  by  the  devil  who  was  brought  one  day  before 
the  altar  of  Our  Lady  of  Tortosa,  and  so,  continues 
the  Sire  de  Join  ville,  as  they  praved  to  Our 

34 


Roman  legate  under  the  title  of  Our  Lady 
of  Damietta. 

The  fame  of  this  glorious  day  soon  reach¬ 
ed  Syria,  where  they  attributed  the  glory  to 
the  protection  of  Our  Lady  of  Tortosa,  a 
celebrated  Syrian  Madonna,  whom  even 
Mahometans  came  to  implore,  and  which 
was  believed  to  have  left  its  sanctuary  to 
protect  the  landing  of  the  French  crusad¬ 
ers.2 

The  disastrous  termination  of  this  cru¬ 
sade  in  Egypt,  so  brilliantly  begun,  is  but 
too  well  known.  After  paying  an  enor¬ 
mous  ransom,  St.  Louis  turned  the  prow 
of  his  vessels  toward  Syria  ;  the  Chris¬ 
tians,  who  had  become  masters  of  Pales¬ 
tine  in  1099,  possessed  nothing  there  then 
but  a  few  strong  places,  among  which  was 
Xazareth,  the  birthplace  of  Mary,  which 
had  been  transformed  into  a  feudal  fort¬ 
ress,  and  the  first  Frank  lord  of  which  had 
been  the  bravest  of  the  brave,  Tancred, 
of  whom  Tasso  has  so  nobly  sung  in  his 
Jerusalem  Delivered.  St.  Louis  rebuilt 
the  walls  of  the  Galilean  fortress,  and 
being  there  on  Assumption  day,  had  the 
office  sung,  accompanied  by  organs  and 
string  instruments,  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Mary,  where  he  communicated  with  great 
solemnity. 

As  King  Louis  IX.  was  leaving  the 


Lady  for  his  cure,  the  devil,  whom  the  poor  man 
had  within  him,  answered,  “  Our  Lady  is  not 
here  ;  she  is  in  Egypt,  to  help  the  King  of  France 
and  the  Christians,  who  at  this  moment  are  arriv¬ 
ing  in  the  Holy  Land  on  foot,  against  the  pagans, 
who  are  mounted.”  The  seneschal  adds  that,  on 
the  very  day  that  the  devil  spoke  these  words,  the 
French  army  disembarked  in  Egypt. 


266 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Holy  Land  with  his  Queen  Margaret,  stress 
of  weather  drove  their  vessel  beneath  a 
high  promontory,  which  cast  its  shadow 
far  over  the  waters.  When  the  tempest 
abated,  they  anchored  before  this  Syrian 
mountain,  which  was  crowned  by  a  mon¬ 
astery,  and  in  the  silence  of  the  night, 
scarcely  broken  by  the  low  murmur  of 
the  subdued  waves,  the  religious  sound 
of  a  distant  bell  was  heard  coming  with 
the  sweet  scent  of  marjoram  and  wild 
thyme.  “What  is  that?’7  eagerly  asked 
St.  Louis,  who  was  still  watching.  The 
Phoenician  sailors  who  manned  the  ship 
answered,  that  it  was  the  convent  of  Our 
Lady  of  Mount  Carmel.  The  holy  king 
landed  at  the  first  rays  of  day,  to  go 
and  hear  mass  at  the  monastery  of  Mary, 
whose  religious,  clad  in  the  striped  Arab 
dress  of  brown  and  white,  lived  on  fruits 
and  vegetables,  fasted  half  the  year,  kept 
rigorous  silence,  and  worked  with  their 
hands  ;  the  fervent  and  cenobitic  spirit  of 
the  ancient  solitaries  of  the  desert  still 
reigned  there.  Penetrated  with  respect 
for  this  austere  piety,  St.  Louis  took  away 
with  him  six  of  these  religious,  who  were 
called  Friars  of  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of 
Mount  Carmel,  and  established  them  at 
Paris,  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine.  They 
removed  subsequently  to  the  place  Mau- 
bert,  and  their  new  church,  consecrated 
under  the  title  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Car¬ 
melites,  was  built  principally  by  the  liber¬ 
ality  of  Jane  of  Evreux,  third  wife  and 
widow  of  Charles  II.,  surnamed  the  Fair. 

( 1 )  Felibien,  Histoire  de  Paris. 

( ’ )  Sebastien  Rouillard,  c.  vi. 

( ’ )  We  read  m  the  old  Paris  breviaries  ( lectio 


This  princess  offered  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  of  Mount  Carmel  her  crown  of  dia¬ 
monds,  emeralds,  and  rubies  ;  she  added  to 
it  her  rich  cincture  set  with  pearls,  and  the 
bouquet  of  golden  lilies  set  with  precious 
stones,  which  the  king  had  given  to  her  on 
her  coronation-day.  Fifteen  hundred  gold 
florins  accompanied  this  royal  present.1 

The  kings  of  France,  who  bravely  ex¬ 
posed  themselves  in  battle,  habitually 
placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  when  dangers  became 
pressing.  Philip  the  Fair,  having  com¬ 
mended  himself  to  Mary  in  a  moment  of 
extreme  peril,  at  the  bloody  battle  of 
Mons-en-Puelle,  where  he  had  displayed 
all  the  bravery  of  a  paladin,  founded  rich 
benefices  at  Our  Lady  of  Paris  after  his 
brilliant  victory,  and  gave  forever  to  Our 
Lady  of  Chartres  the  land  and  lordship 
of  Barres,2  with  a  revenue  of  a  hundred 
livres. 

“  After  the  taking  of  Cassel,  Philip  of 
Valois,”  say  the  “  Gfrandes  Chroniques” 
of  St.  Denis,  “  came  to  this  abbey  to 
restore  the  oriflamme  which  he  had  bor¬ 
rowed  for  his  expedition  against  the  Flem¬ 
ings,  and  then  went  to  Notre  Dame,  at 
Paris,  and  there  put  on  the  armor  he  had 
worn  at  the  battle  of  Cassel,  mounted  his 
war-horse,  and  entering  thus  the  church  of 
Notre  Dame,  and  most  devoutly  returning 
her  thanks,  he  presented  to  her  the  horse 
on  which  he  rode,  and  all  his  accoutre¬ 
ments.”3  The  king  ransomed  his  horse  and 
his  arms  of  the  Chapter,  for  the  sum  of  a 

quinta) : — “  Quod  intelligens  gloriosse  memorise 
rex  Philippus  Valesius,  cum  opitulante  Deo,  per 
merita  Beatae  Virginis  Matris,  insignem  victoriam 


SAUL  ATTACKING  DAVID. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


267 


thousand  livres,  and  erected  his  equestrian 
statue  in  front  of  the  altar  of  Mary.  It 
was  remarked  that  these  two  victories  of 
Mons-en-Puelle  and  Cassel  had  been  gain¬ 
ed  between  the  feast  and  the  octave  of  the 
Assumption,  After  defeating  the  Flem¬ 
ings  at  Rosbecq,  Charles  YI.,  then  only 
fourteen  years  old,  and  styled  the  “little 
king,”  sent  likewise,  as  an  offering  to  Our 
Lady  of  Chartres,  his  armor,  which  was 
very  richly  damasquined,  and  his  royal 
sword,  covered  with  gold  dolphins.1  So, 
too,  the  queens  of  France,  at  their  first 
entr}r  into  the  capital  of  the  kingdom, 
did  homage  to  Our  Lady,  by  presenting 
the  magnificent  crown  which  they  received 
from  the  city  of  Paris.  That  offered  by 
Isabella  of  Bavaria  was  of  gold  and  pre¬ 
cious  stones.2 

Under  Philip  of  Yalois  began  the  wars 
against  the  English.  King  Edward  III. 
claimed  to  be  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne, 
in  right  of  his  mother  Isabella,  sister  of 
Philip  the  Fair,  who  had  died  without  heirs, 
and  whose  nephew  he  was,  while  Philip  of 
Yalois  was  only  his  cousin-german.  The 
French  peers  and  barons  declared  for 
Philip  of  Yalois  against  the  princess  Isa¬ 
bella,  not  in  virtue  of  the  Salic  law,  which 
does  not  speak  of  the  exclusion  of  females, 
but  by  the  authority  of  customs  existing 
and  become  law.  Edward’s  reply  was  a 
singular  enough  argument,  which  is  found 
in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  pope.  “  If 

de  rebellibus  Flandris  obtinuisset,  quae  contigit 
anno  1328,  acturus  Deo  et  sail  etas  Virgini  gratias, 
triumphans  et  equitans  ecclesiam  Beatae  M arise 
Parisiis  ingressus  est,  non  vana  ostentatione  elatus, 
sed  Deo  per  quem  de  ancipiti  bello  evaserat,  pro¬ 


file  son,”  said  he,  “  is  excluded  from  the 
throne  because  his  mother  cannot  occupy 
it,  then  Jesus  Christ  had  no  right  to  the 
inheritance  of  David,  since  he  descended 
from  that  king  only  through  Madam  Saint 
Marv,  his  mother.” 

That  unfortunate  desire  of  reigning  over 
France,  which  in  an  evil  hour  entered  the 
minds  of  the  English  monarchs,  and  which 
deluged  the  kingdom  of  the  lilies  in  blood, 
was  evoked  by  a  chivalrous  appeal  made 
in  the  name  of  the  “sweet  Yirgin  Mary,” 
who  subsequently  proved  that  she  disa¬ 
vowed  it.  A  false  traitor,  Robert  of  Ar¬ 
tois,  whom  the  King  of  France  had  offended, 
says  an  English  historian,  took  his  revenge 
by  rekindling  the  flame  of  resentment 
which  was  almost  extinct  in  the  young 
English  king,  who  at  that  time  thought  of 
nothing  but  tournaments  and  festivities. 
One  day,  when  his  Norwegian  falcon  had 
taken  a  heron  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames, 
then  much  overshadowed  with  willows,  he 
appeared  in  the  hall  where  Edward  was 
giving  a  royal  banquet  to  his  great  barons 
and  the  noble  ladies  of  his  court.  Walk¬ 
ing  up  to  the  upper  end  of  the  hall,  where 
the  king  was  enthroned  beneath  a  canopy 
of  cloth  of  Brittany,  fringed  with  silver, 
“  I  bring,”  says  he,  “  the  most  cowardly  of 
birds,  and  I  will  give  it  to  him  among  you 
who  is  the  greatest  coward  ;  in  my  opinion 
it  is  thou,  Edward,  who  hast  suffered  thy¬ 
self  to  be  disinherited  of  the  noble  country 

funda  hurailitate  subjectns.” — (Breviarii  Ecclesite 
Parisiensis,  festa  Augusti,  anno  1584.) 

(’)  Essais  Historiques  sur  Paris,  par  Mr.  de 
Sa'inte  Foix,  t.  iv.,  p.  162. 

( 4 )  Froissard,  t,  ii. 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

of  France,  of  which  thou  art  the  lawful 
heir.”  The  fire  of  wrath  kindled  in  the 
eyes  of  the  English  monarch.  Suspect  his 
bravery !  He  crimsoned  with  shame,  and 
swore,  by  the  “  God  of  Paradise  and  his 
sweet  Mother,”  that  before  six  months  he 
would  challenge  in  the  field  that  count’s 
son,  who  unduly  assumed  to  be  called  king 
of  France.  When  the  king  had  sworn,  the 
Count  d’Artois  presented  the  heron  to  the 
English  lords  in  turn,  and  they  all  swore 
war  against  the  French,  calling  to  witness 
this  fatal  oath,  “  the  honored  Yirgin  who 
bore  the  God  who  died  on  a  cross,  whom 
the  knight  Longinus  struck  with  his 
lance.” 1 

The  first  exploit  of  the  English  was 
the  naval  engagement  of  Sluys.  The  sea- 
fights  of  that  period  in  no  way  resembled 
those  of  our  modern  fleets  ;  they  fought 
side  by  side  ;  the  crews  endeavored  to  tear 
the  sails  of  the  enemy  with  long  scythes 
and  broad  arrows,  while  divers  under 
water  cut  holes  in  the  vessels,  to  sink  them. 
The  ne  plus  ultra  of  able  manceuvres  con¬ 
sisted  in  driving  the  enemy’s  ships  on  the 
shore  or  on  the  rocks.  Edward,  who  com¬ 
manded  his  fleet  in  person,  was  wounded 
by  an  arrow  early  in  the  action,  but  con¬ 
tinued  nevertheless  to  fight  on,  prefacing 
each  stroke  of  his  lance  with  one  of  his 
favorite  invocations — “Ah,  St.  Edward! 
ah,  St.  George !  ah,  St.  Mary !”  and 
around  his  red  banner,  on  which  flamed  a 
golden  dragon,2  the  English  nobility  uttered 

their  mighty  war-cries  —  “  Our  Lady- 
Arundel !  Our  Lady- Arle ton !  St.  George !” 
for  in  that  chivalrous  time  each  warrior  of 
note  had  a  saint  for  his  protector,  whom  he 
invoked  aloud  in  battle.  Edward  dishon¬ 
ored  his  victory  by  hanging  at  a  yard¬ 
arm  one  of  the  French  admirals,  who  had 
bravely  defended  his  ship  ;  the  other,  who 
died  sword  in  hand,  found  a  grave  beneath 
the  waves.  Amid  this  scene  of  tumult  and 
blood,  some  fine  English  ladies,  who  had 
come  in  the  royal  galley  for  a  new  sensa¬ 
tion,  for  it  seems  that  women  in  all  ages 
are  alike  in  that  respect,  applauded  the 
triumph  of  their  knights ;  but  not  one 
implored  mercy  for  the  vanquished!  and 
twenty  thousand  French  corpses  reddened 
the  blue  waves  pf  the  German  Ocean. 

The  king  of  the  English,  who  had  not  for¬ 
gotten  to  call  upon  Mary  during  the  fight, 
had  no  sooner  landed  in  Flanders  than  he 
went,  on  foot,  says  Froissart,  with  a  great 
many  knights,  to  return  her  thanks,  in  her 
sanctuary  of  Ardenbourg.  Thus  opened 
that  hundred  years’  war  during  which  the 
English  carried  their  flag  from  the  Garonne 
to  the  Rhine,  and  from  the  Ocean  to  the 
Mediterranean. 

During  this  prolonged  contest,  inter¬ 
rupted  by  a  few  armistices,  when  they 
halted,  their  feet  in  blood  and  their  hands 
on  their  daggers,  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  whose 
abbeys  the  English  often  pillaged  without 
scruple,  was  not  the  less  an  object  of  their 
veneration.  After  destroying  a  whole  city. 

(* )  “Mas  par  i  cheli  Dieu  qui  en  la  croix  fu  mis, 

Et  ferus  de  la  lanche  du  chevalier  Longis. 

*  *  *  *  * 

[Car 

Car  je  voue  et  promets  a  la  Vi&rge  honor^e, 

Qui  porta  cheli  Dieu  qui  fist  chiel  et  rousee,” 
etc. — (Le  Yceu  du  Heron.) 

(’)  Stowe’s  Chronicle. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  269 


from  which  they  departed  laden  with 
booty,  they  would  sometimes  leave  one  of 
her  statues  untouched  on  its  pedestal ;  and 
when  the  inhabitants,  delivered  from  them, 
came  sorrowfully  to  visit  the  ruins*  of  the 
stronghold,  they  devoutly  made  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  and  exclaimed,  “  A  miracle  I”1 
That  act  of  respect,  amidst  a  fearful  scene 
of  devastation,  was  indeed  a  miracle. 

The  sanctuaries  where  it  had  pleased  the 
Queen  of  heaven  to  manifest  her  power 
were  held  neutral  and  holy  ground  :  they 
were  like  oases  of  peace,  to  which  radiated 
from  all  points  of  the  horizon  soldiers  and 
knights  of  all  lands,  who  became  simply 
pious  pilgrims  from  the  moment  that  they 
had  fastened  a  little  image  of  the  Madonna 
to  their  polished  steel  helmet,  or  their  hood 
of  serge.  We  read  in  the  manuscript  chron¬ 
icles  of  Quercy,  that  certain  English  sol¬ 
diers,  having  been  taken  prisoners  by  those 
of  Cahors,  were  set  at  liberty  with  mild 
and  kind  words,  as  soon  as  they  were 
recognized  as  pilgrims  of  Our  Lady. 

The  feasts  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  were 
scrupulously  observed  by  the  English 
troops,  who  even  halted  on  their  march  to 
celebrate  them.  In  1380,  Buckingham, 
who  was  cutting  his  way  through  the  heart 
of  France,  sweeping  all  before  him,  stopped 
with  his  army  in  the  forest  of  Marchenoir, 
to  celebrate  the  feast  of  Our  Lady  of  Sep¬ 
tember.  The  English  knights  devoutly 
heard  mass  in  an  abbey,  which  they  found 
in  the  midst  of  the  woods  ;  and  the  long 


( 1 )  Our  Lady  of  Vassiviere  was  thus  respected 
in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  of  that  strong  city,  which 


swords  of  Bordeaux  were  unstained  with 
French  blood  that  day.2 

An  English  captain,  named  Norwick, 
whom  Prince  John,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
and  presumptive  heir  to  the  throne,  had  be¬ 
sieged  unexpectedly  in  Angouleme,  where 
he  ran  out  of  provisions,  adroitly  profited . 
by  this  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
which  was  common  to  both  nations,  to 
escape  the  fate  of  a  surrender  at  discretion. 
On  the  eve  of  the  Purification,  one  of  the 
greatest  festivals  of  Our  Lady  kept  as  a 
holiday  in  France  in  the  time  of  Pepin  the 
Short,  he  sallied  from  the  walls,  and  asked 
to  parley  with  the  prince.  The  latter  com¬ 
ing  up,  said:  “Have  you  come  to  sur¬ 
render  ?  ” — “  No,”  replies  the  Englishman  ; 

‘  ‘  but  we  are  both  of  us  alike  devoted  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin ;  I  claim,  then,  of  your 
courtesy  a  suspension  of  arms  ;  and  that, 
during  the  whole  day  consecrated  to  this 
feast,  our  men  shall  be  forbidden  on  either 
side  to  fight  under  any  pretence  what¬ 
ever.” —  “I  readily  agree,”  replied  the 
prince. 

The  next  day,  early  in  the  morning, 
Norwick  marched  out  with  the  garrison  and 
all  his  equipage  ;  the  commanders  of  the 
French  outposts  stopped  him,  and  inquired 
the  object  of  this  march.  “  I  wish  to  take 
advantage  of  the  truce,”  he  replied,  “  to 
exercise  my  soldiers.” 

The  fact  was  reported  to  Prince  John, 
who  said,  “It  is  a  clever  trick,  blessed  be 
God!  We  will  let  them  go  where  they 


the  English  had  destroyed  and  pillaged. — (See  Du 
Chesne,  ch.  ix.,  §  10,  n.  6.) 

( 1 )  See  Froissard,  t.  ii.,  p.  112. 


-j  ~  - 

%  \ 

* 

\ 

270  HISTORY  OF  THE 

I 

will,  and  content  ourselves  w;di  getting  tlie 
city.” 1 

Notwithstanding  the  testimonies  of  re¬ 
spect  which  she  received  from  the  invaders, 
the  Blessed  Virgin  turned  from  them  to 
protect  the  invaded.  France  in  her  oppres¬ 
sion  found  favor  before  her,  as  more  than 
one  miracle  proved.  At  Poictiers,  the 
servant  of  the  mayor,  who  had  sold  the 
city  to  the  English,  and  promised  to  let 
them  in,  on  a  dark  night,  when  the  moon 
was  invisible  in  the  sky,  could  never  find 
the  keys,  which  the  people  were  astounded 
to  see  next  morning  in  the  hands  of  an 
ancient  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  her 
own  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame.  At  Rennes, 
which  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  had  long 
unsuccessfully  besieged,  the  English,  de¬ 
spairing  of  taking  this  brave  and  well- 
defended  city  by  assault,  made  a  mine  to 
blow  it  up.  The  Breton  city  slept  over  a 
volcano,  unconscious  of  the  danger  which 
it  run.  When  the  mine  reached  the  cathe¬ 
dral  of  St.  Mary,  and  the  enemy  was  on 
the  point  of  firing  it,  in  the  middle  of  a 
dark  night,  the  candles  of  the  chapel  of 
Our  Lady  of  Saint  Saviour’s  were  seen 
lighted  of  themselves,  the  bells,  rung  by 
invisible  hands,  sounded  a  full  peal,  and 
when  the  inhabitants,  awakened  from  sleep, 
and  attracted  by  the  strange  light  which 
illumined  the  church  at  midnight,  ran  in 
crowds,  and  asked  one  another,  “What  is 
the  matter?”  the  Blessed  Virgin  slowly 
stretched  out  her  arm  of  stone  from  the 
side  of  the  Gothic  nave,  and  pointed  to  the 
place  where  the  mine  was  to  be  sprung.  The 


(  1 )  See  Froissard,  t.  ii.,  p.  112. 


DEVOTIOX  TO  THE 


city,  warned  in  time,  was  saved.  Many 
other  examples  might  be  cited  of  Mary’s 
protection  over  France  at  this  disastrous 
period  ;  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the 
relation  of  the  most  striking  of  these  num¬ 
erous  miracles,  on  the  faith  of  judicious 
contemporary  writers. 

It  was  after  those  two  lamentable  days, 
for  which  the  cypress  will  wave  forever 
green  on  the  noble  brow  of  France, — after 
Cressy,  that  battle  where  the  flower  of 
French  chivalry  perished,  after  Poictiers, 
where  King  John  with  eight  hundred 
barons  was  made  prisoner  by  the  Black 
Prince.  The  nobility  were  ruined  ;  the 
young  regent  was  without  troops  ;  the  most 
fertile  fields  were  covered  with  briers  ;  the 
cities,  menaced  with  the  horrors  of  assault 
by  the  stranger  encamped  at  their  gates, 
were  rent  by  factions  within.  When  man 
has  no  longer  aught  to  trust  to  on  earth, 
he  kneels,  and  stretches  out  his  suppliant 
hands  to  heaven  ;  and  so  did  all  good  peo¬ 
ple  in  the  hamlets  and  towns ;  they  con¬ 
fidently  begged  of  God  some  prodigy, 
through  the  intercession  of  Mary,  to  end 
these  calamities.  Faith  was  great  and  sor¬ 
row  unspeakable  ;  the  prodigy  was  granted. 
Abusing  his  own  position,  and  that  of 
France,  Edward  III.,  with  whom  the  young 
regent,  who  was  afterward  Charles  the 
Wise,  was  negotiating,  proposed  conditions 
so  hard,  so  humiliating  and  intolerable, 
that  France,  though  in  her  last  gasp,  raised 
her  head  with  generous  indignation,  and 
said — No!  At  this  unexpected  refusal, 
Edward  crossed  the  sea,  and  laid  siege  to 
Chartres. 

The  English  army  pitched  their  tents  at 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY 


a  little  distance  from  the  Avails  and  facing 
that  splendid  cathedral  so  magnificently 
rebuilt  by  Fulbert,  with  the  offerings  of 
the  faithful  both  great  and  small.  Situated 
on  a  hill  Avhich  commands  the  city,  the 
beautiful  Gfothic  church,  with  its  lofty 
steeples,  which  can  be  discerned  thirty 
miles  off,  had  the  appearance  of  a  sacred 
citadel,  with  the  city  extended  beneath  its 
shade.  In  this  universally-revered  sanc¬ 
tuary  was  a  reliquary  of  precious  wood, 
covered  ivith  thick  plates  of  gold,  and 
incrusted  with  diamonds,  rubies,  and 
pearls,  in  Avhich  was  kept  one  of  the 
precious  garments  of  Mary,  her  festal  robe 
of  Babylonian  cloth,  with  blue,  violet,  Avhite, 
and  gold  flowers.  One  day  the  Nqrmans 
came  to  besiege  Chartres,  and  the  inhabit¬ 
ants,  fully  determined  to  defend  their  tem¬ 
ple,  took  this  holy  relic  as  their  standard  ; 
the  Normans  saw  the  relic,  and  fled.  It 
was  customary  at  that  time  to  touch  with 
the  reliquary  the  garments  of  fine  linen  of 
Brittany,  Avhich  great  lords  wore  on  the 
day  when  they  were  knighted.  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion,  to  whom  one  of  these  gar¬ 
ments  had  been  brought  even  to  England, 
offered  in  return  to  Our  Lady  of  Chartres 
a  beautiful  case  of  gold  and  precious  stones, 
containing  relics  of  St.  Edward.  The  Ma¬ 
donna  of  Chartres  was  therefore  in  great 
veneration  among  the  English  knights,  and 
more  than  one,  no  doubt,  secretly  blamed 
the  king  for  coming  to  expose  the  holy 
things  of  the  Cathedral  of  Mary  to  sacri¬ 
lege  and  plunder. 

The  city,  summoned  to  surrender  to  the 
King  of  England,  simply  replied  that  it 
would  not :  and  Edward’s  heralds  were 


271 


able  to  see  only  the  massive  and  welL 
barred  iron  gate,  above  which,  in  a  charm¬ 
ing  Gothic  niche,  decorated  with  open 
work  of  trefoils,  was  a  white  Madonna  with 
this  inscription  carven  on  the  stone  : 
Tutela  Carnutum  ! 

The  siege  of  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
Carnutes  Avas  prolonged,  and  the  fertile 
fields  of  La  Beauce  bristled  with  English 
SAVords  instead  of  ears  of  corn  ;  the  Dau¬ 
phin  attempted  a  negotiation  to  save  his 
favorite  city  of  Our  Lady ;  but  Edward 
was  deaf  to  his  offers  and  representations. 
The  French  negotiators,  roughly  refused, 
dared  no  longer  indulge  a  hope,  and  the 
city  seemed  on  the  brink  of  capture,  when 
there  happened,  says  Froissard,  “  a  mira¬ 
cle  which  greatly  humbled  and  broke  the 
courage  of  the  English  prince.”  ‘ ‘A  thunder¬ 
storm,  a  tempest  so  great  and  horrible,  came 
down  from,  heaven  upon  the  army  of  the 
King  of  England,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the 
Avorld  was  coming  to  an  end  ;  for  there  fell 
from  the  sky  stones  so  large  that  they 
killed  both  men  and  horses,  and  the  bold¬ 
est  were  quite  dismayed.” 

“  If  thou  sowest  in  the  garden  of  life 
the  seed  of  anger,”  say  the  ancient  sages 
of  Iran,1  “  thy  star  shall  have  to  weep.” 
The  king  of  the  English  must  have  made 
some  reflections  of  this  kind,  when  the  sun 
arose,  like  a  golden  lamp,  to  show  him  the 
eve’s  disasters.  His  Avhole  camp  was  laid 
waste  ;  the  tents,  in  shreds,  let  their  dra¬ 
pery  flutter  about  as  if  they  were  so  many 
pennants  displayed,  and  on  that  immense 


( 1 )  Iran  was  the  name  of  Persia  before  the  time 
of  Cyrus. 


272 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


plain,  where  the  green  wheat  had  been 
trodden  down  by  the  English  cavalry, 
seven  thousand  horses  lay  lifeless  beside 
their  riders.  No  fact  in  history  is  better 
attested  than  this  extraordinary  event. 
Edward  was  so  struck,  that  he  long  re¬ 
mained  impressed  with  this  miracle,  as  he 
himself  acknowledged  to  the  continuator 
of  Nangis. 

Some  time  after,  in  conformity  with  the 
promise  which  he  had  made  in  his  fright 
to  the  powerful  Protectress  of  Chartres, 
he  signed  the  peace  concluded  at  Bretigny, 
a  small  town  of  the  country  of  Chartres, 
and  his  great  lords,  who  bore  their  heads 
so  high,  laying  aside  their  arrogance  for 
a  moment,  came  in  the  peaceful  and  hum¬ 
ble  equipage  of  pilgrims  to  bend  their 
knees  before  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

But  the  intervention  of  Mary,  in  the 
almost  desperate  affairs  of  France,  was 
not  confined  to  this  ;  she  raised  up  one  of 
those  mighty  men,  whose  iron  arm  suffices 
in  itself  to  bear  up  a  falling  kingdom  :  she 
planted  a  hatred  of  the  English  in  the 
heart  of  a  young  Breton,  who  made  his 
first  campaign  under  her  auspices,  and 
took  her  name  as  his  war-cry.  The  armies 
which  the  red  banner  of  Albion  led  to  bat¬ 
tle  were  scattered  like  straw  tossed  by  the 
wind,  at  the  cry  of  “  Our  Lady  of  Gues- 
clin !  ” 

When  the  insanity  of  the  unfortunate 
Charles  VI.,  that  brave  prince,  so  beloved 
by  his  people,  and  so  devoted  to  Mary, 

( *  *  )  Deposition  of  the  witnesses  on  the  inquiry 
at  Vaucouleurs  concerning  the  life  of  Joan  d’Arc. 

( * )  Froissard. 

( ’ )  “At  the  coronation  of  our  kings,  from  time 


had  revived  the  fallen  hopes  of  the  kings 
of  England,  and  Henry  of  Monmouth, 
yielding  to  the  temptation  to  unite  the 
noble  crown  of  France  to  his  own  ill-got¬ 
ten  crown,  crossed  the  sea  to  do  a  hundred 
times  worse  than  King  Edward  and  his 
son  had  done,  the  Virgin  brought  against 
him  only  a  young  maiden  with  a  pure  soul, 
who  dropped  her  humble  shepherdess’s 
crook  from  her  indignant  hands  to  seize 
the  sword  of  battle.  It  was  while  lighting 
up  mystic  tapers  before  the  revered  image 
of  Our  Lady  of  Bermont,  and  decorating 
with  flowers  the  hermitage  of  St.  Mary,1 
that  Joan  of  Arc,  obedient  to  the  interior 
voices  that  impelled  her,  conceived  the 
bold  design  of  ridding  France  of  the  men 
of  England,  and  having  the  young  dau¬ 
phin,  Charles,  crowned  at  Rheims.  It  was 
done  as  the  Blessed  Virgin  willed,  and  as 
the  inspired  shepherdess  had  announced  ; 
St.  Mary’s  of  Rheims,  where  the  kings  of 
France  at  that  time  went  to  make  their 
vigil  of  arms,  with  the  young  lords  of  their 
court,2  before  they  put  on  the  knight’s 
spurs,  joyfully  and  proudly  threw  open 
her  wide  doors  to  let  the  true  King  of 
France  enter,  who  alone  could  justly  be 
the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  A  flight  of 
little  birds8  went  to  tell  the  angels  this 
news  of  happy  augury  ;  and  close  to  the 
kneeling  prince,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar, 
where  Clovis  had  bowed  his  haughty 
Sicambrian  head  .beneath  the  waters  of 
baptism,  “  the  daughter  of  God,  the  noble- 

immemorial,  two  or  three  hundred  dozens  of  bii’ds 
are  set  at  liberty.” — (Essais  Historiques  sur  Paris, 
by  M.  de  Sainte  Foix,  t.  v.,  p.  26.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  273 


hearted  maiden,”  the  chaste  heroine  sent 
by  the  Blessed  Virgin,  unfurled,  with  a 
countenance  where  modesty  was  blended 
with  the  most  lively  joy,  her  banner  of 


white  silk,  where  those  two  touching  names, 
those  saving  names,  Jesus  and  Mary, 
glittered  in  letters  of  gold. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MILITARY  AND  RELIGIOUS  ORDERS. 


THE  star  of  chivalry,  which  had  shone 
since  the  Crusades  in  the  zenith  of 
Europe,  now  declined  toward  the  horizon  ; 
but  it  descended  like  the  setting  sun,  and 
its  enlarged  disc  still  shed  a  brilliant  light ; 
in  which  there  seemed  to  blend  the  flash 
of  the  sword  and  the  sacred  light  of  tapers. 
Those  days,  brighter  and  better  than  ours, 
when  religion  was  respected,  and  her  holy 
laws  obeyed  from  the  palace  to  the  cottage, 
were  the  epoch  when  devotion  to  the  Mo¬ 
ther  of  God  attained  its  zenith  ;  for  every¬ 
thing  was  then  done  by  her,  and  for  her 
sake.  “It  is  quite  natural  for  every  one 
to  implore  her  aid.”  said  the  warlike  min¬ 
nesingers  of  Germany  in  their  songs,  “for 
in  heaven  everything  is  done  that  she  de¬ 
sires.”  This  they  did  ;  and  though  every 
paladin  took  for  his  heavenly  protector, 
St.  James,  St.  George,  or'  St.  Michael,  or 
St.  Martin,  whom,  in  their  simple  respect 
for  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom  of  hea¬ 
ven,  the  feudal  lords  had  strangely  invested 
with  titles  of  nobility,  the  honored  Virgin, 
who  combined  every  condition  of  beauty, 
meekness,  and  angelic  purity,  which  became 

35 


her  who  was  pre-eminently  the  lady,  was 
the  object  of  a  veneration  far  superior  to 
that  paid  to  Baron  St.  James,  and  to  St. 
George,  the  good  knight.  Tournaments 
were  proclaimed,  enterprises  were  accom¬ 
plished,  in  honor  of  “Madam  St.  Mary  ;” 
kings  and  knights  kept  their  vigil  of  arms 
in  her  chapels  ;  her  name,  translated  into 
all  the  tongues  of  Europe,  was  the  war-cry 
of  the  Flemish,  Danish,  and  English  barons, 
as  it  was  of  Duguesclin.  At  the  battle  of 
the  Thirty,  the  field  of  which  is  still  marked 
by  a  broken  column  amid  the  broom  of 
Lower  Brittany,  Beaumanoir  commends 
himself  to  God,  to  Our  Lady,  and  St.  Yvo. 
Seeing  his  companions-in-arms  redden  the 
turf  with  their  blood,  and  the .  English 
gaining  the  advantage,  he  knighted,  in  the 
name  of  Our  Lady,  John  de  la  Roche,  an 
esquire  of  noble  descent,  who  was  a  mere 
spectator  of  the  combat,  and  Fortune, 
changing  her  banner,  declares  for  the 
Bretons.1 

After  commending  themselves  to  Mary, 


( 1 )  Froissard,  t.  xiii, 


274 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


they  fought  one  against  ten,  with  that  con¬ 
fidence  in  the  aid  of  heaven  which  triples 
man’s  strength  ;  a  good  cause,  a  pure  con¬ 
science,  and  the  help  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
sufficed  to  do  wonders  in  arms,  and  to  gain 
the  most  brilliant  victories.  In  1388  an 
army  of  Brabanters  entered  the  duchy  of 
Gueldres,  putting  all  to  fire  and  sword. 
The  duke  had  neither  men  nor  money  to 
repel  the  invaders  ;  his  counsellors  were 
of  opinion  that  he  had  better  shut  himself 
up  in  one  of  his  strongholds  ;  but  he  re¬ 
jected  this  timid  counsel  with  indignation 
mixed  with  anger.  “'Neither  in  any  town, 
nor  in  any  castle  that  I  possess,  will  I  shut 
myself  up,”  cried  he,  “  and  will  not  leave 
my  country  to  be  burnt ;  I  would  rather 
die  in  the  fields.”  After  this  chivalrous 
answer,  the  young  duke  arms  himself  for 
battle  ;  but  before  he  leaves  Nimeguen,  he 
prayed  devoutly  before  the  image  of  Our 
Lady,  in  whom  he  had  great  confidence, 
and  dedicated  himself  and  his  knights  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  Having  finished  his 
prayers,  he  mounted  his  horse,  at  the  head 
of  four  hundred  lances,  to  go  and  fight  an 
army  of  forty  thousand  men.  At  the  sight 
of  the  enemy,  the  counsellors  of  the  Flemish 
prince,  alarmed  at  the  inequality  of  the 
numbers,  endeavored  even  then  to  dissuade 
him  from  engaging  ;  but  the  duke,  laying 
his  hand  upon  his  heart,  said,  “  Something 
tells  me  that  the  day  is  mine.  Quickly 
then  unfurl  my  banner,  and  let  him  who 
will  be  a  knight  come  forward  ;  I  will 
knight  them  in  honor  of  God  and  Madam 
St.  Mary,  of  whom  I  took  permission  when  I 


( 1  )  Froissart,  t.  i.,  p.  112. 


set  out ;  yea,  to  her  I  trust  and  wholly 
commend  my  undertaking.  Forward!  for¬ 
ward  !  ” 

And  the  brave  young  duke  charged  the 
enemy  at  full  gallop,  crying  out,  “Our 
Lady,  Gueldres !  ”  The  Brabanters,  com¬ 
pletely  defeated,  ^lost  seventeen  standards, 
“and  you  will  find  them,”  says  Froissart, 
“before  the  image  of  Our  Lady  of  Nime- 
guen,  that  they  may  serve  for  a  perpetual 
memorial.”  After  the  engagement,  the 
Gueldres  men  held  counsel  on  the  field  of 
battle.  Some  proposed  to  go  into  a  neigh¬ 
boring  city  to  dispose  of  their  prisoners 
and  dress  their  wounds.  “No,”  said  the 
duke  :  “I  gave  and  devoted  myself  to  the 
department  of  Nimeguen,  and  I  gave  and 
devoted  myself  this  day,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  battle,  to  Our  Lady  of  Nimeguen  ; 
I  will  and  command  that  we  return  thither, 
and  go  to  visit  and  thank  the  Lady  who 
has  helped  us  to  gain  the  victory.” 

And  he  set  off  in  full  gallop,  with  his 
knights,  to  offer  to  Our  Lady  his  thanks, 
and  to  hang  up  his  armor,  hacked  and 
dinted,  as  an  “  ex  voto”  in  her  chapel.1 

In  1363,  King  Louis  I.,  of  Hungary, 
finding  himself  with  twenty  thousand  men, 
before  eighty  thousand  infidels,  dedicated 
himself,  with  his  whole  army,  to  the  Queen 
of  Angels,  whose  image  never  left  him.  To 
thank  Our  Lady  for  the  brilliant  victory 
which  he  gained,  he  built  around  the 
chapel  of  Afffeux  in  Carinthia,  a  very  fine 
church,  where  he  deposited  the  holy  image, 
to  which  he  attributed  his  victory,  and  the 
sword  with  which  he  had  fought.2 


(5)  This  Carinthian  church,  now  known  by  the 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  275 

In  the  fourteenth  century,  Louis,  Duke 

Froissart  and  Christina  of  Pisan  call  Af- 

of  Bourbon,  surnamed  the  Great,  resolved 

rica,  and  which  is  believed  to  be  Tunis. 

to  leave  France  for  a  time,  which  was  des- 

The  crusaders  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  under- 

olated  by  the  troubles  of  the  minority  of 

took  the  siege  of  this  place,  which  they 

Charles  YI.,  to  repress  the  audacious  pira- 

attempted  four  times,  but  in  vain,  the  Turks 

cies  of  the  Saracens  of  Africa,  which 

offering  a  vigorous  resistance.  The  arrival 

threatened  to  annihilate  the  maritime  com- 

of  the  Christians  had  been  the  signal  for  a 

merce  of  Europe.  Genoa,  and  the  ports 

holy  war  to  the  Mussulmans  of  Africa  ;  the 

on  the  French  coast,  implored  an  expedi- 

kings  of  Bugia,  Tripoli,  and  Morocco  sent 

tion  against  these  corsairs  ;  Louis  of  Bour- 

troops  to  succor  the  beleaguered  city,  and 

bon  listened  to  this  appeal,  and  resolved  to 

the  Christians  had  to  defend  themselves 

make  a  crusade  in  that  direction  in  honor 

from  ambuscades  and  surprises  in  the  night 

of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whom  he  held  in  su- 

from  the  barbarians.  But  these  stratagems 

preme  veneration.  He  assembled  his  vas- 

were  frustrated,  without  the  aid  of  senti- 

sals,  and  the  king’s  noble  knights,  who 

nels  or  watchmen,  in  a  manner  for  which 

were  joined  by  the  Dauphin  d’Auvergne, 

the  whole  army  of  Mary  did  homage  to  its 

John  of  Beaufort,  son  of  the  Duke  of 

divine  Protectress.  A  mastiff,  who  had  no 

Lancaster,  Count  d’Harcourt,  Gautier  de 

known  master,  kept  so  good  guard  every 

Chatillon,  William  of  Hainaut,  Philip  of  Ar- 

night  around  the  Christian  camp,  that  it 

tois,  Count  d’Eu,  the  Sire  of  la  Tremouille, 

was  impossible  for  the  Turks  to  elude  his 

and  Messire  Philip  de  Bar.  All  these  war- 

wonderful  vigilance.  The  soldiers,  seeing 

riors,  before  they  set  sail,  solemnly  devoted 

something  extraordinary  in  the  infallible 

themselves  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  took 

instinct  of  this  animal,  had  called  him  Our 

for  the  admiral’s  flag  the  banner  of  the 

Lady's  Dog. 

Duke  of  Bourbon,  11  which  at  that  time  was 

This  expedition  to  Africa,  undertaken 

all  covered  with  French  fleurs  de  lys,  with 

under  the  auspices  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

a  white  figure  of  Our  Lady,  the  Mother  of 

was  accompanied  with  prodigies,  according 

Jesus  Christ,  seated  and  figured  in  the 

to  Froissart ;  he  relates  that  “  the  Saracens, 

middle  ;  the  escutcheon  of  Bourbon  was 

seeking  to  surprise  the  French  by  an  attack 

beneath  the  feet  of  the  said  figure.”1 

in  the  night,  were  silently  approaching  the 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon  set  sail  with  a 

camp  of  the  Christians,  when  they  perceived 

fleet  of  eighty  vessels,  which  went  to  “  sea 

before  them  a  company  of  ladies  all  in 

in  fine  order,  under  the  care  of  God,*of 

white,  and  particularly  one  at  their  head, 

Our  Lady,  and  St.  George.”  They  de- 

who  was  much  more  beautiful  than  all  the 

barked  at  midsummer  before  a  city  which 

others,  and  bore  before  her  a  white  banner 

name  of  Maria  Zell,  is  still  one  of  the  most  cele- 

nand  III.  finished,  the  chvirch  as  we  see  it  at  pres- 

brated  pilgrimages  of  Catholic  Germany.  The 

ent,  and  Maria  Teresa  made  her  first  communion 

Emperor  Mathias  came  there  to  return  thanks  for 

there,  in  the  year  1728. 

a  victory  gained  over  the  Turks  in  1601;  Ferdi- 

|  ( 1 )  Froissart,  t.  xi.,  p.  266. 

276 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  TIJE 


with  a  red  cross.  At  this  spectacle  the 
Saracens  were  so  frightened,  that  for  the 
time  they  had  neither  power  nor  courage 
to  advance.”1 

Whether  Mary  was  pleased  to  protect 
the  chivalry  of  France,  who  marched  under 
her  banner,  by  placing  herself  with  her 
celestial  attendants  between  the  Christians 
and  the  Mussulmans,  or  whether  an  hallu¬ 
cination  caused  by  the  indistinct  light  of 
the  stars  and  the  floating  banners  of  the 
knights  was  the  sole  cause  of  the  prodigy, 
the  camp  was  none  the  less  preserved  from 
a  nocturnal  surprise. *  * 

The  excessive  heat  of  the  climate  and  a 
pestilential  epidemic  decimated  the  Chris¬ 
tian  army,  who  were  thinking  of  raising 
the  siege  of  Tunis  after  nine  weeks  of  fruit¬ 
less  attempts ;  but  before  they  retired, 
they  twice  gave  battle  to  the  Saracens,  and 
these,  in  spite  of  their  number,  were  de¬ 
feated  ;  the  banner  of  Mary  was  gloriously 
borne  by  the  chivalry  of  France,  and  be¬ 
neath  it  the  Christians  performed  such 
prodigies  of  valor,  that  the  King  of  Tunis, 
terror-stricken,  thought  himself  but  too 
happy  to  conclude  a  treaty,  by  which  he 
agreed  to  give  up  the  Christian  slaves,  no 
more  to  disturb  the  navigation  of  the  Medi¬ 
terranean,  and,  finally,  to  pay  ten  thou¬ 
sand  gold  besants  for  the  expenses  of  the 
war. 

The  good  cities  of  the  kingdom,  in  times 

( 1 )  Froissart,  t.  xi.,  p.  266. 

( * )  Sauval,  Mem.  MS.  There  is  still  to  he  found 
among  the  accounts  of  receipts  and  expenses  of 
the  domain  of  Paris,  in  the  year  1488,  an  item 
concerning  this  taper : — “  A  la  yefve  Gerbelot  la 
Bomme  de  27  livres  19  solz  8  deniers,  a  elle  pareille- 


of  calamity,  placed  themselves  under  the 
special  protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  as 
well  as  the  sovereigns. 

In  1357,  after  that  fatal  battle  of  Poic- 
tiers,  which  mowed  down  the  flower  of  the 
French  nobility,  and  where  the  king  was 
taken  by  the  English,  the  provost  of  the 
merchants  made  a  vow,  in  the  name  of  the 
city  of  Paris,  to  present  every  year  to  the 
Mother  of  God,  in  the  cathedral  church,  a 
wax-taper  as  long  as  the  circumference  of 
the  walls  of  the  city.  The  offering  actually 
took  place  till  the  time  of  the  League,  when 
it  was  interrupted  for  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years.  In  1605,  they  substituted  for  this 
long,  rolled  taper  a  silver  lamp  with  a  thick 
wax-candle,  which  burnt  continually  before 
the  altar  of  Notre  Dame  till  1789.® 

Rouen,  where  of  yore  Mary’s  image 
adorned  every  square,  every  place  where 
streets  met,  every  fountain,  and  every  pub¬ 
lic  monument,  placed  itself,  by  a  solemn 
vow,  beneath  her  protection  in  1348,  on  the 
appearance  of  that  “black  death”  which 
had  ravaged  the  globe,  and  which  struck 
its  victims  so  suddenly  that  men  died,  say 
the  contemporary  chronicles,  while  looking 
at  each  other.  When  the  intercession  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  had  arrested  this  frightful 
scourge,  they  founded  in  the  Norman  cathe¬ 
dral  one  of  the  most  magnificent  chapels 
in  the  world,  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of 
th*e  Vow.  A  white  marble  statue  of  Mary, 

ment  dus  par  laditte  ville,pour  117  livres  et  demie 
de  cire  ouvree  en  une  grande  chandelle  assise  sur 
ung  tour  de  bois,  par  elle  baillee  et  livree  le  12 
febvrier,  au  prix  de  4  solz  8  deniers  la  livre ;  somme 
de  la  chandelle  de  Nostre  Dame,  53  livres  11  solz  8 
deniers.” 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


crowned  with  white  roses,  stood  on  the 
altar  reared  to  her  by  public  gratitude, 
and  the  magistrates  of  Rouen  hung  above 
this  holy  image  a  lamp  of  solid  gold,  which 
was  kept  burning,  night  and  day,  till  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  the  Protestants 
extinguished  it.1 

The  cities  of  France  were  not  the  only 
ones  which  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  :  Genoa  the  Superb  inscrib¬ 
ed  on  its  gates,  “  Citta  di  Maria;”  and 
Fair  Venice  adorned  the  hall  of  her  great 
council,  in  1385,  with  a  magnificent  can¬ 
vas  by  Guariotto,  a  disciple  of  Giotto, 
representing  Christ  crowning  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Queen  of  Venice.  Beneath  this 
picture,  which  perished  some  centuries  ago, 
were  inscribed  these  four  lines  of  Dante  : 

“  L’amor  die  mosse  gia  l’eterno  padre 
Per  figlia  aver  di  sua  Deita  trina, 

Costei  che  fa  del  Figlio  suo  poi  Madre 
Dell’  universe)  qui  la  fa  regina.” 

The  doges  of  Venice  were  obliged  to 
leave  to  the  seignory  a  picture  in  which 
they  were  painted  kneeling  before  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  that  they  might  remember 
that  she  was  their  sovereign  and  that  of 
the  republic.2 

This  devotion  of  Genoa  and  Venice  to 
the  Mother  of  God  was  eclipsed  by  the 
ardent  devotion  rendered  to  her  by  the 
little  republic  of  Parma,  which  also  gave 
itself  to  Mary.  The  Parmesans  had  no 
more  solemn  day  than  the  15th  of  August, 
the  feast  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  patroness  of  their  cathedral  and 


(  )  Amiot.,  Ilistoire  de  la  Ville  de  Rouen,  t.  ii. 


m 


sovereign  of  their  republic.  This  feast 
with  them  rivalled  Easter-day,  and  was  so 
highly  respected,  that  the  Holy  See,  when 
laying  Parma  under  an  interdict,  always 
excepted  the  day  of  the  Assumption  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  , 

On  that  day  the  heads  of  families,  fol¬ 
lowed  by  all  the  members  of  their  houses, 
proceeded  to  the  superb  cathedral  of  Mary, 
whose  vaulted  ceiling  Correggio  was  soon 
to  paint,  with  banners  unfurled,  and  sing¬ 
ing  hymns,  and  laid  flowers  and  presents 
upon  her  altar  ;  any  inhabitant  of  Parma 
who  should  have  neglected  to  appear  in 
the  cathedral  would  have  lost  all  credit, 
says  Turchi,  and  been  pointed  out.  At 
this  solemn  feast,  when  rank  was  con¬ 
founded,  there  existed  no  longer  any  dis¬ 
tinction  or  pre-eminence  ;  they  might  have 
been  called  one  family  uniting  joyfully  to 
celebrate  the  feast  of  their  mother. 

Assuredly,  that  is  an  ardent  and  sincere 
devotion  which  can  stifle  the  hatred  of 
party  feelings !  That  of  the  Parmesans 
went  even  that  far.  In  the  vear  1323,  on 
the  day  of  the  Assumption,  the  Guelphs, 
who  were  banished  from  Parma,  putting 
away  their  old  enmities,  presented  them¬ 
selves  under  the  walls  of  the  city,  with 
their  hands  joined,  and  begged  to  be  allow¬ 
ed  to  enter  for  the  sake  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin.  The  population  of  the  city,  at  this 
name  of  Mary,  humbly  invoked  on  the  day 
of  her  solemn  festival,  felt  moved  with  com¬ 
passion,  and  by  a  spontaneous  movement 
each  one  ran  to  open  the  gates  ;  Guelph 
and  Ghibeline  embraced,  shedding  tears  of 


( ’ )  Delices  de  l’ltalie,  t.  i.,  p.  60. 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE 

DEVOTION  TO  THE 

joy,  and  they  conducted  the  exiles,  amid 

lands  of  Mary ;  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 

shouts  of  evviva!  from  the  citizens,  to  the 

their  heavenly  Lady  ;  and,  in  truth,  she 

celebrated  cathedral  of  Our  Lady,  where 

was  then  the  Lady  of  the  whole  loorld,  as 

they  swore  peace,  on  the  altar  of  the 

it  is  expressed  in  the  simple  legends  of  the 

Blessed  Virgin.  This  peace  lasted  fifty 

middle  ages.  These  orders,  subjected  to  a 

years.1 

powerful  organization,  which  partook  of 

To  appease  these  violent  factions  of  the 

the  discipline  of  a  camp,  and  the  severity 

Guelphs  and  Ghibelines,  who  divided  the 

of  a  monastic  rule,  conquered  provinces 

cities  of  Italy  into  camps,  and  made  their 

in  the  name  of  Mary, .  which  they  united 

streets  and  their  public  places  fields  of  bat- 

together  to  form  into  kingdoms.  The  order 

tie,  nothing  better  could  have  been  imag- 

of  the  Teutonic  knights  became,  as  is  well 

ined  than  to  create  an  order  of  knighthood 

known,  the  monarchy  of  Prussia  ;  and  under 

of  a  character  entirely  pacific,  the  Frati 

the  name  of  Knights  of  Rhodes,  the  Hos- 

Oaudenti,  or  knights  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

pitallers  reigned  over  one  of  the  finest 

who,  without  renouncing  the  world,  employ- 

islands  of  the  Levant.  To  these  religious 

ed  themselves  in  restoring,  in  the  name  and 

and  chivalrous  orders,  which  extended  the 

to  the  honor  of  the  Mother  of  God,  peace 

veneration  of  Mary  by  miracles  of  bravery, 

and  concord  in  the  Italian  peninsula. 

were  added  in  time  the  royal  orders,  of 

This  devotion  to  Mary,  which  brought 

which  Mary  was  also  generally  the  patron- 

back  peace  to  cities,  and  inspired  warriors 

ess.  It  was  in  her  honor  that  King  John 

with  courage,  was  the  soul  of  the  military 

founded  the  order  of  Knights  of  Our  Lady 

orders,  those  great,  ever-triumphant  armies 

of  the  Noble  House,  better  known  under 

of -the  middle  ages,  who  relied  for  the  most 

the  name  of  Knights  of  the  Star.  These 

part,  and  performed  their  prodigies,  upon 

knights  fasted  every  Saturday,  when  they 

their  faith  in  the  Mother  of  God.  In  this 

could,  and  when  they  could  not,  they  were 

religious  and  austere  division  of  chivalry, 

to  give  to  the  poor  fifteen  Parisian  deniers, 

the  absence  of  lady-love  was  represented 

in  memory  of  th e  fifteen  joys  of  Our  Lady. 

by  a  particular  devotion  to  the  Blessed 

They  were  authorized  to  hoist  a  standard 

Virgin  ;  thus  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of 

set  with  stars,  with  a  figure  of  the  Blessed 

Jerusalem  invoked  Mary  on  receiving  their 

Virgin,  either  to  make  war  upon  the  ene- 

swords, — an  invocation  which  the  Knights 

mies  of  the  faith,  or  for  the  service  of 

of  Malta,  the  latest  form  of  this  celebrated 

their  liege  lord.  They  swore  to  die  rather 

order,  still  perform.  The  Teutonic  knights 

than  surrender,  and  not  to  fly  farther  than 

took  the  name  of  Knights  of  the  Virgin ; 2 

the  distance  of  four  acres,  when  superior- 

; 

the  lands  which  they  conquered  from  the 

ity  of  numbers  forced  them  to  retreat. 

pagans  of  the  north  of  Europe  they  styled 

Charles  VI.,  that  poor  prince,  who  by 

( 1 )  Chronic.  Parm.  in  med.  ann.  1323  ;  Chronic. 

tion  of  these  knights,  under  the  title  of  Brothers 

Parm.  apud  Murator.,  10,  Rer. 

Hospitallers  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  placed 

('■')  In  1191  the  pope,  approved  of  the  institu- 

them  under  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine. 

« 

;  1 

1. 

. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


279 


his  precocious  valor  gained,  when  only 
fourteen,  the  famous  victory  of  Rosbecq, 
“  which  greatly  incensed  the  English,  who 
would  raise  up  envy^,  even  if  it  were  dead,” 
at  least  according  to  Messire  John  Frois¬ 
sart,1  instituted  likewise,  during  the  first 
years  of  his  reign,  an  order  of  knighthood 
in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  a  vow  which  he  had  made  in 
Languedoc.  During  his  abode  at  Tou¬ 
louse,  he  frequently  hunted  with  Oliver  de 
Clisson,  Peter  of  Navarre,  and  a  number 
of  lords  of  his  court,  in  the  ancient  forest 
of  Bouconne.  One  day,  when  he  had  sep¬ 
arated  from  his  retinue,  pursuing  a  wild 
beast  with  too  much  eagerness,  night  over¬ 
took  him  in  the  midst  of  wild  heaths,  path¬ 
less  solitudes,  and  great  woods  full  of  the 
bears  and  wild  boars  of  the  old  druiclical 
forest ;  to  add  to  the  dangers  of  his  situa¬ 
tion,  the  darkness  grew  thicker  and  thicker, 
and  a  clouded  sky  hid  the  stars.  Terrified 
at  his  isolation,  not  knowing  what  direction 

( 1 )  “  On  dit  en  un  commun  proverbe,  et  voir 
(vrai)  est,  que  oncques  envie  ne  mourut.  Je  le 
ramentoy  (rappelle)  pourtant  (attendu)  que,  par 
nature,  Anglois  sont  trop  envieux  sur  le  bien 
d’autruie  et  out  toujours  este.  Sachez  que  le  roi 
d’Angleterre,  et  ses  oncles,  et  les  nobles  d’Angle- 
terre,  estoient  durement  courrouces  du  bien  et  de 
l’lion neur  qui  estoient  advenus  au  roi  de  France 
et  aux  nobles  de  France  a  la  bataille  de  Bose- 
becque ;  et  disoient  en  Angleterre  les  chevaliers 
quand  ils  en  parloient  ensemble,  ‘Ha!  Sainte 
Marie!  que  ces  Francois  font  maintenant  de  fumee 
pour  un  mont  de  vilains  qu’ils  ont  rues  jus  ! 
Plust  a  Dieu  que  ce  Philippe  d’Arteville  eust  eu 
des  nostres  deux  mille  homme  et  six  mille  archers  ; 
il  n’eu  fust  ja  pied  echappe  de  ces  Francis  que 
tous  ne  fussent  ou  mort  on  pris.’  ” 


to  follow,  the  prince  made  a  solemn  vow 
to  Our  Lady  of  Hope,  and  humbly  placed 
himself  under  her  protection.  A  light 
breeze  at  once  disperses  the  clouds,  and  a 
bright  star  casts  its  gray  pearly  rays  upon 
a  beaten  path,  which  leads  the  young 
monarch  out  of  the  forest.  The  next  day, 
Charles,  followed  by  his  lords  completely 
armed  except  their  heads,  proceeded  to  ful¬ 
fil  his  vow  at  the  chapel  of  Mary.  To  per¬ 
petuate  the  memory  of  his  perilous  adven¬ 
ture,  he  founded,  a  short  time  after,  the 
Order  of  Our  Lady  of  Hope,  and  would 
have  a  star  for  its  emblem.2 

In  the  year  1370,  Louis  II.,  Duke  of 
Bourbon,  instituted  the  Order  of  Knights 
of  the  Thistle,  of  Our  Lady.  This  order 
was  composed  of  twenty-six  knights,  who 
wore  a  blue  velvet  girdle  embroidered  with 
gold,  with  the  word  Hope  in  similar  em¬ 
broidery  ;  the  buckle  of  fine  gold  bore, 
in  green  enamel,  the  head  of  a  thistle.  On 
the  day  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 

( 2 )  The  institution  of  Our  Lady  of  Good  Hope 
is  proved  by  an  ancient  painting  which  is  seen  on 
the  wall  of  the  cloister  of  the  Carmelites  of  Tou¬ 
louse,  near  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  Hope,  where 
the  king  of  France  is  represented  on  horseback, 
bowing  before  an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin ; 
some  lords  are  also  painted  there  in  full  armor, 
except  on  their  heads.  Their  names,  written 
underneath,  are  almost  effaced ;  but  there  may 
still  be  read  those  of  the  Duke  of  Touraine,  the 
Duke  of  Bourbon,  of  Peter  de  Navarre,  of  Henry 
de  Bar,  and  Oliver  de  Clisson.  All  these  person¬ 
ages  are  painted  of  the  size  of  life.  The  back¬ 
ground  of  this  painting  is  filled  with  wolves, 
wild  boars,  &c.  At  the  cop,  on  a  sort  of  frieze, 
are  angels  bearing  scrolls,  on  which  is  written 
thrice  the  word  Hope. — (Dom.  Vaissette,  Hist,  du 
Languedoc,  t.  iv.,  p.  396.) 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


28Q- 


Our  Lady,  which  was  the  grand  festival  of 
the  order,  the  Knights  of  the  Thistle  wore 
a  sumptuous  robe  of  pink  damask,  and  a 
sky-blue  mantle,  embroidered  with  gold, 
over  which  they  wore  the  grand  collar  of 
the  order,  composed  of  lozenges  and  fleurs- 
de-lis  of  gold,  with  the  word  Hope  upon 
each  lozenge.  From  the  end  of  the  collar 
hung  an  oval  medallion  bearing  the  figure 
of  Mary,  below  which  was  seen  the  head 
of  a  thistle,  in  green  enamel,  relieved  with 
white } 

Devout  and  chivalrous  Spain  had  also, 
in  the  middle  ages,  royal  orders  founded 
in  honor  of  Mary.  Alphonsus,  or  rather 
Don  Alonso  the  Learned,  founded  an  order 
of  knighthood,  which  he  placed  under  the 
protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  Don 
James  II.,  King  of  Arragon,  to  reward  the 
bravery  of  the  inhabitants  of  Montesa, 
whose  castle,  built  upon  the  summit  of  a 
high  mountain,  had  many  times  heroically 
resisted  the  Moors,  founded  in  1319  an  or¬ 
der  of  knighthood  under  the  title  of  Sanda 
Maria  de  Montesa ,  to  which  he  generously 
gave,  with  the  consent  of  the  pope,  the  pos¬ 
sessions  of  the  suppressed  order  of  the 
Templars  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia. 

A  little  later,  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  Christian  I.,  King  of  Den¬ 
mark,  founded,  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Trin¬ 
ity  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  royal  Order 
of  the  Elephant,  the  members  of  which 
undertook  various  pious  engagements,  par¬ 
ticularly  that  of  defending  the  Catholic 
faith  at  the  peril  of  their  lives  :  the  elephant 
was  the  symbol  of  the  virtues  of  the  order. 


( 1 )  Favin,  Hist,  de  Navarre,  liv.  viii. 


The  royal  and  military  orders  were  not 
the  only  ones  to  take  Mary  for  their  pa¬ 
troness  :  the  religious  soldiery,  who  gain 
battles  by  prayer  under  the  shield  of  faith, 
would  also  march  under  the  banner  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  distinguished  them¬ 
selves  by  heroism  of  a  different  kind.  In 
the  West,  the  first  religious  order  especially 
founded  in  honor  of  Mary,  was  that  of 
Citeaux,  which  acknowledges  as  its  founder 
St.  Robert,  a  young  Norman  of  rank,  who 
was  destined  by  his  family  to  the  profes¬ 
sion  of  arms,  but  who  chose  to  gain  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  rather  than  the  king¬ 
doms  of  earth.  In  the  year  1098  he 
founded,  in  a  wild  spot  overgrown  with 
brambles  and  thorns,  which  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  had  given  him,  the  famous  Ab¬ 
bey  of  Citeaux,  and  gave  the  twenty  reli¬ 
gious  who  had  accompanied  him  thither,  a 
white  habit,  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  and,  according  to  the  annalists  of 
Citeaux,  in  consequence  of  a  revelation 
from  her.  To  merit  the  protection  of  Mary, 
Robert  and  his  religious  condemned  them¬ 
selves  to  the  most  poor,  isolated,  laborious, 
and  austere  life  that  could  possibly  be  im¬ 
agined  ;  they  banished  from  their  cloister 
all  that  had  the  least  appearance  of  luxury. 
Their  abbey  church  had  but  a  wooden 
cross  ;  the  censers  and  candlesticks  were 
iron,  and  the  chalices  of  copper  gilt ;  the 
vestments  were  of  coarse  stuff ;  the  abbot’s 
crosier  was  merely  the  crutched  staff  used 
at  that  time  by  old  men.  To  avoid  all  that 
could  interfere  with  seclusion  and  recollec 
tion,  they  agreed  not  to  allow  any  prince  or 
nobleman  from  that  time  to  hold  his  court 
in  their  church  or  monastery,  as  they  were 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


281 


accustomed  to  do  on  great  festivals.  These 
regulations  were  made  only  by  degrees. 
The  greater  part  are  from  the  abbot  Ste¬ 
phen,  who  had  succeeded  Alberic,  Robert’s 
successor,  in  1109.  So  great  was  the  pen¬ 
ury  of  the  monastery  in  the  year  following, 
that  the  abbot  was  obliged  to  mount  his 
ass  and  beg  alms,  accompanied  by  a  brother. 
The  rigors  which  they  practised  were  mak¬ 
ing  Citeaux  a  desert ;  none  came  to  replace 
the  religious  who  died,  and  the  abbot  be¬ 
gan  seriously  to  fear  that  this  new  institute 
would  perish  in  its  cradle  ;  but  Mary,  who  | 
protected  it,  woulcT  not  permit  this,  and  be¬ 
stowed  a  magnificent  present  in  the  person 
of  St.  Bernard,  who  retired  thither  with 
several  of  his  relations  in  1113.  He  was 
hardly  seventeen  years  ;  at  nineteen  he 
was  sent  to  Clairvaux  as  abbot,  and  began 
to  clear  that  spot,  which  was  covered  with 
thickets.  While  St.  Bernard  was  laying 
the  foundations  of  Clairvaux,  La  Fert6, 
Pontigny,  and  Morimond,  which  are  the 
three  other  filiations  of  Citeaux,  were  fill¬ 
ing  up  by  the  favor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
The  wild  spot  where  arose  the  Abbey  of 
Morimond,  the  most  austere  of  all  the 
Cistercian  abbeys,  was  a  pious  donation  of 
Olderic  of  Grammont  and  Adeline  his  wife, 
lords  of  Choiseul.1  These  four  abbeys  were 
the  first  and  the  mothers  of  several  others, 
into  the  details  of  which  we  shall  not  enter, 
all  equally  austere  and  regular,  all  worthy 
of  the  heavenly  protection  of  their  Pat¬ 
roness.  The  religious  labored  in  the  woods 
and  fields,  sowed  seed,  reaped  wheat, 


(')  Annales  Cistercienses,  by  E.  P.  Manrique, 
ann.  1115,  c.  i. 


mowed  the  meadows,  felled  trees,  and  car¬ 
ried  the  wood  on  their  backs.  When  they 
returned  to  the  convent,  they  received  with 
thankfulness  what  was  given  them  to  eat, 
that  is,  a  pound  of  coarse  brown  bread 
mixed  with  tares,  with  pottage  made  of 
beech-leaves.  Their  bed  was  straw,  their 
pillow  a  sack  of  oat-hulls  ;  and  after  some 
hours’  rest,  they  rose  again  at  midnight,  to 
sing  ther  praises  of  the  Lord.  Such  was  the 
pious  life  of  these  monks  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  whom  their  conduct  honored,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  expression  which  God  him¬ 
self  employs  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  ;  and 
accordingly  she  condescended  to  give  them 
sensible  marks  of  her  favor.  The  Cister¬ 
cian  annals  record  that  when  these  good 
religious,  whose  lives  were  so  austere, 
whose  heart  was  so  pure,  and  hands  so 
busy,  sweated  under  the  burthen  of  the 
day,  during  the  harvest,  without  venturing 
to  appease  their  extreme  thirst  with  the 
water  of  the  neighboring  spring,  and  their 
limbs,  languid  under  the  burning  heat,  of 
summer,  with  the  delicious  coolness  of  the 
ancient  woods  which  bordered  their  clear¬ 
ings,  the  Blessed  Virgin  wiped  away  with 
her  white  veil  the  sweat  of  labor  from  the 
pale  and  furrowed  brows  of  the  brethren.2 

Men  of  high  birth  flocked  to  Citeaux : 
Prince  Henry,  brother  of  Louis  the  Young, 
became  a  monk  at  Clairvaux  in  the  year 
1149  ;  St.  Malachy,  descended  from  the 
kings  of  Ireland,  and  primate  of  that 
island,  exchanged  his  pontifical  vestments 
for  the  poor  ornaments  of  serge  and  fustian 


( * )  Annales  Cistercienses,  ad  ann.  1199,  c.  v.,  et 
1228,  c.  vi. ;  ann.  1121,  c.  yi. 


36 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


282 


of  the  religious  of  the  Blessed  Virgin ; 
Wallen,,  one  of  the  first  lords  of  the  court 
of  Scotland,  dear  to  the  king,  his  relative, 
who  invited  him  to  all  his  hunting  parties, 
abandoned  the  world  and  its  pomps,  which 
smiled  upon  him,  to  shut  himself  up  in  a 
monastery  of  Citeaux.  The  king  having 
often  perceived  that  the  young  nobleman, 
instead  of  hunting  the  heath-cock  and  deer, 
retired  apart  among  the  tall  fern  or  under 
the  whitethorns  in  the  thickets  to  read  and 
pray, — “  I  must  make  him  a  bishop,”  said 
the  pious  monarch  one  day,  thoughtfully 
eying  him.  Wallen  anticipated  him,  and 
became  a  monk  at  W ardon. 

In  1129,  Everard,  Count  of  Mans,  abdi¬ 
cated  his  crown  as  sovereign  prince  for  the 
cowl  of  Citeaux.  He  went  and  presented 
himself  in  disguise  at  one  of  the  abbeys  of 
the  order,  and  he  was  entrusted  with  the 
care  of  the  flocks  of  the  monastery ;  he 
would  have  remained  always  unknown 
there,  if  some  nobles  of  Mans  had  not  re¬ 
cognized  him  feeding  sheep  on  the  border 
of  a  heath.  Another  young  lord  of  very 
high  birth;  having  taken  the  habit  of 
Citeaux,  was  sent  to  drive  a  troop  of  swine 
every  day  under  the  oaks  of  a  neighboring 
forest,  where  they  fed  deliciously  on  acorns 
and  beech-nuts.  One  day,  when  the  nov¬ 
ice  was  not  engaged  in  prayer,  he  heard 
the  voice  of  Satan,  the  father  of  pride,  who 
whispered  to  him  in  a  low  voice  that  he 
was  following  a  very  strange  occupation 
for  the  son  of  a  powerful  baron.  This 
young  nobleman,  hitherto  so  pious,  bit  his 
lips,  and  his  fervor  disappeared ;  when 
evening  came,  he  returned  to  the  monas¬ 
tery,  and  retired  to  the  chapel.  Whoever 


had  seen  him  kneeling  before  Our  Lady’s 
altar,  sunk  in  deep  meditation,  would  have 
said,  “Here  is  a  saint,  whose  thoughts  are 
in  heaven.”  Yet  his  thoughts  had  not 
taken  so  lofty  a  flight,  for  he  was  think¬ 
ing  of  his  father’s  castle,  and-  cherishing 
thoughts  of  flight.  “The  night  is  very 
dark,”  said  the  novice  to  himself,  as  he 
looked  out  beyond  the  porch  of  the  chapel ; 
“  the  wind  is  blowing  a  tempest :  it  is  the 

very  time  to  make  my  escape . Keep 

swine  indeed !  let  us  be  off  then !  the  son 
of  one  of  the  first  lords  of  the  court ; — but 
it  is  disgraceful He  arose,  and 
walked  down  the  nave  with  a  resolute  step  ; 
but  as  he  was  going  to  step  over  the 
threshold,  he  perceived  a  woman  standing 
before  him !  At  first  he  thought  he  was 
dreaming  ;  but  no,  there  stood  before  him, 
at  the  end  of  the  chapel,  a  woman  beauti¬ 
ful  as  an  angel,  and  majestic  as  a  queen ; 
with  a  gracious  wave  of  her  hand,  and  a 
smile  of  compassionate  pity,  she  beckoned 
him  to  follow  her,  and  he  mechanically 
obeyed.  The  unknown  lady  went  toward 
the  cemetery,  which  the  moon,  half  con¬ 
cealed  by  thick  clouds,  tinged  with  a 
strange  light ;  the  large  yews,  moving 
gloomily  in  the  wind,  seemed  to  moan  over 
the  dead,  and  the  night-birds  mingled  their 
mournful  cries  with  the  tumult  of  the  tem¬ 
pest.  An  icy  tremor  ran  through  the  young 
monk’s  limbs  ;  his  calm  and  radiant  guide 
stretched  out  her  hand,  and  lo,  the  turfy 
coverings  of  the  tombs  slowly  opened,  and 
the  dead  arose,  cold  and  pale  in  their  wind¬ 
ing-sheets.  The  novice  was  swooning  with 
fear,  when  the  unknown  lady,  eying  him 
with  tender  compassion,  said  in  a  sweet  and 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  283 


penetrating  voice,  “  Yet  a  little  while,  and 
you  will  be  even  as  these  dead  !  Whither 
then  would  you  wish  to  go,  and  what  are 
you  thinking  of  ?  Here  ends  the  glory  of 
this  world  !  ”  As  she  said  these  words,  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  for  it  was  she  herself,  dis¬ 
appeared  ;  the  graves  closed  again,  and 
the  young  novice,  who  no  longer  dreamed 
of  leaving  the  convent,  became  a  model  of 
virtue  and  humility.1 

The  Order  of  Citeaux,  which  was  spread 
over  every  country  of  Christendom,  was 
suppressed  in  France  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Revolution. 

The  Order  of  Fontevrault,  founded  in 
1100,  by  Robert  of  Abricelle,  in  honor  of 
the  holy  obedience  of  Jesus  to  the  orders 
of  Mary,  and  the  sonship  of  John  with  re¬ 
gard  to  Mary,  could  have  arisen  only  in  the 
chivalrous  middle  ages.  In  this  order, 
which  had  for  nuns  high  and  mighty  dames, 
and  for  abbesses  princesses  of  the  blood 
royal,  the  women  commanded  the  men,  and 
the  abbots  would  not  have  dared  to  con¬ 
sider  the  abbess  as  sister,  whom  in  all 
humility  they  were  bound  to  call  their 
mother,2  and  who  was  the  absolute  sover¬ 
eign  of  the  order.  The  foundation  of  this 
order  excited  some  storms  at  its  beginning : 
Marbode,  Bishop  of  Rennes,  and  Godfrey, 
Bishop  of  VendGme,  alarmed  at  the  strange¬ 
ness  of  this  inverted  obedience,  declared 
against  Fontevrault ;  but  it  subsisted,  not¬ 


( 1 )  Ann.  1207,  c.  iv. 

( 1 )  A  decision  of  the  parliament  ordered  the 
monks  of  the  Abbey  of  Fontevrault  to  call  the 
abbess  their  mother  and  not  their  sister. — (See  the 
Ann.  de  Fontevr.) 


withstanding,  till  the  Revolution.  It  was 
in  this  abbey  that  the  princesses  of  the 
blood  royal  were  educated. 

Seven  merchants  of  Florence  also  found¬ 
ed,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  middle  ages, 
the  Order  of  Servites,  or  serfs  of  Mary, 
which  gave  to  the  church  a  St.  Philip  Be- 
niti,  author  of  the  touching  devotion  to  the 
Seven  Dolors  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In 
fine,  the  sweet  name  of  Mary  was  attached 
to  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy,  whose 
object  was  to  ransom  Christians  fallen 
into  slavery  among  infidels.  This  ordey 
founded  on  the  10th  of  August,  1218,  is 
one  of  those  holy  works  which  do  honor  to 
humanity  ;  its  rules  were  extremely  severe, 
and  it  held  a  middle  position  between  the 
military  orders  and  orders  purely  monastic. 

If  the  other  religious  orders  of  chivalrous 
times  were  less  directly  placed  under  the 
immediate  patronage  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
than  those  of  which  we  have  spoken,  all 
vied  with  each  other  in  honoring  her,  and 
were  grounded  on  her  influence.  The  an¬ 
cient  Carthusians  dedicated  to  Mary  their 
first  chapel,  which  still  subsists  in  the  midst 
of  the  rocks  where  it  was  originally  built, 
and  bears  the  memorial  name  of  Our  Lady 
of  the  Thatch.3 

The  cradle  of  the. Order  of  the  Francis¬ 
cans  was  a  very  small  ancient  chapel,  in  a 
most  ruinous  state,  built  originally  by  four 
solitaries  of  Palestine,  who  had  styled  it  St. 


( s )  Sacellum  beat*  Mari*  de  Casalibus.  This 
chapel,  which  the  Carthusians  have  respectfully 
preserved  as  the  first  cradle  of  their  order,  still 
subsists.  Tastefully  decorated,  and  hidden  in  the 
depth  of  forests,  it  has  a  very  pleasing  effect. 


284 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Mary  of  Josaphat,  because  some  relics  from 
the  sepulchre  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  were 
venerated  in  it. 

The  Order  of  Dominicans  took  its  rise  at 
Our  Lady  of  Priuli. 


St.  Norbert  reformed  PremontrS  by 
order  of  the  Mother  of  God  ;  and  he 
obliged  his  religious  to  say  daily  the  office 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  under  pain  of 
mortal  sin. 


FOURTH  EPOCH:  FROM  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  DOWN  TO  OUR  DAYS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  REVIVAL. 


CATHOLIC  Europe,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  still 
kneeling  before  Mary,  whose  already  time- 
honored  cathedrals  were  completed  with 
admirable  perseverance.  Many  confrater¬ 
nities  were  then  founded  in  honor  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  German  princes  wore  her 
scapular,  and  the  kings  of  England  of  the 
red  rose  were  anointed  at  coronations  with 
a  miraculous  oil  shining  brighter  than  fine 
gold ,  which  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  had 
given  expressly  for  them  to  St.  Thomas  a 
Becket  during  his  exile.1 

The  students  of  those  great  colleges, 
where  so  many  free  courses  were  establish¬ 
ed  in  the  name  of  Our  Lady,  rose  at  day¬ 
break,  to  say  together  the  office  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  ;  even  princes,  not  except¬ 
ing  the  reigning  sovereign,  recited  it  also, 
at  fixed  hours,  with  certain  other  offices  of 


the  church.  A  small  room  set  apart  in 
their  apartments,  and  much  resembling  the 
domestic  chapels  of  the  Romans,  was  espe¬ 
cially  dedicated  to  these  morning  devotions. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans,  uncle  of  Charles 
VI.,  whose  life  was  far  from  being  edifying, 
had  nevertheless,  at  the  Hotel  St.  Paul,  an 
oratory  enriched  with  Gothic  sculptures  of 
Irish  wood,  on  the  door  of  which  were  to 
be  read  these  words  : — “  Retreat  where 
Monsieur  Louis  of  France  recites  his 
Hours.” 2 

At  Naples,  the  feast  of  Our  Lady  of 
Carmel  had  something  chivalrous,  which 
was  wanting  in  the  festivals  of  France,  and 
denoted  an  origin  contemporary  with  the 
Crusades.  The  principal  spectacle  of  ihis 
gran  festa  was  a  sort  of  petty  war  sustained 
by  the  young  men  of  the  city. 

A  Turkish  fortress  was  erected  in  the 


( 1 )  Boucher,  Annales  de  l’Aquitaine,  t.  iv.,  p.  3. 


( * )  Felibien,  t.  i.,  p.  654  ;  Sauval,  Mem.  MS. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


285 


centre  of  *the  Mercato  del  Carmine;  the 
crescent  glittered  upon  its  ramparts,  and 
it  was  defended  by  three  or  four  hundred 
young  men,  who,  under  the  name  of  Alarhes , 
represented  a  sort  of  Turkish  soldiery. 
The  besiegers  of  this  fort,  representing  the 
Neapolitan  nation,  never  failed  to  conquer 
the  infidels,  nor  did  the  people  fail  to  re¬ 
joice  at  a  victory,  which  was  the  image  of 
the  triumph  of  the  cross  over  the  crescent. 

The  rosary1  and  the  chaplet,  which  Ital¬ 
ians  call  corona ,  were  worn  by  the  prince 
and  peasant,  by  magistrate  and  warrior. 
A  costly  rosary  was  put  among  the  rich 
wedding-gifts  ;  and  the  grand  ladies  of  the 
age  of  the  Revival,  like  those  of  the  Mid¬ 
dle  Ages,  were  often  represented  on  their 
stone  monuments  with  beads  in  their  hands. 
This  devotion,  first  invented  for  the  poor, 
had  become  the  prayer  of  all.  Yeomanry 
and  gentlemen  said  their  beads  as  they 
went  out  into  the  country,  or  came  back 
to  town,  the  clients  at  the  court-house,  while 
awaiting  their  lawyers,  and  the  Christians 
of  all  classes,  as  they  went  to  gain  the 
pardons  at  distant  churches.  Kings  them¬ 
selves  set  the  example,— Blanche  of  Castile 
said  her  rosary  every  day  ;  Edward  III. 
of  England  gave  his  rosary,  set  with  pearls, 
to  Eustace  de  Ribeaumont,  a  French  knight, 


( 1 )  The  rosary  was  instituted  in  the  year  1208, 
by  St.  Dominic ;  but  he  was  not  exactly  the  in¬ 
ventor  of  it.  As  early  as  1094,  Peter  the  Hermit 
had  made  beads  of  wood,  upon  which  the  soldiers 
of  the  Crusades,  who  for  the  most  part  could  not 
read,  recited  a  certain  number  of  Our  Fathers  and 
Hail  Marys,  which  varied  according  to  the  solem¬ 
nity  of  the  feasts.  Before  him,  ancient  historians 
record  that  devout  persons  already  recited  a  series 


who  had  twice  unhorsed  him.  In  the  in¬ 
ventory  made  after  the  death  of  Charles 
Y.,  says  Le  Sage,  we  find  ten  gold  rosaries. 
The  Swiss,  at  Grandson,  found  in  the  ducal 
tent  of  Charles  of  Burgundy  his  Pater 
(beads),  on  which  the  apostles  were  rep¬ 
resented  in  solid  gold.2  The  famous  con¬ 
stable  Anne  of  Montmorency,  as  all  know, 
habitually  said  his  beads  as  he  rode  at  the 
head  of  his  troops.  “  Sometimes,  leaving 
a  Pater  unsaid,  he  commanded  some  mili¬ 
tary  expedition,  or  gave  the  signal  for  an 
attack ;  then  he  conscientiously  told  his 
‘Aves,’  ”  says  an  historian  of  the  time,  “  so 
great  was  his  devotion.” 

The  chaplet,  which  derives  its  name 
from  the  crowns  of  flowers  which  in  the 
middle  ages  were  called  chapels ,  or  cha¬ 
peaux ,  was  the  spiritual  crown  of  Mary  ; 
it  was  said  in  those  days,  and  it  was  a 
graceful  and  poetical  thought,  that  near 
every  Christian  who  recited  it  with  atten¬ 
tion  and  fervor  stood  an  angel,  sometimes 
visible,  who  strung  on  a  golden  thread  a 
rose  for  each  Ave,  and  a  golden  lily  for 
each  Pater ,  and  who,  after  setting  this  gar¬ 
land  on  the  head  of  the  devout  servant  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  disappeared,  leaving  a 
sweet  odor  of  roses.3 

The  kings  of  "Scotland  and  their  great 


of  Our  Fathers  and  Hail  Marys  upon  knotted 
cords— “  Per  cordulam  nodis  distinctam.” — (Regies 
de  la  confrairie  du  Rosaire  ;  Astolfi  ;  Gabriel  Pen- 
notus,  in  Hist,  tripart.) 

( 2 )  Lisken,  Histoire  de  Louis  XI.,  p.  91. 

( 9 )  The  chaplet  owed  its  origin  to  a  young 
religious  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis.  Previously 
to  taking  the  habit  of  the  Friars  Minors,  this 
young  man  had  the  custom  of  making,  every  day, 


286  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


vassals  wore  gold  rosaries  to  preserve  them 
from  all  evil ;  the  bold  cavaliers  of  the 
border  made  themselves  plainer  ones  with 
nuts  gilded  by  the  autumn  sun,  and  never 
recited  them  with  more  fervor,  says 
Leslie,  than  in  their  expeditions  against 
the  English.  The  gold  beads  disappeared 
with  the  last  Catholic  sovereign,  poor 
Queen  Mary  ;  but  those  which  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  border  gathered  in  the  woods 
long  held  out  against  the  shocks  of  the 
Reformation.  It  was  the  last  Catholic 
practice  in  Caledonia  ;  with  it  fell  the 
ancient  religion  of  Bruce,  Wallace,  and. 
David  I.,  a  religion  to  which,  as  the  radical 
Cobbett  shows,  Scotland  and  England  were 
indebted  for  all  that  they  have  had  great, 
either  in  men  or  things. 

The  Georgians  and  the  people  of  Italy 
made  coronas  with  as  little  expense  as  the 
Scotch  ;  they  employed  for  them  the  stones 
of  the  azedarah ,  which  the  Italians  still  call 
Valbero  dei  paternostri. 

The  tender  and  sincere  piety  of  our  fore¬ 
fathers  toward  the  Blessed  Virgin  assumed 
at  that  time  the  sweetest  and  most  affecting 
forms.  Berries  borrowed  from  the  shrubs, 
fruits  plucked  from  the  bushes,  composed 
for  her  a  religious  garland  ;  flowers,  heaths, 
plants  of  Europe  and  Asia  were  honored 
with  her  name,  and  reminded  men  of  her 
amid  field  and  wood.  The  narcissus,  with 
its  purple-edged  corolla,  received  the  name 
of  Mary’s  lily  ;  the  rose  of  Jericho,  and 

a  garland  of  flowers,  with  which  he  crowned  the 
image  of  Our  Lady.  Unable  to  continue  this 
devout  practice  in.  his  convent?  he  was  going  to 
leave  off  the  custom,  but,  as  he  was  thinking  of 
so  doing,  Our  Lady  appeared  to  him,  and  ordered 


Solomon’s  seal,  became  her  rose  and  her 
seal ;  the  white  spotted  lungwort  was  Our 
Lady’s  milk  ;  the  Scot  took  for  his  emblem 
her  blessed  thistle  ;  the  Christian  Arab 
called  a  sort  of  wliite-blossoming  worm¬ 
wood,  which  grows  upon  his  sandy  wastes, 
St.  Mary’s  smoke  ;  the  mountain  herdboy 
distinguished  the  Alpine  mint,  the  rose¬ 
mary,  and  persicaria,  by  the  name  of  St. 
Mary’s  herb  ;  the  oriental  Mussulmans  call 
the  sweet  smelling  cyclamen,  bokour  Miriam 
(Mary’s  perfume),  and  the  same  plant  bears 
in  Persian  the  name  of  Tchenlc  Miriam 
(Mary’s  hand) ;  a  spring  flower  of  Europe 
received  the  name  of  Our  Lady’s  mantle  ; 
the  bilberry,  with  its  dark  and  sweet  ber¬ 
ries,  was  her  signet ;  the  wild  service  ber¬ 
ries  of  the  Alps  were  her  pears,  and  the 
carpets  of  wild  thyme,  where  the  tired  bee 
reposes,  had  also  her  name. 

In  some  countries  of  the  north,  on  the 
contrary,  they  scrupulously  avoided  giving 
the  name  of  the  Virgin,  not  only  to  things, 
but  to  persons,  lest  that  name  should  come 
to  be  treated  with  irreverence,  or  be  borne 
unworthily.  Among  the  Poles  no  woman 
was  called  Mary,  and  this  prohibition  ex¬ 
tended  so  far  that  Ladislas  IV.,  on  marry¬ 
ing  Mary  Louisa  de  Nevers,  inserted  in  the 
clauses  of  the  contract,  that  the  new  queen 
should  drop  her  name  of  Mary,  which 
offended  Polish  respect  for  the  Mother  of 
God,  and  that  she  should  bear  only  the 
name  of  Louisa.1 


him  to  substitute  for  the  crown  of  flowers  the 
spiritual  crown  of  the  chaplet  of  beads. — (F.  Alex¬ 
ander  Salo,  Methode  pourhonorer  laYierge  Marie, 
p.  672.) 

(  '  )  Dovendo  Ladislao  IV.  prendere  per  moglie 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


287 


In  the  first  years  of  the  fourteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  Pope  Innocent  XXII.,  justly  alarmed 
at  the  conquests  of  the  Mussulmans,  in¬ 
stituted  a  prayer  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  under  the  name  of  the  Ave  Maria; 
this  prayer,  for  which  the  most  mysterious 
and  sweetest  hour  of  the  day  had  been 
chosen,  that  hour  when  the  day  vanishes,1 
was  said  in  France  and  England  at  the  first 
toll  of  the  curfew-bell.  All  Catholics  then 
said  three  Hail  Marys  for  the  success  of 
the  arms  of  the  Christians,  and  begged  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  that  there  might  be 
peace,  union,  and  prosperity  in  the  several 
kingdoms  subject  to  the  faith.  Louis  XI., 
in  1475,  instituted  the  Angelas,  the  same  as 
now  in  use,  in  honor  of  the  mystery  of  the 
Incarnation  ;  and  wished,  besides  the  even¬ 
ing  prayer,  which  was  said  for  the  general 
peace  of  Christendom,  there  should  be 
added  one,  at  noon,  for  the  especial  peace 
of  his  own  kingdom.  His  decree  is  in  these 
words  :  “  It  is  commanded  that  all  French¬ 
men,  knights,  soldiers,  and  countrymen 
shall  kneel  down,  on  both  knees,  at  the 
sound  of  the  noontide  bell,  shall  devoutly 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  say  a 
prayer  to  Our  Lady  to  obtain  good  peace.” 

The  decree  was  obeyed  with  a  degree 


la  figliuola  del  duca  di  Nevers,  chiamata  Maria 
Aloisa,  messe  questa  special  condizione  che  la  reina, 
par  riverenza  della  Vergine,  si  chiamasse  nell’  ave- 
n ire  solamente  Aloisa. — (II  P.  Paolo  Segneri,  t.  vii., 
p.  571.) 

( 1 )  Polidore  Virgil  attributes  the  institution  of 
the  Ave  Maria  in  the  evening  to  Pope  John  XXII., 
and  that  in  the  morning  to  Theodoric,  Archbishop 
of  Cologne. 

1  * )  Alexis  Monteil,  Vie  privee  des  Fran9ais,  t.  i. 


of  exactitude  which  proves  how  popular 
devotion  to  Mary  was.  During  the  fifteenth 
century,  at  the  first  sound  of  the  Angelas, 
in  houses,  in* *the  streets,  in  the  fields  and 
on  the  roads,  there  was  not  a  Frenchman 
who  did  not  fall  prostrate  to  pray  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  This  duty  fulfilled,  prom- 
enaders  and  travellers  rose  up  again,  and 
went  their  way.2 

At  those  processions,  so  long-extended 
that  the  head  reached  St.  Denis,  while  the 
last  ranks  still  trod  the  court  of  Notre 
Dame,3  the  silken  banner  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  worked  with  gold,  was  borne 
aloft  above  all  the  sacred  banners,  and 
went  immediately  after  the  cross.  Kings, 
queens,  bishops,  honorable  men  of  the 
higher  ranks  of  citizens,  were  associates  in 
the  confraternity  of  Notre  Dame,4  and 
there  were  seen  in  these  pious  gatherings 
the  gold-embroidered  hoods  of  princes, 
mingled  with  the  parti-colored  hoods  of 
red  and  blue  of  the  burgesses  of  Paris. 

At  every  corner  of  the  streets,  a  little 
statue  of  Mary;  rudely  carved  of  oak, 
blackened  by  time,  and  covered  with  a 
veil  of  ajitique  lace,  raised  its  ancient  head 
above  a  mass  of  flowers,  which  some  pious 
souls  of  the  neighborhood  renewed  every 


( 3 )  Capefigue,  Histoire  de  la  Keforme. 

( * )  This  confraternity,  the  most  ancient  of 
those  of  Our  Lady  of  Paris,  was  established  in 
1168.  It  was  called  La  Grande  Confrerie  de 
Nostre  Dame  aux  seigneurs,  prestres  et  bourgeois 
de  Paris.  The  king,  queen,  and  bishop  of  Paris 
belonged  to  it,  and  in  the  three  orders  of  this  con¬ 
fraternity  they  received  only  the  best  qualified  per¬ 
sons. — (Le  Maire,  t.  ii.,  p.  79;  Traite  de  la  Police, 
t.  i..  p.  372. ) 


288  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

morning,  at,  the  hour  when  the  trumpets 
sounded  the  morning  call  from  the  turret 
tops  of  the  Chatelet.1  Ofttimes  those 
flowers,  mysteriously  deposited  before  day¬ 
light,  were  taken  for  the  gifts  of  angels, 
who  came,  it  was  said,  to  teach  Christians 
how  to  honor  their  Queen.  By  night, 
lamps  burnt  continually  in  these  little  gray 
niches,  which  on  Saturdays  were  completely 
illuminated.2  This  was  the  first  lighting  of 
streets.  This  light,  less  brilliant,  no  doubt, 
than  that  used  in  our  days,  had  neverthe¬ 
less  a  great  advantage  over  ours :  it  was 
blended  with  a  pious  thought,  calculated  to 
make  a  believing  people  reflect ;  the  mystic 
lamps  of  the  Madonnas,  shining  in  succes¬ 
sion  like  a  bright  row  of  stars,  through  the 
fragrant  stems  of  flowers,  seemed  to  say  to 
the  vagabond  who  went  about  by  night  for 
evil  purposes :  There  is  an  eye  over  this 
slumbering  city  which  never  closes,  and 
which  watches  over  these  deserted  and 
silent  streets — the  eye  of  God. 3 

These  little  street-corner  Madonnas, 
though  less  ornamental  than  those  which 
■  figured  in  solid  silver  on  altars  of  marble 
and  gold,  were  no  less  cherished  by  the  in¬ 
habitants.  Young  people  of  all  the  quar¬ 
ters  came  in  procession  to  them,  barefooted 
and  crowned  with  flowers,  singing  the  Lit¬ 
any  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  every  one  fol¬ 
lowed  them,  whatever  weather  it  was,  and 
the  crowd  was  sometimes  so  great,  that 

people  could  hardly  pass  in  the  street.  A 
small  image  of  cedar,  a  foot  high,  which 
had  belonged  to  the  house  of  Joyeuse,  and 
which  figured  between  two  pointed  turrets, 
over  the  gate  of  the  reverend  Father  Capu¬ 
chins  of  the  Rue  St.  Honors,  was  near 
being  the  occasion  of  a  small  civil  war  be¬ 
tween  two  quarters  of  Paris.  Some  persons, 
a  little  over-zealous,  wished  to  carry  off 
the  miraculous  Madonna  to  decorate  their 
own  parish.  The  news  of  this  came  to  the 
ears  of  the  people  of  the  quarter,  who  at 
once  took  up  arms,  mounted  guard,  night 
and  day,  before  the  tutelary  Virgin,  and 
were  near  fixing  chains  across  the  streets. 
Tranquillity  was  not  restored  till  after  the 
pompous  translation  of  the  holy  image  into 
the  convent  church  itself.4 

The  Queen  of  Heaven,  who  infused  into 
the  armies  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  confi¬ 
dent  hope  of  victory,  reigned  over  the 
fleets  and  merchant-vessels  of  this  fifteenth 
century,  which  was  rightly  called  the  age 
of  discoveries.  Christopher  Columbus  un¬ 
dertook  the  discovery  of  the  New  World 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
whose  Hours  he  used  to  recite  on  board  his 
vessel,  in  a  precious  manuscript  which  Pope 
Alexander  VI.  had  given  him  at  his  de¬ 
parture,  and  which  he  bequeathed  at  his 
death  to  the  republic  of  G-enoa.  Dom 
Henry  of  Portugal,  who  presided  and  con¬ 
curred  in  the  discovery  of  the  Indies, 

( 1 )  Alexandre  Monteil,  t.  i. 

( 2 )  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  la  Paix,  par  le 

P.  Medard  Capucin. 

( * )  This  is  still  the  only  mode  of  lighting  many 
towns  in  Italy.  The  following  is  what  was  written 
of  it  in  1803  : — “  11  popolo  6  devoto  alle  Madonne, 

per  cui  ye  ne  sono  in  ogni  angollo  delle  strade  con 
fan ali  accesi  di  notte.  Essi  tengono  illuminate  le 
strade,  e  cosi  la  divozione  supplisce  alia  polizia.” — 
(Descrizione  di  Napoli,  p.  269.) 

( 4 )  See  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  la  Paix. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


289 


erected  at  Belem  a  church  of  Our  Lad}', 
accompanied  by  an  hospital  for  Jthe  seamen 
of  his  own  country.  John  Gonsalvo  Zares, 
his  first  and  ablest  navigator,  built  a  church 
in  honor  of  Our  Lady,  at  Madeira.  When 
the  Portuguese,  under  the  command  of 
Yasco  de  Gama,  landed  for  the  first  time 
on  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  where  they 
believed,  on  the  faith  of  some  ancient  ac¬ 
counts  of  voyages,  that  they  should  find 
Christians  of  St.  Thomas,  they  allowed 
themselves  to  be  taken  by  the  inhabitants 
into  the  temple  of  a  Hindoo  goddess,  which 
they  had  the  simplicity,  in  spite  of  its  four 
arms  and  long  golden  ears,  to  take  for  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  before  which 
they  prayed  accordingly.  One  of  them, 
however,  had  some  doubts,  and  called  out 
aloud,  as  he  looked  at  the  idol,  whose  hid¬ 
eous  features  reminded  him  of  anything 
but  the  fair  and  sweet  Virgin  of  the  Chris¬ 
tians  :  “If  the  devil  is  adored  here,  which 
is  very  possible,  be  it  well  understood  that 
our  prayers  are  addressed  only  to  the 
Mother  of  God !  ” 

After  they  were  established  in  India,  the 
Portuguese,  faithful  to  their  devotion  to 
Mary,  dedicated  to  her,  at  Goa,  a  superb 
church,  with  the  interior  one  mass  of  gild¬ 
ing,  Our  Lady  d'Asara ,  or  of  Mercy  ;  sev¬ 
eral  other  churches,  such  as  Our  Lady  of 
Cranganor,  and  of  Meliapore,  were  built, 
by  their  care,  in  divers  places  of  India, 
and  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges,  the 
sacred  river  of  Hindostan.  It  was  at  that 
time  a  pious  custom  among  them  to  come 
and  make  an  offering  to  Mary  of  the  tithe 
of  the  booty  taken  from  the  idolaters,  and 
this  custom  led  to  the  erection  of  a  number 


of  private  chapels  in  her  honor.  Even  in 
our  days,  their  vessels  never  pass  within 
sight  of  the  chapels  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
situated  on  the  coasts  of  their  superb 
Macao,  without  saluting  them  by  firing  all 
their  guns.1  The  Spaniards,  who  were  no 
less  devout  than  the  Portuguese  to  the  di¬ 
vine  Mother  of  our  Saviour,  had  upon  their 
galleons,  laden  with  ingots  of  gold,  her 
statue  of  massive  silver,  before  which 
prayed,  night  and  morning,  the  adventur¬ 
ous  Castilian  sailors  of  Isabella,  the  Cath¬ 
olic.  At  a  period  a  little  nearer  to  our 
own  times,  the  filibusters  of  the  island  of 
Tortugas,  having  taken  one  of  these  images 
in  a  sea-fight,  the  Spaniards,  despoiled  of 
all  that  they  possessed,  thought  only  of 
recovering  their  revered  Madonna.  The 
governor-general  entered  into  a  negotiation 
with  the  pirates,  solely  to  save  the  Santa 
Seftora  from  the  profanations  to  which  she 
was  exposed  among  those  pirates,  who 
affected  to  live  without  faith  or  law  ;  but 
they  refused  to  give  up  the  statue. 

The  Blessed  Virgin,  who  inspired  art, 
ever  watched  over  the  conservation  of  em-r 
pires,  and  the  sweet  Queen  of  Heaven  had 
also  for  her  vassals  the  kings  of  Catholic 
Europe  in  general,  and  those  of  France  in 
particular.  In  1478,  King  Louis  XI.  sepa¬ 
rated  from  Artois  the  county  of  Boulogne, 
and  transferred  it  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  whom  he  declared  Countess  of  the 
Boulonnais.  As  the  feudal  tribute,  he  laid 
upon  her  altar  a  golden  heart,  weighing 
thirteen  marks,  and  engaged  that  his  suc¬ 
cessors  on  the  throne  should  be  bound  to 


( 1 )  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi. 


37 


290 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


renew  the  homage  and  offering  to  the  Vir¬ 
gin,  as  Lady  suzerain.  It  is  well  known 
that  this  cruel  but  able  prince,  disdaining 
*  pomp  till  he  fell  into  the  opposite  extreme, 
wore  no  other  ornament  in  his  solemn  au¬ 
diences  than  a  small  leaden  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  his  royal  hat.  He  used 
to  say  that  he  valued  that  little  piece  of 
lead  more  than  all  the  gold  in  his  kingdom. 

He  was  interred,  according  to  his  own 
directions,  at  Notre  Dame  de  Clery.  So 
determined  on  this  was  he  that  Pope  Sixtus 
IV.,  at  his  request,  forbade,  under  pain  of 
excommunication,  the  removal  of  his  body 
to  any  other  place  of  burial. 

Ann  of  Brittany,  who  was  twice  Queen 
of  France,  built  chapels  in  honor  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  directed  that  her  scap¬ 
ular  should  be  deposited  in  the  gold  box 
which  was  to  enclose  her  heart,  which  she 
sent  back  to  the  Bretons.  The  mausoleum 
of  Francis  II.,  the  last  duke  of  Brittany, 
having  been  opened  in  the  year  1727,  there 
was  found  in  the  vault,  between  that 
prince’s  coffin  and  that  of  Margaret  de 
Foix,  a  small  leaden  case,  in  which  was  a 
heart-shaped  gold  box,  surmounted  by  a 
roval  crown,  and  encircled  with  the  order 
of  the  Cord,  of  elaborate  workmanship. 
This  box,  which  had  contained  the  heart 


of  the  queen  Ann,  contained  nothing  then 
but  a  little  moisture,  and  the  remains  of 
the  scapular,  which  the  pious  princess  had 
worn  in  honor  of  Mary. 

Francis  I.  having  heard  that  a  Huguenot 
had  dared  to  strike  off,  in  the  very  heart 
of  Paris,  the  head  of  an  image  of  Our 
Lady,  made  a  solemn  act  of  reparation, 
barefooted  and  bareheaded,  and  holding  a 
wax-taper  in  his  hand.  The  lords  of  the 
court,  and  the  members  of  the  Parliament, 
in  procession  followed  the  monarch,  who 
replaced  with  his  own  hands,  upon  the 
altar  where  the  mutilation  had  taken  place, 
a  magnificent  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin.1 

In  Spain,  the  work  begun  by  Pelayo, 
under  the  auspices  of  Mary,  to  deliver  the 
peninsula  from  the  Moors,  had  been  com¬ 
pleted  by  the  capture  of  Granada  ;  the 
first  cry  of  the  war  of  Spanish  independ¬ 
ence  had  been  “  Mary  !  ”  in  the  cavern  of 
Covadonga  ;  this  last  victory  was  gained 
under  her  banner  by  Ferdinand  the  Cath¬ 
olic,  who  had  engraved  in  gold,  upon  his 
good  Toledo  blade,  the  protecting  figure  of 
Our  Lady,  and  inscribed  upon  his  colors, 
Ave  Maria. 


(  1 )  F.  de  Barry,  Paradis,  etc. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


291 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  LATER  HERESIES. 


IN  desert  Caramania,  near  the  Persian 
Gulf,  exists  a  shrub,  which  the  Per¬ 
sians  call  gul  bad  samoun  (flower  which 
poisons  the  wind).  Heresy  arose  in  frigid 
Germany,  like  that  poisonous  flower, 
which  imparts  to  the  hot  breezes  of  the 
Persian  summer  a  quality  so  deadly,  that 
they  kill  those  who  inhale  them  ;  only  the 
fatal  breath,  which  came  from  the  German 
lands,  began  by  killing  souls,  and  it  killed 
them  by  thousands.  Then  it  was  that  the 
bright  and  charming  light  of  the  beauti¬ 
ful  star  which  so  softly  reflected  over  the 
Christian  world  the  ardent  rays  of  the  in- 
created  Sun,  became  darkened  amid  the 
thick  mists  which  the  night  of  error  spread 
over  the  northern  heaven,  and  underwent 
a  sensible  diminution  even  in  those  faithful 
lands  which  it  continued  to  enlighten. 

The  sectaries  of  the  sixteenth  century 
raged  fiercely  against  the  representations 
of  Mary  and  the  saints  ;  the  patrician  sect 
of  Luther,  it  must  in  justice  be  said, 
showed  some  moderation  in  this  respect  ; 1 
but  the  fury  of  the  Calvinists  exceeds  all 
that  could  be  imagined.  Enemies  to  learn¬ 
ing  and  art,  as  well  as  to  Catholicism,  dis- 

( 1 )  Those  of  the  confession  of  Augsburg  honor 
the  saints  with  hymns,  images,  and  festivals  ;  but 
they  do  not  consider  that  we  ought  to  invoke  them. 
Stuyter,  a  minister  of  Eibergen,  has  written  a  very 
fine  poem  on  the  privileges  and  virtues  of  the  holy 
Mother  of  God.  It  is  not  so  with  other  sectaries, 


guising  a  furious  radicalism  beneath  the 
mask  of  religion,  attacking,  by  incendiary 
pamphlets,  sometimes  the  pope  and  some¬ 
times  the  prince,  this  small  minority,  which 
made  violent  efforts  to  force  its  belief  and 
dogmas  upon  the  immense  majority  of  the 
French,  which  rejected  them,  covered 
France  with  ruins  and  graves.  “These 
good  reformers,”  says  a  Count  of  Lyons, 
an  eye-witness  of  their  violent  proceedings, 
*  ‘  began  by  reforming  the  public  peace  and 
tranquillity At  Tours,  Blois,  Poictiers, 
Bourges,  and  Rouen,  they  completely  pil¬ 
laged  the  churches,  mutilated  the  figures  of 
the  saints,  and  dragged  the  images  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  of  Christ  in  the  mire, 
singing  Litanies  in  derision.2  In  Gascony 
they  buried  Catholics  alive,  cut  children  in 
two,  cut  open  and  disembowelled  priests. 
Even  the  dead  were  not  respected  in  the 
dust  of  their  tombs  :  the  Huguenots  drag¬ 
ged  Louis  XI.  out  of  his  sepulchre,  burned 
what  the  worms  had  respected,  and  dared 
to  scatter  to  the  wind  the  ashes  of  a  king 
of  France,  whose  race  filled  the  throne. 
The  fathers  and  ancestors  of  the  kings  of 
Navarre,  and  the  princes  of  Conde,  were 

who  despise  the  Blessed  Virgin,  or  consider  her 
only  as  like  other  women. — (Du  culte  des  Saints  et 
de  la  Sainte  Vierge,  by  the  Bishop  of  Castoria,  pp. 

2  and  3.) 

(a )  Archives  curieuses  de  l’Histoire  de  France; 
Capefigue ;  Astolfi. 


292 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


no  better  treated  than  Louis  XI.  ;  the 
tombs  of  the  house  of  AngoulSme  (the 
reigning  house)  shared  the  same  fate.  The 
lords  of  Longueville,  snatched  half-cpn- 
sumed  from  their  sepulchres,  were  thrown 
to  the  dogs.1 

Madonnas,  before  which  so  many  suc¬ 
cessive  generations  had  prayed,  crucifixes, 
which  place  before  our  eyes  the  sufferings 
of  our  Redeemer,  pictures  which  elevate 
our  souls,  reminding  us  of  the  self-denial 
of  the  cenobites,  or  the  courage  of  the 
martyrs,  were  hacked  with  sabres,  lacera¬ 
ted  or  dragged  in  the  mud,  with  a  cord 
round  their  necks.  But  it  was  not  enough 
for  these  new  barbarians  to  break  the 
statues,  mosaics,  and  bas-reliefs,  and  to 
destroy,  in  a  few  hours,  the  slow  work  of 
centuries  ;  they  even  razed  the  churches, 
after  despoiling  them  of  all  that  could  re¬ 
vive  in  the  faithful  religious  recollections. 

Count  Canon  Saconay,  a  close  observer 
of  the  Huguenots,  of  whom  at  that  time 
there  was  little  good  to  be  told,  has  left  us 
an  account  of  their  grand  doings  in  the 
churches  of  Lyons  :  “  One  of  their  princi¬ 
pal  preachers,”  says  he,  “  Ruffi,  with  a  two- 
handed  sword,  which  he  held,  when  he 
preached,  like  St.  Paul  in  a  picture,  came 
with  his  satellites  into  the  great  church  of 
St.  John,  where  he  made  them  hew  down 
the  image  of  a  crucifix  of  great  height, 
which  was  in  the  middle  of  the  said  church, 
partly  made  of  silver,  and  the  rest  plated 
with  silver  ;  and  when  it  was  on  the  ground 
Ruffi  rushed  furiously  upon  it,  setting  both 


( 1 )  Archives  curieuses,  etc. ;  Capefigue,  Histoire 
de  la  Reforme. 


his  feet  upon  the  head  ;  and  seeing  some  of 
his  soldiers  and  ministers  coming  nearer 
to  the  silver  than  he  liked,  lest  they  should 
be  defiled ,  drew  his  great  sword,  and  bran¬ 
dished  it  five  or  six  times.  ‘  What/  said  he, 

‘  shall  I  not  be  respected  ?  Shall  any  one 
destroy  this  great  idol  before  me  ?  ’  Say¬ 
ing  this,  he  cut  off  the  head  of  the  said 
representation  of  Jesus  crucified,  and  held 
it  up,  and  exhibited  it,  saying,  ‘  Here  is  the 
head  of  the  idol! 7  Nevertheless,  as  it  was 
silver ,  he  held  on  to  it. 

“  The  small  thieves  would  also  share  the 
booty  ;  they  scraped  the  images  of  gold 
and  silver  to  get  off  some  fragments  before 
they  handed  them  to  the  great  thieves. 
They  carried  off  the  wing  of  an  angel,  the 
arm  of  a  saint,  the  head  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  &c.  They  melted  down  a  solid  sil¬ 
ver  crucifix,  which  was  in  the  church  of 
St.  Stephen,  saying  in  derision  that  the 
poor  crucifix  had  long  shivered,  being 
naked,  but  that  they  would  warm  it  so  well 
as  to  keep  off  the  cold  for  the  future.  They 
also  melted  down  the  copes,  and  other  vest¬ 
ments  of  the  altars  which  were  embossed 
with  gold,  but  derived  no  great  profit  from 
what  was  worth  more  than  ten  thousand 
crowns.  Here  then  is  a  Gospel  very  hot 
and  very  ardent !....” 

At  Coutances,  the  Huguenots  put  the 
inhabitants  to  the  sword,  and  set  fire  to 
every  quarter  of  the  city.  “  The  rage  of 
these  infernal  vermin,”  says  the  historian 
Rouault,  “still  more  increased  in  the  cathe¬ 
dral  ;  they  broke  the  images,  burned  the 
relics,  trampled  under  foot  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  and  it  was  by  a  kind  of  miracle, 
and  visible  protection  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


293 


gin,  that  the  church,  of  which  she  is  the 
patroness,  was  not  entirely  demolished.1 

The  hermitages,  whose  small  ancient 
bells  used  to  invite  the  belated  traveller 
in,  promising  him,  in  the  name  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  a  lodging  for  the  night,  a 
frugal  repast,  and  a  hospitable  welcome, 
were  demolished  by  the  Calvinists,  who 
had  the  barbarity  to  shoe ,  as  they  did  their 
war-horses,  the  pious  old  men  who  dwelt  in 
them.2  * 

Priests  fled  with  the  relics,  crucifixes, 
and- statues  of  Our  Lady,  as  at  the  time  of 
invasion  by  the  Norman  pirates  ;  one  of 
them  went  to  hide  the  image  of  Our  Lady 
of  Beth-Aram,  which  shepherds  had  for¬ 
merly  found  in  the  woods,  in  the  heart  of 
Galicia,  where  it  still  remains.3 

Some  Portuguese  Jesuits,  destined  for 
the  infant  missions  of  Brazil  and  Paraguay, 
that  is,  for  a  work  for  which  ancient  Greece 
would  have  erected  statues  of  them  as 
benefactors  to  human  nature,  fell  in,  off 
the  Canary  Isles,  with  the  Protestant  fleet 
of  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  which  captured 
their  peaceful  vessel.  After  being  treated 
with  the  greatest  outrages  by  the  Navarrese, 
the  poor  religious,  all  men  of  courage  and 
merit,  were  cast  into  the  sea  with  a  small 
statue  of  Our  Lady,  which  was  hung,  in  a 
spirit  of  irony,  around  the  neck  of  their 

( 1 )  Histoire  des  eveques  de  Contances,  by  Kou- 
ault,  p.  310. 

( 1 )  Archives  curieuses. 

( ’ )  The  chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  Beth-Aram, 
which  had  been  demolished  by  the  Huguenots, 
was  rebuilt  in  1615,  by  John  de  Salette,  Bishop  of 
Lescar ;  but  the  miraculous  image  is  not  there. 

( * )  Astolfi. 

( ‘ )  “  Thpy  have  been  met,  going  in  hostile  array, 


superior  (Blessed  Ignatius  A zevedo).  They 
died  like  heroes  of  old,  without  reced¬ 
ing  a  single  step,  without  changing  counte¬ 
nance,  without  uttering  complaint  or  re¬ 
proach.  Their  black  gowns,  inflated  for  a 
moment  upon  the  waters,  slowly  went 
down,  one  after  the  other,  beneath  the 
waves,  and  the  ocean  closed  over  the 
bodies  of  thirty  martyrs.4 

At  Paris,  under  the  very  eyes  of  the 

court,  which  at  that  time  protected  them, 

they  massacred  at  St.  Medard,  during  the 

sermon,  a  great  number  of  unarmed 

Catholics.  The  parishes,  terrified  at  the 

insolence  of  these  factious  men,  who  went 

to  their  meeting-houses  armed  to  the  teeth,5 

* 

petitioned  to  have  artillery  planted  at  the 
entrance  of  the  churches  to  protect  them¬ 
selves  ;  and  the  time  was  seen  when  the 
ceremonies  of  Catholic  worship  could  no 
longer  be  celebrated  in  the  most  Christian 
kingdom,  but  under  the  protection  of  a  row 
of  cannon.6  “It  was  then  that  they  began 
at  Paris,”  says  Mr.  Capefigue,  “a  war  of 
popular  pamphlets,  with  a  view  to  annihi¬ 
late  all  the  ancient  belief ;  placards  were 
posted  up  against  the  Eucharist  ;  particu¬ 
larly  against  the  mass,  even  in  the  palace 
of  the  Louvre.  The  walls  of  churches, 
and  the  columns  of  public  places,  bore  wit¬ 
ness  every  morning  to  this  ardor  for  prose- 

twelve  on  horseback,  accompanied  by  twenty  men 
on  foot  marching  as  to  battle.” — (Archives  curi- 
euses.)  These  evangelical  people,  who  came  out 
from  their  meetings  “  with  wild  eyes  and  threat¬ 
ening  looks,”  according  to  the  testimony  of  Eras¬ 
mus,  were  always  ready  to  take  up  arms,  and  as 
prompt  at  fighting  as  at  disputing. 

( * )  See  Archives  curieuses,  etc. 


- - -  1  - : 

294  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

lytism,  which  characterized  the  Reforma¬ 
tion.”1 

It  is  with  the  opinions  of  sects  as  with 
the  waters  of  certain  springs, — they  grow 
softer  in  time  by  flowing  in  the  open  air. 
The  Protestants  of  onr  day  have  changed 
greatly  from  their  old  brutality  and  their 
ancient  Vandalism  ;  they  leave  the  dead  * 
in  their  graves,  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  and 
the  saints  on  their  pedestals,  and  no  longer 
go  to  their  conventicles,  in  time  of  peace, 
with  the  dagger  in  their  hand  and  the 
musket  on  the  shoulder  ;  in  fine,  as  Pere 
Sicard  jocosely  said  of  the  Copts,  one  may 
meet  with  very  good  men  among  them, 
heresy  excepted.  But  the  Protestants  of 
our  time,  as  well  as  the  Protestants  of  old, 
lack  loyalty  to  truth,  when  they  rank  them¬ 
selves  as  martyrs  before  the  Catholics  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  whom,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  they  provoked  to  extremities,  by 
unheard-of  impieties  and  unjustifiable  cru¬ 
elties. 

They  remember  well  enough  the  most 
deplorable  episode  in  the  history  of  France, 
for  they  constantly  reproach  us  with  it ;  but 
they  forget  the  long  provocations  which 
preceded  it.  They  forget  the  Catholic  gar¬ 
risons  thrown  from  the  tops  of  fortresses 
into  the  waters  of  the  Rhone,  in  violation 
of  sworn  faith  ;  they  forget  the  ravages  of 
that  ferocious  Baron  des  Adrets,  who  was 
more  dreaded  by  all  the  provinces  of  the 
south  of  France  than  the  tempest  which 
passes  over  the  great  fields  of  wheat.  They 
forget,  along  with  the  massacre  of  Orthez, 

the  sack  of  Rome,  whose  horrors  were  in 
great  measure  their  work,  and  the  troubles 
of  Germany,  and  the  fagots  of  England, 
and  the  proscriptions  of  Ireland,  and  the 
civil  wars  of  Scotland,  and  our  provinces 
dismembered  in  hope,  and  basely  sold  to 
the  English  ;  they  forget  all  that,  and  much 
more.  These  tactics  date  from  a  long  way 
off ;  in  the  time  of  our  religious  wars  they 
published,  in  all  haste,  after  eyery  misdeed, 
am  incredible  number  of  precious  apologies, 
in  which  they  represented  themselves  as 
timid  lambs,  and  the  Catholics  as  ogres  ; 
which  did  not  fail  to  make  an  impression. 

‘  ‘  Protestantism,  ”  says  Chateaubriand , 
“accused  Rome  of  intolerance,  while 
slaughtering  the  Catholics  in  England  and 
France,  throwing  to  the  wind  the  ashes  of 
the  dead,  lighting  fagots  at  Geneva,  defiling 
itself  with  the  outrages  of  Munster,  and 
dictating  the  atrocious  laws  which  have 
oppressed  the  Irish,  hardly  set  free  even 
at  this  day,  after  three  centuries  of  oppres¬ 
sion.”  2 

Kings  were  not  more  tranquil  than  the 
people,  and  the  throne  was  not  less  men¬ 
aced  than  the  altar.  Luther  was  not  afraid 
to  teach  openty  that  all  who  defended  the 
Pope  and  the  Catholic  religion,  ought  to  be 
treated  like  the  soldiers  of  a  bandit  chief, 

“  were  they  even  kings  and  Cmsars.”  And 
Calvin  added,  “The  powers  of  the  earth 
hand  in  their  own  resignation  when  they 
oppose  the  progress  of  our  doctrine  .... 
it  is  better  to  spit  in  their  faces  than  to 
obey  them.”  Starting  with  this  principle, 

( * )  Capefigue. 

( 2 )  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  Essai  sur  la  Litera¬ 
ture  Anglaise,  t.  i. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  295 

the  Calvinist  preacher,  Des  Rosiers,  laid 
down  in  his  pamphlets  that  maxim  which 
he  applied  to  Catherine  de  Medicis  :  “  It  is 
lawful  to  kill  a  king  or  a  queen  who  op¬ 
poses  the  reformation  of  the  Church.” 1 

This  insolence,  and  these  subversive 
theories,  accompanied  by  frequent  revolts, 
drew  down  at  length  upon  the  contrivers 
of  our  intestine  disorders,  sad  and  san¬ 
guinary  reprisals. 

The  state  policy  of  a  prince,  mortally 
irritated  by  an  attempt  of  the  Protestants 
against  his  person,2  threw  the  court  into 
extremes  ;  they  thought,  as  was  the  fact, 
that  the  existence  or  fall  of  royalty  was  at 
stake,  and  they  placed  upon  our  history  a 
page  of  blood.  St.  Bartholomew’s  day  saved 
the  Yalois  from  the  fate  of  the  Stuarts,8 
and  Catholicity  from  imminent  ruin  ;  but  it 
was  an  inhuman  measure,  which  the  religion 

(’)  This  was  also  the  opinion  of  Calvin.  So 
well  did  the  Huguenots  understand  their  apostles, 
that  Catherine  de  Medicis  found,  in  her  very 
chamber,  a  document  informing  her  that  she 
would  be  assassinated,  if  she  did  not  dismiss  all 
the  Catholics  about  her. — (Capefigue,  Histoire  de 
la  Reforme.) 

( 1 )  “  Some  said  that  if  our  King  Charles  had 
been  too  cruel  to  the  Huguenots,  it  was  not  without 
very  great  reason  ;  the  day  of  Meaux  above  all  pro¬ 
voked  him  ;  for  others  might  be  palliated  with 
some  decent  cloak  of  religion  ;  but  that  day  might 
be  properly  called  an  attempt  on  the  persons  of  the 
king,  bis  brother,  and  the  queen,  which  they  would 
have  willingly  executed,  had  they  been  able. 
Hence  the  king  often  said  that  he  would  never 
pardon  them  that;  and  it  stood  him  in  good  stead, 
that  he  put  himself  in  a  good  attitude  of  defence 
among  his  Swiss,  with  whom,  as  he  marched  in 
line  of  battle,  among  other  good  and  spirited  things 
that  he  said  to  them,  was  this,  that  he  would  rather 
die  a  king,  than  live  a  slave  and  a  captive.  The 
taking  up  of  arms  on  Shrove  Tuesday,  affected 
him  also  very  much,  and  he  was  still  more  incensed 
against  the  Huguenots  for  having  corrupted  Mon¬ 
sieur,  his  brother,  and  the  king  of  Navarre,  and 
having  induced  and  urged  them  on  to  make  war 
against  him,  in  a  very  wretched  state  of  his  mal- 
ady.  { At  least,’  said  he,  *  they  ought  to  have 
waited  for  my  death;  it  was  too  great  hatred 
against  me.’  ” — (Vie  de  Charles  IX.,  par  Brantome, 
p.  16.)  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  author  was 
contemporary  with  Charles  IX.,  that  he  lived  at  his 
court,  that  he  boldly  calls  the  St.  Bartholomew  a 

wretched  massacre,  and  that  he  nowhere  assigns 
religion  as  the  motive  for  it. 

( s )  See  how  Swift,  a  great  writer,  politician, 
and  distinguished  member  of  the  Church  of  Eng¬ 
land,  judged  the  Calvinists,  in  the  year  1732  :  “  The 
puritans,  who  had,  almost  from  the  beginning  of 
Queen  Elizabeth’s  reign,  been  a  perpetual  thorn  in 
the  Church’s  side,  joining  with  the  Scotch  en¬ 
thusiasts  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  were  the  prin¬ 
cipal  cause  of  the  Irish  rebellion  and  massacre,  by 
distressing  that  prince,  and  making  it  impossible 
for  him  to  send  over  timely  succors.  And  after 
that  prince  had  satisfied  his  parliament  in  every 
single  point  to  be  complained  of,  the  same  sectaries, 
by  poisoning  the  minds  and  affections  of  the  peo¬ 
ple,  with  the  most  false  and  wicked  representations 
of  their  king,  were  able,  in  the  compass  of  a  few 
years,  to  embroil  the  three  nations  in  a  bloody 
rebellion,  at  the  expense  of  many  thousand  lives; 
to  turn  the  kingly  power  into  anarchy ;  to  murder 
their  prince  in  the  face  of  the  world;  and  (in  their 
own  style)  to  destroy  the  Church,  root  and  branch.” 

— (Swift’s  works,  Queries  relating  to  the  Sacra¬ 
mental  Test.) — In  Scotland,  at  the  battle  of  Philip- 
baugh,  gained  by  Leslie,  the  chief  of  the  Calvinist 
covenanters,  over  the  Marquis  of  Montrose,  the 
Presbyterians  massacred,  in  cold  blood,  many  of 
the  prisoners ;  others,  according  to  Wishart,  were 
“  cast  from  a  bridge  into  the  Tweed,”  while  a  Pres¬ 
byterian  minister,  who  presided  at  the  execution, 
called  out,  rubbing  his  hands,  “Bravely  done!” — 
(Border  Minstrelsy.) — Under  Cromwell,  the  Church 
of  England  was  declared  malignant,  and  the  puri¬ 
tans,  who  had  so  loudly  clamored  for  liberty  of 

4 

296 


HISTOKY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


of  Christ  condemns,  and  the  stain  of  which 
she  shakes  off  from  her  mantle.  Catherine 
and  Charles  had  spared  the  heretics,  they 
destroyed  the  seditious.  The  Catholic 
bishops  protested  against  this  act  of  vio¬ 
lence,  by  saving  the  Calvinists  in  their 
palaces.1  The  followers  -of  heresy,  who 
have  so  diligently  exaggerated  and  pub¬ 
lished  their  losses  on  this  occasion,  have 
forgotten  only  this  fact. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  unwilling  to 
have  this  noxious  creeping  weed  of  heresy 
invade  the  beautiful  vegas  of  Spain,  and 
sterilize  that  truly  Christian  soil,  met  this 
great  evil  at  the  outset,  by  a  great  remedy, 
the  Inquisition,  which  checked  its  audacious 
march  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees. 

Italy,  torn  at  the  time  with  civil  war, 
was  not  so  fortunate,  and  Protestantism 
displayed  all  its  fury  there  in  the  sack  of 

conscience  for  themselves,  shut  up  all  the  Anglican 
churches  when  they  had  come  into  power.  Evelyn 
records  that  they  rushed  in  the  English  cathedrals, 
and  that  they  aimed  their  guns  at  the  Anglicans, 
who  were  preparing  to  celebrate  the  Lord’s  Supper 
on  Christmas -day.  Swift  also  said  to  them, 
“  Whether  these  same  Protestants,  when  they  have 
by  their  dexterity  made  themselves  the  national 
religion,  and  disposed  the  church  revenues  among 
their  pastors  or  themselves,  will  be  so  kind  to  allow 
us  dissenters,  I  do  not  say  a  share  in  employments, 
hut  a  bare  toleration  by  law  ?  The  reason  of  my 
doubt  is,  because  I  have  been  so  very  idle  as  to 
read  above  fifty  pamphlets,  written  by  as  many 
Presbyterian  divines,  loudly  disclaiming  this  idol 
toleration,  some  of  them  calling  it  (I  know  not 
how  properly)  a  rag  of  popery,  and  all  agreeing  it 
was  to  establish  iniquity  by  a  law.  Now  I  would 
be  glad  to  know  when  and  where  their  successors 
have  renounced  this  doctrine,  and  before  what  wit¬ 
nesses.”  Under  the  first  princes  of  the  House  of 
Hanover  they  began  again  to  cry  out  very  loudly 


Rome  ;  the  Constable  of  Bourbon  pointed 
out  to  his  soldiers,  chiefly  heretics,  the  cap¬ 
ital  of  the  Christian  world  as  a  rich  and 
defenceless  prey,  which  they  might  despoil 
almost  without  striking  a  blow.  From  the 
spirit  which  animated  the  chiefs  of  these 
lawless  hordes,  one  may  conjecture  that  of 
the  soldiers.  The  Lutheran  colonel  Fruns- 
berg,  who  marched  to  the  siege  of  Rome 
with  the  Constable,  had  a  fine  and  solid 
chain  made  of  gold,  which  had  cost  him  no 
more  than  the  trouble  of  stealing  it  in  the 
churches,  on  purpose,  he  said,  to  strangle 
the  pope  with  his  own  hand.2 

Rome,  without  allies,  and  attacked  una¬ 
wares,  defended  herself  at  the  time  very 
bravely,  and  at  the  first  assault,  the  Con¬ 
stable  of  Bourbon  was  mortally  wounded 
by  a  musket-shot.  He  had  scarcely  time 
to  order  them  to  cover  him  with  his  cloak, * (*) 

against  the  Anglicans  for  persecuting,  who  ironi¬ 
cally  replied  thus:  “If  the  dissenters  will  be  satis¬ 
fied  with  such  a  toleration  by  law,  as  hath  been 
granted  them  in  England,  I  believe  the  majority 
of  both  houses  will  fall  readily  in  with  it ;  .  .  .  . 
farther  it  will  be  hard  to  persuade  this  House  of 
Commons,  and  perhaps  much  harder  the  next. 
For  to  say  the  truth,  we  make  a  mighty  difference 
here  between  suffering  thistles  to  grow  among  us, 
and  wearing  them  for  posies.” — (Swift’s  Works, 
vol.  iv.) 

(*)  The  Bishop  of  Lisieux,  John  Hennuyer, 
boldly  prevented  the  execution  of  the  orders  of 
Charles  IX.,  by  opening  the  gates  of  his  palace  to 
those  Calvinists  who  had  treated  the  Norman 
bishops  with  indignity.  Several  other  bishops, 
and  especially  those  of  Bayonne,  Valence,  Vienne, 
Oleron,  and  Uzhs,  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
court  by  extending  their  protection  to  the  Hu¬ 
guenots. 

( a )  Brantdme,  Capitaines  etrangers,  t.  ii. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


297 


to  conceal  liis  death  from  his  troops.  Idle 
precaution  !  the  ill-omened  report  spread, 
and,  says  a  contemporary  historian,  who 
collected  his  documents  on  the  spot,  the 
Protestant  soldiers  only  fought  more  demo¬ 
niacally  to  avenge  him,  crying  furiously, 
“  Sangre,  sangre  !  Bourbon,  Bourbon  !  ” 
Nothing  could  resist  these  imperial  bands, 
intoxicated  with  rage  and  thirsting  for 
blood  !  the  ramparts  were  scaled  ;  the  Ro¬ 
mans  gave  way,  and  the  fatal  victory  of 
impiety  swept,  from  street  to  street,  with 
such  fury  that  one  would  have  said  that 
hell  was  let  loose,  and  fighting  under  the 
banners  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had 
the  melancholy  glory  of  completing  this 
criminal  enterprise.  “The  discharges  of 
musketry,”  says  Brantdme,  in  his  Life  of 
the  Constable  of  Bourbon,  “  the  shouts  of 
the  combatants,  the  cries  of  the  wounded, 
the  clash  of  arms,  the  thrilling  sound  of 
trumpets,  the  continued  roll  of  the  drums, 
which  animated  the  soldiers  to  the  fight, 
and  the  thrusts  of  the  lances,  made  such 
a  noise,  that  one  could  not  have  heard  the 
thunder  of  heaven  had  heaven  thundered.” 

The  conquerors  pursued  the  vanquished 
so  closely  that  they  hardly  had  time  to  let 
down  the  portcullis  of  the  Castle  of  St. 
Angelo,  the  fortress  of  modern  Rome, 
where  the  pope  had  hastily  taken  refuge, 
accompanied  by  some  cardinals.  Nor 
would  they  even  have  done  this  but  for 
the  chivalrous  devotion  of  three  young 
noble  Romans, *of  one  of  those  rare  patri¬ 
cian  families  which  are  authentically  traced 
up  to  the  age  of  Augustus.  When  all  in 
pillaged  Rome  was  tottering  and  the  prin¬ 
ces  of  the  church  spurred  on  their  horses 


at  full  gallop  to  the  citadel,  pursued  bjT  the 
soldiers,  three  Orsinis — Juannin,  Antonio, 
and  Valerius — “brave  and  valiant  lords,” 
says  Brantcime,  and  Jerome  Mattei,  rallied 
with  “  two  hundred  good  men,”  at  the  head 
of  the  Sixtine  bridge,  to  check  the  imperial¬ 
ists  and  keep  the  passage  free.  The  Prince 
of  Orange,  at  the  head  of  his  heretical 
battalions,  came  up  to  attack  them,  and, 
“  on  both  sides,  the  combat  was  sustained 
very  bravely.  Nevertheless,  the  prince  at 
last  made  so  furious  a  charge  that  they 
were  forced  to  abandon  the  bridge  they 
had  so  heroically  defended  ;  ”  but  it  was  not 
till  they  had  seen  the  iron  portcullis  of  the 
citadel  fall  behind  the  illustrious  fugi¬ 
tives. 

Rome  thus  conquered,  continues  the  same 
historian,  the  soldiers,  “  recently  imbued 
with  the  new  religion,”  began  to  plunder 
and  kill,  without  sparing  the  holy  relics  of 
the  temples,  or  the  convents,  or  persons  of 
dignity,  or  the  ornaments  of  the  Madonnas  ; 
“  their  cruelty  extended  even  to  the  mar¬ 
bles  and  ancient  statues.”  According  to 
the  custom  of  the  Huguenots  of  that  time, 
they  mixed  up,  with  these  scenes  of  blood, 
sacrilegious  buffooneries,  revolting  debauch¬ 
ery,  and  pillage.  “Dressed  as  cardinals, 
they  made  burlesque  processions  about  the 
city,  reciting  in  mockery  the  Litany  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.”  After  steeping  their 
hands  in  infamies,  not  to  be  spoken  of  or 
listened  to,  these  miscreants,  as  Brantdme 
remarks,  went  almost  all  to  die,  soon  after, 
at  the  siege  of  Naples,  after  losing,  in  one 
way  or  other,  the  gold  they  had  sacrile¬ 
giously  plundered  from  the  altars  and  tem¬ 
ples  ;  which  made  the  Spaniards  say  that 


38 


298 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


el  diablo  los  avia  dado,  y  el  diablo  los  avia 
llevado.1 

Devotion  to  Mary  was  not  abolished  in 
England  without  disturbances.  This  devo¬ 
tion  was  universally  regarded  there  as  the 
first  bulwark  of  Catholicity,  and  Catholicity, 
which  had  polished  the  manners,  corrected 
the  laws,  and  fertilized  the  fields  of  Great 
Britain,  had  struck  so  deep  root  in  the 
English  soil,  that  the  fatal  triumph  of  the 
Reformation,  in  that  kingdom,  would  be  an 
enigma  beyond  solution,  did  not  the  brutal 
and  capricious  tyranny  of  Henry  YIII., 
the  servile  absurdity  of  his  Parliament, 
and  the  cupidity  of  the  great  lords,  give  us 
the  key. 

Under  Henry  YIII.,  who  warred  on  the 
saints  only  to  seize  the  diamonds  and  gold 
of  their  shrines,  the  invocation  of  the 
Blessed  Yirgin  was  maintained,  although, 
in  one  of  his  bad  tempers,  Ann  Boleyn’s 
husband  ordered  the  confessor  of  Catherine 
of  Arragon  to  be  burnt  with  pieces  of  wood 
taken  from  statues  of  Our  Lady.  It  was 
not  till  the  reign  of  Edward  YI.  that  the 
fratricide  Somerset,  who  pulled  down  the 
finest  churches  in  London  to  build  his  Y e- 
netian  palace,  “  Somerset  House,”  and  abol¬ 
ished  the  ancient  liturgy,  and  removed  the 

( 1  )  Brantome,  Capitaines  strangers,  t.  i. 

( 1 )  “Go  into  any  county,”  says  the  radical 
Cobbett,  “  and  survey,  even  at  this  day,  the  ruins 
of  its  perhaps  twenty  abbeys  and  priories;  and 
then  ask  yourself,  ‘  What  have  we  in  exchange  for 
these  ?  ’  Go  to  the  site  of  some  once  opulent  con¬ 
vent.  Look  at  the  cloister,  now  become,  in  the 
hands  of  a  rackrenter,  the  receptacle  for  dung, 
fodder,  and  fagot-wood ;  see  the  hall,  where,  for 
ages,  the  widow,  the  orphan,  the  aged,  and  the 
stranger  found  a  table  ready  spread ;  see  a  bit  of 


images  of  Mary  and  the  saints  from  their 
ancient  sanctuaries. 

This  impious  measure  was  the  last  straw 
on  the  camehs  back;  disturbances  broke 
out  all  over  the  kingdom,  gatherings  of  ten 
or  twenty  thousand  malcontents,  some  com¬ 
manded  by  lords,  others  by  plebeians, 
maintained  their  right  to  serve  God  and 
honor  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  in  the  same  man¬ 
ner  as  their  ancestors  had  done.  Histori¬ 
ans  very  partial  to  Protestantism,  cannot 
but  acknowledge  that  the  discontent  was 
almost  universal,  and  that  the  English  peo¬ 
ple  energetically  testified  their  antipathy 
to  the  new  doctrine  imposed  upon  them. 
They  had  to  yield  to  force  ;  bands  of  ad¬ 
venturers,  brought  from  Italy,  Spain,  and 
Germany,  stifled  the  last  cry  of  Catholicity, 
and  the  people,  crushed  by  laws  which 
would  have  disgraced  Tiberius — the  peo¬ 
ple,  whom  they  deprived  of  their  churches, 
of  services  for  their  dead,  of  hospitals  for 
their  sick,  of  the  common  lands  which  they 
held  of  the  monasteries— the  free  people, 
without  resource,  without  shelter,  without 
bread,  went  by  night  to  weep  over  the  de¬ 
molished  altars  of  those  fine  alms-giving 
abbeys,  whose  new  owners  had  begun  by 
banishing  alms-deeds  and  hospitality.2 

its  walls  now  helping  to  make  a  cattle-shed,  the 
rest  having  been  hauled  away  to  build  a  work- 
liouse ;  recognize,  in  the  side  of  a  barn,  a  part  of 
the  once  magnificent  chapel:  and,  if  chained  to 
the  spot  by  your  melancholy  musings,  you  be  ad¬ 
monished  of  the  approach  of  night  by  the  voice 
of  the  screech-owl,  issuing  from  those  arches  which 
once,  at  the  same  hour,  resounded  with  the  vespers 
of  the  monk,  and  which  have,  for  seven  hundred 
years,  been  assailed  by  storms  and  tempests  in 
vain  • — if  thus  admonished  of  the  necessity  of 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


299 


The  Welsh  peasants,  those  Armoricans 
of  England,  who  had  embraced  Christianity 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Saxons,  could  not 
endure  the  absence  of  the  saints,  with 
whom  they  had  adorned  their  old  oaks  and 
druidical  springs.1  Unable  to  keep  alive 
their  Catholicity,  watched  and  harassed  as 


seeking  food,  shelter,  and  a  bed,  lift  your  eyes  and 
look  at  the  white-washed  and  dry-rotten  shell  on 
the  hill,  called  the  ‘  gentleman’s  house ;  ’  and  ap¬ 
prized  of  the  'board-wages’  and  the  spring-guns, 
suddenly  turn  your  head  ;  jog  away  from  the  scene 
of  devastation  :  with  ‘  old  English  hospitality  ’  in 
your  mind,  reach  the  nearest  inn,  and  there,  in 
room  half-warmed  and  half-lighted,  and  with  re¬ 
ception  precisely  proportioned  to  the  presumed 
length  of  your  purse,  sit  down  and  listen  to  an  ac¬ 
count  of  the  hypocritical  pretences,  the  base  mo¬ 
tives,  the  tyrannical  and  bloody  means,  under 
which,  from  which,  and  by  which,  that  devastation 
was  effected,  and  that  hospitality  banished  for  ever 
from  the  land.” — (Cobbett,  History  of  the  Prot¬ 
estant  Reformation,  Letter  V.,  155.) 

It  is  certain  that  the  suppression  of  the  abbeys 
was  far  from  being  a  popular  measure,  and  that  it 
left  without  any  resources,  not  only  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  priests,  whose  families  had  endowed  these 
pious  asylums,  but  a  whole  population  of  laborers, 

•  of  poor  and  of  aged  soldiers.  The  wide  and  gen¬ 
erous  hospitality  of  the  Catholic  clergy  was  not 
exercised  within  a  narrow  and  limited  circle ;  it 
partook  in  some  measure  of  the  infinite,  that  basis 
of  its  belief.  The  great  baron,  with  his  train  of 
knights,  kno'cked  at  the  door  of  the  monastery,  as 
well  as  the  beggar  who  wandered  about  the  coun¬ 
try,  staff  in  hand,  singing  hymns.  There  were 
then  no  inns,  and  when  the  harmonious  sound  of 
the  abbey-bells  came  no  longer  to  cheer  the  soul  of 
the  belated  traveller,  his  only  choice  was  to  lie  down 
in  the  open  air,  with  no  other  shelter  against  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather  than  the  dripping  or 
wind-swayed  branches  of  some  wayside  tree.  The 
Norman  laws,  which  still  govern  the  English,  grant 


they  were  by  the  last  of  the  Tudors,  and 
later  by  Cromwell,  having  no  longer  either 
altars  or  priests,  they  relapsed  almost  to 
paganism  ;  and  it  is  not  yet  many  years 
ago  since  it  was  proposed,  among  the  An¬ 
glicans,  to  go  and  convert  those  gross  idol¬ 
aters,  who  had  gone  back,  for  want  of  sym- 


the  entire  patrimony  to  the  eldest  son  of  a  noble 
family;  his  brothers,  dependent  on  his  good-will, 
are  his  flatterers  or  his  servants.  But,  at  that  re¬ 
mote  period,  commerce,  which  has  since,  procured 
them  honorable  means  of  existence,  was  not  even 
in  its  infancy.  Catholicity  could  not  remould  the 
feudal  laws,  but  she  constantly  labored  to  soften 
them,  and  gathered  into  her  bosom  the  helpless 
members  of  the  English  aristocracy,  and  secured 
to  them  that  sweet  and  peaceful  existence  for 
which  the  laws  of  the  land  had  not  provided.  The 
abbeys  not  only  gave  value,  by  their  numberless 
clearings,  to  the  wildest  and  most  uncultivated 
lands  of  Great  Britain,  but  made  it  a  duty  to  en¬ 
courage  agriculture.  By  a  Providential  care,  their 
charity  gave  up  to  poorer  families  who  lived  under 
the  shadow  of  their  lofty  spires,  wide  commons 
undivided  and  unenclosed,  belonging  to  all,  like 
the  air  and  sea.  The  harpies  of  the  court,  who 
devoured  the  minority  of  the  son  of  Henry  VIII., 
of  course  united  the  commons  to  the  church  lands ; 
all  were  enclosed  and  bristling  with  quickset 
fences.  Neglecting  agriculture  for  pasturages 
which  did  not  require  farm-hands,  the  new  posses¬ 
sors  changed  the  arable  lands  into  meadows,  and 
after  paralyzing  the  arms  of  the  laborers  they 
starved  the  country,  and  so  effectually  depopulated 
it,  that  amid  the  deserted  dwellings  of  an  opulent 
village,  there  sometimes  remained  only  the  solitary 
cottage  of  a  shepherd. — (See  Lingard,  History  of 
England.) 

(.* * )  In  the  county  of  Brecknock,  in  Wales,  there 
is  still  found  a  menhir  of  gigantic  height,  which 
bears  the  name  of  Mayen  y  Marynnion,  or  stone 
of  the  Virgin  Mary. — (Camden’s  Britannia.)  * 


300 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


pathy  for  dry  and  multiform  Protestantism, 
to  worship  trees  and  fountains,  as  the  an¬ 
cient  Britons  did  in  Caesar's  day.1 

The  inhabitants  of  the  southern  frontiers 
of  Scotland  had  no  less  repugnance  than 
the  Welsh  to  embrace  the  new  doctrine. 

The  Border  was  more  than  any  other 
part  of  the  kingdom  under  the  immediate 
protection  of  Mary :  her  name  had  been 
given  to  the  clearest  lake,2  to  the  bluest 
fountains,  and  the  most  picturesque  her¬ 
mitages.  There  rose  Melrose  and  Jed¬ 
burgh,  two  majestic  abbeys  dedicated  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin — two  prodigious  edifices 
erected  by  that  faith  which  works  miracles, 
in  a  poor  country  continually  ravaged  by 
foreign  and  intestine  wars.  What  Border 
trooper  had  not  solicited  at  J edburgh, 
in  the  name  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
hospitality,  always  generously  granted  ? 
What  mountain  chieftain  had  not  taken  off 
his  blue  bonnet,  decorated  with  an  eagle’s 
feather,  before  the  Virgin  of  Melrose,  the 
most  celebrated  and  frequented  of  the  four 
chief  pilgrimages  of  the  kingdom  ?  The 

( 1 )  Gordon’s  Modern  Geography,  p.  217. 

(a)  The  beautiful  St.  Mary’s  Lake,  at  the 
source  of  the  river  Yarrow,  in  the  Border  which 
is  often  covered  with  numerous  flights  of  wild 
swans,  took  its  name  from  a  beautiful  chapel  of  Our 
Lady,  to  which  the  Scottish  nobility  of  the  frontier 
often  made  pilgrimages.  The  chapel  has  been  de¬ 
stroyed,  but  the  lake  has  retained  its  sweet  name 
and  its  spotless  birds. 

( 5 )  Hear  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  brought  to  the 
service  of  high  poesy  fine  descriptive  talents  and 
archaeological  science,  describe  the  magnificent 
ruins  of  Melrose  Abbey,  as  seen  by  moonlight : 

“  If  thou  would’st  view  fair  Melrose  aright, 

Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moonlight ; 

For  the  gay  beams  of  lightsome  day 


pavement  of  the  immense  basilica  covered 
all  that  Scotland  had  possessed  noble  by 
birth  and  illustrious  by  courage  ;  there  men 
trod  the  dust  of  heroes,  whose  effigies, 
recumbent  on  marble,  devoutly  joined  their 
hands,  as  if  to  invoke  Jesus  and  Mary, 
two  names  which  Catholics  always  blend. 
The  Blessed  Virgin  reigned  there  over 
both  living  and  dead.  By  day,  sacred 
hymns  resounded  around  her,  and  at  night, 
when  the  tempest  roared,  and  the  stained 
glass,  set  like  emeralds  in  their  wondrously 
delicate  stone  frames,  flashed  in  the  fiitful 
moonlight,  you  would  have  said  that  all 
the  stone-wrought  garlands,  all  the  chival¬ 
rous  banners  which  decorated  the  church, 
trembled  in  the  wind,  and  that  the  old 
Scotch  lords,  rising  up,  armed  as  they 
were  upon  their  tombs,  saluted  the  holy 
Mother  of  our  Redeemer.3 

At  the  foot  of  the  venerated  altar  of 
Our  Lady  of  Melrose,  the  English  and 
Scotch,  laying  aside  their  hereditary  anti¬ 
pathies,  were  but  humble  and  peaceful  pil¬ 
grims.  Chiefs  of  clans  came  there  to  pray 

Gild,  but  to  flout,  the  ruins  gray. 

When  the  broken  arches  are  black  in  night, 

And  each  shafted  oriel  glimmers  white ; 

When  the  cold  light’s  uncertain  shower 
Streams  on  the  ruined  central  tower ; 

When  buttress  and  buttress,  alternately, 

Seem  framed  of  ebon  and  ivory ; 

When  silver  edges  the  imagery, 

And  the  scrolls  that  teach  thee  to  live  and  die ; 
When  distant  Tweed  is  heard  to  rave, 

And  the  owlet  to  hoot  o’er  the  dead  man’s  grave, 
Then  go — but  go  alone  the  while — 

Then  view  St.  David’s  ruined  pile; 

And,  home  returning,  soothly  swear, 

Was  never  seen  so  sad  and  fair!  ” 

(Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,  canto  ii.) 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  "  301 

for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of  warriors  of 
a  hostile  clan,  fallen  beneath  their  dirk  or 
claymore,  in  the  coarse  of  some  mountain- 
war.1  There  sinners  bewailed  their  faults 
before  the  Comforter  of  the  Afflicted  ;  and 
rising  up  full  of  confidence  in  her  merciful 
intercession,  went  away  to  found  expiatory 
monuments,  to  perpetuate  in  their  very 
name  the  memory  of  their  remorse.2 

The  Presbyterian  preachers,  as  bitter 
enemies  of  the  arts  as  of  the  saints,  de¬ 
molished  Melrose  and  Jedburgh,  with  a 
considerable  number  of  sanctuaries  of  less 
renown.  Of  all  the  splendors  which  sur¬ 
rounded  Our  Lady  of  Melrose  naught  re¬ 
mained  but  a  shattered  altar,  which  was 
soon  covered  over  with  the  tall  grass  and 
weeds  of  the  ruins.  Sometimes,  at  first, 
a  dark  shade  glided  at  night  beneath  the 
broken  arches  of  the  abbey  church,  and 
the  hum  of  human  voices  was  heard  min- 
*  gling  with  the  low  sound  of  waters  of  the 
Tweed.  It  was  a  monk,  who  came  stealthily 

to  celebrate  the  divine  mysteries  for  a  small 
flock  of  the  faithful,  who  had  not  forsaken 
the  ancient  religion.  So  dangerous  did 
these  visits  become,  that  the  clergy,  out  of 
prudence,  had  to  give  them  up  ;  but  noth  - 
ing  could  prevent  the  people  from  burying 
their  dead  in  the  ruined  cemeteries  of  the 
old  abbeys,  and  with  a  sense  of  propriety 
which  does  honor  to  the  Scotch,  women 
only  were  buried,  for  a  long  time,  in  the 
enclosed  burial-places,  where  the  virgins 
of  the  Lord  reposed.3 

The  first  harvest  made  by  the  apostles 
of  Calvin  in  the  mountains  of  the  Border 
was  so  discouraging,  that  they  resolved  to 
abandon  the  clans  to  their  evil  destiny, 
and  wait  till  the  want  of  light,  privation 
of  the  sacraments,  and  total  absence 
of  the  ceremonies  of  the  proscribed  relig¬ 
ion,  should  drive  them  into  the  nets  of 
Protestantism  ;  which,  in  reality,  took 
place  in  the  course  of  time.4 

Under  James  YI.,  the  borderers  were 

( 1 )  There  is  still  extant  a  treaty  of  peace  be¬ 
tween  two  hostile  clans,  whereby  the  chiefs  of  both 
bind  themselves  to  make  the  four  pilgrimages  of 
Scotland,  for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of  their  an¬ 
tagonists  who  had  fallen.  These  four  pilgrimages 
were  Scone,  Dundee,  Paisley,  and  Melrose. — (Bor¬ 
der  Minstrelsy,  Introd.) 

( 2 )  These  monumental  penances  were  frequent 
along  the  borders ;  some  of  the  buildings  still  re¬ 
main  ;  for  instance,  the  Tower  of  Repentance,  in 
Dumfriesshire,  and,  according  to  vulgar  tradition, 
the  church  of  Linton,  in  Roxburghshire. — (Bor¬ 
der  Minstrelsy,  Introd.) 

(’)  See  Johnson’s  Tour  in  the  Hebrides.  The 
Scotch  Highlanders  continue  even  in  our  days  to 
bury  their  dead  in  the  old  Catholic  cemeteries; 
one  of  the  fairest  isles  of  Loch  Lomond,  the  isle  of 
Nuns,  is  the  burial-place  of  several  clans;  the 

♦ 

tombs  of  the  chiefs  of  Macgregor,  and  of  some 
noble  families,  who  claim  descent  from  the  ancient 
kings  of  Scotland,  stand  round  the  rums  of  the 
abbey  church,  which  was  demolished  by  Calvin’s 
ruthless  followers. 

( 4 )  This  policy  has  not  only  been  practised,  but 
loudly  approved  by  Anglicans  themselves.  Swift 
advises  it  as  good  to  be  followed,  in  his  celebrated 
pamphlets  on  Ireland:  “Their  lands  (Catholics) 
are  almost  entirely  taken  from  them,  and  they  are 
rendered  incapable  of  purchasing  any  more;  and 
for  the  little  that  remains,  provision  is  made  by  the 
late  act  against  popery,  that  it  will  daily  crumble 
away;  to  prevent  which,  some  of  the  most  consid¬ 
erable  among  them  are  already  turned  Protestants, 
and  so  in  all  probability  will  many  more.  Then, 
the  popish  priests  are  all  registered,  and  without 
permission  (which  I  hope  will  not  be  granted) 

• 

302  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

still  so  averse  to  the  doctrine  of  Geneva, 
that  the  king  depended  upon  their  warlike 
clans  in  his  many  contests  with  his  demo¬ 
cratic  church.1  A  century  later,  they  still 
used  to  pray  at  times  beside  the  fountains 
which  flowed  before  the  ruined  chapels  of 
Mary  and  the  saints,  and  they  carried  the 
water  from  these  springs  to  a  considerable 
distance,  to  restore  sick  people  to  health.2 

The  recollections  attached  to  the  venera¬ 
tion  of  Mary  still  survive  in  the  valleys 
and  forests  of  the  Border  ;  they  are  met 
with  in  the  historic  ballads,  sung  by  the 
shepherds  and  mountaineers.  At  one  time 
it  is  a  knight,  treacherously  slain  on  a  lone 
heath,  whose  deep  wounds  are  washed  at 
the  fountain  of  Our  Lady,  and  who  is  car¬ 
ried  into  her  chapel  to  have  the  vigils  of 

the  dead  kept  over  him :  at  another  it  is 
some  great  baron,  who  is  buried  at  the  foot 
of  St.  Mary’s  cross,  and  on  whose  tomb  the 
monks  will  come  and  pray,  “  as  long  as 

Our  Lady  is  invoked  in  Scotland.”  The 
bard,  in  expressing  himself  thus,  imagined 
that  he  was  really  saying  for  ever !  There 
are  knights  •  who  leave  their  golden  beads 
as  pledges  of  their  faith,  etc.  In  every 
danger,  they  call  upon  God  and  Our  Lady  j 
never  the  one  without  the  other. 

The  scattered  wrecks  of  Catholicity  took 
refuge  in  the  north  of  Scotland  ;  and  there, 
protected  by  interminable  heaths,  and 
ranges  of  mist-covered  mountains,  they 
have  maintained  their  ground,  in  a  few  sol¬ 
itary  castles  washed  by  the  stormy  waves 
of  the  Northern  Ocean.  There  they  long 

they  can  have  no  successors  ;  so  that  the  Protest¬ 
ant  clergy  will  find  it  perhaps  no  difficult  matter 
to  bring  great  numbers  over  to  the  church  ;  and 
in  the  mean  time  the  common  people,  without 
leaders,  without  discipline,  or  natural  courage,  being 
little  better  than  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water,  are  out  of  all  capacity  of  doing  any  mischief,  if 
they  were  ever  so  well  inclined.” — (Letter  concern¬ 
ing  the  Sacramental  Test. )  The  Scottish  border 
was  submitted  to  this  negative  system,  and  if  it 
did  not  come  forth  from  it  victorious  like  Ireland, 
it  struggled,  nevertheless,  before  it  yielded ;  and 
Protestantism  did  not  predominate  there  till  after 
it  had  razed  the  churches,  and  extinguished,  one 
after  another,  the  lights  of  the  ancient  faith. 

( 1 )  “  Never,”  says  a  Scotch  Protestant  author, 

“  could  the  Calvinist  clergy  forget  that  they  owed 
their  elevation  to  the  fall,  or,  at  least,  to  the  de¬ 
pression  of  royalty.  In  Scotland,  the  Reformed 
Church  was,  for  nearly  two  centuries,  either  the 
declared  enemy,  or  the  ambitious  rival,  of  its 
prince.  The  disciples  of  Calvin  could  hardly 
divest  themselves  of  a  tendency  to  democracy,  and 
the  republican  forms  of  their  ecclesiastical  admin- 

istratiou  were  often  held  up  as  a  model  for  the 
state  to  follow.  The  theocracy,  haughtily  pro¬ 
claimed,  was  rigorously  exercised;  the  offences 
committed  in  the  king’s  household  fell  under  the 
insolent  jurisdiction  of  the  ministers.  The  prince 
was  formally  reprimanded  for  having  neglected  to 
say  grace  before  or  after  meals,  and  for  tolerating 
the  amusements  of  the  queen.  A  solemn  maledic¬ 
tion  was  pronounced  against  man,  horse,  or  lance, 
that  should  assist  the  king  in  his  quarrel  with  the 

Earl  of  Cowrie,  a  conspirator.  The  monarch’s 
courtiers,  present  at  the  sermon,  were  compared  to 
Aman,  the  queen  to  Herodias,  and  the  prince  him¬ 
self  to  Achab,  Herod,  and  Jeroboam.  This  exces¬ 
sive  zeal  was  far  from  being  agreeable  to  James 

VI.” — (Sir  Walter  Scott,  History  of  Scotland  and 
Border  Minstrelsy.)  Charles  II.  often  whispered 
to  his  confidants  that  Calvinism  was  no  religion 
for  a  gentleman. 

( 2 )  A  Calvinist  physician  of  the  seventeenth 
century  bitterly  censures  the  Border  folk,  who, 
even  in  his  time,  frequented  holy  springs,  to  carry 
water  to  the  sick. — (Account  of  the  presbytery  of 
Pentpont.) 

♦ 

CONVERSION  OF  SAUL. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  303 

addressed  their  prayers  for  the  restoration 

ing  to  the  communion  of  Rome,  tracked 

of  the  Stuarts  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who 

the  Papists  across  the  mountains  and 

was  honored  by  the  Stuarts.  Cardinal 

woods,  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  wild 

York,  the  last  of  that  unfortunate  family, 

beasts.  Happily  that  frightful  time  is 

rejoined  his  brother  in  the  tomb,  yet  they 

passed  away,  and  six  millions  of  Catholics 

still  prayed  ;  and  some  poor  mountaineers, 

now  freely  invoke  Our  Lady  in  that  green 

who  cannot  believe  the  extinction  of  that 

isle,  which  has  so  well  deserved  its  glorious 

ancient  race,  have  not  yet  ceased  to  pray.1 

surname  of  the  island  of  Saints. 

Ireland,  thoroughly  Catholic,  remained 

It  was  not  in  England  alone  that  devo- 

faithful  to  the  veneration  of  the  Blessed 

tion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  swept  away  by 

Virgin,  amidst  the  longest  and  most  oppres- 

the  hurricane  of  Protestantism,  left  numer- 

sive  persecution  that  ever  existed.  Under 

ous  traces  of  its  existence  :  the  melancholy 

pain  of  having  neither  bread  nor  shelter, 

and  picturesque  ruins  of  monasteries  dedi- 

the  poor  Irishman  was  not  only  compelled 

cated  to  Mary  still  cover  the  fairest  spots 

to  pay  richly  the  clergy  of  a  religion  which 

of  Germany  ;  many  northern  cities  retain 

he  did  not  profess,  but  also  to  follow  its 

her  name ;  gulfs  bear  it  in  Denmark  and 

observances.  But  he  was  not  the  less  at- 

Styria.  Austria,  Illyria,  SwitzeiTn^  the 

tached  in  his  heart  and  soul  to  the  faith  of 

Tyrol,  a?rd  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden, 

his  fathers.  Deprived  of  his  churches,  he 

still  possess  sanctuaries  where  the  Catholic 

would  attend  the  holy  sacrifice  in  the  secret 

inhabitants  beyond  the  Rhine  go  devoutly 

underground  vaults  of  old  feudal  manor- 

to  invoke  Our  Lady.  By  these  majestic 

houses,  among  the  ruins  of  monasteries,  in 

remains  of  a  devotion  once  so  general  and 

the  echoing  caves  where  the  Druids  had 

so  respected,  we  may  judge  of  the  extent 

celebrated  of  yore  their  bloody  rites,  by 

of  its  ancient  influence,  as  we  measure  the 

the  murmuring  of  a  rolling  sea,  rites  of 

extent  of  a  shipwreck,  by  the  number  of 

which  they  have  carried  away  with  them 

half-broken  masts  and  torn  sails  which 

the  spirit  and  myth.  They  posted  senti- 

float  upon  the  water. 

nels  on  the  heights  to'protect  the  proscribed 

Devotion  to  Mary  recovered  in  the  Hew 

devotions,  and  the  priest’s  head,  upon  which 

World  what  it  had  lost  in  the  Old.  Span- 

a  price  was  set ;  for  Protestant  bloodhounds, 

ish  and  French  missionaries  embarking  with 

who  had  taken  the  name  of  Mass-hunters, 

an  image  of  Our  Lady,  whom  they  invoked 

allured  by  the  bait  of  five  pounds  sterling 

during  their  perilous  navigation,  and  which, 

which  the  commissioners  of  Dublin  paid 

when  they  reached  the  end  of  their  dan- 

for  the  head  of  every  ecclesiastic  belong- 

gerous  voyage,  they  deposited  under  some 

( 1 )  A  celebrated  Scotch  writer  says  that  they 

that  the  race  of  their  ancienf  kings  is  extinct.  “  It 

prayed  every  evening  for  the  restoration  of  the 

is  not  the  Stuarts  who  are  dead,”  said  a  Highlander 

- 

Stuarts,  in  the  Catholic  mansions  of  Scotland,  long 

to  a  French  traveller,  “  it  is  loyalty  that  has  ceased 

after  the  death  of  Cardinal  York.  Many  of  the 

to  be.” 

Scotch  Highlanders  cannot  even  now  be  persuaded 

304 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


ajoupa  of  palm-branches, — undertook,  un¬ 
der  the  protection  of  Mary,  which  rendered 
them  powerful,  they  said,  “  as  an  army  set 
in  battle  array,”  to  civilize  and  convert 
both  Americas. 

Warriors,  who  undertake  to  subdue  for¬ 
eign  countries,  carry  in  their  train  every 
requisite  to  accomplish  a  work  of  destruc¬ 
tion  and  blood, — arms,  soldiers,  parks  of 
artillery  ;  devastation  leads  the  way,  tears 
follow.  The  Catholic  missionaries  went 
forth  to  the  conquest  of  the  West  Indies 
with  an  image  of  Mary,  a  cross,  and  a  ro¬ 
sary.  By  their  almost  superhuman  labors, 
tribes  of  people,  snatched  from  the  caves 
of  the  mountains  and  the  shades  of  great 
forests,  came  together  to  form  small  colo¬ 
nies,  where  Christianity  was  seen  again  to 
flourish,  fresh  and  pure,  as  in  the  days  of 
the  primitive  church. 

Those  religious,  who  have  enriched  bot¬ 
any,  history,  and  geography  with  a  multi¬ 
tude  of  precious  discoveries,  became  artists, 
and  even  artisans,  in  order  to  teach  their 
Christian  colonies,  and  directed  their  new 
believers  in  the  way  of  the  arts,  as  well  as 
in  the  way  of  salvation.  Ignorant  savages, 
who  but  a  short  time  before  sat  down  to  a 
feast  of  human  flesh,  were  seen  taking  up 
the  compass  of  the  architect,  the  chisel  of 
the  sculptor,  and  the  palette  of  the  painter, 
and  erecting,  with  their  own  hands,  tem¬ 
ples  to  God  and  chapels  to  Mary.  The 
recitation  of  the  rosary  was  the  exercise 
of  piety  best  suited  to  a  people  addicted 
to  the  chase  ;  accordingly,  in  the  evening, 
when  the  shadows  of  the  tulip-tree  and  the 
magnolia  fell  lengthening  through  the  open 
spaces  of  the  forest,  or  over  the  savanna, 


you  heard  the  ‘  ‘  Hail  Mary  !  ”  repeated  in 
the  language  of  the  forests,  on  all  the 
American  hills.  Mary  was  the  Mother  of 
the  savage,  as  well  as  of  the  European; 
and  she  was  not  more  religiously  invoked 
in  the  gold-lined  temples,  which  the  first 
Spanish  conquerors  built,  in  her  honor,  in 
Mexico  and  Potosi,  than  in  those  rural 
churches,  which  the  pious  missionaries 
dedicated  to  her  under  the  title  of  Our 
Lady  of  Loretto  and  of  Our  Lady  of 
Dolors,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  of  the 
Amazons  and  the  lake  of  the  Hurons.  , 

America  was  not  a  limit  of  the  conquests 
of  the  servants  of  God  and  Mary :  they 
explored  the  burning  regions  of  Africa, 
and  converted  the  black  princes  of  Guinea 
and  Monomotapa  ;  at  the  same  time  they 
penetrated  into  Ceylon,  into  the  peninsula 
of  Hindostan,  to  Japan  and  China,  and 
everywhere  the  image  of  Our  Lady  was 
treated  with  reverence  and  favor.  Mongo¬ 
lian  ladies,  bowing  down  before  the  Mother 
of  Jesus,  styled  her  the  holy  and  glorious 
Mary  ;  the  Prince  of  Cashmere  sent  her 
wax-tapers  and  presents  ;  the  grand  Lama 
erected  a  church  to  her,  under  the  title  of 
the  Annunciation.  The  Chinese  ladies  of¬ 
fered  her  perfumes  and  flowers ;  and  the 
Japanese,  who,  alas !  paid  very  dear  for 
their  energetic  devotion  to  the  true  faith, 
recited  their  long  crystal  rosaries  as  they 
passed  through  the  streets  of  idolatrous 
cities,  full  of  bonzes  and  pagans.1 

These  triumphs,  obtained  in  far  distant 
lands,  were  not  the  only  ones  which  came 


( 1 )  Lettres  Edifiantes;  Annales  de  la  Propaga 
tion  de  la  Foi. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  '  305 

to  console  Mary  for  tlie  outrages  of  Prot¬ 
estantism.  Scarcely  had  Calvin  descended 
into  the  tomb,  when  the  battle  of  Lepanto 
was  gained  by  the  Spaniards,  beneath  the 
banner  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.1  John 
Sobieski  attributed  also  his  celebrated  vic¬ 
tory  over  the  Turks  at  the  siege  of  Vienna, 
to  the  Mother  of  GJ-od  ;  and  his  first  care, 
when  he  entered  the  delivered  city,  was  to 
go  and  prostrate  himself,  his  forehead  on 
the  ground,  before  the  altar  of  Our  Lady, 
where  he  himself  sung  a  Te  Deum  of 
thanksgiving.  The  magnificent  standard 
of  the  Mahometans  was  sent  to  Our  Lady 
of  Loretto  ;8  and  the  Polish  hero  kept  for 
himself  a  trophy  which  interested  him,  as 
he  said,  more  than  all  the  rest :  an  old  pic¬ 
ture  of  great  antiquity,  discovered  in  the 
ruins  of  the  village  of  Wishau.  It  repre¬ 
sented  Our  Lady  ;  her  crown  was  sup¬ 
ported  by  two  angels,  bearing  in  their 
hands  scrolls  with  these  Latin  inscriptions : 
In  hac  imagine  Mar  ice )  vinces,  Johannes.  In 
hac  imagine  Marice ,  victor  ero ,  Johannes. 
(B}r  this  picture  of  Mary,  thou,  John,  shalt 
conquer.  By  this  picture  of  Mary,  I,  John, 
shall  conquer.) 

This  picture  was  considered  miraculous  ; 
John  Sobieski  destined  it  for  his  royal 
chapel  of  Zolkiew,  and  it  afterward  fol¬ 
lowed  him  in  all  his  campaigns. 

In  the  year  1647,  the  Emperor  Ferdi- 

nand  III.  solemnly  dedicated  himself,  his 
family,  and  the  empire  to  the  Queen  of 
Heaven.  A  tall  column  was  erected  in 
the  great  square  of  Vienna,  in  honor  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  Mary  ;  and  her  statue  with  the  moon 
beneath  her  feet,  crushing  the  serpent’s 
head  with  her  heel,  was  placed  on  the  top 
of  the  column. 

Calvinism  was  still  disturbing  France, 
and  its  icy  breath,  penetrating  the  masses 
of  the  people,  slowly  but  fatally  cooled 
their  religious  feelings  ;  for  irreverent  dis¬ 
course  and  impious  scoffing  always  produce 
the  worst  effect  upon  the  people,  who  do 
not  reason  upon  their  belief,  but  lose  or  re¬ 
cover  it  according  to  the  arguments  which 
win  their  attention.  The  ruined  churches 
and  altars  had  lost  the  holy  prestige,  im¬ 
parted  by  pomp  and  long  traditions  of  hom¬ 
age.  The  Madonnas,  despoiled  and  thrown 
down  from  their  pedestals,  arose  so  poor, 
that' the  heart  sank  at  the  sight  of  them, 
and  the  feet  turned  away  from  their  sanc¬ 
tuaries.  The  clergy,  calumniated,  ruined, 
degraded,  were  recruited  only  among  the 
lower  orders,  who  after  all  undervalued 
them  ;  for  the  populace,  who  make  great 
account  of  high  birth,  never  respect  their 
equals.  Finally  the  abbeys,  placed  in 
commendam,  belonged  to  military  men,  who 
undertook  to  place  in  them  superiors,  whose 

( 1 )  The  pope  had  sent  this  blessed  standard  to 
Don  John,  who  had  it  displayed  on  his  flag-ship. 

( * )  The  length  of  this  flag  was  twelve  feet,  by 
eight.  The  border  was  green  and  the  ground  red. 

It  was  of  cloth;  the  ornaments  were  embroidered 
in  silver,  the  Arabic  inscriptions  in  letters  of  gold. 

In  the  centre  of  this  Moslem  flag,  which  the  Polish 

39 

heroes  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  Virgin,  were  these 
words,  whosQ  falsity  was  proved  by  the  Christian 
images  which  attested  the  humiliation  of  the  cres¬ 
cent  before  the  cross  :  “  There  is  no  god  but  God, 
and  Mahomet  is  his  prophet.” — (See  Histoire  de 
Pologne,  par  Leonard  Chodzko.) 

306 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


office  was  limited  to  that  of. superintendents 
of  the  privations  of  a  community,  which 
could  no  longer  apply  its  savings  to  the  use 
of  the  poor,  but  to  that  of  the  captain,  or 
courtier,  who  was  its  commendatory  abbot. 
This  enormous  abuse,  which  would  have 
ended  in  the  destruction  of  every  monas¬ 
tery  in  France,  without  the  aid  of  revolu¬ 
tions,  still  continued  under  Henry  IV.,1 
notwithstanding  the  just  complaints  of  the 
clergy,  and  was  not  suppressed  till  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIII.  From  Louis  XI.  to 
this  prince  we  must  glean,  straw  by  straw, 
the  facts  which  attest  the  veneration  of  our 
kings  for  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Louis  XII., 
however,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Our  Lady 
of  Loretto,  and  Henry  III.  sent  the  Duke 
of  Joyeuse  thither  in  1585,  with  a  magnifi¬ 
cent  equipage,  to  offer  presents,  and  make 
a  vow  to  the  holy  Madonna.  The  same 
prince,  having  founded  the  order  of  the 
Holy  G-host,  placed  among  its  statues  that 
each  knight  should  be  obliged  to  recite  every 
day  one  decade  of  the  rosary. 

About  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  centur}q 
the  vigils  of  the  feasts  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  were  still  observed  as  feasts,  and  no 
one  was  exempt  from  this  religious  prac¬ 
tice.  The  licentious  captains  of  Charles 
IX.  and  Henry  III.  warmly  defended 
themselves  from  the  charge  of  having 
broken  their  abstinence  on  the  eve  of  the 
Assumption  of  Our  Lady ;  some  having 
done  so  through  inadvertency,  as  they 
passed  through  Italy,  one  of  the  boldest 
and  least  scrupulous  of  the  historians  of 
the  time  thinks  proper  to  withhold  their 


( ‘)  See  the  Memoirs  of  James  Sobieski. 


names,  “  out  of  regard  for  their  reputation,” 
and  protests  that  these  gentlemen  were 
wholly  unaware  of  the  feast  of  the  follow¬ 
ing  day. 

Devotion  to  Mary,  which  had  been 
somewhat  neglected,  revived  majestically 
under  Louis  XIII.  That  prince,  to  thank 
the  Blessed  Virgin  for  the  triumphs  which 
he  had  gained  over  the  Protestants,  and  to 
obtain,  through  her  intercession,  a  glorious 
peace  with  the  powers  of  Europe  who 
made  war  against  him,  declares,  in  an  edict 
dated  from  Saint  G-ermain-en-Laye  (10th 
of  February,  1633),  that  “taking  the  most 
holy  and  glorious  Virgin  for  the  special 
protectress  of  his  kingdom,  he  dedicates 
particularly  to  her  his  person,  his  states, 
his  crown,  and  his  subjects,  beseeching  her 
to  defend  France  against  the  efforts  of 
all  her  enemies,  whether  in  peace  or  war,” 
and  in  memory  of  this  dedication,  Louis 
promised  to  rebuild  the  high  altar  of  the 
cathedral  of  Paris,  and  to  place  over  it  a 
picture  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  holding  in 
her  arms  “  her  dear  Son  taken  down  from 
the  cross,”  causing  himself  to  be  represent¬ 
ed  at  the  feet  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Mother, 
in  the  attitude  of  offering  to  them  his  scep¬ 
tre  and  crown. 

He  ordained,  moreover,  that  every  year, 
on  the  Assumption,  his  edict  should  be 
commemorated,  during  high  mass,  in  every 
church  in  France,  and  that  after  vespers 
there  should  be  a  solemn  procession,  in 
which  all  the  chief  companies  and  all  the 
magistrates  of  the  different  cities  of  France 
were  to  join. 

Louis  XIV.  inherited  the  devotion  of 
his  father  fo  the  Blessed  Virgin.  By 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


liis  order  Coiistou  painted,  in  1723,  the  group 
which  is  called  “  The  Yow  of  Louis  XIII.,” 
as  well  as  the  two  marble  figures,  one  on 
each  side,  and  representing  Louis  XIII. 
and  Louis  XIY.  offering  their  crown  to  the 
Blessed  Yirgin.  This  prince  presented  to 
the  church  of  Boulogne  a  sum  of  12,000 
livres,  to  stand  in  place  of  the  ex  voto  of 
gold,  which  the  kings  of  France,  from  Louis 
XI.,  offered  by  way  of  homage  to  the 
Blessed  Yirgin.  He  propagated,  with  all 
his  power,  devotion  to  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception,  and  obtained,  in  1657,  of  Pope 
Alexander  YII.,  a  bull,  which  Clement  XI. 
confirmed  in  1688,  establishing  that  feast 
in  his  kingdom.  It  was,  moreover,  at  his 
request  that,  in  1670,  the  pope  attached  in¬ 
dulgences  to  the  recital  of  the  Angelus. 

He  chose  the  day  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  to  re¬ 
ceive  Confirmation.  This  fact  is  attested 
by  the  following  inscription  in  the  chapel 
of  the  Louvre  : 

■  M 

“HAC  SACRA  DIR  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTIONS 
LUDOVICUS  XIV.,  REX, 

SUSCEPIT  HIC  SANCTISS.  CONFIRMATIONS  SACRA- 
MENTUM.” 

Underneath  was  this  inscription  : 

“  IMMACULATA  DOMINA,  SALVUM  FAC  REGEM.” 

Louis  XIY.  inherited  from  his  mother, 
Anne  of  Austria,  a  great  veneration  for 
Our  Lady  of  Liesse  ;  he  came  there  in 
1652  and  1673,  and  twice  with  the  queen 
in  1680.  Maria  Teresa,  the  pious  Spaniard, 
that  queen  who  never  caused  her  husband 
“  any  sorrow  but  for  her  death,”  came 
thither  also  in  1677  and  1678.  After  the 


307 


death  of  Anne  of  Austria,  her  son  prom¬ 
ised  by  vow,  for  the  repose  of  her  soul, 
fifty  thousand  masses  in  the  principal 
places  of  devotion  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Yirgin. 

After  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  he 
sent  his  thanksgiving,  accompanied  by  rich 
offerings,  to  Our  Lady  of  Chartres,  Our 
Lady  of  Loretto,  and  Our  Lady  of  Grace. 

Louis  the  Great,  like  his  father,  Louis 
XIII.,  belonged  to  the  Confraternity  of  the 
Scapular,  and  said  his  beads  regularly. 
Father  de  la  Rue  being  one  day  admitted 
to  a  private  audience  of  this  prince,  found 
him  piously  occupied  in  saying  his  rosary 
of  large  beads.  The  father,  showing  great 
surprise,  accompanied  with  respectful  sen¬ 
timents  of  edification:  “Be  not  so  much 
surprised,”  said  the  king,  “  I  glory  in  say¬ 
ing  my  beads  ;  it  is  a  practice  which  I 
learnt  from  the  queen,  my  mother,  and  I 
should  be  sorry  to  miss  it  a  single  day.” 

The  Spanish  ambassador  presented  him¬ 
self  at  the  brilliant  court  of  the  great 
monarch,  with  his  rosary  in  his  hand,  and 
no  remarks  were  made. 

At  that  time  it  was  the  custom,  derived 
from  ancient  times,  to  put  a  rosary  and  a 
Book  of  Hours  or  Prayer-Book  among  the 
wedding  presents.  This  custom  continued 
till  the  time  of  Louis  XY. 

Louis  XIII.  had  taken  La  Rochelle, 
the  last  bulwark  of  Calvinism  in  France. 
Louis  XIY.  put  an  end  to  this  turbulent 
heresy  by  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes.  This  measure,  which  secured  the 
tranquillity  of  the  kingdom,  has  been  cen¬ 
sured  in  very  severe  terms.  People  forget 
that  the  Calvinists  were  at  that  time  incor- 


308 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


rigible  rebels,  who  had  not  even  been 
ashamed  to  call  in  the  English. 

Louis  XI Y.,  the  greatest  monarch  of  his 
age,  expired  muttering  with  his  dying  lips 


the  Ave  Maria,  which  he  had  repeated 
several  times  over  with  a  firm  voice,  while 
the  prayers  for  the  dying  were  repeated 
by  his  bedside. 


CHAPTER  XHI. 

MODERN  TIMES. 


FROM  the  bosom  of  the  Mediterranean, 
whose  blue  waves  are  embalmed  at 
thirty  miles  from  the  land,  with  the  sweet 
perfume  of  the  orange-tree,  a  rocky  island 
rises,  with  snow-clad  mountains,  covered 
with  pine-forests,  hills  shaded  by  gigantic 
chestnut-trees,  which  would  remind  one 
of  Switzerland,  if  myrtle-groves,  planta¬ 
tions  of  oranges  and  lemons,  forests  of 
gigantic  olive-trees,  and  the  remains  of 
Roman  towers  did  not  proclaim  an  Italian 
soil.  This  island  is  the  native  land  of 
Paoli,  the  great  patriot,  and  of  Napoleon, 
the  great  emperor, — Corsica,  an  Italian 
island,  which  forms  at  present  one  of  the 
departments  of  France. 

This  island,  at  once  fertile  and  uncul¬ 
tivated,  is  inhabited  by  a  poor,  primitive, 
warlike,  and  hospitable  race,  like  the  High¬ 
landers  of  Scotland,  or  the  mountaineers  of 
Caucasus ;  attached  to  Catholicity,  and  at 
all  times  free  from  heresy,  they  are  ex¬ 
cessively  sensitive  to  what  touches  their 
honor,  and  forgetting  the  divine  precept, 
which  commands  the  forgiveness  of  in¬ 
juries,  they  take  justice  into  their  own 


hands,  and  have  for  centuries  avenged  an 
affront  by  murder. 

At  the  first  aspect  of  this  country,  which , 
civilized  as  it  is,  retains  a  certain  atmos¬ 
phere  of  savage  life,  it  is  seen  to  be  in¬ 
habited  by  a  people  essentially  devout  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  Her  image  is  set  up 
at  the  entrance  of  the  villages,  at  the  cross- 
ways,  beside  fountains,  on  the  tall  head¬ 
lands,  amid  the  orange-groves  which  line 
the  coast.  .  The  environs  of  Bastia  are 
studded  with  charming  little  chapels,  in  the 
Italian  style,  dedicated  to  the  Annunciation, 
the  Visitation,  or  Our  Lady  of  Good  Coun¬ 
sel  ;  on  these  festival-days,  which  occur  in 
the  spring  or  summer,  the  city  is  deserted 
by  pilgrims  who  go  and  visit  these  Madon¬ 
nas,  by  paths  perfumed  and  bordered  with 
flowers.  After  venerating  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  each  family  stretches  beneath  the 
cool  shade  of  large  trees,  and  indulges  in 
becoming  joy  while  they  partake  of  a 
rural'  collation. 

Corsica  had  formerly  several  cathedrals  ; 
the  greater  part  of  them  were  built  under 
the  title  of  the  Assumption  ;  at  present  the 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  309 

most  solemn  feast  of  Mary  is  that  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  It  is  preceded 
by  a  novena,  and  announced  by  the  sound 
of  bells  and  the  noise  of  cannon  ;  the  ships 
are  decorated  with  flags  ;  the  pavement  of 
the  streets  is  strewed  with  myrtle ;  a 
solemn  procession,  in  which  the  Brothers 
of  the  Conception,  in  the  habit  of  penitents, 
with  lighted  torches  in  their  hands,  precede 
the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  adorned 
with  a  silver  crown,  necklaces  of  precious 
stones,  and  gold  bracelets,  moves  round 
the  city  to  the  sound  of  military  music, 
while  the  altars  of  Mary,  loaded  with  a 
profusion  of  flowers,  cast  upon  the  hallowed 
pavement  the  light  of  their  thousand  tapers. 

It  is  a  feast  perfectly  Italian  in  its  religious 
attractiveness  and  expansive  joy. 

In  country  places,  the  parish  priest,  the 
vicar,  or  merely  some  old  man,  says  the 
beads  every  evening,  at  the  hour  when  the 
village  bell  rings  the  “  knell  of  parting 
day.”1 

Sometimes  there  is  just  visible  in  a  misty 
distance,  on  the  summit  of  a  steep  rock,  a 
dark  figure  leaning  on  his  carbine  :  it  is 
some  outlaw,  who  risks  his  life  to  join  in 
the  general  prayer  ;  for  the  Madonna  is  the 
last  hope  of  these  fiery,  but  believing  men, 
who  wear  her  image  on  their  breasts,  and 
who  ask,  in  her  name  only,  of  the  shep¬ 
herds,  a  little  milk  and  black  bread  to 
support  their  wretched  existence.  Only 
lately,  a  young  Corsican,  a  companion  of 
the  famous  bandit  Santa  Lucia,  defending 

his  life,  alone  and  wounded,  against  a 
regiment  of  the  line  and  a  number  of  gen¬ 
darmes,  invoked  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  this 
desperate  struggle,  while  his  relatives  and 
friends,  on  their  knees  recited  for  him,  at 
the  foot  of  the  rock,  which  was  his  last 
stand,  the  prayers  for  a  departing  soul. 
“Everything  induces  us  to  believe,”  says 

Le  Droit,  which  relates  this  moving  scene, 

“  that  the  last  thought  of  that  unhappy  man 
was  raised  up  to  God,  for  a  small  medal  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  found  upon  him, 
which  he  held  in  his  hand,  while  his  rela¬ 
tions  and  friends  were  praying  for  him.” 

On  the  30th  of  Jqjiuary,  1735,  the  na¬ 
tion,  assembled  in  a  general  congress  at 
Corte,  to  establish  a  national  government, 
after  having  shaken  off  the  yoke  of  the 
republic  of  Genoa,  elected  the  most  Blessed 
Virgin  Queen  of  Corsica,  and  carried  her 
banner  in  the  last  combats  of  her  young 
yet  expiring  liberty ;  the  two  Paolis,  Pas¬ 
cal  and  Clement,  both  great  captains,  both 
very  devout  to  Mary,2  made  this  banner 
respected.  Clement,  of  whom  history  has 
said  little,  but  who  is  remembered  in  the 
local  tradition,  made  his  soldjers  say  the 
beads  upon  their  knees  before  a  battle. 

Some  Englishmen,  surprised  at  this  custom, 
called  his  attention,  on  several  occasions, 
to  the  fact  that  the  enemy  was  marching 
upon  them,  and  that  his  soldiers  on  their 
knees  .could  not  defend  themselves.  “Let 
them  pray  on,  my  lords,”  replied  Paoli, 
with  his  martial  .voice  ana  foreign  accent. 

O  “*  *  *  *  *  Squilla  di  lontano 

Che  paila  ’1  giorno  pianger,  che  si  muore.” 
(Dante,  Purgatorio,  lib.  viii.) 

( * )  Pascal  Paoli  heard  mass  every  clay  in  Cor- 

sica,  and  subsequently  in  England,  in  a  chapel 
which  he  himself  built  in  honor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

310 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


When  their*  prayer  was  finished,  the  Cor¬ 
sicans  rose  like  lions,  and  not  one  recoiled, 
for  soldiers  who  pray,  know  not  how  to  fly  ; 
the  Yendeans  taught  that  lesson  to  the 
French  Republic. 

Pascal  Paoli  erected  two  chapels  to  the 
Blessed  Yirgin,  one  at  Pastoreccia,  near 
Ponte-Nuovo,  the  scene  of  the  bloody  bat¬ 
tle  where  Corsican  nationality  perished, 
and  where  a  number  of  his  kindred,  who 
were  ours  as  well,  lost  their  lives  ;  the 
other  at  Morosaglia,  where  stood  his  coun¬ 
try-seat  as  a  Corsican  nobleman.  During 
his  exile  he  also  built  a  third  in  England. 

In  the  time  of  King  Theodore,  the  na¬ 
tional  council  engraved  round  the  gold  and 
copper  coin,  “  Monstra  te  esse  Matrem.” 

Napoleon  delighted  in  saying  that  the 
Blessed  Yirgin  was  the  Queen  of  his  coun¬ 
try,  and  while  he  was  only  a  simple  officer, 
he  testified  great  devotion  for  a  French 
Madonna  which  was  in  the  Ursuline  con¬ 
vent  at  Auxonne,  and  he  often  prayed 
there.  That  statue  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin 
has  since  been  removed  to  the  parish 
church,  where  it  is  still  to  be  seen. 

After  the  saturnalia  of  the  Regency,  and 
the  corrupt  reign  of  Louis  XY.,  came  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  reli¬ 
gion  had  been  chilled  by  the  impure  and 
sneering  breath  of  false  philosophy.  The 
revolution  of  1793  came  to  expel  the 
Blessed  Yirgin  from  her  altars,  and  God 
from  his  temples.  The  order  was  given  to 
shut  up  the  churches,  and  to  demolish 
everything  that  resembled  a  Christian  im¬ 
age.  Alas !  it  was  a  sad  spectacle  to  see 
the  Calvaries  pulled  down,  and  the  poor 
little  Madonnas  mutilated,  which  were  so 


chastely  sheltered  under  the  green  leaves 
of  the  woods.  It  was  particularly  in 
Lower  Brittany  that  the  devastation  found 
objects  to  work  upon.  “  It  may  be  affirmed 
without  exaggeration,”  says  Emile  Sou- 
vestre,  in  his  interesting  work  on  the 
Bretons,  “that  in  certain  localities,  our 
cross-roads  are  paved  with  broken  statues 
of  saints  ;  it  is  a  perfect  macadamized  road 
of  heads,  bodies,  and  limbs  of  Christian 
statues.”  Those  miserable  days  witnessed 
great  profanations,  but  also  noble  traits  of 
self-devotedness  worthy  of  ancient  times. 
Brittany,  above  all,  offered  a  passive,  com¬ 
pact,  and  tenacious  resistance,  which  suc¬ 
ceeded  at  last  in  wearing  out  persecution 
itself.  It  yielded  neither  to  anger  nor  fear. 
As  he  passed  by  the  niches  deprived  of 
their  Madonnas,  the  Breton  peasant  took 
off  his  broad  felt  hat  sorrowfully  and 
piously,  and  went  on  his  way  saying  a 
Hail  Mary.  On  Sunday,  he  seated  himself 
before  his  door  with  his  family,  and  re¬ 
mained  in  profound  silence  with  his  eyes 
fixed  upon  his  village  church,1  where  he 
had  so  often  invoked  Jesus  and  Mary.  “  I 
will  pull  down  your  steeples,”  said  John 

Bon  Saint  Andre  to  the  mavor  of  the  vil- 

«/ 

lage,  “  that  you  may  have  no  object  to  remind 
you  of  your  former  superstitions.” — “  Yet 
you  will  have  to  leave  us  the  stars,”  an¬ 
swered  the  peasant,  “  and  they  are  seen 
farther  off  than  our  steeple.”  Their  devo¬ 
tion  deprived  of  altars  assumed  an  exalted 
and  melancholy  character,  which  was  sym¬ 
pathetically  allied  with  the  religious  ruins 
that  covered  their  fields.  The  Blessed  Yir- 


(  '  )  Voyage  dans  fe  Finis  terre. 
25 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


gin,  who  had  disappeared  from  their  village 
churches,  had  taken  refuge  under  their 
thatched  roofs,  and  below  her  little  statues 
of  clay,  a  hundred  times  more  respected 
than  the  household  gods  of  the  ancients, 
was  read,  “  Holy  Mother  of  God,  be  thou 
the  protectress  of  this  dwelling.”  And  I 
know  not  if  a  “  blue”  would  have  ventured 
to  break  this  image,  placed  under  the 
shadow  of  the  domestic  hearth ;  for  there 
was  often  an  old  carbine  behind  the  green 
serge  curtains  of  the  Breton  farmer  ;  and  if 
Brittany  is  the  land  of  religious  sentiments, 
it  is  also  that  of  strong  and  lasting  resent¬ 
ment.  There  has  remained  a  little  of  the 
Celtic  rust  on  the  gold  of  the  virtues  of 
’  these  good  people  ;  this  people,  for  instance, 
is  the  only  one  of  Christendom  who  ever 
took  it  into  their  heads  to  associate  the 
name  of  the  merciful  Virgin  with  an  idea 
of  vengeance  ;  and  to  build  chapels  under 
the  strange  title,  more  Druidical  than 
Christian,  of  Our  Lady  of  Hatred.1 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Bessed  Virgin  were 
not  discontinued  in  Brittany  during  the 
reign  of  terror,  only  they  were  enveloped 
in  a  G-allic  form.  They  took  place  by  night, 
over  desert  heaths,  where  the  menhirs  and 
•  dolmens  of  the  God  without  a  name  stood 
up,  draped  in  their  gray  moss,  like  phan¬ 
toms.  Each  pilgrim  held  in  his  right  hand 
a  rosary,  and  in  his  left  a  torch  ;  and  all 
these  faces,  pale  and  half  veiled  by  their 
long  hair,  or  by  the  bands  from  their 
white  head-dresses,  passed  slowly  along  the 

( 1 )  “A  chapel  erected  to  Our  Lady  of  Hatred 
is  still  in  existence  near  Treguier,  and  the  people 
have  not  ceased  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  the 


311 


heaths,  singing  a  hymn  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin.  Sometimes  a  republican  column,  lying 
in  ambush  in  the  outskirts  of  a  copse,  or 
behind  a  hedge  of  thorns  and  hazel-bushes, 
which  sloped  down  upon  a  hollow  pathway, 
would  fire  upon  the  rustic  procession.  The 
Breton  peasant  nevertheless  began  his 
perilous  devotions  again  a  few  days  after¬ 
ward.  In  a  neighboring  province,  the 
villagers  who  went  to  pray  to  God  and 
Our  Lady  at  the  bottom  of  some  seques¬ 
tered  ravine,  in  a  starlight  night,  passed 
along  the  hamlets  occupied  by  the  “blue” 
soldiers,  singing  hymns  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  set  to  republican  tunes. 

Meanwhile,  the  churches  in  the  cities 
were  pillaged.  They  took  away  gold, 
silver,  iron,  screens,  marbles,  and  carved 
work  ;  they  pulled  down  every  work  of 
art  which  decorated  the  walls,  they  tore 
up  the  pictures,  and  well-paid  workmen 
were  ordered  to  remove  all  sculptures  from 
the  walls  and  vaults  ;  they  took  down  even 
the  bells,  to  turn  them  into  money,  and  this 
patriotic  coinage  cost  the  state,  according 
to  its  own  avowal,  twenty  millions.2 

“Fools!”  says  Laharpe,  addressing  his 
bold  and  biting  words  to  the  perpetrators 
of  these  sacrilegious  devastations,  “fools! 
is  it  on  walls  that  faith  is  graven  ?  is  it  on 
pictures  that  religion  is  written  ?  It  is 
written  on  men’s  hearts,  that  you  cannot 
reach  ;  in  consciences,  where  it  condemns 
you ;  in  the  spectacle  of  the  universe, 
where  it  speaks  to  all  men  ;  in  heaven, * (*) 

prayers  said  in  it.” — (Les  derniers  Bretons,  par 
M.  Souvestre,  t.  ii.) 

( * )  Laharpe,  du  Fanatisme  dans  la  langue  revo 
lutionnaire,  p.  49. 


312 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


where  it  will  judge  you.  Feeble  destroy¬ 
ers  !  you  have  cried  out :  Victory !  but 
where  is  your  victory  now?  Every  day 
you  foam  with  rage,  as  you  behold  the  con¬ 
course  of  people  who  fill  our  temples  :  they 
are  no  longer  rich,  but  they  are  ever 
sacred;  they  are  bare,  but  they  are  full. 
Pomp  has  disappeared,  but  worship  has 
remained  ;  men  no  longer  tread  there  upon 
marble  and  precious  carpeting,  but  they 
prostrate  upon  rubbish,  and  weep  over 
ruins.”1 

The  beautiful  hymn  of  Mary, — 

“  Vierge,  en  votre  secours,  je  mets  ma  confiance,” 

was  the  hymn  of  the  scaffold.  In  1793, 
two  tumbrels  full  of  poor  royalist  women, 
for  whom  the  horrible  guillotine  was 
erected,  passed  by  a  civic  banquet,  served 
up  in  the  street  by  the  leading  terrorists. 
Madame  de  Montmorency  Laval,  venerable 
for  her  virtue,  honored  for  her  noble  name, 
illustrious  for  ages  in  France,  was  in  one 
of  these  carts,  with  her  hands  tied  behind 
her  back,  with  sixteen  of  her  nuns,  for  she 
was  abbess  of  the  Carmelites  of  Mont¬ 
martre,  a  religious  order  founded  in  the 
East,  under  the  patronage  of  Mary,  as  we 
have  said  elsewhere.  These  holy  daughters 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whom  the  tempest 
of  the  revolution  had  cast  upon  the  stormy 
sea  of  the  world  to  perish,  were  singing — 
as  if  they  had  been  still  hidden  beneath 
their  veils  in  the  choir  of  their  beautiful 
church — the  prayer  of  the  Vendeans,  the 
hymn  of  their  holy  patroness.  Could  they 
not  let  these  noble  women,  who  were  going 


( 1 )  Laharpe,  du  Fanatisme  dans  la  langue  revo- 
lutionnaire,  p.  41. 


to  die,  sing  in  peace?  The  hideous  rage 
of  those  wretches  who  disgraced  the  Tte- 
public  is  excited  on  hearing  this  pious 
canticle  ;  a  hundred  redcapped  terrorists 
rush  up  to  the  carts,  with  bludgeons  in 
their  hands,  crying  out,  “  Silence  the  be- 
guines.  Let  them  sing  the  Marseillaise  ! 

.  .  .  Obey  the  people !  .  .  .  Come  on !  the 
Marseillaise  directly !  ”  As  if  they  had 
not  heard  these  frightful  vociferations,  the 
daughters  of  Mary  continued  their  sweet 
hymn.  Provoked  at  this  passive  resistance, 
which  they  did  not  expect,  these  ferocious 
bandits  stop  the  horses  with  curses,  and 
are  going  cowardly  to  strike  poor  helpless 
women,  who  are  so  soon  to  be  the  prey  of 
death  ;  but  there  is  so  much  honor  and 
chivalry  in  the  French,  even  when  they  gc 
astray,  that  some  other  republicans  run  up, 
calling  out,  “No  murder!  what,  kill  wo¬ 
men  !  0  what  a  shame  !  ”  Then  there  was 
a  terrible  fight  around  the  tumbrels.  A 
young  patriot,  in  a  Phrygian  cap,  snatched 
a  sword  from  one  of  the  mounted  police, 
and  standing  quite  close  to  the  cart,  where 
the  terrified  Carmelites  pressed  close  round 
their  venerable  abbess,  he  succeeds  with 
equal  courage  and  coolness  in  warding  off 
the  blows  which  are  intended  for  them  ; ' 
but  one  of  those  blows  took  effect  in  spite 
of  his  efforts  ;  a  young  nun  is  struck  with 
a  sabre,  and  wounded  in  the  breast.  Her 
life  was  gushing  forth  with  her  blood, 
which  streamed  over  her  black  dress,  and 
the  pallor  of  death  already  spread  over 
her  meek  and  patient  countenance.  “Saint, 
who  art  going  up  to  heaven,”  cries  out  a 
woman  from  among  the  people,  kneeling 
before  the.  expiring  nun,  “bless  mel” 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


313 


“Be  thou  blessed, ”  replies  the  Carmelite 
daughter,  in  a  faint  voice ;  “and  you  who 
have  defended  us  on  the  way  to  death,” 
she  continued,  as  she  presents  her  rosary 
to  the  deeply-affected  republican,  “  accept 
this  token  of  gratitude  .  . 

The  carts  moved  on,  and  the  hymns 
began  once  more  ;  when  they  had  ceased, 
all  the  hearts  of  these  poor  women  had 
ceased  to  beat,  and  Mary  had  received 
into  her  bosom  her  faithful  servants. 

The  revolution  carried  away  in  its  whirl¬ 
wind  the  religious  orders  consecrated  to 
Mary,  as  the  storm  sweeps  down  the  grain  ; 
the  Carmelites  left  behind  them  something 
like  the  perfume  of  the  dried  rose,  a  salu¬ 
tary  and  balsamic  water  which  bears  its 
name. 

Out  of  seventeen  hundred  thousand 
sacred  edifices  which  covered  the  soil  of 
France,  each  having  an  altar  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  there  remained  hardly  two  thou¬ 
sand  churches  worthy  the  attention  of  the 
antiquary  and  the  artist ;  the  rest  sold, 
bought,  pillaged,  pulled  down,  thrown  into 
the  kiln  to  make  quicklime,  scarcely  left  a 
few  remains,  the  sources  of  long  and  fruit¬ 
less  regrets!  “See,  then,”  exclaims  Jules 
Janin,  with  generous  indignation,  “see, 
then,  what  to  imperfect  ruins  have  come  all 
the  money,  all  the  patience,  all  the  genius ! 
The  cities  have  been  dishonored.  Deprived 
of  these  masterpieces,  what  does  a  com¬ 
munity  of  men  resemble  ?  It  is  no  longer 
a  city,  it  is  an  ant-hill.  They  have  dis¬ 
honored  the  landscape  which  derived  so 
much  beauty  from  these  spires,  these  stee¬ 
ples,  and  these  high  walls  ;  what  they  could 
not  demolish,  they  defiled  at  pleasure.  Of 


the  noblest  Gothic  towers  they  made  store¬ 
houses  ;  the  most  perfect  ogival  churches 
were  turned  into  stables.  .  .  That  fabulous 
epoch  was  so  perverse  and  inexhaustible  in 
its  spirit  of  universal  destruction,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  in  it  at  all !  ” 1 

Devotion  to  Mary,  which  had  slumbered 
for  a  short  time  in  France,  soon  revived, 
and  imperceptibly  recovered  its  consoling 
power  over  souls.  Napoleon,  faithful  to 
the  impressions  of  his  youth,  chose  the  day 
of  the  Assumption  for  his  own  patron 
feast,  and  made  it  the  great  holiday  of  the 
empire ;  soon  there  reappeared  proces¬ 
sions,  crosses,  white  banners,  and  sacred 
hymns  in  those  fine  G-othic  cathedrals  of 
Mary,  whose  bare  walls  and  poverty- 
stricken  altars  brought  to  mind  the  primitive 
church,  while  their  brilliant  stained-glass 
windows,  their  light  columns,  their  towers 
proudly  carried  up  to  the  clouds,  spoke  of 
the  believing  and  chivalrous  epoch  of  the 
times  of  faith.  All  that  had  suffered,  all  that 
had  mourned,  all  that  had  trembled  under 
the  fearful  reign  of  terror,  came  to  kneel  at 
the  feet  of  Mary  ;  the  reaction  of  religion  was 
energetic  and  immense,  and  made  itself  felt 
in  the  towns  and  villages.  The  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  had  again  rustic  altars  in  the  depths 
of  the  forests ;  her  sanctuaries,  where 
nothing  had  been  heard  for  a  long  time  but 
the  song  of  the  bird,  or  the  humming  of  the 
bee  flying  about  the  pale  wild  rose,  re¬ 
sounded  once  more  with  the  canticles  of 
pilgrims.  The  Restoration,  by  re-establish¬ 
ing  the  processions  of  the  Vow  of  Louis 
XIII.,  placed  France  once  more  under  her (*) 


(* )  M.  Jules  Janin,  La  Normandie. 


40 


314 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


sway  ;  a  giant  step  was  made  in  the  devo¬ 
tion  to  the  Immaculate  Con6eption,  and  the 
whole  of  France  consecrated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin  the  month  of  flowers,  of  which  she 
has  made,  piously  and  poetically,  the 
Month  of  Mary.  The  highest  classes  set 
the  example  of  devotion  to  Mary  ;  the  de¬ 
scendants  of  the  knights  “  without  fear,” 
and  of  the  great  barons,  who  in  ancient 
times  built  in  her  honor  so  many  chapels 
and  monasteries,  still  honor  her  as  in  the 
good  old  times,  the  pious  and  noble  Queen 
Mary  Amelia  sets  the  example. 

In  France,  devotion  to  Mary  is  tender, 
but  respectful ;  a  Frenchman  always  be¬ 
holds  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  heaven,  and 
honors  her  accordingly.  In  Italy,  the 
veneration  of  the  Madonna  has  something 
more  ardent,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
familiar.  From  his  cradle,  the  Italian  has 
before  his  eyes  graceful  pictures,  which 
bring  to  his  mind  acts  of  goodness  and 
mercy  only  on  the  part  of  Mary  :  she  is 
the  protectress  of  childhood,  the  dream  of 
youth,  the  last  hope  of  the  sinner  ;  every¬ 
where  the  thought  of  her  is  uppermost  in 
religious  festivals,  like  the  water-lily  on 
the  deep  wave  ;  the  ardent  Italian  sees  her 
everywhere,  blesses  her  everywhere,  and 
when  his  prayer  is  not  heard,  far  from 
blaming  Mary,  he  says,  striking  his  breast, 
“  It  is  my  own  fault!  the  Madonna  has  not 
neard  me,  because  I  am  too  great  a  sinner.” 
Surely  that  is  an  admirable  faith!  above 
all,  a  Christian  faith,  for  in  the  like  circum¬ 
stances  the  pagans  used  to  drag  their  gods 
through  the  mire. 

Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which 
produced  in  the  middle  ages  the  Duomo 


of  Pisa,  that  fine  cathedral  of  Mary,  the 
bronze  gates  of  which,  executed  after  the 
designs  of  John  of  Bologna,  represent  the 
principal  scenes  of  the  life  of  Our  Lords 
and  the  life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin;  Our 
Lady  of  Flowers,  the  sumptuous  metro¬ 
politan  church  of  Florence,  which  looks  like 
a  mountain  of  marble  of  divers  colors 
sculptured  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross  ; 
and  so  many  other  masterpieces  in  the 
highest  style,  is  as  fervent  now  as  at  that 
period,  the  most  illustrious  of  modern  Italy. 

On  landing  at  Genoa — that  city  which  so 
justly  bears  the  name  of  superb,  and  which 
seems  to  have  been  built,  as  Madame  de 
Stael  said,  for  a  congress  of  kings — the 
first  thing  that  strikes  the  eye  is  the  devo¬ 
tion  of  the  Genoese  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
At  every  corner  of  those  streets,  which  are 
formed  of  palaces,  and  are  thronged  by 
crowds  of  the  common  people  in  their  pic¬ 
turesque  costume,  and  women  in  their  long 
white  veils,  rises  a  Madonna,  either  painted 
or  carved,  who  protects  the  whole  quarter  ; 
by  day  she  is  embalmed  with  the  penetrat¬ 
ing  odor  of  myrtle  or  jessamine  ;  by  night 
a  lamp  is  lighted  before  her,  and  numerous 
groups  kneel  at  her  feet  to  recite  her 
Litany.  It  is  still  as  in  the  days  when 
Andrew  Doria  said  the  office  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  on  board  his  galleys,  and  you  can 
still  read  on  the  gates  of  the  majestic  city, 
“  Citta  di  Maria.”  There  are  reckoned  in 
this  city  fifty  oratories  dedicated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin. 

Venice,  the  dethroned  queen  of  the 
Adriatic,  would  not  send  a  vessel  to  sea 
without  adorning  it  with  the  holy  image  of 
Mary.  During  the  cholera,  the  city  took 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


refuge  in  the  merciful  bosom  of  Our  Lady 
of  Salvation,  whom  she  implores  even  in 
preference  to  St.  Mark,  her  patron,  in  great 
calamities  ;  and  made  an  offering  to  her  of 
a  superb  silver  lamp  weighing  a  hundred 
and  sixteen  pounds,  richly  ornamented  with 
chasings  of  gold.  The  fine  church  of  Mary, 
where  the  ex  voto  was  hung  up,  owes  its 
origin  to  a  benefit  of  the  same  nature.  It 
was  erected  in  1531,  on  the  site  of  a  house 
where  the  plague  had  broken  out,  from 
which  Venice  was  delivered  by  the  all- 
powerful  intercession  of  the  Madonna.  In 
the  centre  of  the  cupola  appears  this  in¬ 
scription,  of  noble  and  antique  simplicity  : 
“Unde  origo,  inde  salus.” 

Nothing  can  be  compared  to  the  tender 
veneration  which  the  Tuscans  entertain 
for  the  Madonna.  On  the  roads,  on  the 
bridges,  in  the  streets,  in  the  houses,  her 
sweet  image  is  found  again  and  again 
smiling  on  the  passer-by,  who  doffs  his 
hat  before  it,  and  seeming  to  take  part  in 
all  the  happiness  of  the  domestic  hearth. 
The  contadine  of  the  environs  of  Florence 
come  down  from  the  orchard-crowned 
heights,  watered  by  clear  streams  which 
half  encircle  it,  at  every  feast  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  leading  an  elegantly-ca¬ 
parisoned  mule,  which  they  have  laden 
with  baskets  of  the  finest  grapes,  little 
sheaves  of  wheat,  branches  of  orange-  and 
pomegranate-trees  loaded  with  fruits  or 
flowers.  Dressed  in  their  holiday  attire, 
they  march  in  procession  through  the  city, 
to  lay  their  fruits  and  flowers  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

When  the  Grand  Duke  of  Florence 
re-entered  his  territories,  after  the  fall  of 

39 


315 


Napoleon,  his  first  care  was  to  repair  to  the 
Church  of  Santa  Maria  della  Nunziata, 
where  crowds  of  people  daily  honor  most 
devoutly  a  picture  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
said  to  have  been  finished  by  an  angel.  In 
gratitude  for  his  unhoped-for  return  to  his 
dominions,  the  excellent  prince  suspended 
a  lamp  of  the  most  beautiful  workmanship 
in  Mary’s  chapel. 

Rome  is  no  less  devout  to  the  Madonna 
than  Florence.  At  whatever  hour  of  morn¬ 
ing  or  night  you  walk  about  the  vast  city 
of  Saint  Peter,  you  always  find  groups  of 
Romans  kneeling  before  the  Madonna,  and 
praying  to  her  with  a  truly  remarkable  de¬ 
votion  and  fervor.  In  the  streets,  in  the 
public  squares,  in  the  houses,  you  see  her 
image,  before  which  one  or  more  lamps  are 
burning,  filled  with  the  purest  oil ;  the  poor 
man  as  well  as  the  rich  assumes  this  ex¬ 
pense, — he  would  go  without  bread  to 
provide  it.  A  street  in  Rome  brilliantly 
lighted  by  thousands  of  luminous  specks, 
like  the  fire-flies  of  Italy,  and  resounding 
with  the  rustic  music  of  the  pifferari  of 
Calabria  or  Abruzzi,  is  a  spectacle  at  once 
edifying  and  picturesque.  From  time  im¬ 
memorial  these  mountain  musicians  gather 
crowds  around  the  Madonnas,  but  especially 
in  Advent ;  for  they  seem  anxious  to  herald 
by  their  rural  airs  the  feast  of  the  shep¬ 
herds,  the  most  holy  night  of  Christmas. 

But  it  is  particularly  on  the  day  of  the 
Assumption  that  the  ardent  devotion  of  the 
Romans  to  Mary  is  displayed  ;  on  that  day 
all  the  churches  are  deserted  for  St.  Mary 
Major,  the  royal  church,  with  walls  lined 
with  Paros  marble  ;  the  villa  of  the  noble¬ 
man  is  abandoned  with  its  salubrious  air 


316 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


and  delicious  shades  ;  the  aria  cativa  pre¬ 
vails  at  Rome,  and  with  it  fever ;  but 
what  matter  ?  the  plague  might  be  there, 
and  people  would  still  go.  Is  not  the 
Madonna  more  powerful  to  protect,  than 
fever  and  pestilence  to  destroy  ?  0  pious 

confidence  !  faith  truly  marvellous  in  these 
our  days !  The  whole  population  of  Rome 
is  assembled  in  the  squares,  near  the  superb 
church  of  Mary ;  they  display  all  their 
magnificence  for  this  festival.  The  men 
have  put  on  their  picturesque  costume  of 
blue  velvet ;  the  women  have  adorned 
themselves  with  their  coral  necklaces,  and 
bound  up  their  long  jet-black  hair,  in  a 
white  and  graceful  drapery,  fastened  with 
a  gold  or  silver  pin.  All  carry  enormous 
bouquets  to  offer  to  the  Madonna.  This 
immense  crowd  of  the  faithful,  this  people, 
of  whom  Mary  is  the  absolute  Queen,  kneel 
down  in  the  hot  dust,  scorched  by  the  fierce 
rays  of  an  Italian  sun,  or  stand  against 
those  houses  which  cast  a  shadow  over 
these  open  squares.  The  Italians,  by  na¬ 
ture  noisy  and  gesticulating,  those  men 
who  seem  to  be  always  assuming  an  atti¬ 
tude  for  a  painter,  have  forgotten  their 
habits :  one  single  care  occupies  their 
minds,  which  is  prayer !  And  how  well 
do  they  understand  how  to  pray!  They 
pray  with  their  looks,  with  their  gestures, 
with  their  lips,  with  their  heart,  and  pour 
out,  really  without  any  exaggeration  of 
language,  their  whole  soul  at  the  feet  of 
Mary. 

When  the  pope  has  finished  the  divine 
sacrifice,  and  blessed  all  the  kneeling  peo¬ 
ple,  the  wide  gates  of  the  vast  church  roll 
slowly  on  their  brazen  hinges,  to  make  way 


for  the  crowd,  which  fills  it  with  sweet 
chants  and  fragrant  flowers.  When  even¬ 
ing  is  come,  the  whole  city  is  illuminated, 
and  all  Rome  is  praying  in  the  street. 
Each  one  falls  into  a  group,  without  dis¬ 
tinction  or  privilege,  with  a  fraternization 
worthy  of  the  age  of  gold,  around  his 
own  Madonna,  the  Madonna  of  the  quarter, 
for  which  the  Roman  prince  has  left  his 
marble  palace,  the  artisan  his  shop,  and  the 
young  maiden  her  father’s  roof ;  all  pray 
with  affecting  fervor.  The  women  recite 
the  rosary,  the  men  sing  the  litany  ;  now 
and  then,  one  of  those  fine  Italian  voices, 
which  seem  heaven-descended,  intones  a 
hymn  to  Mary,  and  all  listen  in  silence  ; 
but  that  silence  itself  is  a  mental  prayer  to 
the  Blessed  Yirgin. 

“I  shall  remember  as  long  as  I  live,” 
says  a  modern  traveller,  “the  beautiful 
feast  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin, 
and  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  September, 
where  were  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand 
souls  moving  about  the  Piazza  Navona. 
The  image  of  the  Madonna,  magnificently 
illuminated,  presided  over  the  rejoicings  of 
the  people,  and  no  one  could  doubt  of  it, 
when  they  saw  everywhere  decorum,  re¬ 
straint,  and  a  kind  of  half-recollection  of 
spirit ;  the  abode  of  a  numerous  family, 
subject  to  the  authority  of  a  father,  alone 
can  give  the  idea  of  a  like  serenity  in  the 
midst  of  the  movement  of  public  rejoic¬ 
ings  ;  it  was  also  remarkable  at  the  moment 
when  the  crowd  retired  in  peace  after  the 
fireworks.  I  there  beheld  a  proof  of  the 
wisdom  and  mildness  of  the  pontifical 
government.” 

At  Naples,  in  sight  of  the  finest  sea  and 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


fairest  sky  of  the  world,  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Yirgin  still  blooms  with  the  fresh¬ 
ness  and  splendor  of  a  new-blown  lily.  The 
feasts  of  the  Madonna  are  popular  feasts, 
full  of  enthusiastic  joy ;  her  churches,  to 
the  number  of  fourteen  in  the  city  of 
Naples  alone,  combine  all  the  grandeur 
and  beauty  that  painting,  architecture,  and 
sculpture  can  display  ;  the  chapels  of  Mary, 
all  beautiful  and  splendid,  are  adorned  with 
lapis  lazuli,  topaz,  jasper,  and  other  pre¬ 
cious  stones.  In  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
Nuova,  the  miraculous  image  of  the  Ma¬ 
donna  delle  G-razie  is  placed  under  a  silver 
canopy,  and  covered  with  precious  stones. 
On  the  hill  of  Pausilippo,  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  Fortunata  occupies  the  site  of 
an  ancient  temple  of  Fortune,  where  pagan¬ 
ism  used  to  hang  up  its  ex-votos.  Monte 
Rulignano  is  crowned  with  one  of  the  finest 
Neapolitan  churches  of  Mary.  Five  sub¬ 
urbs  of  Naples  bear  the  name  of  the 
Blessed  Yirgin.  The  Neapolitans  have 
consecrated  Y esuvius  to  her,  that  beautiful 
mountain,  the  base  of  which  resembles  the 
gardens  of  Armida,  and  the  summit,  one  of 
hell’s  gates  thrown  open  over  some  desolate 
corner  of  chaos.  When  the  crater  vomits 
forth  its  long  streams  of  burning  lava,  and 
the  whole  bay  is  lighted  up  amid  the  dark¬ 
ness  of  night,  as  if  the  final  conflagration, 
predicted  by  the  sybils,  was  about  to 
destroy  our  little  globe,  the  Neapolitan, 
threatened  with  destruction,  takes  courage 
when  he  prays  to  Mary,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  hamlets  near  the  volcano  meet  the 
lava  with  images  of  the  Madonna,  with 
which  they  confront  its  torrent. 

Sicily  is  like  Sardinia,  an  essentially 


317 


Catholic  land  ;  devotion  to  Mary  is  partic¬ 
ularly  cherished  at  Palermo  and  Messina  ; 
the  beautiful  cathedral,  which  the  kings  of 
the  Norman  race  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Yirgin,  still  remains  in  this  latter  city  ; 
only  the  campanile  and  the  spire,  which 
surmounted  the  great  tower  over  the  portal, 
were  thrown  down  in  the  famous  earth¬ 
quake  of  1753,  and  the  Sicilians  have  not 
thought  of  rebuilding  them. 

In  Piedmont  and  Savoy,  Our  Lady  has 
ever  been  religiously  honored.  In  1669, 
King  Charles  Emmanuel  declared  the  Mo¬ 
ther  of  God  the  principal  protectress  of  his 
house  and  states  ;  this  declaration  has  often 
been  renewed  by  the  pious  successors  of 
that  prince. 

Down  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  devotion  to  Mary  was  universal 
and  splendid  in  Spain.  In  the  cathedral 
of  Toledo,  placed  under  the  invocation  of 
the  Blessed  Yirgin,  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady 
del  Sagrario  (of  the  sanctuary)  was  an 
object  of  admiration.  The  pillars  and  pave¬ 
ment  were  of  marble  ;  the  form  was  octag¬ 
onal  ;  in  the  recesses  were  seen  vases  of 
gold,  enriched  with  diamonds  and  other 
precious  stones  of  great  value.  The  statue 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  was  of  solid  silver, 
and  she  held  in  her  arms  an  infant  Jesus  of 
solid  gold,  twelve  inches  high,  set  with 
diamonds,  and  she  was  seated  on  a  silver 
throne.  The  cathedral  of  Seville  contained 
the  celebrated  chapel  of  Our  Lady  of 
Kings,  built  by  St.  Ferdinand,  the  richness 
of  which  was  so  great  that  it  passed  for  the 
finest  chapel  in  the  world.  The  chapel  of 
the  Presentation,  at  Burgos,  was  almost  as 
celebrated.  At  Madrid,  the  church  of  Our 


318 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Lady  of  Almemada  is  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  of  the  city  ;  to  this  Madonna 
was  attributed  the  discovery  of  a  supply 
of  wheat,  providentially  found  at  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  a  tower,  at  a  moment  when  the  city, 
closely  besieged  by  the  Moors,  was  about 
to  surrender,  compelled  to  it  by  famine. 
The  miraculous  fact  is  still  represented  in 
fresco,  on  the  walls  of  the  chapel  of  Our 
Lady  ;  but  we  doubt  if  the  altar  and  rails 
of  massive  silver  are  there  still. 

At  a  quarter  of  a  league  from  Madrid,  in 
the  enclosure  of  a  vast  convent  of  Domin¬ 
icans,  which,  no  doubt,  is  now  deserted, 
like  many  others,  the  miraculous  image  of 
Our  Lady  of  Atocha  (of  the  bush),  was 
formerly  venerated,  a  dark  Madonna,  usu¬ 
ally  dressed  as  a  widow ;  which  has  never 
been  done,  as  far  as  we  know,  anywhere 
but  there,  but  which  on  solemn  days  is 
attired  in  royal  robes,  adorned  with  pre¬ 
cious  stones.  Her  chapel,  a  sombre  pile, 
was  lighted  up  by  a  hundred  lamps  of  solid 
silver  and  gold  ;  the  Catholic  kings  have  a 
gallery  there  with  lattice-work  before  it. 
It  was  at  Our  Lady  of  Atocha  that  the  Te 
Deum  wjis  sung  for  victories.1 

Charles  III.,  King  of  Spain,  founded  an 
order  of  knighthood  in  honor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  whom  he  proclaimed  universal  pa- 
trona  de  Espana  e  Indias  :  Universal  Pa¬ 
troness  of  Spain  and  the  Indies. 

In  these  days  the  bright  moon  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  has  slightly  veiled  her  disc  in  Spain  ; 
but  the  cloud  will  pass,  and  Blessed  Virgin 
will  soon  recover  her  rights  in  this  nation, 

o  7 


( 1 )  Queen  Isabel  II.,  of  Spain,  was  very  devout 
to  Our  Lady  of  Atocha. 


essentially  religious  and  chivalrous ;  we 
hope,  with  the  Spanish  doctor,  who  has 
done  us  the  honor  of  translating  this  work, 
that  posterity  will  add  numerous  pages, 
pages  of  gold,  to  the  Spanish  portion,  of 
devotion  to  Mary. 

In  Portugal,  of  which  Mary  has  been  the 
Queen  since  the  days  of  King  Alphonsus  I., 
the  veneration  of  her  is  still  national  and 
flourishing  ;  she  is  the  acknowledged  god¬ 
mother  of  all  the  daughters,  and  her  images 
are  venerated  in  beautiful  and  rich  chapels. 

England,  where  the  sects  are  like  the 
hydra’s  heads,  is  beginning  to  look  again 
toward  the  religion  of  Rome  ;  numerous 
Catholic  churches  under  the  modest  name 
of  chapels,  arise  in  every  county.  In  Ire¬ 
land,  quite  recently,  bonfires  were  lighted 
on  all  the  hills,  to  celebrate,  in  the  style  of 
ancient  days,  a  miracle  which  took  place 
after  a  novena  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the 
wonderful  liberation  of  O’Connell. 

The  Belgians  have  always  been  a  people 
devout  to  Mary  ;  as  pilgrims  they  frequent 
her  sanctuaries,  and  consecrate  to  her  the 
most  charming  chapels  of  their  fine  Gothic 
cathedrals. 

The  Tyrolese  line  their  walls  and  their 
houses  with  events  in  the  life  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

Rich  and  tranquil  Bohemia  multiplies 
the  images  of  the  Mother  of  God  on  her 
roads  and  in  her  cities.  At  intervals,  in 
the  country,  a  rural  chapel  of  Mary,  at 
once  a  house  of  prayer  and  a  caravansera 
of  repose,  rears  its  cross-crowned  gable, 
as  if  to  tell  the  traveller  that  it  offers  him 
a  shelter  from  sun  or  rain  ;  and  this  appeal 
is  always  religiously  listened  to. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Austria,  a  land  of  pure  and  simple 
manners,  with  poetic  and  religious  tastes, 
has  remained  faithful  to  Mary,  and  nowhere 
have  the  sacred  ceremonies  of  her  worship 
a  more  serious  and  affecting  character. 

Poland  is  still  the  kingdom  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  whom  the  Poles  invoke, 
ever  since  1655,  in  their  Litany,  under  the 
title  of  Regina  coeli  et  Polonim.  Her 
image  hangs  from  the  necks  of  the  young 
Polish  girls ;  mothers  formerly  used  to 
hang  it  on  those  of  their  brave  sons  when 
they  set  off  for  battle.  The  great  ladies 
have  in  their  apartments  an  oratory  dec¬ 
orated  with  the  picture  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin ;  and  that  proud  Polish  nobility, 
which  eclipsed  in  splendor  all  the  nobility 
of  Europe,  at  the  Christmas  holidays  would 
set  up  in  the  most  conspicious  place  of  their 
sumptuous  banqueting  halls  a  sheaf  of 
straw,  in  memory  of  the  utter  destitution 
of  Jesus  and  Mary  in  the  stable  of  Beth¬ 
lehem. 

The  Lithuanians,  the  last  children  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  Europe,  in  the  order  of 
time,  since  they  were  not  converted  till  the 
fifteenth  century,  have  also  remained  faith¬ 
ful  to  her,  in  spite  of  Protestantism,  which 
completely  failed  among  them  from  the 
moment  that  it  spoke  suppressing  devotion 
to  Mary.  She  who  now  replaces  the  fair 
Saule,  their  favorite  divinity — that  beauti¬ 
ful  goddess  of  the  sun,  who  came  forth 
each  day,  say  the  mystic  legends  of  their 
fathers,  from  her  palace  in  the  East, 
mounted  on  a  golden  car,  lighted  by  a 
thousand  torches  of  white  wax,  to  give 
light  to  the  earth,  and  who  was  attended 

i 

by  Vakazinn6,  the  evening  star,  and  Aus- 


319 


sra,  the  aurora.  Faithful  to  the  ancient 
customs  of  their  native  land,  the  Lithua¬ 
nian  women  still  celebrate  their  favorite 
festivals  of  the  return  of  the  flowers  and 
the  end  of  the  harvest  under  the  auspices 
of  Mary  ;  upon  her  altars  they  lay  the 
violets  which  they  gather  at  a  distance 
before  sunrise,  on  the  first  days  of  spring ; 
it  is  she  whom  they  invoke,  seated  around 
the  last  sheaf,  when  their  nimble  hands 
weave  hieroglyphics  of  flowers,  or  they 
give,  as  in  the  East,  a  thought  to  each  leaf, 
and  a  symbol  to  every  plant.  These  peo¬ 
ple,  who  passionately  love  the  woods,  the 
fields,  and  above  all  the  beautiful  flowers, 
which  they  cultivate  around  their  poorest 
cottages,  love  far  more  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
who  is  still  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Lithu¬ 
ania. 

The  Russians,  who  follow  the  rites  of  the 
Greek  Church,  profess  the  greatest  venera¬ 
tion  for  the  Blessed  Virgin.  When  they 
perceive  her  image,  however  far  off,  they 
prostrate  several  times,  and  multiply  signs 
of  the  cross  with  extreme  rapidity.  At 
Moscow,  a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to 
which  miracles  are  attributed,  ornaments 
one  of  the  gates  of  the  Kremlin  ;  two  bare¬ 
headed  sentiuels  mount  guard  by  it,  night 
and  day.  The  people  never  fail  to  uncover 
their  heads  respectfully  when  they  pass 
before  this  image. 

The- czars  were  formerly  crowned  in  the 
noble  muscovite  cathedral  of  the  Assump¬ 
tion,  where  the  bodies  of  the  Russian 
patriarchs  are  deposited  ;  the  enclosure  of 
the  sanctuary  was  covered  with  plates  of 
silver  and  gold  ;  the  sacred  vessels  and 
episcopal  vestments  of  this  cathedral  are 


320 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


still  of  unparalleled  richness  ;  the  picture 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  placed  in  a  large 
gilt  frame  at  the  bottom  of  this  church, 
figures  in  processions  in  a  superb  carriage 
all  of  plate-glass,  like  the  coaches  seen 
formerly  at  the  coronation  of  the  French 
kings.  Four  horses  richly  caparisoned 
draw  this  modern  triumphal  car  at  a  slow 
and  solemn  pace. 

The  Greeks,  though  schismatics,  have 
still  the  same  respect  for  the  Panagia  ;  the 
Morea  has  several  fine  convents  dedicated 
to  Mary  ;  the  most  celebrated  is  that  of 
the  Assumption,  on  Mount  Cylene,  a  few 
hours’  journey  from  the  celebrated  cascade 
of  the  Styx,  which  now  bears  the  name  of 
Mavronero.  This  convent,  which  has  pos¬ 
sessed  ever  since  the  eighth  century  a 
miraculous  picture  of  Mary,  given  to  it 
by  an  imperial  princess  of  Constantinople 
named  Euphrosine,  is  built  almost  entirely 
in  a  large  cavern  a  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  in  height  and  width.  A  steep  and 
narrow  descent,  made  on  the  mountain 
side,  leads  to  the  entrance  of  the  convent, 
which  has,  like  the  strong  castles  of  the 
middle  ages,  an  iron  gate  and  portcullis, 
and  is  further  defended  by  a  side  wall  with 
numerous  openings,  and  mounted  with  four 
pieces  of  cannon.  This  narrow  path,  so 
easily  interrupted,  and  in  which  large 
breaches  are  made  every  winter  by  the 
torrents,  is  the  only  ro^d  which  leads  to 
the  monastery  of  Mary  :  hence  this  sacred 
asylum,  where  the  Panagia  has  been  in¬ 
voked  for  so  many  centuries  by  the  Hel¬ 
lenes,  is  considered  impregnable.  In  the 
late  war  of  independence,  the  celebrated 
Tbrahim  in  vain  endeavored  to  reduce  it. 


The  three  hundred  monks  who  inhabit  it, 
having  become  soldiers  through  necessity, 
courageously  defended  the  ancient  altar  of 
their  Patroness. 

The  manners  of  these  caloyers,  as  the 
Mussulmans  call  them,  are  as  simple  and 
pure  as  at  the  time  of  their  foundation ; 
they  enjoy  complete  independence;  they 
are  laborious  and  strong,  and  like  worthy 
servants  of  the  merciful  Virgin,  they 
always  hold  out  a  helping  hand  to  the 
oppressed  or  suffering.  The  monks  of 
Thessaly  and  of  Phocis  found,  in  the  four¬ 
teenth  century,  an  asylum  in  the  convent 
of  the  Assumption,  when,  pursued  by  the 
Turks,  they  fled,  without  hope  of  return, 
from  the  beloved  soil  of  their  country.  In 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  poor  monks 
who  escaped  from  the  massacres  of  Con¬ 
stantinople  took  refuge  in  this  convent. 
Finally,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  when 
the  devastating  war  which  followed  the 
insurrection  in  the  Morea  had  destroyed  all 
around  them,  it  was  by  their  thoroughly 
Christian  behavior  toward  the  Turks  of 
Calavrita,  by  their  prayers,  and  by  their 
surrender  of  a  part  of  their  property,  that 
they  were  enabled  to  save  from  apostasy 
or  death  a  great  part  of  the  Greeks  of 
Achaia. 

The  Ivlephts,  those  brave  mountaineers 
who  have  so  valiantly  and  so  long  kept 
the  Turks  in  check,  are  no  less  devout  to 
the  Panagia  than  the  Moreans.  For  ages 
on  ages,  they  have  had  no  other  places  of 
prayer  than  some  ruinous  chapels,  which 
were  believed  to  be  haunted  by  vampires, 
or  some  oratory  hollowed  out  in  the  rock, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Virgin.  They 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


321 


were  sometimes  seen,  at  daybreak,  climb¬ 
ing  the  highest  crests  of  the  lofty  moun¬ 
tains,  their  curved  daggers  in  their  girdles, 
and  long  guns  slung  over  their  shoulders, 
to  go  and  hear  mass,  or  merely  pray  in 
some  retired  chapel,  overhanging  frightful 
precipices,  at  the  very  sight  of  which  a 
Turkish  soldier  would  shudder.  There  it 
was  that  they  came  to  hang  up  the  votive 
offering  promised  to  the  Panagia  in  the 
hour  of  danger,  and  always  faithfully  ren¬ 
dered.  These  offerings,  which  were  often¬ 
times  precious  things  conquered  by  gun 
and  sword  from  the  Mussulmans,  inspired 
Che  most  religious  respect ;  public  devotion 
guarded  them,  and  in  no  excess  of  distress 
or  want  would  a  Klepht  think  of  carrying 
off  the  least  of  these  objects  which  had 
become  sacred.  Pouqueville  quotes,  in  his 
Travels  in  Greece,  the  incident  of  a  chief 
of  banditti  who,  having  pillaged  some 
votive  offerings  from  a  chapel  dedicated 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  near  Vonitza,  was 
given  up  by  his  own  pallikares  to  Ali 
Pacha,  by  whose  order  he  was  hanged. 
Distant  pilgrimages,  especially  difficult  to 
men  placed  in  the  position  of  the  Klephts, 
was  still  not  unknown  to  them.  The  famous 
partisan  Blachavas,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six  years,  was  seen  to  set  out  on  foot  for 
Jerusalem,  with  his  musket  on  his  back, 
followed  by  his  proto-pallikare  (aide-de- 
camp),  and  die,  as  he  seemed  to  have 
wished,  in  the  holy  places  which  possess 
the  tombs  of  Christ  and  the  Blessed  Virgin.1 

Mount  Athos,  called  by  the  modern 
Greeks  Agion  Oros  or  Holy  Mountain,  is 


(  1 )  Fauriel,  Chants  populaires  de  la  Gr^ce. 


still  Mary’s,  as  in  the  time  of  the  first 
Caesars  of  Byzantium. 

The  isles  of  the  Bosphorus  and  Archi¬ 
pelago  contain  numerous  but  poor  convents 
of  Mary  ;  the  bells  of  these  monasteries  of 
the  Greek  rite  are  hung  from  the  aged 
trunk  of  some  immense  cypress  towering 
like  a  phantom  close  by  a  church  or  cem¬ 
etery.  At  Scio,  the  most  beautiful  island 
of  these  seas,  almost  all  the  population 
were  Catholics.  MiMly  treated,  through 
the  powerful  protection  of  the  Sultana 
Valiode,  the  charming  isle  had  preserved 
its  religion,  its  cheerful  aspect,  and  its 
beautiful  shades.  The  stranger  was  wel¬ 
comed  there  by  the  offering  of  branches 
laden  with  fruits,  and  at  his  departure 
flowers  were  offered  to  him  as  a  remem¬ 
brance  of  hospitality.  Nothing  could  equal 
the  pomp  of  her  festivals.  She  had  her 
Catholic  archons  like  Athens  of  old  ;  her 
daughters  were  fair  and  pure,  like  the  smile 
of  Mary,  their  well-beloved  Panagia.  The 
revolution  broke  out  .  .  .  All  this  joy,  all 
this  peace  ended  in  a  massacre  .  .  .  Thirteen 
hundred  young  maidens,  the  most  beautiful 
of  the  island,  were  ruthlessly  butchered 
by  the  savage  Osmanli  soldiers,  on  the 
shore  of  their  bright  sea.  They  fell,  one 
after  another,  with  their  hands  joined,  their 
eyes  fixed  on  heaven,  invoking  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  she  avenged  them ;  for  the 
tiger,  who  had  ordered  these  atrocious  exe¬ 
cutions,  Ali  Pacha,  being  burned  in  his 
vessel,  by  the  intrepid  Canaris,  soon  came 
to  die  on  that  very  shore  which  he  had 
deluged  with  blood,  and  the  conqueror 
solemnly  rendered  homage  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin  for  his  victory. 


41 


322 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


In  Anatolia,  and  in  the  islands  adjacent, 
at  Cyprus,  at  Tenedos,  the  Greek  race  has 
preserved  the  veneration  of  Mary  in  all  its 
fervor.  Mahomet  has  triumphed  in  the 
cities,  but  on  the  hill-tops,  in  the  region 
of  the  clouds,  the  sacred  banner  of  the 
Panagia  is  displayed  in  the  lofty  monaste¬ 
ries.  Some  of  the  Greeks  have  forgotten 
the  language  of  Demosthenes  and  Isocrates, 
but  not  the  Gospel,  not  devotion  to  Mary  ; 
and  they  recite  ill  Turkish  the  symbol  of 
their  faith,  and  the  Angelical  Salutation.1 
There  they  have  bonfires,  to  which  they 
have  given  the  name  of  the  adopted  son 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  oppose  the  illumi¬ 
nations  of  the  Courban-Bairam  ;  and  the 
feast  of  Our  Lady  of  Mount  Olympus,  to 
counteract  the  day  of  Mahomet. 

The  Georgians,  who  bear  on  their  stand¬ 
ard  the  picture  of  St.  George,  and  who 
alone,  thanks  to  their  indomitable  courage, 
entered  Jerusalem  in  the  middle  ages,  with 
banners  flying,  to  perform  their  devotions, 
without  paying  the  tribute  imposed  on 
other  Christians,8  the  Georgians  are  still 
faithful  subjects  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the 
heavenly  Queen  of  their  mountainous  coun¬ 
try  ;  the  highest  peaks  are  everywhere 
crowned  with  a  church  or  a  chapel  of 
Mary,  placed  so  high  that  they  cannot  at 
a  A  times  reach  it  themselves,  and  are  ob¬ 
liged,  says  Chardin,  to  content  themselves 
with  profoundly  saluting  it  from  the  bottom 
of  their  valleys,  which  they  never  fail  to  do. 

The  Mingrelian,  who  sleeps  with  his 
head  on  his  rifle,  and  his  scimitar  by  his 


( 1 )  Occident  et  Orient,  par  Barrault. 

(*)  F.  de  Belleforest,  liv,  ii.,  c.  v.,  of  his  Histoire 


side,  venerates  in  his  churches  relics  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  which  he  has  kept  there 
with  great  respect  from  the  first  ages  of 
Christianity. 

Armenia,  enclosed  in  the  midst  of  Mos¬ 
lem  tribes,  has  no  more  bent  before  the 
Koran  than  before  the  Zend-Avesta,  and 
has  remained  nearly  as  it  was  in  the  fifth 
century,  after  the  holy  wars,  except  that  it 
has  divided  into  two  camps,  one  professing 
Christianity  with  Rome,  the  other  with 
Nestorius.  By  both  the  Blessed  Virgin  is 
religiously  honored.  Every  Armenian  fasts 
a  fortnight  before  the  feast  of  the  Assump¬ 
tion,  which  was  introduced  very  early  intd 
the  regions  of  the  Caucasus  ;  and  as  this 
people  has  retained  from  the  Jews  the  im¬ 
molation  of  animals,  there  is  not,  on  that 
day,  any  good  Armenian  family  which  does 
not  kill  a  lamb  in  honor  of  Mary. 

Libanus,  that  fine  mountain  of  a  hundred 
leagues  in  circumference,  the  western  base 
of  which  is  bathed  by  the  Mediterranean, 
and  which  is  bounded  by  Palestine  on  the 
south,  is  almost  wholly  peopled  by  Catho¬ 
lics.  On  one  of  the  elevated  tablelands  is 
the  village  of  Eden,  with  its  limpid  waters 
and  cool  shade  ;  an  archiepiscopal  church 
towers  above  it ;  in  this  church  is  an  altar 
erected  to  Mary,  and  on  the  right  of  this 
altar  rises  in  a  most  wonderful  manner  the 
Nakar-Rossnea  or  main  river,  which  de¬ 
scends  from  an  immense  rock,  bristling  with 
cypress-trees.  The  Nakar-Kadishar,  holy 
river,  the  child  of  eternal  snows,  which 
formerly  saw  on  its  banks  so  many  hermits 


Universelle;  Chalcondyle,  liv.  ix.,  Histoire  dee 
Turcs. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  323 

employed  in  carving  cedar  statuettes  of 
Mary,  still  shoots  down  from  the  towering 
heights  in  foaming  sheets,  retaining  the 
name  which  it  owed,  in  the  primitive  ages 
of  the  Church,  to  the  piety  of  the  hermits 
of  its  rocks.  At  one  hour’s  journey  from 
the  place  where  the  Holy  River  reunites  its 
rapid  and  roaring  waters,  rises  Tyre,  the 
ancient  mistress  of  the  seas  ;  its  celebrated 
cathedral  of  Our  Lady,  destroyed  in  the 
last  wars  of  the  Crusades,  a  short  time 
after  its  reconstruction,  is  now  only  a  mag¬ 
nificent  ruin,  the  great  vaults  and  arches 
of  which  stand  out  from  the  blue  Syrian 
sky,  and  whence  are  heard,  like  a  prophetic 
lamentation,  the  distant  and  regular  noise 
of  the  waves  ;  but  in  a  less  striking  church 
the  four  or  five  hundred  Catholic  families 
who  inhabit  Tyre  still  fervently  invoke 
Mary.  The  beautiful  city  of  Nazareth,  to 
which  a  noble  avenue  of  olive-trees  leads 
you,  is  peopled  by  Catholics  ;  its  church 
with  three  naves,  built  over  that  of  St. 
Helena,  is  always  full  of  pilgrims  and  faith¬ 
ful  engaged  in  prayer.  The  sweet  name  of 
Mary  is  everywhere  inscribed  on  the  walls, 
her  image  is  found  everywhere,  and  the 
piety  of  the  Oriental  Christians  delights  to 
adorn  it  with  the  fairest  flowers. 

Modern  Jerusalem,  the  population  of 
which  seems  formed  out  of  the  wreck  of 
nations,  and  which  beholds  in  its  bosom  the 

J ewish  synagogue  by  the  side  of  the  mosque 
of  the  Mussulman  and  the  church  of  the 

Christian,  is  not,  thank  Heaven,  destitute 
of  altars  in  honor  of  Mary  ;  the  descendant 
of  the  kings  of  Juda  is  still  invoked  with 
bended  knee  in  the  capital  of  the  holy  king 
David,  and  all  religious  differences  dis¬ 
appear  at  her  tomb,  where  the  Armenian, 
the  G-eorgian,  the  Arab,  the  Tyrian,  and 
the  Western  Christian  meet  together,  and 
where  even  Turkish  women  are  seen  pray¬ 
ing  beneath  their  veils.  A  Greek  monk 
pours  drops  of  essence  of  roses  upon  the 
heads  of  those  who  come  to  honor  Mary. 

The  veneration  which  is  paid  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  the  Levant  has  even 
reached  the  infidels.  The  Turks  and  Per¬ 
sians,  who  speak  of  her  in  the  most  honor¬ 
able  terms,  regard  her  as  the  purest  and 
most  perfect  woman  who  ever  existed 
Hence  they  are  often  seen  hanging  up 
votive  lamps  before  her  images,  bringing 
their  sick  children  into  her  churches,  pray¬ 
ing  devoutly  at  her  tomb,  and  what  is  still 
more  extraordinary,  in  the  worshippers  of 
Allah,  even  building  temples  in  her  honor.1 

In  Abyssinia,  the  veneration  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  is  still  as  popular  as  in  the 
past;  churches  bearing  her  oriental  name 
of  Mariam  are  found  in  great  numbers  in 
the  cities,  on  the  mountain  heights,  and  the 
riverside  ;  they  are  thatched,  surrounded  by 
a  gallery  outside,  and  surmounted  by  an 
iron  cross,  with  ostrich  eggs  on  the  numer¬ 
ous  branches ;  a  cemetery,  which  is  an 
inviolable  asylum,  lies  round  about  them, 

(*  )  A  pacha  of  Mossoul,  besieged  by  the  famous 
Thamas  Kouli-Khan,  made  a  vow  to  build  two 
churches  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  if 
he  saved  his  city ;  Thamas  raised  the  siege,  and 
the  nacha,  faithful  to  his  promise,  built  two 

churches,  the  unusual  magnificence  of  which  in 
those  countries  enables  us  to  estimate  the  danger, 
the  fear,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  Mussulman. — 

(See  the  letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Babylon  in  the 
Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi.) 

324 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


and  they  are  magnificently  shaded  by  dark 
cedars  and  gigantic  olive-trees.  The  in¬ 
terior  walls  are  ornamented  with  bright 
frescoes  representing  the  Blessed  Yirgin, 
St.  Michael,  or  St.  George — one  of  the 
most  popular  saints  of  the  East ;  the  floor 
is  sometimes  covered  with  Persian  carpets, 
which  the  Mussulmans  bring  from  Massa- 
ouah,  and  sell  at  a  high  price  to  the  Chris¬ 
tians.  A  gallery  runs  all  round  these 
churches,  and  in  the  centre  is  a  square 
sanctuary,  to  which  access  is  allowed  to 
the  priests  only ;  in  it  is  the  holy  ark 
which  contains  the  bread  and  wine  for 
Communion.  The  veneration  which  the 
Abyssinians  entertain  for  the  Blessed  Yir¬ 
gin  is  so  great  that,  according  to  them,  the 
world  was  created  for  her  and  through  her  ; 
the  feast  of  the  Assumption  is  preceded 
among  them  by  a  two  weeks’  fast,  as  among 
the  Copts  and  Syrians  ;  their  kings  take 
the  title  of  son  of  the  hand  of  Mariam 
(Mary),  and  many  of  them  take  her  name. 
In  fine,  travellers  who  passed  through 
Abyssinia  in  1837  inform  us  that  when 
the  Abyssinians  ask  a  favor,  or  give  an 
invitation,  it  is  always  in  the  name  of 
Mary ;  they  swear  only  by  Mary  (be  Ma¬ 
riam),  and  they  have  her  name  always  on 
their  lips.1 

This  ardent  devotion  of  the  Abyssinians 
to  the  Mother  of  God  has  sometimes  led  to 
acts  of  absolute  fanaticism.  In  1714,  when 
certain  German  missionaries,  of  the  order 
of  St.  Francis,  sent  by  Pope  Clement  XI., 
endeavored  to  bring  them  back  to  the  unity 


(*)  Voyage  en  Abyssinie,  par  MM.  Combes  et 
Tamisier,  1835-37. 


of  the  faith,  the  schismatic  monks  defeated 
their  efforts  by  getting  a  report  circulate  1 
that  these  religious  from  Europe  were  de¬ 
clared  enemies  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin.  This 
falsehood  had  terrible  consequences  ;  the 
people  revolted ;  the  emperor,  who  pro¬ 
tected  the  missionaries,  was  poisoned,  and 
fathers  Liberatus,  Yeis,  Pius  de  Zerbe, 
and  Samuel  Bienno,  were  stoned  by  an 
infuriated  populace.  An  Ethiopian  monk 
cast  the  first  stone,  crying  out,  “  Cursed, 
excommunicated  by  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  be 
he  who  will  not  throw  five  stones  at  her 
enemies !  ” 2  Alas  !  these  poor  Franciscans 
were  nevertheless  the  most  devoted  ser¬ 
vants  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  in  the  world ! 

At  the  present  time,  the  veneration  of 
Mary  is  extending,  step  by  step,  in  the 
Indies.  The  rosary  is  recited  among  the 
Hindoos  of  the  coasts  of  Malabar,  among 
the  Chinese,  the  Siamese,  the  Thibetians, 
the  people  of  Tonquin,  and  Cochin  China  ; 
it  is  the  only  prayer-book  which  the  Catho¬ 
lics  of  distant  countries  possess,  and  it  is 
the  first  thing  they  ask  for  when  they  see 
a  European  priest.3  The  churches  of  the 
Indies  often  bear  the  name  of  Mary ;  that 
of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  at 
Pondicherry,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable. 
A  novena  has  been  established  in  this 
church  of  Malabar,  which  procures  a  mul¬ 
titude  of  conversions,  in  a  country  where 
conversions  are  so  difficult ;  it  opens  by  a 
procession  made  by  night,  with  great  pomp. 
Repositories,  which  the  faithful  of  Malabar 
adorn  with  vases  of  flowers,  and  muslin 


( 3 )  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  FoL 
(’)  Ibid. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


embroidered  with  gold,  receive,  each  in 
turn,  beneath  the  globes  of  tire  which  light 
them  up,  the  holy  image  of  Mary,  borne 
upon  a  triumphal  car.  The  procession 
moves  along  slowly,  to  the  sound  of  loud 
music,  between  two  rows  of  torches.  At 
each  repository,  while  all  is  silence,  a 
child’s  voice  sings  the  praises  of  the  holy 
Mother  of  our  Lord  ;  after  which  the  image 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  solemnly  carried 
back  to  the  church,  and  replaced  upon  her 
magnificently  illuminated  altar.1 

South  America  is  still  distinguished  for 
its  devotion  to  Mary.  Brazil  has  built 
modern  churches  in  her  honor,  where  she 
has  been  lavish  of  ornaments  to  the  utmost 
of'her  power.  Peru  dedicated  to  her,  from 
the  first,  its  magnificent  cathedral  of  Lima, 
under  the  title  of  the  Assumption,  and 
paved  it  with  silver  instead  of  marble. 
Cusco,  the  city  of  the  Incas,  has  con¬ 
secrated  to  Mary  its  Temple  of  the  Sun, 
the  walls  of  which  were  covered  with  thick 
plates  of  gold,  and  where  the  image  of  the 
god  was  seen  in  massive  gold,  and  of  ex¬ 
traordinary  dimensions.  The  Dominicans, 
whose  priory  church  this  temple  forms  at 
the  present  day,  had  built,  in  honor  of 
Mary,  a  chapel  quite  Peruvian,  from  the 
brilliant  materials  with  which  it  was 
adorned ;  pavement  of  silver,  altar  of 
silver,  statue  glittering  with  gold  and 
pearls,  lamps  of  gold,  magnificent  votive 
offerings,  Spanish  and  American,  nothing 
was  wanting.  Mary  had  altars  no  less  rich 
in  the  ancient  temple  of  Quilla  (the  moon), 
which  the  old  Peruvians  had  decorated 


( 1 )  Annales  de  la  Piopagation  dp  la  Foi. 


325 


with  silver ;  in  that  of  Yllapa  (thunder) ; 
and  of  Chasca  (evening  star).  In  Mexico, 
the  cathedrals  and  altars  dedicated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  are  of  extraordinary  mag¬ 
nificence.  The  cathedral  of  the  Assump¬ 
tion,  at  Mexico,  begun  in  the  sixteenth  • 
century,  and  finished  in  the  seventeenth, 
possesses  two  statues  of  Mary,  which  sur¬ 
pass  the  most  splendid  similar  works  that 
Europe  can  produce  :  the  first  is  an  ,As- 
sumptipn,  of  solid  gold,  set  with  precious 
stones  of  considerable  weight ;  the  second, 
an  Immaculate  Conception,  of  solid  silver. 
The  cathedral  of  Puebla  de  los  Angeles, 
dedicated  in  honor  of  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception,  has  a  large  altar  of  Mary,  which 
in  itself  is  worth  many  a  church  ;  the  altar 
is  silver,  and  surrounded  by  little  pillars, 
with  plinths  and  capitals,  of  burnished  gold. 

Saint  Domingo,  under  French  rule, 
made  every  year,  with  great  pomp,  the 
procession  of  the  Vow  of  Louis  XIII. 
Since  the  republic  of  Haiti  has  been  con¬ 
stituted,  this  custom  has  been  discontinued, 
but  not  so  devotion  to  Mary,  whom  the 
blacks  still  invoke  with  unbounded  con¬ 
fidence.  The  Haitians  have  two  pilgrim¬ 
ages  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  :  one  in  the  old 
Spanish  part,  and  the  other  in  the  old 
French.  They  often  perform  them  by 
deputy  ;  a  black  pilgrim,  who  sets  out  on 
the  pious  journey,  knocks  at  all  the  huts 
before  he  begins  it,  and  collects  the  gifts 
which  each  one  sends  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin.  The  negresses  of  rank  imported  from 
Africa  a  pagan  custom,  which  they  have 
christianized  in  the  Antilles.  When  they 
wish  to  ascertain  whether  they  possess  the 
affection  of  their  husbands,  they  take  to 


326 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  shore  of  their  bright  sunny  sea,  a  light 
plank  of  the  wood  of  the  islands,  pierced 
with  holes,  in  which  they  fix  white  wax 
tapers,  well  lighted  ;  after  invoking  Mary, 
they  launch  the  little  illuminated  raft,  with 


every  precaution,  upon  the  waves  of  their 
beautiful  gulf,  and  if  it  floats  for  a  time 
upon  the  waters,  without  disaster,  they 
bless  the  Virgin,  convinced  that  they  may 
feel  confidence. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

INFLUENCE  OF  DEVOTION  TO  MARY  ON  THE  FINE  ARTS. 


OX  every  point  of  the  globe,  religion 
has  been  the  mother  of  the  arts. 
At  her  inspiring  breath  have  they  come 
forth  to  grow,  and  attain  a  degree  of  per¬ 
fection  analogous  to  the  more  or  less  ad¬ 
vanced  state  of  civilization  of  the  people. 
The  religious  principle  is  the  only  one 
which  is  competent  to  make  the  under¬ 
standing  productive,  to  extend  the  imagina¬ 
tion,  to  impart  energy  to  the  will,  daring 
to  great  enterprises,  and  patience,  which 
matures  our  plans,  as  autumn  ripens  our 
fruits.  “  Irreligion  is  not  so  long-headed  ; 
it  is,”  say  the  Arabs,  “  a  bad,  thorny  plant, 
with  its  roots  out  of  the  earth,  and  with 
neither  leaves  nor  flowers  ;  nothing  weary 
can  repose  in  its  shade,  and  nothing  good 
grows  round  about  it.” 

It  was  in  order  to  have  under  their  eyes 
more  noble  images  of  the  divinity,  that 
nations  soon  after  the  deluge,  substituted 
for  trunks  of  trees  and  consecrated  stones, 
marble,  bronze,  and  gold  statues  ;  it  was 
to  shelter  these  gods  in  a  suitable  manner 
that  they  built  towers  seven  stories  high  in 


Babylon,  and  temples  of  red  granite  in 
Egypt ;  palaces  were  thought  of  later.  To 
decorate  the  walls  of  these  temples,  they 
discovered  a  new  art ;  that  of  representing 
the  forms  of  objects  by  simple  outlines, 
which  they  heightened  with  brilliant  colors 
and  gold  leaf.  Greece,  intelligent  and  pas¬ 
sionately  fond  of  the  arts,  borrowed  the  art 
of  design  and  that  of  sculpture  from  the 
ancient  land  of  the  Pharaohs,  and  preserved 
their  original  destination,  while  she  brought 
them  to  perfection. 

The  invention  of  music  even  preceded 
the  art  of  building,  and  enlivened  the  rus¬ 
tic  ceremonies  of  the  antediluvian  worship.  _ 
The  harp  was  sounded  before  altars  of  turf, 
where  the  agricultural  patriarchs  offered 
the  first-fruits  of  the  earth,  and  the  shep¬ 
herds,  who  already  dwelt  in  tents,  the 
first-born  of  their  flocks.  The  grave 
religious  dance,  which  represented  the  re¬ 
volutions  of  the  heavens,  took  its  origin 
also  among  this  astronomical  people  ;  and 
poetry  came  to  espouse  music,  to  sing  the 
benefits,  disarm  the  wrath,  or  implore  the 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

•  ■  ... 


aid  of  the  Creator.  The  arts,  which,  as 
pagans  themselves  acknowledge,  were  re¬ 
ligious1  in  their  idea,  and  which  should  be 
holy  in  their  application,  belied  their  origin, 
and  became  corrupted  in  time.  After 
opening  temples  to  idolatry,  they  intro¬ 
duced  successively  effeminacy  and  licen¬ 
tiousness  among  the  nations  :  defeat  and 
slavery  came  of  their  own  accord  to  close 
the  march.  Then  it  was  that  statuary  and 
painting  produced  works  not  to  be  looked 
at  without  a  blush,  and  that  poetry  sung 
of  the  gods  all  that  they  should  have  buried 
in  silence. 

The  worn-out  springs  of  pagan  society 
soon  left  the  nations  without  belief,  and  the 
arts  without  genius.  Religious  art  had  con¬ 
tributed  to  polish  their  manners,  but  un¬ 
believing  art  corrupted  them  ;  the  former 
had  inflamed  their  courage,  and  perpetuated 
the  great  traditions  of  heroism  and  virtue  ; 
the  other  turned  the  gods  into  ridicule,  and 
became  the  instrument  of  every  vice  ;  the 
one  had  prodigies  and  masterpieces,  the 
other  was  struck  with  helpless  weakness  in 
the  midst  of  its  sad  and  deep  degradation. 

Then  victorious  Christianity  planted  the 
sign  of  our  Redemption  in  the  midst  of  the 
scattered  ruins  of  the  moral  world,  and 
suddenly  took  its  place,  not  in  the  rear, 
but  on  the  summit  of  men’s  understanding. 
It  had  tempered  again  the  social  links 
which  were  falling  to  dust ;  washed  away 
sins  in  the  regenerating  waters  of  Baptism, 
and  invited  all  nations  to  the  banquet  of 
the  heavenly  Father  ;  it  opened  wide  its 


( * )  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  arts  were  originally 
a  grace  granted  to  men  by  the  gods. — (Hippocrates.) 


827 


indulgent  arms  to  the  fine  arts,  as  to  poor 
prodigal  children,  who  had  foolishly  de¬ 
serted  the  father’s  house,  to  seek  enthusiasm 
of  the  prince  of  death,  and  holy  inspiration 
of  the  genius  of  evil.  And  the  arts,  re¬ 
pentant  and  purified,  were  re-established 
at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  by  setting  the 
pearls  and  diamonds  of  the  holy  Scriptures, 
by  erecting  imposing  temples  to  the  majesty 
of  the  true  God,  by  adorning  his  altars 
with  venerated  images,  in  fine,  by  shedding 
over  the  rites  and  worship  of  the  crucified 
God  something  imposing,  mysterious,  and 
spiritualizing,  which  warmed  the  heart, 
steadied  the  imagination  and  gave  prayer 
wings  to  ascend  to  heaven. 

The  influence  of  the  holy  Yirgin  was  felt 
more  than  any  other,  in  this  surprising 
transmutation  of  clay  into  gold.  Her  de¬ 
votion,  fresh  as  a  flower,  and  remarkably 
rich  in  noble  and  graceful  inspirations,  was 
an  inexhaustible  source  of  exalted  ideas  in 
music,  painting,  and  poetry.  The  Queen 
of  sorrows  and  of  glories,  elevated  by 
humility,  patience,  and  virtue  to  a  height 
to  which  imagination  cannot  reach,  Mary 
was  a  celestial  type  which  again  took  up 
the  Christian  idea,  and  compelled  the  artist 
to  evoke  all  the  beauties  of  the  ideal  world. 
Greece  had  created  a  nation  of  gods  ;  a 
nation  beautiful  and  regular,  but  hard  as 
bronze,  and  cold  as  marble.  Method, 
grace,  and  elegance  were  met  at  every 
turn  in  these  pagan  creations  ;  but  humility 
on  the  summit  of  greatness,  the  humility 
of  Mary  ;  but  charity  on  the  cross,  the 
charity  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  but  the  ardent 
faith  of  the  martyrs  dying  for  disowned 
and  persecuted  truth  ;  modesty,  the  most 


328  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

excellent  of  fears  next  to  that  of  God ;  but 
that  divine  mercy,  which  lifts  up  the  bruised 
reed,  which  rekindles  the  still  smoking  flax, 

— where  were  they  ?  No  bronze  or  marble 
brow  of  the  sensual  divinities  of  Olympus 
reflected  these  exalted  virtues.  These  gods, 
drenched  with  nectar,  intoxicated  with  am¬ 
brosia,  and  indolently  spending  their  fabul¬ 
ous  days  in  the  midst  of  feasts,  quarrels, 
licentiousness,  and  excesses  of  every  kind, 
bore  the  desolating  stigma  of  their  infernal 
origin,  that  of  inflexibility. 

These  ancient  types  fell  before  the  image 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  mystical  rose  of 
the  gospel,  like  the  idols  of  Philisthia  be¬ 
fore  the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel.  The 
Mother  of  divine  love,  the  adorable  emblem 
of  purity,  the  woman  kneeling  on  the  first 
step  of  the  throne  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  offer 
up  to  him, — benevolent  mediatrix, — the 
tears  and  vows  of  her  mortal  brethren, 
caused  Christian  art  to  assume  an  attitude 
so  worthy,  so  noble,  so  exalted,  that  from 
that  time  there  was  an  abyss  to  pass  over 
between  that  and  antiquity. 

All  that  paganism  had  profaned  was 
sanctified  as  it  drew  near  to  Mary :  flowers, 
stars,  hymns,  images,  and  altars.  The 
roses  consecrated  to  the  impure  goddess, 
who  was  adored  beneath  the  tufted  myr¬ 
tles  of  Mount  Idalus,  encircled  the  Virgin 
of  virgins  with  fresh  and  odoriferous  gar¬ 
lands,  whose  sweet  odor  was  a  memorial  of 
that  of  her  virtues.  The  stars,1  invoked 
by  the  ancient  nations  of  the  East,  formed 

the  ornaments  of  her  celestial  crown  ;  the 
sun,  the  object  of  so  much  idolatry,  con¬ 
densed  his  rays  to  form  her  royal  mantle  ; 
while  the  moon,  object  of  the  poet’s  rap¬ 
ture,  and  the  Syrian’s  worship,  humbly 
placed  her  uncrowned  brow  beneath  the 
blessed  feet  of  the  Queen  of  heaven  and  of 
the  angels. 

Music,  which  an  ancient  writer  tells  us 
no  longer  produced  aught  but  monsters, 
grew  simple  beneath  the  pure  and  inspiring 
aspect  of  the  virgin  descendant  of  David. 
Choirs,  composed  of  brilliant  Christian 
youths  made  the  roofs  of  the  temples 
re-echo  with  hymns  in  honor  of  the  Virgin 
Mother  ;  and  those  sweet  and  enrapturing 
voices,  wedded  to  the  sound  of  harp?  lyre, 
and  organ  drew  forth  wondering  effects 
from  the  art  of  David  and  Orpheus  ;  for 
that  music,  alternately  simple  and  majestic, 
which  expressed  the  joys  of  Christ’s  nativ¬ 
ity,  and  the  agonies  of  Calvary ;  that  music, 
in  which  were  both  ecstacy  and  tears, 
glorious  dreams  and  holy  sorrowsAended 
to  awaken  in  the  very  depths  of  the  heart 
the  most  religious,  the  noblest  sentiments, 
most  beneficial  to  society. 

God  created  the  lily  to  adorn  the  earth 
and  for  his  own  pleasure,  say  the  Hebrews. 

True  religion  does  not  trample  upon  the 
arts,  which  are  the  flowers  of j understand¬ 
ing  ;  on  the  contrary,  she  cultivates  them,' 
and  maternally  guides  their  steps.  After 
levelling  the  bloody  altars  of  Esus,  Odin, 
and  Irmensul,  she  instructed,  but  never 

( 1 )  One  of  the  most  beautiful  astronomical 
fictions  of  the  Romans,  the  constellation  of  Virgo, 
seems  a  prophetic  revelation  of  Mary,  so  much  does 
it  correspond  with  her  in  different  ways.  “  The 

constellation  of  Virgo,”  says  the  learned  Lalande, 
whose  testimony  is  beyond  suspicion,  “  is  the  one 
which  supplies  the  most  emblems  and  allegor¬ 
ies.” 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


329 


persecuted  either  the  scalds  of  the  North, 
or  the  bards  of  Gfaul,  or  the  minnesingers 
of  Germany.  In  the  West,  when  music, 
long  neglected  by  the  nations  who  loved 
little  else  but  the  clash  of  spears,  awakened 
all  at  once,  as  from  a  long  sleep,  it  was 
under  the  auspices  of  Mary.  The  canta- 
dours  of  Guienne,  the  troubadours  of 
Provence,  the  minstrels  of  England  and 
of  Neustria,  attempted  their  first  harmonies 
in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  the 
classic  land  of  harmony,  during  a  long  suc¬ 
cession  of  ages,  the  Venetian  gondolier 
knew  no  other  barcarole  than  madriale, 
the  hymn  to  Mary  ;  and  the  contadino  of 
the  campagna  of  Naples  sung  naught  else 
to  his  guitar. 

In  Brittany,  where  the  last  of  the  Gaul¬ 
ish  bards  kept  their  ground,  hymns  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  were  substituted,  al¬ 
most  without  any  transition,  for  the  terrible 
and  mysterious  songs  of  the  Druids.  Bal¬ 
lads  in  dialogue,  popular  poems  oh  religious 
subjects,  were  the  foundation  of  the  national 
music  of  a  people  who  seemed  to  awaken, 
kneeling  with  clasped  hands,  to  a  feeling 
for  the  arts.  Every  Breton  ballad  contained 
an  invocation  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  a  pious 
thought,  or  a  high  moral  lesson  ;  for  every 
thing  then  in  the  Catholic  system  combined 
to  moralize  the  people,  and  give  them  a 
taste  for  happiness,  tranquil  and  within 
their  reach. 


( 1 )  “  Border  Minstrelsy.” 

( * )  By  an  act  of  Elizabeth,  revived  under  Crom¬ 
well,  and  strictly  enforced,  every  Roman  Catholic 
priest,  by  the  mere  fact  of  being  a  priest,  was  held 
guilty  of  treason,  and  without  further  process,  was 
condemned  to  be  hanged  on  a  willow  till  half  dead, 


In  Wales,  in  Scotland,  and  especially  in 
Ireland,  there  was  not  a  wandering  harper 
who  had  not  some  beautiful  and  simple 
legend  on  the  miracles  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  to  attract  attention  in  the  guard-room 
of  the  castle,  or  beneath  the  shade  of  the 
village  green.  It  was,  no  doubt,  on  account 
of  these  religious  and  popular  songs,  that 
the  partisans  of  the  Reformation,  who  had 
no  music  in  their  souls,  broke  the  inoffen¬ 
sive  harps  of  the  minstrels,  as  they  did  the 
organs  in  the  churches,  which  they  con¬ 
temptuously  called  whistle-boxes.1  In  Ire¬ 
land,  a  price  was  set  upon  the  head  of  a 
bard,  as  upon  the  head  of  a  priest.2 

Among  the  Scandinavians,  the  hymns  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  had  made  them  forget 
the  warlike  and  fierce  songs  of  the  scalds, 
of  which  there  remains  only  the  funeral 
hymn  of  Regner  Lodbrog.  The  celebrated 
hymn  to  the  Mother  of  God,  the  Boga- 
Rodz^a  of  St.  Adalbert,  succeeded  in 
Poland  the  wild  chant  of  the  Wa'idelotes. 
In  Lithuania,  the  hymn  to  Mary  took  the 
place  of  the  canticles  of  Milda,  the  goddess 
of  beauty,  of  spring,  and  of  roses.  The  bar- 
tinikas,  those  wandering  minstrels  of  White 
Russia,  who  were  regarded  as  inspired,  and 
who  presided  over  the  musical  performers 
at  the  harvest  and  flower  festivals,  abam 
Moned  the  god  Sotwaros,  their  oriental 
Apollo,  to  beg  poetical  inspiration  of  Mary. 

It  was  a  pious  belief  of  the  early  times 


then  he  was  beheaded  and  his  body  quartered;  his 
bowels  were  torn  out  and  burnt,  and  his  head,  set 
upon  an  iron  spike,  was  exposed  in  a  public  place. 
In  1652,  the  commissioners  of  Dublin  paid  five 
pounds  sterling  for  the  head  of  a  priest,  or  of  a, 
bard. — (M.  Feuillide,  Lettres  sur  l’lrlande.) 


■  ■  i 


- - - - - - - 

330  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

of  Christianity,  that  the  Mother  of  our 
Saviour  took  under  her  special  protection 
those  poets  whose  songs  were  pure  ;  she 
was,  they  said  then,  “  Bonorum  poetarum 
magistra,”  —  “  Teacher  of  good  poets.” 
The  verses  of  Sedulius,  or  Sheil,  a  Scotch, 
tha^is  Irish,  poet,  who  flourished  about  the 
year  430,  were  considered  as  particularly 
acceptable  to  her.  Fortunatus,  Bishop  of 
Poitiers,  never  invoked  any  other  muse, 
and  his  noble  “  Ave  Maris  Stella,”  the 
hymn  of  shipwrecked  mariners,  has  come 
down  to  us,  through  ages,  with  the  “  Salve 
Regina”  of  Herman  de  Veringhen,  which 
angels,  as  the  Jesuit  Father,  de  Barry,  tells 
us,  sung  beside  the  fountains,  in  honor  of 
their  Queen,  and  which  the  Christians  of 
Antioch  intoned  on  the  walls  of  their  be¬ 
sieged  city,  while  repulsing  the  attacks  of 
Saracens.1 

Soon  after  the  conquest  of  England,  the 
Normans  established  at  Rouen,  under  the 
name  of  puys,  or  palinodes,  great  poetical 
contests  in  honor  of  the  Mother  of  God  ■ 
these  contests,  over  which  the  prince,  or 
the  head  of  the  confraternity  of  Our  Lady 
presided,  were  the  germ  of  the  French 
academy,  and  actually  assumed  in  time  the 
title  of  the  Academy  of  the  Palinodes.  An 
archbishop  of  Rouen  drew  up  the  statutes 
of  this  literary  and  religious  society, 
whose  solemn  sessions  were  held  in  one  of 
the  principal  churches  of  the  city,  and  who 
gloried  in  remaining  under  the  patronage 
of  Mary.  One  strict  condition  for  the  lau¬ 
reates  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  that  the 
ballads,  sonnets,  and  royal  hymns  which 

were  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Neustrian  Academy  should  be  in  honor  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception,  or  at  least 
that  the  subjects  of  them  should  be  per¬ 
fectly  chaste,  and  that  the  praises  of  the 
Virgin  conceived  without  sin  should  be 
introduced  into  them.8  This  competition 
influenced  the  poetical  productions  of  the 
Norman  minstrels,  giving  them  a  grave  re-  ' 

ligious  tinge  in  harmony  with  the  national 
character,  at  that  time  serious  and  chival¬ 
rous  in  a  supreme  degree.  The  feast  of 
the  Conception,  with  its  sacred  poesy,  be¬ 
came  the  feast  above  all  others,  the  feast 
of  the  Normans.  In  the  twelfth  century; 
a  religious  of  St.  Victor  composed  in  her 
honor  the  Litany  which  so  well  harmonizes 
with  the  lofty  roofs  of  cathedrals,  the  ma¬ 
jestic  sounds  of  the  organ,  and  the  white 
veils,  and  the  gold  cloth  copes,  and  the 
roses  which  are  scattered  by  children’s 
hands.  It  was  in  the  middle  ages,  and 
those  following  the  chant  of  pilgrims, 
wending  their  way  to  some  shrine  on  the 
seashore,  or  hidden  away  in  the  granite 
and  basalt  of  the  mountains.  That  long 
series  of  divine  names  and  graceful  appel¬ 
lations,  interrupted  by  the  simple  and 
affecting  words  —  “Pray  for  us!”  — was 
cast  upon  the  wind,  which  bore  away  in 
murmurs  that  sweet  name  to  the  depths  of 
invisible  valleys,  or  over  the  surface  of  the 
waves.  One  might  have  thought  that  the 
angels  of  God,  who  kissed  the  shadow  of 
Mary  while  living,  when  they  passed  by 
her,  as  the  Spaniard,  Zorilla,  poetically  says, 
scattered  her  praises  in  the  fields  of  air. 

1 

.  _ _ _  .  I  g 

(  1 )  Michaud’s  History  of  the  Crusades,  vol.  i. 

:  | 

( 3 )  Environs  de  Paris,  t.  iii. 

..  1 

.  '  ■ 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


331 


Christmas  carols,  those  joyous  chants, 
full  of  the  memory  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
of  Bethlehem,  those  carols,  sung  at  night, 
by  torchlight,  over  the  snowmantled  coun¬ 
try,  or  beside  antique  cribs  decorated  with 
green  leaves  and  winter  flowers,  were  then 
the  favorite  songs  of  all  the  provinces  of 
France.  The  hymns  of  our  churches  have 
impressed  on  music  a  noble  and  severe 
character,  which  fills  the  soul,  overwhelms 
it,  and  plunges  it  into  the  infinite.  The 
carols,  simpler  in  their  effect,  give  it  quite 
an  arcadian  tone.  It  is  the  song  of  a  bird 
soaring  up  cheerfully  toward  God,  to  cele¬ 
brate  a  mystery  of  joy  ;  it  is  a  woodland 
odor  which  embalms  the  altar  of  the  youth¬ 
ful  Mother  of  our  Saviour.  The  cheerful 
and  rural  poetry  which  is  joined  with  these 
charming  airs,  recalls  the  shady  woods,  the 
odorous  white-thorn,  the  scented  bee-hive, 
and  the  bleating  lambs.  It  is  a  song  of  the 
people,  a  song  of  the  shepherds,  a  song  of 
nature  herself. 

In  these  carols,  Mary  is  always  exhibited 
as  a  Virgin  quite  young,  very  fair  and 
innocent,  who  wraps  up  the  King  of  Angels 
in  her  poor  veil,  and  who  is  too  much  ab¬ 
sorbed  in  her  joy  to  regard  the  desolate 
stable  and  the  straw  of  the  manger.  The 
poor,  inured  to  privations  of  every  kind, 
dwell  not  on  the  poverty,  but  on  the  hap¬ 
piness  of  the  Mother  of  Christ ;  it  is  a  pic¬ 
ture  by  Claude  Lorraine,  where  all  is  light. 
In  the  Stabat  Mater,1  that  prose  of  the  thir¬ 
teenth  century  which  the  Italians  have  so 


(')  The  Stabat  Mater  is  ascribed  to  Innocent 
III.,  one  of  the  greatest  popes  of  the  church,  and 
the  founder  of  two  great  orders — the  Dominicans 


poetically  named  II  pianto  di  Maria,  the 
subject  is  no  longer  the  joys  of  the  Nativity, 
but  the  terrors  of  Golgotha.  It  is  a  hymn 
of  agony,  the  pervading  character  of  which 
is  a  mournful  depression,  mixed  with  ejacu¬ 
lations  which  pierce  the  very  soul ;  it  is 
the  poignant  recital  of  the  sufferings  of  a 
mother,  who  beholds  an  adored  Son  expir¬ 
ing  before  her  eyes.  To  be  initiated  in  the 
inconceivable  dolors  included  in  this  com¬ 
position,  and  the  sorrowful  mysteries  which 
it  discloses,  it  should  be  heard,  as  we 
have  heard  it,  in  one  of  those  vast  Italian 
churches,  where  the  people  pray  with  faith 
and  chant  from  their  very  soul ;  one  would 
say  that  the  majestic  voice  of  the  organ  is 
broken  by  sobs,  and  that  the  angels  weep 
over  their  Queen.  No  religion,  since  the 
world  has  existed,  has  furnished  poetry  and 
music  with  a  theme  like  the  Stabat  Mater  ; 
the  sorrows  of  Mary  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  call  up  the  full  power  of  harmony 
and  poetic  inspiration  ;  this  theme,  though 
one  of  grand  effect,  as  it  has  been  con¬ 
ceived,  is  still  far  from  perfection  ;  to  carry 
it  out  to  that  height  would  be  the  last  and 
most  sublime  effort  of  art. 

Spanish  poetry  had  signalized  its  revival 
in  the  middle  ages  by  hymns  consecrated 
to  Mary.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  Gon- 
zalo  de  Cerceo,  the  first  known  Spanish 
poet,  called  himself  the  poet  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  ;  and  Louis  de  Leon  created  a  little 
later,  lyric  poetry  in  Spain,  to  celebrate 
her  worthily.  In  Germany,  very  early 


and  the  Franciscans  ;  others  attribute  it  to  Ja- 
copone  de  Todi,  or  to  St.  Gregory,  and  some  to 
St.  Bernard. 


332 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


also,  the  Teutonic  poets  moulded  their  rude 
idiom  for  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whom  they 
celebrated  down  to  the  sixteenth  century, 
with  admirable  faith  and  delightful  sim¬ 
plicity. 

Among  the  great  Italian  poets  of  the 
revival,  the  most  illustrious  distinguished 
themselves  by  their  devotion  to  Mary. 
Dante  sings  of  her  in  magnificent  verses 
in  his  “Paradise.’7  “0  woman,”  he  ex¬ 
claims,  “  thou  art  so  great,  thou  hast  so 
much  power,  that  whoever  desires  a  favor, 
and  has  not  recourse  to  thee,  desires  that 
his  wish  may  fly  without  wings.”1  In  the 
picturesque  solitudes  of  Vaucluse,  Lin- 
tenno,  and  Arqua,  whither  Petrarch  re¬ 
tired,  to  await  that  poetic  inspiration  which 
is  banished  by  the  tumult  of  cities,  the 
steeple  of  his  little  domestic  chapel  is  still 
seen,  adorned  within  with  a  superb  Ma¬ 
donna  by  Perugino.  It  was  at  the  feet  of 
this  beautiful  Madonna  that  he  composed 
his  invocation  to  Mary,  his  last,  humble, 
tender,  Christian  canzona,  where  “his 
heart  kneels”  before  the  “merciful  and 
sweet  Virgin,”  that  she  may  guide  him 
into  the  way  from  which  he  has  wandered, 
and  commend  him  to  her  divine  Son  at  the 
moment  when  he  yields  up  his  soul.2  Tasso, 
on  his  way  from  Mantua  to  Rome,  turned 
aside  to  fulfil  a  vow  to  Our  Lady  of  Loretto  ; 
he  arrived  spent  with  his  journey,  and 
without  money  to  finish  it ;  but  a  lucky 
chance  brought  thither  at  the  same  time 
one  of  the  princes  of  G-onzaga,  who  was 
greatly  attached  to  him,  and  who  provided 


( 1 )  Dante,  II  Paradiso,  c.  33. 

( * )  Le  Rime  del  Petrarca,  t.  iii.,  c.  8. 


for  all  his  wants.  Recovered  from  his  fa¬ 
tigue,  he  fulfilled  with  the  most  fervent 
devotion  all  the  duties  of  his  pilgrimage, 
and  composed  the  finest  hymn  ever  made 
in  honor  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto.3 

When  stretched  upon  his  death-bed,  in 
the  convent  of  St.  Onuphrius,  Tasso  re¬ 
quested  young  Rubens,  who  had  freed  him 
from  the  dungeons  of  the  Duke  of  Ferrara, 
to  hang  round  his  neck  a  little  silver  Ma¬ 
donna,  which  he  himself  had  formerly  given 
to  the  father  of  this  great  painter.  “You 
will  take  it  back,”  said  he  to  him,  “  when  I 
have  breathed  my  last.”  Rubens  at  once 
obeyed  this  dying  voice,  and  the  author  of 
Jerusalem  Delivered,  after  burning  some 
poetical  sketches,  conceived  during  the 
maddening  hours  of  his  unjust  and  horrible 
captivity,  began  to  repeat  prayers  in  a  low 
voice,  holding  in  his  hands,  quivering  with 
the  convulsions  of  his  agony,  that  image, 
the  sight  of  which  encouraged  him  to  die 
well.  When  the  corpse  of  the  great  poet, 
who  had  been  allowed  to  want  everything 
in  life,  obtained  the  honors  of  a  triumph, 
Rubens  had  no  heart  to  join  in  the  proces¬ 
sion  ;  he  went  and  hid  himself  in  the  most 
obscure  corner  of  St.  Peter’s  at  Rome  ; 
and  there,  prostrate  before  the  altar  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  he  began  to  pray  with 
great  fervor,  holding  in  his  hand  that  little 
silver  Madonna  which  he  had  taken  back 
from  the  ice-cold  hands  of  Tasso. 

Christianity  in  its  birth  had  respected 
music  and  poetry  among  the  pagan  bards, 
only  sanctifying  their  use  ;  error  was  less 


(*  * )  This  is  the  opinion  of  Gringuene. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


333 


indulgent  than  truth  ;  she  broke  harps,  she 
forbade  singing,  and  the  members  of  the 
puritan  universities  had  to  swear  that  they 
renounced  ‘  ‘  the  profane  and  useless  art  of 
poetry.”1  Here  the  Reformation  was  con¬ 
sistent,  which,  be  it  said  without  offence,  it 
was  not  always.  Poetry  attracts  power¬ 
fully  to  Catholicism,  which  welcomes  all 
great  ideas,  and  directs  without  extinguish¬ 
ing  them.  Poets,  who  are  all  ardor  and 
enthusiasm,  find  themselves  under  restraint 
within  the  four  bare  walls  where  Protest¬ 
antism  immures  them  ;  their  minds  lack 
elasticity,  and  their  imagination  has  no  field 
amid  that  labyrinth  of  sects,  which  are 
subdivided  and  ramified,  like  the  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  rivulets  of  Basra. 
Thus  the  poets  of  Germany  return  in  num¬ 
bers  to  the  true  fold  of  the  Shepherd  of 
souls,  to  the  fold  of  the  fine  arts,  and  bend 
the  knee  before  the  Protectress  of  sacred 
song.  Schlegel,  Tiek,  Novalis,  Werner, 
Adam  Muller,  have  returned  to  the  faith 
of  their  fathers  ;  and  one  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  who  devotes  great  ability  to 
the  service  of  a  sad  cause,  said  on  this  sub¬ 
ject, — “Alas!  this  is  not  all,  the  painters 
abjure  by  troops !  ” 

Painters  abjure  in  Germany  ?  .  .  .  0 
the  reason  is  that  the  same  holy  influence, 
which  attracts  the  poet  to  Catholicity,  acts 
equally  upon  the  painter.  “  Poetry  and 
painting  are  sisters,”  said  the  wild  Salvator 
Rosa,  and  he  said  well.  The  painter,  like 
the  poet  loves  what  is  grand  and  antique 

(’)  The  Scotch  covenanters  despised  poetry, 
which  they  treated  as  a  profane  and  useless  art. 
This  gross  fanaticism  lasted  so  long  in  some  parts 
of  Scotland,  that  Wilson,  the  author  of  a  poem 


in  faith,  what  is  imposing  in  rite  and  wor¬ 
ship  ;  both  naturally  incline  toward  Catho¬ 
licity,  which  has  protected  the  cradle  of 
the  arts  with  unheard  of  magnificence,  and 
still  furnishes  them  the  finest  themes,  the 
grandest  conceptions,  and  the  warmest 
coloring.  To  Catholicity  alone  is  painting 
’■  indebted  for  a  type,  which  has  eclipsed  the 
finest  types  of  antiquity :  a  type  of  which 
the  great  masters  of  the  Italian  school 
caught  glimpses,  believing  artists  as  they 
were,  in  dreams  of  heaven,  beautiful  as 
ecstacies  ;  a  type  which  conducts  the 
Christian  artist  to  the  heights  of  an  ideal 
world,  where  none  can  follow  him, — Mary  ! 

Painting  is,  in  relation  to  her  sisters,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Christian  worship  ;  she 
is  the  first  artistic  adoption  made  in  the 
church,  and  this  adoption  is  the  more  glori¬ 
ous  as  it  commenced  with  Jesus,  and  con¬ 
tinued  with  his  Mother.  According  to 
Eastern  tradition,  the  first  Christian  paint¬ 
ing  was  the  sacred  face  of  our  Lord,  mirac¬ 
ulously  imprinted  on  the  veil  of  Veronica  ; 
the  second,  the  portrait  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  painted  by  St.  Luke.  These  two 
revered  pictures  gloriously  introduced  the 
art  of  Zeuxis  into  the  midst  of  the  prim¬ 
itive  Church  ;  hence  we  find  holy  pictures 
of  Mary  in  high  veneration  throughout  the 
Levant,  from  the  dawn  of  Christianity. 

Painting,  among  the  Jews,  was  confined 
to  the  representation  of  flowers  and  plants  ; 
every  representation  of  the  animal  kingdom 
had  been  forbidden  by  Moses,  on  his  dis¬ 
entitled  The  Clyde,  appointed,  thirty  years  ago,  to 
the  Situation  of  a  schoolmaster  at  Greenock,  was 
obliged  to  promise  in  writing  that  he  would  give  up 
poetry.— (Sir  Walter  Scott,  “  Border  Minstrelsy.”) 


I 


V 


334  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


trust  of  the  extreme  propensity  of  that 
people  to  idolatry,  and  called  as  he  was  to 
settle  them  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of 
pagan  nations,  where  the  type  was  forgotten 
in  the  symbol.  This  prohibition  was  so 
rigorously  observed,  in  the  latter  times, 
that  the  Romans  were  obliged  to  conceal 
their  victorious  standards,  as  they  passed 
through  the  land  of  Judea,  to  avoid  offending 
the  extreme  susceptibility  of  the  Hebrews 
by  the  sight  of  their  eagles.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  see  by  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
that  the  Jewish  converts  reluctantly  aban¬ 
doned  their  national  prejudices,  and  that 
they  sought  to  introduce  into  the  law  of  grace 
the  innumerable  prohibitions  of  the  law  of 
rigor.  Hence,  with  the  exception  of  the  por¬ 
trait  painted  by  St.  Luke,  it  is  all  but  de¬ 
monstrated  that  the  earliest  representations 
of  Mary  were  not  the  work  of  Hebrews  ; 
everything,  on  the  contrary,  leads  us  to 
suppose  that  they  were  the  productions  of 
the  Ionians,  who  long  possessed  the  holy 
Mother  of  our  Saviour  at  Ephesus,  the  city 
of  artists,  the  country  of  Apelles,  and  at 
that  time  the  light  of  Asia.  The  Ephesians, 
in  fact,  preserved  the  memory  of  the  Bless¬ 
ed  Virgin  with  the  most  tender  veneration, 
as  it  is  attested  by  the  churches  which  they 
so  early  dedicated  to  her.  In  the  year 
403,  the  fathers  of  the  general  council  of 
Ephesus  declared  that  this  great  city  de¬ 
rived  its  principal  lustre  from  St.  John  the 
Evangelist  and  the  Blessed  Virgin.  There, 
they  say,  John  the  theologian  and  the  Vir¬ 
gin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  were  honored  in 
churches,  for  which  they  had  a  special  ven¬ 
eration.  This  veneration,  according  to  all 
appearance,  had  been  expressed  by  holy 


pictures  ;  for  the  Greeks  were  not  fond  of 
plunging  into  the  vague,  and  their  active 
imagination  felt  the  necessity  of  seeing  the 
objects  presented  to  their  veneration. 

The  first  pictures  which  adorned  the 
churches  of  the  Syrians  and  the  faithful  of 
Asia  Minor  were  painted  upon  wood,  with 
colors  made  solid  and  brilliant  by  a  mix¬ 
ture  of  melted  wax.  Such  were  the  fa¬ 
mous  pictures  of  Edessa  in  Mesopotamia, 
of  Seydnai  in  the  vicinity  of  Damascus,  of 
Dydinia  in  Cappadocia,  of  Sosopoli  in  Pisi- 
dia,  of  Philermes  in  the  isle  Cyprus,  and, 
in  fine,  of  Antioch.  Before  these  pictures, 
lamps  were  kept  burning  perpetually,  and 
there  it  was  that  the  great  bishops,  doctors, 
and  saints  of  the  first  ages  of  the  church, 
came  to  implore  help  and  support.  St. 
Alexis  lived  at  the  feet  of  Our  Lady  of 
Edessa ;  St.  Basil  implored  the  divine  pro¬ 
tection,  from  the  fury  of  Julian  the  Apos¬ 
tate,  before  Our  Lady  of  Dydinia,  and  St. 
Germanus  related  to  the  fathers  of  the 
second  council  of  Ephesus,,  the  precious 
favors  which  it  pleased  God  to  grant  to 
Asia  Minor,  through  the  intercession  of 
Our  Lady  of  Sosopoli. 

Our  Lady  of  Philermes,  which  attracted 
a  great  concourse  of  pilgrims  to  the  isle  of 
Cyprus,  was  carried  off  by  the  knights  of 
Rhodes,  when  they  were  forced  to  yield 
up  the  Archipelago  to  the  Crescent,  it  is 
still  at  this  day  on  that  impregnable  rock 
where  the  chains  of  so  many  Christian  pil¬ 
grims  were  broken,  and  is  protected  by  the 
lions  of  once  Catholic  England  ;  ah !  no 
doubt  the  glorious  and  faithful  banner  of 
the  order  of  Malta  was  more  pleasing  in 
her  eyes. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


335 


Pictures  of  Mary  were  multiplied  in 
fresco  on  a  golden  ground  around  the 
basilicas  of  Constantinople,  and  the  Greek 
mosaic  workers  vied  with  painters  in  effort 
and  talent  to  represent  her  in  a  more  dur¬ 
able,  and  no  less  beautiful  manner,  in  those 
skilfully  and  patiently  shaded  works',  which 
Ghirlandajo  called  pictures  for  eternity. 
Greece  for  ages  monopolized  fresco,  stained 
glass,  painting,  and  mosaic.  The  first  pic¬ 
ture  of  the  Madonna  which  was  venerated 
in  Italy,  if  we  believe  the  tradition  of  the 
Neapolitans,  was  a  mosaic  portrait  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  executed  by  Greek  artists, 
on  the  walls  of  the  ancient  church  of  Santa 
Restituta,  a  temple  of  Neptune,  converted 
into  a  Christian  cathedral  by  St.  Aspreno, 
who  is  regarded  as  the  first  bishop  of 
Naples.1 

Italy  long  had  nothing  of  its  own  but 
barbarous  frescoes,  where  the  saints  made 
one  shudder,  and  where  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  has  the  tint  of  an  Ethiopian.  Those 
Virgins  with  black  faces,  which  some  have 
attributed  to  the  degenerate  pencil  of  the 
Greeks,  are  claimed  by  the  Neapolitans, 
who  ascribe  them  to  their  first  painters  ; 
they  may  be  granted  to  them,  without 
adding  any  very  noble  ornament  to  their 
artistic  glory. 

From  Cimabue,  who  founded  the  Italian 
school,  about  the  year  1240,  to  Carlo  Ma- 
ratti  and  Salvator  Rosa,  its  latest  masters, 
that  is  during  a  space  of  five  centuries,  re¬ 
ligious  painting  produced  a  long  succession 
of  masterpieces,  in  which  the  history  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  holds  the  principal  part. 


( 1 )  Delices  de  l’ltalie,  t.  iii.,  p.  79. 


Raphael,  at  that  time  handsome,  poetical, 
and  pious  as  an  angel,  first  revealed,  in  his 
admirable  “  Sposalizio,”  the  noble  and 
simple  air,  the  beautiful  and  serious  coun¬ 
tenance,  the  celestial  attitude  of  the  Mother 
of  divine  love  and  holy  mercy.  One  would 
say  that  on  some  day  of  fervent  prayer 
Mary  appeared  to  him,  seated  on  the 
clouds,  with  her  attendant  angels,  and  that 
he  painted  her  in  her  glory  as  he  beheld 
her.  How  many  men  of  genius  walked  in 
the  footsteps  of  that  great  master !  Michael 
Angelo,  Correggio,  Titian,  the  Carracci, 
Spagnoletto,  Domenichino,  and  that  austere 
Carle  Dolce,  who  had  vowed  his  pencil  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  that  wild 
Salvator,  who  made  pilgrimages  to  Our 
Lady  of  Loretto.  What  rich  imagination ! 
what  superhuman  conceptions !  what  pro¬ 
found  feeling  of  the  sanctity  of  the  art, 
among  the  great  Italian  masters  !  Those 
prodigious  men,  who  disinherited  the  future, 
and  gave  the  past  oblivion,  feared  not  to 
show  themselves  faithful  servants  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  ;  they  lighted  tapers  before 
her  images,  took  off  their  caps  as  they 
passed  before  them,  said  their  beads  like 
every  one  else,  and  their  great  ambition 
was  to  decorate  a  Christian  church  with 
some  holy  painting,  for  which  they  pre¬ 
pared  as  for  some  sacred  undertaking. 
“  Sound  all  the  trumpets,  set  all  the 
bells  ringing,”  wrote  Salvator  Rosa  to 
Dr.  Ricciardi ;  “after  thirty  years’  resi¬ 
dence  in  Rome,  after  six  whole  lustres 
of  baffled  hopes,  and  of  an  existence  full 
of  continual  tribulations  from  heaven  and 
from  men,  I  am  at  last  called  upon  for 
once  to  paint  a  picture  for  a  high  al- 


336  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

tar  ! 1  This  is  extravagant  joy,  as  we  see  ; 
but  then  how  Catholicity  loved,  encour¬ 
aged,  and  protected  that  art,  which  en¬ 
dowed  her  temples  with  so  many  master¬ 
pieces  !  How  did  the  Apostolic  See  nobly 
elevate  the  man  of  genius  to  itself!  how 
did  it  make  the  distance  easy,  and  do  away 
with  all  social  distinctions,  to  honor  illus¬ 
trious  talents,  and  make  them  walk  on  an 
equality  with  great  fortunes  and  patrician 
birth !  Giotto,  that  shepherd  who  left  his 
flock  in  a  romantic  valley  of  Tuscany  to 
work  in  the  school  of  Cimabue,  was  pat¬ 
ronized  by  Clement  V.,  and  it  was  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter  who  first  sought  out 
the  artist.  Michael  Angelo,  destined  by 
his  father  to  be  a  woolcarder,  was  honored 
by  something  more  than  the  favor  of  Julius 
II.,  he  possessed  his  confidence  and  friend¬ 
ship.  Raphael,  the  son  of  a  poor  and  ob¬ 
scure  painter,  was  offered  on  the  one  hand 
the  cardinalate,  and  on  the  other,  the  hand 
of  a  niece  of  a  cardinal,  friend  of  Leo  X., 
that  munificent  protector  of  the  arts.  Lan- 
franc,  that  “  Parmegiano,”  so  popular  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  cardinals,  a  knight  of  the  holy 
Roman  empire,  and  special  protegS  of  the 
pope.  'Caravaggio,  the  son  of  a  mason, 
received  the  cross  of  the  Order  of  Malta,  a 
superb  gold  chain,  which  the  Grand  Master 
put  round  his  neck  with  his  own  hands, 
and  two  slaves  to  wait  upon  him.  Claude 
Lorraine,  who  began  life  as  a  cook  and 

grinder  of  colors,  was  the  friend  of  the 
elegant  Cardinal  Bentevoglio,  and  the  dis¬ 
tinguished  favorite  of  Urban  Till.  The 
Roman  cardinals  expended  part  of  their 
fortune  in  masterpieces,  which  still  form 
the  ornaments  of  churches,  or  of  their 
splendid  galleries  ;  and  from  their  ex¬ 
ample,  all  the  Catholic  princes  encouraged 
the  arts,  and  adorned  the  altars  with  re-, 
ligious  paintings. 

This  is  what  Catholicity  has  done  for 
painting.  The  Protestants  acted  very  dif¬ 
ferently.  Calvin,  who  despised  poetry, 
and  even  ranked  organs  in  the  churches 
among  foolish  vanities,  inveighed  with  no 
less  acrimony  and  vehemence  against  the 
idolatry  of  painting  ;  accordingly,  religious 
pictures  were  mercilessly  torn  down  by  his 
savage  followers ;  and  their  aversion  to 
this  noble  art  lasted  so  long,  that  the  acts 
passed  by  the  English  parliament  in  1636, 
enact  that  all  those  pictures  in  the  royal 
gallery  which  represent  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  or  the  Second  Person  of  the  Trinity, 
shall  be  publicly  burnt.8  Could  the  Caliph 
Omar  have  done  more  ? 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  two 
leaders  of  the  Protestant  sects,  while 
declaiming  against  Catholic  pictures,  set 
themselves  up  complacently  as  models  to 
their  partisans,  and  multiplied  their  own 
likenesses  as  much  as  possible.  “  Luther,” 
says  an  Anglican  author,  “  was  always 
much  flattered  by  their  multiplying  his 

( 1 )  Lettere  di  Salvator  Rosa,  al  Dott.  Gio.  Bat¬ 
tista  Ricciardi,  Lettera  20. 

( 1 )  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons.  In 
Holland,  the  aversion  of  the  Anabaptists  to  im¬ 
ages  was  so  great,  that  besides  those  which  were  in 

the  churches,  they  broke  all  the  pictures  which 
were  in  the  town  of  Leyden,  and  effaced  even  the 
paintings  on  walls  and  windows. — (Delices  de  la 
Hollande,  p.  64.) 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  337 

portrait  and  that  of  his  ugly  partner.”1 
His  statue,  erected  at  Wittenberg,  is  ex¬ 
hibited  to  the  veneration  of  the  Lutherans 
of  G-ermany,  and  even  FHerminier  com¬ 
pares  this  veneration  to  that  which  Catho¬ 
lics  pay  our  Lady  of  Loretto.  Calvin  was 
so  possessed  by  the  same  strange  mania, 
that  he  induced  this  judicious  question 
of  Saconay  to  be  put  to  the  Huguenots 
of  France  :  “  Why  are  you  so  malicious 
against  statues  and  paintings?  Does  not 
your  Calvin  delight  in  exhibiting  himself 
in  his  likeness,  sculptured  in  Geneva,  with 
so  much  ability  that  it  vividly  represents 
his  face  and  his  sunken  eyes,  and  shows 
him  bad  as  he  is  ?  ” 2 

But  let  us  go  back  to  the  fairest  page  of 
the  annals  of  Christian  art,  let  us  return 
to  the  influence  of  Mary  over  the  arts  of 
the  middle  ages  and  of  the  revival.  The 
painters  of  antiquity  represented  physical 
beauty  successfully^  they  had  admirable 
models  for  the  purpose  ;  but  the  Christian 
painters  united  to  harmony  of  features,  the 
reflection  of  the  soul.  The  figure  of  Mary 
was  the  triumph  of  mind  over  the  clay  of 
the  body  ;  to  represent  this  heavenly  wo- 

man,  it  is  not  enough  to  study  the  moral 
world,  and  to  represent,  in  all  their  variety 
of  shades,  the  most  gentle  and  noble  vir¬ 
tues  of  the  soul ;  it  was  necessary  to  pene¬ 
trate  the  mystery  of  the  existence  of  those 
glorified  beings,  who  live  not  with  our  life, 
and  are  nourished  only  by  holiness,  pure 
love,  and  divine  contemplation ;  it  was 
essential  that  the  artist,  animated  by  the 
“fuoco  animatore”  of  religion,  should  rise 
on  the  wings  of  faith,  to  that  lily  throne 
where  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  seated  amid 
saints  and  angels,  and  that  he  should  piously 
invoke  his  divine  model,  before  he  takes  up 
his  pencil.  It  is  not  enough  to  be  a  Chris¬ 
tian,  one  must  be  a  good  Catholic  to  paint 
Mary ;  more  than  one  young  German 
artist  has  felt  this  before  a  Madonna  by 
Raphael,  and  more  than  one  abjuration  has  - 
been  the  consequence  of  that  feeling. 

It  was  a  just  and  charming  idea  of  a 
great  German  painter,  Overbeck,  to  repre¬ 
sent  the  Blessed  Virgin  inspiring  and  en¬ 
couraging  the  arts  of  the  middle  ages,  and 
of  the  revival.3  But  how  is  it  that  the 
chaste  Mary,  tbe  Queen  of  sacred  harmo¬ 
nies,  the  divine  model  of  St.  Luke  does  not 

(*)  Memoire  sur  la  vie  et  siecle  de  Salvator 
Rosa,  t.  i.,  p.  10. 

( * )  Archives  curieuses. 

( * )  Overbeck’s  picture  is  divided  into  two  parts 
— heaven  and  earth.  In  heaven,  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  throned  on  clouds,  is  surrounded  by  the  angels 
and  saints  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments — such 
as  Moses,  the  architect  of  the  tabernacle,  David 
the  poet,  St.  Luke  the  painter,  St.  Cecilia,  etc.  In 
the  middle  of  the  terrestrial  region  is  a  fountain 
with  two  basins,  one  above  the  other ;  a  jet,  from 
the  upper  basin  shoots  up  to  the  sky.  This  foun¬ 
tain  is  greater  or  less  inspiration.  Cimabue,  Giotto, 

43 

Mazaccio,  L.  da  Vinci,  Raphael,  Dante,  etc.,  are 
looking  at  the  upper  basin;  while  the  colorists, 
Titian,  Paul  Veronese,  Tintoretto,  examine  in  the 
lower  basin  the  prismatic  effects  of  light:  seated 
alone  upon  the  steps  of  the  fountain  is  seen  Mi¬ 
chael  Angelo,  absorbed  in  himself,  and  inspired  by 
his  own  genius.  In  the  foreground  of  the  picture 
is  Charlemagne,  holding  in  his  hand  a  model  of  a 
Gothic  church ;  St.  Gregory,  the  inventor  of  the 
Gregorian  chant;  artists  digging  up  and  studying 
ancient  bas-reliefs ;  a  mediaeval  architect  instruct¬ 
ing  young  pupils,  whose  country  is  recognized  by 
their  costume  —  they  are  all  seated  except  the 

338 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


more  inspire  our  contemporary  artists, 
our  national  artists?  Some  say  that  the 
French  school  wants  elevation  and  genius, 
we  believe  rather  that  it  wants  faith. 
People  ask  why  the  female  saints  and  vir¬ 
gins,  with  which  our  altars  are  adorned  by 
modern  art,  are  lowered  to  the  rank  of 
ordinary  women,  and  have  no  attribute  of 
inhabitants  of  heaven.  The  reason  is, 
alas!  that  modern  art  no  longer  draws 
inspiration  from  the  sacred  source  whence 
the  great  masters  were  wont  to  draw  ;  and 
that  those  vague  ideas  of  religion,  which 
flit  in  the  soul  of  the  artist,  like  the  vapory 
shades  of  Ossian  amid  the  mists,  will  never 
inspire  a  noble  thought.  Let  him  transport 
his  tent  to  those  heights  whence  Raphael 
and  Michael  Angelo  caught  glimpses  of  the 
Queen  of  virgins,  and  he  will  see  her  in  his 
dreams,  pure  and  ideally  beautiful  as  in 
times  past. 

Nor  is  statuary  without  its  obligations 
to  Mary.  Greece  had  represented  her 
statues  seated,  standing,  and  recumbent ; 
but  she  had  not  imagined  the  suppliant 
posture  of  Our  Lady  of  Dolours  ;  she  had 
not  placed  innocence  and  purity  on  their 
knees  before  God  ;  she  confided  her  beauti¬ 
ful  children  in  marble  to  female  Bacchantes, 
or  to  old  Silene.  Mary,  bearing  the  infant 
Jesus  in  her  arms,  came  to  disclose  to  art 
and  society,  at  the  same  time,  the  religion 
of  maternity,  and  she  opened  to  sculpture  the 
unexplored  career  of  the  moral.  Sculpture 
grew,  like  her  sister,  in  the  classic  land  of 
arts — beautiful  Italy  ;  like  her  sister,  she 

Frenchman,  he,  impatient  to  learn,  is  standing  np, 
and  examining  the  master’s  plans.  The  title  of 
this  composition  is,  “  The  Arts  of  the  Middle  Ages 


was  protected  there  by  princes  of  the 
Roman  church. 

Buonarotti  decorated  the  chapel  of  the 
Medici,  at  Florence,  with  an  exquisite  group, 
in  Carrara  marble,  representing  the  Blessed 
Virgin  and  holy  Infant. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  favorite  sub¬ 
ject  of  Michael  Angelo,  for  sculpture,  was 
our  Lord  lying  dead  on  the  lap  of  his 
Mother.  In  the  hours  of  dark  sorrow,  the 
great  Christian  artist  sculptured  a  Pieta, 
that  is,  a  figure  of  Our  Lady  of  Dolours, 
of  inimitable  perfection,  which  he  intended 
for  his  own  tomb.  In  fine,  in  our  own  days, 
the  celebrated  Canova  has  paid  to  Mary 
the  tribute  of  statuary,  by  a  group  repre¬ 
senting  Jesus  dead,  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and 
Magdalen,  a  work  where  the  sculptor  of 
Pius  VII.  has  remained  scarcely  inferior 
to  the  sculptor  of  Julius  II. 

The  influence  of  Mary  over  Gothic  archi¬ 
tecture  was  less  conspicuous  than  over  the 
.  fine  arts,  but  it  was  not  on  that  account  the 
less  real.  The  cathedrals  and  abbeys, 
which  the  middle  ages  erected  in  her  honor, 
are  more  delicately  ornamented,  more  aerial, 
more  graceful,  than  any  others  ;  we  see  that 
a  thought  of  filial  love  prevailed,  not  only 
with  the  founder  and  the  architect,  but  even 
with  the  humble  mason  who  built  them. 

At  that  time,  poor  workmen  went  their 
rounds  through  France,  offering  their  trow¬ 
els  and  hammers  wherever  the  piety  of  the 
faithful  built  churches  ;  most  of  them  asked 
no  wages  ;  they  received  bread  and  a  few 
roots,  and  lay  on  the  bare  ground.  In  the 

and  the  Renaissance,  under  the  Protection  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.” 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


339 


course  of  two  centuries,  a  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  men  were  seen  working  in  this  man¬ 
ner  at  the  cathedral  of  Strasbourg,  which 
Bishop  W erner  had  dedicated  to  Mary. 

Some  of  these  workmen  devoted  them¬ 
selves  exclusively  to  building  chapels  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  they  worked  at  them 
“  for  the  love  of  God,”  and  refused  all  other 
work.  There  were  some  among  these  who 
undertook,  as  an  exercise  of  expiation,  to 
finish  a  certain  number  of  oak  or  trefoil 
leaves,  or  arabesques,  every  day.  This 
pious  task  was  called  the  picoteur  or  stone¬ 
cutter’s  chaplet.  Enthusiasm  even  reached 
the  weaker  sex  ;  women  were  seen  taking 
up  the  chisel  to  sculpture  Madonnas.  The 
crowned  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  with 
a  chalice  in  the  right  hand,  which  may  still 
be  seen  over  the  portal  of  the  cathedral  of 
Strasbourg,  is  the  work  of  Sabina,  the 
daughter  of  Ervin,  an  architect,  celebrated 
like  his  father  and  his  brother,  whose  great 
work  he  continued  after  they  had  spent 
their  lives  upon  it. 

These  artists,  who  had  wrestled  like 
giants  with  the  thought  of  the  infinite,  in 
order  to  express  it  in  stone,  did  not  enrich 
themselves  in  these  colossal  undertakings, 
where  the  diamonds  of  princes,  the  rich 
alms  of  great  barons,  and  the  gold  of  city 
corporations  passed  by  millions  through 
their  hands  ; 1  they  would  have  blushed  at 
the  thought.  Their  labor  was  more  worthily 


( 1 )  The  most  renowned  architects  of  those  days 
says  Marmier,  with  the  art  of  building  edifices,  had 
not  yet  learnt  the  art  of  enriching  themselves.  In 
1287,  Stephen  de  Bommeil,  being  invited  to  Sweden 
to  build  the  magnificent  cathedral  of  Upsal,  had 
not  money  enough  to  pay  for  his  journey  and  take 


paid :  after  their  death,  the  majestic  basi¬ 
lica,  which  they  had  built,  opening  its  black 
marble  pavement,  gathered  them  piously 
into  its  bosom  ;  and  one  would  have  said 
that  its  lofty  and  light  spires,  which  pierced 
the  clouds,  like  the  prayer  of  a  holy  soul, 
went  to  plead  their  cause  before  the  Eter¬ 
nal. 

Around  them  slept,  at  the  entrance,  and 
in  the  shadow  of  the  sacred  walls,  legions 
of  workmen,  who  had  wrought  under  their 
orders.  The  church  prayed  for  them  and 
blessed  them,  from  age  to  age,  in  their  plain 
stone  sepulchres.  And  this  was  a  recom¬ 
pense  worthy  of  the  ambition  of  spiritual 
men,  who  esteem  life  at  its  real  value. 

Oh  how  carefully  ought  these  master¬ 
pieces  of  the  ages  of  faith  be  preserved! 
Never  again  will  there  be  seen  that  unity 
of  thought  and  purpose,  which  invest  Gothic 
churches  with  such  completeness,  devotion 
and  solemnity  ;  never  will  works  of  their 
kind  be  executed  on  earth  ;  for  kings  are 
not  rich  enough  to  defray  the  cost,  and  the 
elevated  and  religious  ideas  which  guided 
the  men  of  yore  are  buried  in  their  sepul¬ 
chres.  To  find  again  the  Werners,  the 
Sullys,  the  Mowbrays,  who  projected  our 
magnificent  cathedrals,  the  architects  who 
drew  the  plans,  the  workmen  who  executed 
them,  and  the  people  who  so  liberally  offered 
the  well-earned  gold2  from  their  savings  for 
their  erection,  the  globe  must  undergo  a 


his  companions  with  him.  Two  Swedish  students, 
who  were  then  at  Paris,  lent  him  40  livres,  which 
he  engaged  to  repay  them  “  on  the  faith  of  Bommeil, 
stone-cutter,  master  engaged  to  build  the  Church 
of  Upsal.” 

( 'i )  Maurice  de  Sully  rebuilt  Notre  Dame,  at 


340 


HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


new  cataclysm,  to  purify  it  from  the  impiety 
which  corrodes  it,  and  the  egotism  which 
degrades  it. 

The  wood-carvers  by  their  labors  paid 
similar  homage  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin  ;  the 
chairstalls  in  the  old  churches  were  adorned, 
for  the  most  part,  with  these  carvings,  where 
the  artist  delighted  to  concentrate,  in  a  small 
space,  some  graceful  scene  in  the  life  of  the 
Blessed  Yirgin.  The  cathedrals  of  Auch 
and  Evreux,  both  dedicated  to  Mary,  have 
had  the  good  fortune  to  preserve  many  of 
these  carvings,  the  loss  of  which  would  be 
irreparable. 

Under  the  roof  of  the  cathedral  of  Paris, 
that  terrible  periodical  press,  which,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  passions  which  animate  it,  does 
so  much  good  or  evil,  was  born  at  that 
time,  an  innocent  dove,  which  dare  not 
yet  venture  to  leave  the  nest  which  it  has 
made  itself  in  some  cleft  of  the  rock.  A 
large  iron  chandelier  with  diverging  sockets 
starting  about  the  range  of  the  eye,  was 
fixed  into  the  wall  of  Notre  Dame,  close  to 
one  of  those  side  doors,  which  are  master¬ 
pieces  of  ironwork.  On  a  level  with  these 
sockets  holding  yellow  wax-tapers,  was 
suspended,  by  a  flexible  chain,  a  hollow 
tablet  covered  with  wax.  There,  every 
morning,  under  the  direction  and  on  the 
responsibility  of  the  chief  directors,  or 
editors,  of  the  period,  the  bishop,  the  mayor 
or  public  officer,  the  printer  in  wax  recorded 

Paris ;  a  usurer  resolved  to  employ  part  of  his  ill- 
gotten  wealth  in  the  construction  of  the  cathedral; 
not  altogether  satisfied,  however,  with  this  mode 
of  making  satisfaction,  he  consulted  a  holy  person 
named  Peter  the  Chanter,  who,  very  far  from  ap¬ 
proving  of  the  usurer’s  devoting  to  God  what  he 
had  taken  from  men,  strongly  urged  him  to  restore 


with  his  stylus,  the  official  notification  of 
what  was  particularly  interesting  to  the 
people  of  the  good  old  times — the  arrival 
of  a  bull,  a  battle  gained,  etc.  Every  man 
of  letters  was  then  free  to  come,  by  the 
light  of  the  tapers,  which  were  indispensa¬ 
ble  in  edifices  dimly  lighted  by  stained 
glass,  to  make  known  to  the  curious  this 
gazette,  which  was  a  daily  one  in  the  full 
sense  of  the  word,  for  the  news  of  to-mor¬ 
row  effaced  that  of  to-day. 

The  numismatic  art  rivalled  in  zeal  both 
painting  and  sculpture  in  representing  the 
image  of  Mary  on  medals  and  coins. 

The  Empress  Theophania,  who  married 
Rom  anus  the  younger  in  959,  is  the  first 
who  presents  us  the  head  of  the  Yirgin 
on  coins.  On  the  reverse,  is  her  head,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  the  nimbus,  bearing  the  vail, 
both  hands  raised  breast  high  ;  around  we 
read  the  inscription  @ E0T0K02 ,  that  is, 
the  Mother  of  G-od. 

The  second  husband  of  that  princess, 
John  Zimisces,  who  ascended  the  imperial 
throne  in  969,  also  struck  a  medal  bearing 
on  the  obverse  the  head  of  Christ  EMMAN- 
THA,  Emmanuel !  On  the  reverse  is  the 
Blessed  Yirgin,  seated  on  a  throne,  and 
holding  the  infant  Jesus  upon  her  knees. 
Before  her  are  represented  the  three  Wise 
Men  bringing  him  gifts  ;  above  the  head  of 
the  Blessed  Yirgin  is  a  star,  and  beneath 
are  two  doves, 

liis  ill-gotten  gains  to  those  entitled  to  them.  The 
usurer  obeyed,  and  then  came  to  tell  the  doetor, 
that  after  making  restitution  to  all,  he  still  had  a 
considerable  sum  left.  Then  Peter  replied,  “  Go, 
brother,  you  may  now  bestow  your  alms  upon  the 
church  in  perfect  security.” — (Felibien,  Histoire  de 
Paris. } 


KING  SOLOMON. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


341 


The  first'  emperor  who  placed  the  effigy 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  the  obverse  of 
his  coins,  was  the  Emperor  Romanus  IV., 
called  Diogenes,  who  ascended  the  imperial 
throne  in  the  year  1068.  On  these  medals 
appears  the  Blessed  Virgin,  having  on  her 
bosom  the  head  of  the  holy  Infant,  as  the 
Council  of  Ephesus  had  prescribed.  The 
Blessed  Virgin  wears  the  robes  and  head¬ 
dress  of  an  empress  around  her  head, 
intwined  in  her  hair  appear  several  rows 
of  pearls,  and  her  brow  is  encircled  with 
the  imperial  diadem.  She  retains  the  nim¬ 
bus  or  aureole,  but  not  the  veil.  On  the 
reverse  of  the  medal  is  seen  this  inscription  : 
QE0T0K02  PELMANE1  AEETIQTH  TEL  AT 
OrENH,  that  is,  “May  the  Mother  of  God 
be  propitious  to  the  Emperor  Romanus 
Diogenes.” 

Several  emperors  after  Diogenes  also 
placed  the  effigy  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on 
their  coins  ;  but  from  J ohn  Zimisces  to  the 
taking  of  Constantinople,  the  letter  M  is 
no  longer  found  on  the  coins  of  the  lower 
empire. 

The  Greeks  were  not  the  only  people 
who  paid  this  mark  of  respect  to  Mary  :  a 
great  many  modern  states  still  bear  on 
their  coins  the  effigy  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

In  the  papal  states,  we  see  upon  the 
new  silver  Roman  crown  the  Blessed 
Virgin  borne  on  clouds,  and  holding  in 
one  hand  the  keys  and  in  the  other  an  ark  ;  j 


around  is  this  inscription  j  “  Supra  firmam 
petram,”  “  Upon  a  firm  rock.” 

The  city  of  Genoa  displays  also  upon  the 
gold  genovines,  the  Blessed  Virgin  seated 
upon  clouds,  and  holding  the  infant  Jesus 
upon  one  arm.  The  inscription  is:  “ Et 
rege  eos,”  “  And  guide  them.”  Austria  has 
gold  ducats,  on  which  is  seen  the  Virgin 
sitting  upon  clouds,  having  in  her  arms  the 
infant  Jesus,  who  holds  in  his  hand  the  globe 
of  the  earth.  The  inscription  is  :  “Maria, 
Mater  Dei,”  “  Mary,  Mother  of  God.”  The 
same  country  has  also  gold  maximilians, 
on  the  reverse  of  which  is  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  carrying  the  infant  Jesus,  who  holds  in 
his  hand  the  globe  of  earth.  The  inscrip¬ 
tion  is:  “Salus  in  te  sperantibus,”  “The 
salvation  of  those  that  hope  in  thee.”  The 
carolins,  or  gold  pieces  of  three  florins,  of 
the  same  power,  display  also  on  their  re¬ 
verse  the  Blessed  Virgin  holding  the  infant 
Jesus,  with  the  same  inscription  as  the 
maximilians. 

Bavaria,  too,  strikes  gold  maximilians 
and  carolins,  which  exhibit  the  same  effigy, 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  same  inscrip¬ 
tion  as  the  maximilians  and  carolins  of 
Austria. 

Portugal  places  upon  its  gold  cruzadas 
the  name  of  Mary,  Maria,  surmounted  by 
a  crown,  and  encircled  by  two  laurel  bran¬ 
ches  ;  on  the  other  side  is  a  cross  with  this 
inscription:  “In  hoc  signo  vinces,”  “By 
this  sign  thou  shalt  conquer.” 


342 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


CHAPTER  XV 

PILGRIMAGES. 


“  r |  'HE  devotion  of  pilgrimages,”  says 
A  Michaud,1  “  has  been  encouraged  in 
all  religions  ;  indeed  it  springs  from  a  senti¬ 
ment  natural  to  man.” 

The  remark  is  just  and  true ;  in  fact, 
all  nations  have  had  consecrated  places,  to 
which  they  have  made  it  a  duty  to  resort 
at  certain  anniversaries,  to  become  more 
deeply  imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  benefits 
received  from  God,  by  visiting  those  spots 
which  they  believed  to  be  sanctified  by  his 
presence  or  his  miracles. 

Pilgrimages  are  as  ancient  as  society 
itself ;  those  of  the  East,  as  Boulanger 
very  judiciously  observes,  are  almost  all 
connected  with  reminiscences  of  the  De¬ 
luge  ;  in  fact,  those  pilgrimages,  whose  in¬ 
stitution  is  lost  in  the  night  of  ages,  are 
generally  made  to  lofty  mountains,  where 
was  formed  the  first  nucleus  of  the  great 
nations  of  Agia,  who  would  descend,  like 
their  rivers,  from  the  rocky  womb  of  their 
mountains.  The  Chinese,  who  claim  to  be 
the  sons  of  the  mountains,  climb  on  their 
knees  the  rugged  sides  of  Kicouhou-chan ; 
the  oriental  Tartars  go  to  venerate,  as  the 
source  of  their  hordes,  Chan-pa-chan,  and 
some  heathen  Hindoos,  the  Pyr-pan-jal ; 
every  Japanese  undertakes  at  least  once  in 
his  life  the  dangerous  pilgrimage  of  Isje,2 
the  mountain  from  which  their  ancestors 


sprung ;  the  Apalachites,  Florida  Indians, 
went  at  the  return  of  each  season  to  sacri¬ 
fice  upon  Mount  Olaimi,  to  return  their 
thanks  to  the  sun,  who,  as  they  say,  saved 
their  fathers  from  a  deluge,  etc.  These 
pilgrimages  are  founded  upon  traditions 
corrupted  by  time,  but  certainly  historical ; 
we  find  in  them  the  traces,  and  we  see  in 
them  vestiges,  of  that  thought  of  profound 
terror,  which  found  expression  in  the  plain 
of  Sennaar,  by  the  building  of  the  famous 
tower  of  Babel.  Disheartened  by  the  con¬ 
fusion  of  tongues,  the  post-diluvian  races, 
unable  to  seek  refuge  in  towers  which 
should  reach  the  clouds,  settled  at  least 
upon  high  mountains,  to  escape,  if  possible 
the  disastrous  chances  of  another  deluge. 
It  was  not  till  soil  failed  them,  and  refused 
to  produce  grain  necessary  to  feed  the  in¬ 
creasing  colonies,  that  they  were  seen  to 
settle  in  the  plains,  which  they  were  often 
obliged  to  drain  before  they  went  into 
them.  Hence  comes  the  respect  of  the 
orientals  for  their  sacred  mounts,  a  respect 
which  they  prove  by  annual  visits,  accom¬ 
panied  with  vows,  offerings,  and  prayers. 

After  reverencing  the  cradle  of  nations, 
they  venerated  that  of  religious  worship  ; 
then  the  sites  which  recalled  great  events  ; 
then  the  men  who  became  illustrious  by 
heroic  or  religious  deeds.  Thus  the  grati- 


( 1 )  History  of  the  Crusades,  vol.  i. 


( 5 )  Or  Fusiyama. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


343 


tilde  of  the  Jewish  people  has  preserved 
for  so  many  ages  the  tomb  of  Esther  and 
Mordecai,  which  all  the  Hebrews  dispersed 
over  Asia  have  visited  as  pilgrims  for  two 
thousand  years.  A  wonderful  thing,  that 
the  tomb  of  two  exiles,  erected  by  the 
gratitude  of  a  few  captives,  should  have 
survived  the  great  empire  of  the  Assyrians, 
and  that  it  alone  saves  from  oblivion  the 
ruins  of  Ecbatana. 

Man  is  like  the  ivy — he  must  cling  to 
something,  something  must  support  him, 
that  he  may  have  courage  to  live.  When 
he  finds  neither  sympathy  nor  consolation 
among  his  fellow-creatures,  he  instinctively 
evokes  the  inhabitants  of  a  better  world, 
and  claims  that  support  from  them  which 
society  denies  him,  or  is  unable  to  afford 
him.  Nothing  attests  better  this  propensity 
of  the  soul  than  the  conduct  of  the  Hin¬ 
doos,  when  oppressed  by  the  first  viceroys 
of  Portugal ;  these  people,  disarmed  and 
inoffensive,  no  longer  finding  either  protec¬ 
tion  or  support  in  the  successors  of  Al- 
phonsus  d ’Albuquerque,  came  and  sat  down 
like  suppliants  at  the  foot  of  that  great 
man’s  tomb,  to  implore  of  the  illustrious 
dead,  reposing  beneath  the  monumental 
marble,  that  justice  which  the  living  would 
not  grant  either  to  their  rights  or  their 
tears. 

Protestantism,  which  tarnishes  and  brings 
to  dust  whatever  it  touches,  of  course  abol- 


( 1 )  It  was  on  the  threshing-floor  of  Areuna 
that  at  the  prayer  of  David,  the  exterminating 
angel  stopped  his  ravages.  “At  all  times,”  says  a 
great  ecclesiastical  author,  “  God  has  marked  out 
certain  places,  especially  destined  to  receive  the 
prayers  of  men.  It  requires  more  incredulity  in 


ished  the  pious  visits  which  Christians  have, 
at  all  times,  made  to  those  places  which 
Christ  sanctified  by  his  sufferings,  or  which 
his  Mother  has  rendered  celebrated  by  her 
favors.  Turks,  furious  enemies  of  images, 
have  lighted  golden  lamps  before  the  altars 
of  Mary ;  but  what  Protestant  has  ever 
placed  a  lamp  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ? 
what  Protestant  has  prayed  before  the  crib 
of  Bethlehem,  where  Saladin  and  the  Caliph 
Omar  bent  in  prayer  ?  “  These  local  devo¬ 
tions,”  they  say,  “are  superstitions;  God 
is  everywhere.”  God  is  everywhere.  .  .  . 
Who  ever  doubts  it?  Catholics  need  not 
go  back  to  re-learn  one  of  the  first  ques¬ 
tions  of  their  catechism  ;  they  know,  they 
knew  fifteen  centuries  before  the  world  saw 
an  apostate  friar  named  Luther,  that  God 
hears  in  every  place  the  prayer  of  faithful 
souls,  and  that  in  all  places  such  prayer  is 
granted ;  but  what  should  hinder  God  from 
attaching  certain  favors  to  those  ancient 
sanctuaries,  where  he  has  often  been 
pleased  to  manifest  his  power  by  prodi¬ 
gies  ?  There  was  in  Judea  many  a  green 
hill  that  he  might  have  pointed  out  to 
David  as  the  site  of  his  temple,  and  yet  he 
chose  the  rocky  threshing-floor  of  Areuna, 
the  Jebusite,  because  there  he  had  already 
displayed  his  mercy  ;*  and  also,  if  we  may 
believe  a  charming  tradition,  which  has 
survived  like  a  desert  flower  beneath  the 
black  tent  of  the  Arab,  because  that  place 

the  history  of  the  Church  than  in  any  other,  not 
to  believe  that  God  has  been  pleased  that  his 
saints  should  be  honored  more  especially  in  certain 
places,  and  that  to  atti’act  people  to  them,  he 
grants  favors  there  that  he  does  not  grant  else¬ 
where.” 


344 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


had  been  already  sanctified  by  a  noble 
trait  of  brotherly  love.1  Man  is,  by  nature, 
so  imperfect  and  inclined  to  evil,  that  he 
has  always  some  expiation  to  make,  before 
he  approaches  the  source  of  all  sanctity  ; 
when  this  expiation  appears  to  him  propor-  > 
tioned  to  his  fault,  he  feels  a  surer  con¬ 
fidence  in  the  succor  of  Heaven  ;  thence 
came  the  generous  elation  of  the  martyrs, 
who  hoped  in  proportion  to  their  tortures. 
The  pilgrim  acts  upon  the  same  principle  ; 
he  adds  the  fatigue,  the  privations,  the  in¬ 
conveniences  of  the  journey  to  the  prayer 
which  he  comes  to  offer  ;  and  hopes,  in  vir¬ 
tue  of  his  self-imposed  sufferings,  to  find 
favor  before  Giod,  who  suffered  so  much 
himself!  and  why  should  this  hope  be  vain  ? 

The  eminent  historian  Robertson,  who 
was  not  blinded  by  the  narrow  prejudices 
of  his  sect,  loudly  acknowledges  the  bene¬ 
fits  which  Europe  owes  to  pilgrimages  be¬ 


( 1 )  J erusalem  was  a  ploughed  field ;  two  bro¬ 
thers  owned  that  part  of  the  land  where  the  temple 
was  afterwards  built;  one  of  those  brothers  was 
married,  atid  had  several  children  ;  the  other  lived 
alone;  they  cultivated  together  the  field  which 
they  had  inherited  from  their  father.  When  the 
harvest  came,  the  two  brothers  tied  up  their 
sheaves,  and  made  two  equal  stacks  of  them, 
which  they  left  on  the  field.  During  the  night, 
the  unmarried  brother  said  to  himself,  “  My  brother 
has  children  and  wife  to  support,  it  is  not  just  that 
my  share  should  be  as  great  as  his ;  come,  let  me 
take  a  few  sheaves  from  my  heap,  which  I  will 
secretly  add  to  his ;  he  will  not  perceive  it,  and  so 
cannot  refuse  them.”  And  he  acted  on  his  thought. 
The  same  night  the  other  brother  awoke,  and  said 
to  his  wife,  “My  brother  is  young;  he  lives  alone 
without  a  helpmate;  he  has  no  one  to  assist  him 
in  labor,  or  console  him  when  weary:  it  is  not  just 
that  we  should  take  from  our  common  field  as 


yond  the  seas.  First,  the  emancipation  of 
the  commons,  the  creation  of  commerce  and 
navigation,  the  propagation  of  knowledge, 
the  improvement  of  agriculture,  and  the 
introduction  of  numerous  plants,  trees,  and 
cereals,  which  contribute  at  the  present  day 
to  the  support  of  the  nations  of  the  West; 
then  the  freedom  of  serfs,  to  which  pilgrim¬ 
ages  contributed  more  than  anything  else  ; 
for  the  feudal  lord,  who  mingled  barefoot, 
and  in  rude  attire,2  with  the  pilgrims  of  all 
conditions  who  undertook  some  holy  viage 
with  him,  more  easily  understood,  in  those 
hours  of  humility  and  penance,  that  those 
despised  slaves,  whom  antiquity  put  on  a 
level  with  chattels,  were,  nevertheless,  his 
brethren  in  the  sight  of  G-od  ;  and  when 
he  had  obtained  the  favor  which  he  went 
to  seek,  far  from  his  castle,  in  some  ancient 
sanctuary,  it  often  occurred  to  him  to  eman¬ 
cipate  a  certain  number  of  his  vassals,  in 


many  sheaves  as  he.  Let  us  get  up,  aud  quietly 
add  to  his  heap  a  number  of  sheaves;  be  will  not 
perceive  them  to-morrow,  and  so  cannot  refuse 
them.”  And  they  did  as  they  had  thought.  The 
next  day,  each  of  the  two  brothers  was  much  sur¬ 
prised  to  see  that  the  twrn  heaps  were  still  equal ; 
neither  one  nor  the  other  could  account  for  this 
prodigy.  They  did  the  same  several  nights  in  suc¬ 
cession  ;  but  as  each  carried  the  same  number  of 
sheaves  to  his  brother’s  heap,  it  remained  always 
the  same :  till  one  night,  both  of  them  having  kept 
watch,  to  find  out  the  cause  of  this  miracle,  they 
met,  each  carrying  the  sheaves  which  they  intended 
for  the  other.  Now  the  place  where  so  good  a 
thought  had  come  at  the  same  time,  and  so  perse- 
veringly  to  two  men,  must  be  a  place  agreeable  to 
God,  and  men  blessed  it,  and  chose  it  for  building 
a  house  of  God. 

( 2 )  See  the  Memoires  du  Sire  de  Joinville. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART.  345 

honor  of  Christ,  the  enemy  of  slavery,  and 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  who  is  all 
sweetness  and  mercy.1 

Pilgrimages,  which  date  from  the  Deluge,2 
which  have  been  received  by  all  nations, 
and  which  among  Catholics  strengthen  re¬ 
ligious  feelings  by  opening  the  soul  to  a 
crowd  of  generous  and  sanctifying  emotions,3 
are  therefore,  whatever  Protestants  say  of 
them,  in  their  ignorance  of  the  human  heart, 
good,  laudable,  useful,  and  agreeable  to  the 
Divinity.  We  see  this  pious  practice 
held  in  honor  from  the  primitive  days  of 
the  Church  ;  Mary,  the  holy  women,  and 
the  apostles  were  the  first  pilgrims,  and 
the  faithful  of  Europe  and  Asia  walked 
humbly  in  their  footsteps. 

“People flock  thither,”  wrote  St.  Jerome 
in  the  fourth  century,  “  from  the  whole 
world  :  J erusalem  is  full  of  men  of  every 
nation.  Every  Gaul  of  distinction  comes 
to  Jerusalem.  The  Briton,  separated  from 
our  world,  if  he  has  made  any  progress  in 
religion,  leaves  his  pale  sun  in  search  of  a 
land  which  he  knows  only  by  name,  and  by 
the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures.  Meed  I 
mention  the  Armenians,  the  Persians,  the 

people  of  India,  of  Ethiopia,  of  Egypt,  fer¬ 
tile  in  solitaries,  of  Pontus,  of  Cappadocia, 
of  both  Syrias,  Mesopotamia,  and  the  swarms 
of  the  faithful  sent  to  us  by  the  East  ?  Ac¬ 
cording  to  the  oracle  of  our  Saviour,  where 
the  body  shall  be,  there  will  the  eagles  be 
gathered  together.  They  come  in  crowds 
to  these  places,  and  edify  us  by  the  splen¬ 
dor  of  their  virtues.  Their  language  is 
different,  but  their  religion  is  the  same.” 4 

The  Mussulmans,  who  say  very  justly 
that  it  is  a  pious  and  eminently  salutary 
practice  to  go  and  visit  the  tombs  of  those 
who  have  died  pure  in  soul,  have  often 
knelt  by  the  side  of  Christians  in  places  to 
which  these  resorted  in  pilgrimage.  After 
the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  the  Caliph  Omar 
would  visit  Bethlehem ;  he  went  into  the 
church,  and  there  offered  his  prayers  be¬ 
fore  the  crib  where  the  Lord  Messy  Aisa 
Besoul  was  born.  He  directed  the  Mus¬ 
sulmans  to  pray  there  only  one  at  a  time,  lest 
there  should  arise  in  the  crowd  any  disorder 
unbecoming  the  sanctity  of  the  place,  and 
forbade  assembling  there  for  any  motive 
but  that  of  prayer  ;  Saadi  himself  informs 
us  of  this,5  and  the  tradition  of  Jerusalem 

( 1 )  A  great  number  of  old  acts  emancipating 
slaves,  still  contain  this  pious  form  of  words  :  “  We 
transfer  and  abandon  to  Our  Lord  and  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary  all  our  rights  over  ....,”  etc. 

( 3 )  If  we  believe  the  old  traditions  of  Asia,  pil¬ 
grimages  are  of  still  higher  antiquity.  According 
to  the  rabbis,  the  children  of  Adam  returned  more 
than  once  to  contemplate  from  a  distance  the  en¬ 
closure  of  the  terrestrial  paradise ;  and  some  of  the 
sons  of  Seth  settled  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  from 
which  it  could  be  seen,  always  hoping  that  the 
promised  Deliverer  would  soon  enable  them  to  enter 
it  again. 

44 

( 3 )  Doctor  Johnson,  a  zealous  Protestant,  and 
one  of  the  most  profound  thinkers  of  England, 
himself  acknowledges,  that  “  since  men  go  every 
day  to  view  the  fields  where  great  actions  have  been 
performed,  and  return  with  stronger  impressions 
of  the  event,  curiosity  of  the  same  kind  may  nat¬ 
urally  dispose  us  to  view  that  country  whence  our 
religion  had  its  beginning;  and  I  believe  no  man 
surveys  those  awful  scenes  without  some  confirma¬ 
tion  of  holy  resolutions.” — (Rasselas,  c.  xi.) 

( 4 )  St.  Jerome,  epistle  17. 

( 6 )  Omar  determined  to  go  to  Bethlehem ;  he 
entered  the  church  and  made  his  prayer  at  the 

346 


HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


adds  that  the  same  prince  went  to  pray  at 
the  tomb  of  Mary. 

Besides  the  localities  connected  with  our 
redemption,  there  were  several  famous  pil¬ 
grimages  in  the  Holy  Land  ;  Our  Lady  of 
Edessa,  in  Mespotamia,  which  the  primitive 
Christians  visited  in  crowds  ;  Our  Lady 
of  Sevdnai,  where  a  sultan  of  Damascus 
founded  a  perpetual  lamp,  out  of  gratitude 
for  a  favor  which  he  had  obtained  by  the 
intercession  of  Mary  ;  Our  Lady  of  Bel¬ 
mont,  two  hours’  march  from  Tripoli ; 
finally,  Our  Lady  of  Tortosa,  the  miracles 
at  which,  in  the  middle  ages,  resounded 
through  all  Christendom,  and  to  which  the 
Mussulmans  themselves  have  sometimes 
brought  their  children  to  receive  baptism, 
persuaded  as  they  were  that  this  ceremony, 
with  the  protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
would  preserve  them  from  all  evil.1 

We  read  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Sire  de 
Joinville  that  he  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Our  Lady  “  de  Tourtouze,”  whence  he 
brought  back  relics  and  camlets,  which 
occasioned  a  very  amusing  mistake.  The 
seneschal,  who  had  himself  taken  the  relics 
to  the  king,  sent  by  one  of  his  officers  some 
packages  of  fine  stuffs  from  Tripoli  to  the 
pious  Queen  Margaret,  to  whom  he  was 
very  happy  to  present  them.  The  queen, 
who  knew  that  the  Sire  de  Joinville  had  re¬ 
turned,  bringing  relics  from  Tortosa,  seeing 
the  chevalier  of  the  seneschal  of  Champagne 


manger  where  the  Lord  Mesias  was  born.  He 
would  have  his  Mussulmans  pray  there  only  one 
by  one,  with  prohibition  to  assemble  there  in 
crowds,  or  be  at  all  noisy. — (Grulistan,  On  the 
Manners  of  Kings,  p.  301.) 

( 1 )  Tortosa  is  the  modern  Tripoli  in  Syria. 


enter  her  apartment  with  a  package  in  his 
hand,  knelt  down  before  the  package,  think¬ 
ing  that  these  were  the  relics  she  had  heard 
of.  The  chevalier  who  brought  the  parcel, 
ignorant  of  the  queen’s  motive  for  what  she 
did,  knelt  down  also,  looking  at  Margaret 
too  astonished  to  speak.  The  princess,  see¬ 
ing  him  in  this  posture,  bade  him  rise, 
adding  with  piety  and  goodness  that  it  was 
not  for  him  to  kneel,  as  he  had  the  honor 
to  carry  holy  relics.  “Relics,  madam?” 
replied  the  chevalier,  quite  astonished,  “I 
bear  none ;  it  is  a  parcel  of  camlets  which 
the  Sire  de  Joinville  has  sent  you.”  Then 
the  queen  and  her  ladies  in  attendance  be¬ 
gan  to  laugh.  “And,”  said  the  queen  to 
the  chevalier,  “  bad  luck  to  your  lord,  for 
making  me  kneel  before  his  camlets.”2 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Mother  of  Grod  have 
lost  nothing  of  their  fervor  in  Asia,  and 
the  Pranks  are  sometimes  astonished  to 
meet  Turkish  women  praying  devoutly  be¬ 
fore  the  tomb  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,3  with 
daughters  of  Sion,  rich  ladies  of  Armenia, 
Greek  women  from  beyond  the  seas,  and 
Catholic  Arab  women.  The  veneration  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  among  the  nations  of 
the  East,  is  not  one  of  those  things  least 
striking  to  travellers  ;  they  find  that  devo¬ 
tion  worthy  of  notice  which  subjects  the 
destinies  of  men  to  the  power  of  a  woman, 
in  a  land  where  women  hold  so  low  a  rank.4 

Among  the  G-auls,  pilgrimages  long  pre- 


CD  History  of  Saint  Louis,  by  the  Sire  de 
Joinville. 

. 

( ’ )  Occident  et  Orient,  by  M.  Barrault. 

(*)  The  whole  East,  Jews  excepted,  are  full  of 
respect  for  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whom  Mahomet  has 
placed  in  the  Koran  in  the  number  of  the  four 

— - - - - - - - 


— 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  347 

ceded  the  establishment  of  Christianity : 
one  of  the  most  frequented  pilgrimages  of 
western  Gfaul  was  a  dark  cavern,  con¬ 
secrated  to  the  god  Belenus,  on  the  rock 
which  was  then  surrounded  by  forests, 
where  at  the  present  day  rises  from  amid 
shifting  sands  the  amphibious  fortress  of 
Mount  St.  Michael.1  There  the  pilots  of 
Armorica  went  to  purchase  of  the  Druids 
of  Mount  Belen  enchanted  arrows,  to  which 
they  foolishly  attributed  the  power  of 
changing  the  winds  and  dispersing  th'e 
tempests.  When  the  rugged  mountain, 
which  was  the  last  bulwark  of  Druidism, 
received  a  Christian  abbey,  and  was  sol¬ 
emnly  consecrated  to  St.  Michael  the  arch¬ 
angel,  the  cavern  of  Belenus  was  trans¬ 
formed  into  a  charming  marine  chapel, 
dedicated  to  the  “Star  of  the  Sea,”  to 
Mary,  the  protectress  of  seafaring  men. 
This  chapel  was  built  with  pebbles,  pol¬ 
ished  by  the  waves  and  rolled  by  the 
ocean ;  the  interior  walls  and  roof  were 
adorned  with  branches  of  coral,  masses  of 
amber  and  bright  shells  picked  up  on  every 
shore,  and  brought  by  pious  mariners  ;  the 
altar  was  part  of  a  rock,  left  with  all  the 
roughness  of  a  sand-bank ;  and  all  round 
hung,  as  votive  offerings,  anchors  of  safety, 
and  chains  of  captives.  This  chapel  was 
often  visited,  before  the  French  revolution, 
by  long  files  of  seamen  saved  from  ship¬ 
wreck  ;  these  children  of  ocean,  with  a 
fervor  which  is  not  uncommon  among  them, 
intoned,  with  a  voice  rough  as  the  sound  of 

the  waves,  the  “  Ave  maris  stella”  of  For- 
tunatus,  Bishop  of  Poitiers,  or  that  graceful 
“Salve  Begina,”  which  the  angels  them¬ 
selves  sing  beside  the  fountains,  according 
to  a  charming  old  tradition  related  by 
Father  de  Barry.  The  kings  of  France, 
down  to  Louis  XV.,  almost  all  visited  this 
sanctuary  of  Mary ;  and  some  maintain 
that  an  ancient  prophecy,  preserved  in  the 
abbatial  archives,  threatens  with  the  great¬ 
est  calamities,  even  to  the  third  generation, 
the  prosperity  of  that  king  who  should  omit 
to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  St.  Michael  and 

Our  Lady.  If  there  be  such  a  prediction, 
it  has  been  but  too  truly  verified. 

The  pilgrimages  of  France  present  them¬ 
selves  to  us  surrounded  with  wonders,  which 
conceal  from  us  their  origin  ;  we  shall  speak 
of  them  as  spoke  our  fathers,  who  were  so 
worthy  of  our  esteem.  Those  wonders, 
which  tradition  has  handed  down  to  us 
from  age  to  age,  are  not  articles  of  faith 
for  us  Catholics  ;  criticism  may  attack  them 
without  wounding  the  Church  ;  yet,  in  our 
opinion,  there  would  be  nothing  gained  by 
rejecting  them  :  there  must  be  some  moss 
upon  old  oaks,  ivy  on  ancient  abbeys,  and 
something  marvellous  in  G-othic  legends. 

According  to  the  traditions  of  Lyons, 
supported  by  a  bull  of  Innocent  IV.,  St. 
Pothinus  erected  the  first  oratory  where 
Mary  was  invoked  in  Graul.  It  is  asserted 
that  he  brought  from  the  interior  of  Asia 
a  small  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which 
he  deposited  in  a  solitary  and  shaded  crypt 

just  women.  Chardin  relates  that  the  Jews  of 
Persia,  having  ventured  to  speak  ill  of  her  before 
some  followers  of  Ali,  were  nearly  massacred  for 

their  pains,  and  were  obliged  to  leave  the  city 
where  the  affair  occurred. 

( 1 )  The  vast  forest  which  surrounds  Mount  St. 
Michael  was  submerged  about  the  year  709. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


348 


on  the  banks  of  the  Saune,  in  front  of  the 
hill  of  Fourvieres.  He  set  up  in  this  wild 
and  secluded  spot  an  altar  to  the  true  God, 
and  placed  there  the  image,  which  was 
transferred  later  on  to  a  temple  built  on 
the  hill  itself,  whence  it  took  the  name  of 
Our  Lady  of  Fourvieres.  The  veneration 
of  the  people,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  surrounded 
this  church,  and  it  was  a  pilgrimage  of  great 
renown  throughout  the  Lyonnais  ;  but  the 
Huguenots,  who  destroyed  and  pillaged  so 
many  rich  sanctuaries,  showed  no  favor  to 
that  of  Lyons  ;  the  church  of  Fourvieres, 
where,  from  the  birth  of  Christianity,  each 
generation  had  marked  its  passage  by  gifts, 
which  would  be  at  this  day  as  dear  to  the 
antiquary,  sculptor,  and  painter,  as  to  the 
pilgrim,  retained  nothing  but  its  four  bare 
walls,  which  could  not  be  melted  down  in 
the  crucible,  where  perished  so  many  master¬ 
pieces,  which  had  the  misfortune  to  be  made 
of  gold  or  silver. 

The  chapter  of  St.  John  could  not  re¬ 
build  the  church  of  Fourvieres,  till  long 
after  the  ravages  of  the  Protestants.  After 
they  had  restored  the  cathedral  and  the 
cloister  they  began  this.  The  altar  of  Mary 
was  at  last  consecrated  on  the  21st  of  August, 
1586.  From  that  moment  the  confidence 
of  the  inhabitants  turned  towards  that 
beacon  of  salvation.  “  The  source  of  pro¬ 
digies  seemed  dried  up  there,”  says  an  an¬ 
cient  historian  ■  ‘  ‘  they  began  again  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  all  Lyons 
felt  great  joy  on  the  occasion.”  1 

( 1 )  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  Fourvieres,  ou 
Recherckes  historiques  sur  l’autel  tutelaire  des 
Lyonnais. 

( 2  )  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  Fourvieres. 


During  the  revolution  of  1793,  the  church 
of  Fourvieres  was  sold  ;  but  when  calm 
was  restored,  the  zealous  prelate  who  gov¬ 
erned  the  ancient  church  of  Pothinus  and 
Iremeus  restored  to  worship  the  sanctuary 
of  Mary.  The  inauguration  was  performed 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1805,  by  the  sover¬ 
eign  pontiff,  Pius  VII.8  In  1832  and  1835, 
Lyons  being  threatened  with  cholera,  lifted 
up  her  eyes  to  the  holy  mountain,  and  the 
Blessed  Yirgin  said  to  the  scourge,  “  Thou 
shalt  go  no  farther.”  The  capital  of  the 
Lyonnese,  respected,  contrary  to  all  expec¬ 
tation,  changed  its  cries  of  alarm  to  canticles 
of  joy,  and  the  prayers  of  thanksgiving 
were  solemnly  and  justly  offered  to  Mary 
in  her  protecting  sanctuary. 

Ever  since  the  happy  period  when  that 
sanctuary  was  restored  to  worship,  piety 
seems  to  have  redoubled  its  ardor  for  Our 
Blessed  Lady,  and  it  is  at  Fourvieres  that 
it  gains  strength  and  vigor.  The  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  Lyons,  and  those  of  the  adjacent 
country,  throng  the  paths  of  the  hill  of 
Mary  ;  wend  your  way  thither  at  what  hour 
you  will,  you  always  find  yourself  amid  a 
crowd  of  pious  souls  of  every  rank,  age, 
and  condition  in  life.  One  day,  in  the  year 
1815,  a  pilgrim  of  the  unusual  kind,  who 
had  begun  by  observing  Lyons  from  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  like  a  man  who  wanted 
to  study  both  its  strength  and  its  weakness, 
entered  the  church  of  Our  Lady  ;  and  the 
faithful,  lifting  up  for  a  moment  their  eyes, 
which  had  been  cast  down  in  prayer,  said 
to  themselves,  “Marshal  Suchet !  ”  It 
was  indeed  he — the  marshal  of  the  empire, 
the  child  of  Lyons,  to  whom  was  confided 
the  defence  of  his  native  city — who  passed 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


349 


along  the  nave  of  the  church  of  Mary  with 
a  slow  step,  with  a  respectful  countenance, 
in  which  blended  something  gentle  and 
softened,  something  like  a  distant  remem¬ 
brance  of  joy,  which  awakens  and  soothes 
the  soul  with  an  invisible  music.  He  enters 
the  sacristy,  and  asks  for  one  of  the  chap¬ 
lains  ;  the  vice-president  hastens  to  him  : 
“Monsieur  lAbbe,”  says  the  marshal, 
stepping  forward  towards  the .  ecclesiastic, 
“when  I  was  quite  a  child,  my  good  and 
pious  mother  often  brought  me  here,  to  the 
feet  of  Our  Lady,  and  the  remembrance  is 
still  fresh  ....  I  will  say  more,  this  re¬ 
collection  is  dear  to  me,  and  I  have  never 
lost  it.  Be  pleased  to  have  some  masses 
said  for  my  intention.7’  And  after  laying 
three  Napoleons  on  the  table  where  the 
offerings  are  entered,  the  brilliant  hero  of 
the  gigantic  epoch  went  and  knelt,  quite 
unpretendingly,  before  the  altar  of  Mary, 
praying  there  for  some  time  with  edifying 
devotion.  And,  Marshal  Suchet  termina¬ 
ted  his  noble  and  loyal  career  by  a  Chris¬ 
tian  end,  which  is  recorded  with  praise  on 
his  tomb. 

The  pilgrimage  of  Our  Lady  of  Puy,  in 
Yelay,  is  also  reckoned  one  of  the  oldest  of 
France.  It  is  said  that  during  the  Roman 
occupation  of  Oaul,  a  Gallic  lady,  who  had 
been  baptized  by  St.  George,  the  first 
bishop  of  Puy,  being  at  the  point  of  death, 
was  told  that  she  would  recover  her  health 
on  the  summit  of  mount  Anicium,  not  far 
from  where  she  lived.  She  had  herself 
carried  thither  in  this  hope,  and  she  was 
hardly  seated  on  the  volcanic  rock  of  Puy,1 

(  1 )  In  Auvergne  and  Languedoc  a  high  moun¬ 
tain  is  called  puy,  from  the  Italian  word  poggio. 


when  a  sweet  sleep  stole  over  her  senses. 
Then  she  saw,  in  a  dream,  a  celestial  female 
whose  dazzling  robes  floated  like  a  white 
mist,  and  whose  head  was  encircled  by  a 
crown  of  precious  stones  ;  this  woman,  of 
exquisite  beauty,  was  surrounded  by  a  ret¬ 
inue  of  angelic  spirits.  “  Who,”  inquired 
the  daughter  of  the  Gauls  of  one  of  the 
blessed  spirits,  “who  is  that  queen  so  gra¬ 
cious,  so  noble,  and  so  beautiful,  who  comes 
to  me,  a  poor,  sick  woman,  in  my  extreme 
affliction?”  “It  is  the  Mother  of  God,” 
replied  the  angel ;  “she  has  made  choice 
of  this  rock  to  be  invoked  here,  and  she 
enjoins  you  to  state  this  to  her  servant 
George. — That  you  may  not  take  the  order 
of  Heaven  for  a  vain  dream,  arise,  woman, 
you  are  healed.”  When  she  awoke,  the 
Gallic  woman  had,  in  fact,  no  more  languor 
nor  fever.  Filled  with  gratitude,  she  lost 
no  time  in  hastening  to  the  bishop,  and  re¬ 
lating  to  him  with  her  own  mouth  the 
message  of  the  angel. 

After  listening,  in  silence,  to  the  com¬ 
mands  of  her  whom  he  most  venerated  next 
to  God,  St.  George  bowed  down,  as  if  the 
Blessed  Virgin  herself  had  spoken  to  him, 
and,  without  delay,  followed  by  some  ser¬ 
vants,  and  accompanied  by  the  converted 
Gaulish  woman,  he  proceeded  to  visit  the 
miraculous  rock.  His  astonishment  was  in¬ 
describable  on  seeing  it  covered  with  snow, 
though  the  heats  of  July  were  parching  the 
plain  ;  and  as  he  still  wondered,  a  stag  ap¬ 
peared,  and  began  to  run  over  this  summer 
snow,  tracing  out  with  his  light  feet  the 

ground  plan  for  a  vast  edifice.  The  holy 

« 

bishop,  yet  more  and  more  astonished,  en¬ 
closed,  with  a  strong  fence  the  place  which 


350 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  stag  had  passed  over,  and  ere  long  there 
rose  upon  this  favored  ground  a  cathedral, 
around  which  gathered  the  city  of  Puy, 
which  considers  itself  impregnable  under 
the  protection  of  Mary. 

The  little  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
which  pilgrims  come  to  venerate  from  the 
interior  of  Spain,  and  from  all  the  southern 
provinces  of  France,  is  coeval  with  the  cru¬ 
sades  ;  it  is  two  feet  high  ;  it  is  seated  on 
a  throne,  after  the  manner  of  the  Egyptian 
divinities,  and  holds  the  Infant  on  its  knees. 
It  is  worth  noticing  that  the  statue  is  envel¬ 
oped,  from  the  feet  to  the  head,  in  several 
bandages  of  very  fine  linen,  cemented  most 
carefully  to  the  wood,  as  was  the  practice 
of  the  Egyptians  with  the  mummies.  The 
style  of  this  statue,  the  material  of  cedar, 
and  the  bandages  which  cover  it,  have  led 
to  the  presumption  that  it  is  the  work  of 
the  solitaries  of  Libanus,  who  fashioned  it 
after  the  model  of  the  Egyptian  statues. 
This  image  of  Our  Lady  was  bought  by 
St.  Louis  on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land. 

The  sovereign  pontiffs  have  encouraged 
this  pilgrimage  by  their  example  and  be¬ 
neficence.  Several  of  the  popes  have  visited 
it  as  simple  pilgrims. 

The  bishops  of  Puy  received  great  priv¬ 
ileges  from  the  court  of  Rome,  in  consider¬ 
ation  of  Our  Lady,  among  others,  immedi¬ 
ate  dependence  on  the  Holy  See  and  the 
Pallium.  Several  Kings  of  France  have 
also  come  to  venerate  Mary  on  the  moun¬ 
tain  of  Anicium.  In  1422,  Charles  VII., 
as  yet  only  Dauphin,  came  hither  to  com¬ 
mend  to  Our  Lady  of  Puy  his  almost  des¬ 
perate  cause,  and  it  was  in  the  same  church 
that  he  was  proclaimed  king  of  France. 


King  Rene  likewise  performed  this  pil¬ 
grimage  with  a  great  retinue  of  men  and 
horses  :  a  crowd  of  Moors,  probably  con¬ 
verted  to  the  Christian  faith  followed  him 
in  their  oriental  costume. 

The  Chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Mounts, 
or  of  Ceignac,  seated  on  a  hill  surrounded 
by  other  hills,  in  the  ancient  forest  of  Cayrac, 
between  Viaur  and  the  Aveyron,  is  celebra¬ 
ted  for  the  pilgrimage  of  a  Hungarian  pala¬ 
tine  prince,  who,  in  1150,  miraculously 
recovered  his  sight,  through  the  interces¬ 
sion  of  Our  Lady.  This  nobleman,  afflicted 
in  the  prime  of  life  with  the  most  distress¬ 
ing  blindness,  left  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
with  a  hundred  men-at-arms  to  come  and 
seek  from  Our  Lady  of  the  Mounts  a  termi¬ 
nation  to  his  long  sufferings. 

He  embarked  upon  the  Adriatic  and  after 
coasting  along  Italy,  entered  the  Gulf  of 
Lyons  ;  there  a  horrible  tempest  scattered 
the  vessels  of  his  little  fleet,  and  it  "was 
with  great  difficulty  that  his  esquire  saved 
him  in  a  boat,  which  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  shore.  Afflicted  at  this  disastrous 
event,  and  deploring  the  fate  of  his  com¬ 
panions  in  arms,  the  blind  prince,  accom¬ 
panied  by  his  faithful  servant,  made  his 
way  to  the  mountains  of  Languedoc,  di¬ 
recting  his  course,  by  easy  journeys,  towards 
the  Chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Mounts, 
where  he  arrived  in  1150.  A  sportsman, 
who  was  spreading  his  nets  on  the  green 
banks  of  the  Viaur,  pointed  out.  the  ford 
of  the  river  to  the  two  pilgrims,  and  led 
them  to  an  eminence  whence  the  little 
church  could  be  discerned.  The  prince 
palatine,  who  had  been  for  years  deprived 
of  the  light  of  heaven,  could  not  see  the 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


351 


religious  edifice  in  the  distance,  but  he 
heard  the  gay  chime  of  its  matin  bells,  and 
prone  on  the  dewy  grass  he  blessed  God 
and  Our  Lady  for  his  having  at  length  ar¬ 
rived  at  the  end  of  so  long  a  journey.  Full 
of  faith  he  entered  into  the  sanctuary  he 
had  come  so  far  to  visit,  and  had  a  solemn 
mass  celebrated  at  the  altar  of  Mary. 
When  mass  was  over,  and  the  blind  prince 
was  tearfully  praying  before  the  image  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  a  clash  of  arms,  caused 
by  some  pilgrims  crowding  into  the  church, 
attracted  his  attention.  He  instinctively 
raised  his  eyes,  though  he  could  not  see. 
0  what  a  surprise !  he  does  see  his  own 
banner ;  and  these  pilgrims  prostrating 
themselves,  whose  eastern  cloaks  form  such 
a  contrast  with  the  brown  capes  of  the 
peasants  of  Languedoc — they  are  his  faith¬ 
ful  Hungarians  !  A  cry  of  happiness  and 
gratitude  escapes  his  lips  ;  he  has  recovered 
his  sight,  and  his  soldiers  are  there  !  Our 
Lady  had  treated  her  vassal  with  the  gen¬ 
erosity  of  a  Lady  paramount,  and  had  not 
done  things  by  halves.  Seven  solid  silver 
lamps  were  the  donation  which  the  Hun¬ 
garian  lord  offered  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  ; 
by  his  orders  a  cross  was  erected  on  the 
hill  where  he  had  prayed,  and  the  story 
was  engraved  upon  it  in  Gothic  characters. 
A  group  in  relief  placed  in  the  sanctuary 
of  Mary,  represented  the  prince  palatine 
and  his  esquire  on  their  knees  before  the 
image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  above  was 
this  Latin  inscription : 

“  Ecce  palatinus  privatus  lumine  princeps, 
Munera  magna  ferens,  sed  meliora  refert, 
Virginis  auspiciis,  divino  in  lumine,  lumen 
Cernit,  et  exnltat,  dum  pia  perficerent. 


Insuper  et  centum  famulos  in  littore  fractos 
Invenit  incolumes ;  dicitur  inde  locus.” 

Among  the  benefactors  of  the  Chapel 
of  Our  Lady  of  Ceignac  are  reckoned  the 
Dukes  of  Arpajon,  Cardinal  de  la  Pela- 
grua,  nephew  of  Pope  Clement  V.,  and  a  vast 
*  number  of  bishops  and  great  personages. 

The  pilgrimage  of  Our  Lady  of  Roe- 
Amadour,  a  short  distance  from  Cahors, 
is  situated  in  the  most  sterile  and  moun¬ 
tainous  part  of  Quercy.  A  saint,  whom  an 
unsupported  local  tradition  would  make 
the  Zaccheus  of  the  Gospel,  about  the  third 
century,  plunged  into  a  labyrinth  of  rocks 
which  raise  their  lofty  crests  above  the 
narrow  and  deep  ravine  where  the  Lauzou 
rolls  its  stream ;  this  ravine,  now  styled 
the  valley  of  the  Roc-Amadour,  was  then 
called  the  Dark  Valley,  and  abounded  in 
wild  beasts. 

This  gloomy  but  grand  scenery,  which 
reminded  one  of  Thebais,  was  doubtless  in 
unison  with  the  deep  and  austere  thoughts 
of  the'  anchorite  ;  he  built  himself  a  cell  on 
one  of  the  jutting  points  of  the  mountain, 
and  on  a  level  with  the  eagles’  nests,  hol¬ 
lowed  out  of  the  rock,  an  oratory  to  the 
Mother  of  God.  The  Gallo-Roman  popu¬ 
lation  of  the  valleys  of  Figeac  and  Saint- 
Cere,  who  at  times  descried  him  from  a 
distance  on  the  sharp  point  of  these  bare, 
wild,  dizzy  mountains,  surnamed  him  Ama- 
tor  rupis  ;  this  name,  the  only  one  which 
has  come  down  to  us,  was  changed  into  that 
of  Amador,  then  Amadour,  more  congenial 
to  the  dialect  of  the  South. 

A  little  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  re¬ 
sembling  those  which  the  early  Christians 
of  Gaul  venerated  in  the  hollow  oak,  be- 


352 


HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


came  the  instrumenl  of  miracles  in  favor 
of  the  fervent  pilgrims  who  invoked  Her 
in  her  rocky  sanctuary.  The  pilgrims  mul¬ 
tiplied,  and  soon  became  so  frequent,  that 
a  town  was  built  at  the  foot  of  the  holy 
place  ;  this  town,  situated  in  a  desolate 
region,  on  an  unproductive  spot,  most  diffi-  * 
cult  of  access  at  first,  became  nevertheless, 
from  the  devotion  of  our  fathers,  one  of  the 
principal  towns  of  Quercy  ;  it  had  towers, 
consuls,  and  a  coat-of-arms  in  which  three 
rocks  argent  figured  with  lilies  or,  upon  a 
field  gules. 

Above  the  steeple  of  the  old  church  of 
Roc-A.madour,  at  a  prodigious  height,  arose 
a  citadel  destined  to  protect  the  rich  sanc¬ 
tuary  of  Mary ;  those  bastions,  whose  out¬ 
lines  stood  boldly  out  from  the  clouds,  and 
whose  ruins  strew  the  ground,  could  not  re¬ 
pulse  the  gloomy  followers  of  Calvin,  who 
would  have  gone  through  hell  itself  for  the 
sake  of  gold.  The  chapel  of  Our  Lady  has 
in  our  days  a  better  bulwark — its  poverty. 

This  pilgrimage  was  famous  even  in  the 
time  of  Charlemagne ;  the  famous  paladin 
Roland,  nephew  of  that  emperor,  visited 
Roc-Amadour  in  778  ;  he  offered  as  a  gift 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  the  weight  of  his 
bracmar  or  sword  in  silver,  and  after  his 
death  on  the  field  of  Roncevaux,  this  brac- 
mar  was  brought  to  Roc-Amadour.1  In  the 
year  1170,  according  to  Roger  de  Hoven- 
den,  Henry  II.,  King  of  England,  and  Duke 
of  G-uienne  in  right  of  his  wife  Eleanor, 
came  to  Roc-Amadour  to  fulfil  a  vow,  made 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  a  long  illness,  with 


(  )  Dupleix,  Histoire  de  France,  Charlemagne, 
c.  8.  This  bracmar  having  been  lost,  or  stolen,  a 


which  he  was  attacked  at  La  Motte-Gercei. 
As  the  lands  bordering  upon  Quercy  laid 
no  great  liking  for  the  English,  the  island 
monarch  surrounded  himself  with  a  small 
army  to  make  this  pious  journey.  Henry 
left  marks  of  his  munificence  at  the  chapel 
of  Our  Lady,  and  with  the  poor  of  Roc- 
Amadour. 

In  the  number  of  illustrious  pilgrims, 
who  came  to  honor  Mary  in  her  mountain 
sanctuary,  is  reckoned  Simon  de  Montfort, 
legate  of  the  pope  ;  Arnaud  Amalric,  who 
was  afterward  Bishop  of  Narbonne ;  St. 
Louis,  accompanied  by  his  three  brothers, 
by  Blanche  of  Castile,  and  Alphonsus, 
Count  of*  Boulogne,  who  ascended  the 
throne  of  Portugal ;  King  Charles  the  Fair, 
King  John,  Louis  XI.,  and  a  multitude  of 
powerful  lords. 

Among  the  great  bishops  who  visited, 
at  different  times,  the  miraculous  chapel 
of  Our  Lady,  we  find  one  name  so  dear  to 
literature,  to  humanity,  and  to  Catholicity, 
that  we  cannot  leave  him  among  the  crowd  ; 
this  name,  which  France  deems  one  of 
her  glories,  and  which  even  infidelity  re¬ 
spects,  is  that  of  the  swan  of  Cambray. 
Consecrated  in  his  cradle  to  Our  Lady  of 
Roc-Amadour,  by  his  pious  mother,  Fenelon 
came  more  than  once  to  pray,  in  the  depths 
of  Quercy,  to  her  who  had  laid  on  his  lips 
a  comb  of  Attic  honey,  and  given  him  the 
courageous  wisdom  which  he  employed  so 
nobly  in  instructing  kings.  Two  pictures, 
hung  up  as  ex-votos,  in  the  sanctuary  of 
Mary,  represent  two  solemn  phases  of  his 


battle-axe  was  substituted  for  it,  which  retained 
the  name  of  Koland’s  sword. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  353 

existence.  In  the  first,  fie  is  newly-born, 

from  all  tax  and  charge.  Pope  Clement  Y., 

and  sleeps  in  fiis  cradle  ;  in  tfie  second,  fie 

in  1314,  left  a  legacy  to  tfie  same  church, 

comes  a  young  man,  and  already  a  doctor, 

“to  keep  up  perpetually  a  lighted  wax 

to  pay  homage  to  fiis  divine  Protectress, 

candle  honorably  in  a  vase  or  dish  of  silver, 

for  tfie  first  success  of  fiis  rising  genius. 

in  the  chapel  of  tfie  Blessed  Yirgin  Mary 

At  some  distance  is  a  tomb,  over  which  fie 

of  Roc-Amadour,  to  honor  this  Blessed 

subsequently  wept  and  prayed,  that  of  fiis 

Yirgin,  and  obtain  tfie  deliverance  of  his 

mother,  whose  wish  was  to  sleep  her  last 

soul ! ” 

sleep  in  tfie  shadow  of  tfie  altar  of  Mary. 

It  would  be  too  long  to  cite  tfie  other 

Sometimes  it  was  not  merely  isolated  pil- 

benefactors  of  tfie  chapel  of  Mary ;  tfie 

grims,  but  cities  and  provinces  in  a  body, 

whole  extent  of  this  blessed  rock  shone 

who  repaired  to  Roc-Amadour.  “  In  1546,” 

with  votive  offerings  of  gold,  pearls,  and 

says  Mr.  de  Malleville,  in  fiis  Chronicles  of 

precious  stones  ;  Spanish  princesses  worked 

Quercy,  “  on  tfie  24tfi  of  June,  tfie  day  and 

its  rich  hangings  with  their  own  hands,  and 

feast  of  Corpus  Christi  and  of  St.  John, 

fourteen  lamps  of  massive  silver,  tfie  twist- 

was  tfie  great  pardon  of  Roc-Amadour  ;  to 

ed  chains  of  which  formed  a  magnificent 

which  the  concourse  of  people  of  the  king- 

network,  lighted  it  up  night  and  day.  By 

dom,  and  of  foreigners,  was  so  great,  that 

a  contrast  found  only  in  Christianity,  the 

several  persons,  of  all  ages  and  of  each  sex, 

altar  of  the  Madonna  was  of  wood,  as  in 

were  suffocated  in  the  crowd,  and  a  very 

tfie  days  of  St.  Amadour,  and  tfie  miracu- 

great  number  of  tents  were  pitched  all 

lous  image  was  a  little  statue  of  dark  oak, 

around  in  fields,  like  a  great  encampment.” 

hardly  trimmed.  A  remarkable  object  in 

Tfie  gifts  received  by  the  sanctuary  of 

tfie  roof  of  tfie  chapel,  in  a  belfiy,  sur- 

Rock-Amadour  were  of  great  magnificence : 

rounded  by  brilliant  windows  of  stained 

among  them  appears  tfie  forest  of  Mont- 

glass,  was  a  small  bell  without  any  rope, 

Salvy,  given  in  1119,  by  Odo,  Count  of 

which  sounded  by  itself,  whenever  it  pleas- 

La  Marche,  “  to  tfie  Blessed  Mary  of  Roc- 

ed  tfie  “  Star  of  the  Sea”  to  manifest  her 

Amadour ;  ”  the  lands  of  Fornellas  and 

power  in  favor  of  vessels  in  distress  which 

Orbanella,  “for  tfie  good  of  the  souls  of 

called  upon  her  amidst  tfie  wastes  of 

his  relatives,”  by  Alpfionsus  IX.,  King  of 

ocean. 

Castile  and  Toledo,  in  1181. 

The  Yirgin  of  Quercy  was  too  brilliant  a 

In  tfie  year  1202,  Sancfio  YII.,  King  of 

prey  to  escape  from  Protestantism.  On 

Navarre,  gave  a  revenue  of  forty-eight 

the  third  of  September,  1592,  Duras  took 

pieces  of  gold  to  light  tfie  chapel  of  Notre 

possession  of  Roc-Amadour ;  tfie  crosses 

Dame ;  and  in  1208,  Savaric,  Prince  of 

were  broken,  the  images  disfigured,  tfie 

Mauleon,  a  great  captain  and  famous  trou- 

rich  vestments  burnt  and  torn  up  into 

badour,  gave  as  pure  and  perpetual  alms, 

shreds,  the  bells'  melted  down,  and  the 

to  tfie  Blessed  Mary  of  Roc-Amadour,  fiis 

body  of  St.  Amadour,  crushed  with  strokes 

land  of  Lisleau,  with  absolute  exemption 

45 

of  the  hammer,  was  profanely  cast  into  the 

354 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


flames.1  The  atheists  of  1793  completed 
these  devastations. 

At  the  present  time,  grass  covers  the 
city ;  shrubs  grow  on  the  ruins  of  the 
citadel ;  tufts  of  grass  spring  up  between 
the  disjointed  stones  of  the  magnificent 
flight  of  two  hundred  and *  *  seventy-eight 
steps,  which  leads  from  the  city  to  the  airy 
sanctuary  of  Mary ;  the  guitar  of  the  can- 
tadours  of  Languedoc  no  longer  celebrates 
the  miracles  of  Our  Lady ;  and  the  night 
wind  alone  whistles  in  that  antique  chapel, 
whence  economy  has  banished  the  organ. 
The  Blessed  Yirgin  of  Roc-Amadour  might 
now  call  herself  the  Yirgin  of  Ruins,  and 
yet  she  still  works  miracles. 

The  pilgrimage  to  Our  Lady  of  Liesse  in 
Picardy,  not  so  old  as  those  of  the  south  of 
France,  as  it  does  not  date  farther  back 
than  the  twelfth  century,  surpasses  them  in 
celebrity.  The  origin  of  the  statue  of  the 
Blessed  Yirgin,  which  adorns  this  holy 
place,  is  very  marvellous ;  the  tradition 
has  been  preserved,  not  only  in  the  pro¬ 
vince  of  France  where  it  is  found,  but  also 
in  the  Holy  Land ; 3  we  are  assured  even 
that  it  exists  in  the  archives  of  the  Knights 
of  Malta.3  The  tradition,  which  has  a  de¬ 
cided  Oriental  air,  is  as  follows  : 

Foulques  of  Anjou,  King  of  Jerusalem, 
having  rebuilt  the  fortress  of  Bersabee, 
four  leagues  from  Ascalon,  to  protect  the 
frontier  of  his  kingdom  against  the  incur¬ 
sions  of  the  Saracens,  confided  the  care  of 
it  to  the  brave  and  pious  knights  of  St. 


( 1 )  Odo  de  G-issey,  Histoire  de  Roc-Amadour. 

( * )  See  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  Liesse,  by 
the  Abbe  Villette,  Addit.  au  disc,  prelim.,  p.  100. 


John  of  Jerusalem.  This  valiant  garrison 
often  engaged  the  infidels  who  held  the  an¬ 
cient  country  of  the  Philistines  for  the  Sul¬ 
tan  of  Egypt.  One  day  the  knights  of  St. 
John,  among  whom  were  three  brothers  of 
the  ancient  and  opulent  house  of  Eppes,  in 
Picardy,  fell  into  an  ambuscade,  and  in 
spite  of  prodigies  of  valor,  were  taken  and 
laden  with  chains  by  the  Mussulmans,  who 
sent  them  into  Egypt.  The  lords  of  Eppes 
had  the  lofty  mien,  the  tall  stature,  and 
the  heroic  bearing  of  the  ancient  nobles  of 
northern  France.  The  sultan  at  once 
singled  them  out,  and  desirous  of  gaining 
them  over  to  his  false  prophet,  he  threw  them 
into  a  dungeon  to  reduce  their  courage,  and 
then  held  before  their  eyes  the  most  enti¬ 
cing  prospects,  in  order  to  draw  them  into 
apostacy.  The  three  warriors,  who  had 
been  inaccessible  to  fear,  were  deaf  to  the 
clink  of  gold  and  the  voice  of  ambition. 
The  sultan,  deceived  in  his  expectations, 
sent  to  them  the  most  celebrated  imaums, 
to  argue  with  them  upon  faith.  The  good 
knights,  through  hatred  of  Islamism,  be¬ 
came  all  at  once  subtile  theologians,  and 
defended  Christianity  as  well  in  dispute  as 
they  had  often  done  with  the  shield  on 
their  arm  and  the  lance  in  their  grasp. 
The  sultan  now  deemed  that  his  honor  re¬ 
quired  him  to  subdue  the  captives,  and  his 
opposition  increasing  with  their  resistance, 
he  swore  that  the  knights  of  St.  John 
should  follow  the  standard  of  the  prophet 
even  if  it  cost  him  half  Egypt.  He  had  a 


( s )  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  Liesse,  pp.  10 
11,  et  12. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


355 


handsome,  chaste,  accomplished  daughter, 
every  way  worthy  of  a  better  faith ;  he 
sent  her  to  the  dungeon  where  the  French 
knights  were  languishing  in  fetters,  and 
bade  her  to  set  before  them  a  frightful  pic¬ 
ture  of  the  punishments  reserved  for  them. 
The  knights  received  the  princess  with 
those  testimonies  of  respect  which  were  at 
that  time  lavished  upon  ladies ;  but  they 
repelled  her  insinuations  with  the  resolute 
courage  of  men  who  accept  martyrdom,  and 
explained  to  her  their  belief  in  a  manner 
so  persuasive  that  the  Moslem  lady  began 
to  dream  and  reflect  on  Christ  and  his 
Blessed  Mother.  A  miraculous  and  re¬ 
splendent  image  of  Mary,  which,  it  is  said, 
was  brought  by  angels  to  the  pious  cham¬ 
pions  of  the  Christian  faith,  completed  the 
conversion  of  the  young  infidel.  One  night, 
she  bribed  with  gold  the  guards  of  the 
three  French  warriors,  and  penetrating 
into  their  prison  with  a  casket  full  of  pre¬ 
cious  stones,  fled  with  them  from  her  father’s 
palace. 

After  passing  the  Nile  in  a  boat  prepared 
for  their  reception,  the  fugitives  directed 
their  course  towards  Alexandria,  hoping 
perhaps,  to  conceal  themselves  for  a  time 
in  the  Coptic  monasteries  of  the  desert  of 
St.  Macarius  ;  but  after  marching  for  some 
hours,  the  princess,  exhausted  with  fatigue, 
wished  to  rest  for  a  little  while,  and  in  spite, 
of  the  immediate  danger,  the  three  knights 
of  St.  John,  resolving  to  keep  good  guard, 
made  her  sit  down  in  a  field  of  dhourra, 
then  in  full  verdure,  and  seated  themselves 
at  a  respectful  distance.  The  princess  fell 
asleep,  and  her  travelling  companions, 
after  struggling  in  vain  against  the  drowsi¬ 


ness  which  followed  long  nights  without 
rest,  slept  soundly  also. 

No  one  knows  how  long  their  slumber 
continued.  The  knight  of  Eppes,  the  eld¬ 
est  of  the  three,  was  the  first  to  awake ; 
the  sun  was  beginning  to  gild  the  tops  of 
the  trees,  when  he  heard  the  sweet  singing 
of  birds.  The  crusader  looked  at  the  land¬ 
scape  with  great  surprise  :  he  had  gone  to 
sleep  in  sight  of  the  Nile  and  the  pyramids 
under  the  fan-like  branches  of  a  palm,  and 
he  awoke  beneath  a  gnarled  oak,  beside  a 
crystal  spring,  on  the  freshest  of  turf 
enameled  with  white  daisies.  A  short  dis¬ 
tance  off,  the  dark  round  towers  of  an  old 
baronial  castle  reminded  him  of  the  manor 
where  he  had  left  his  weeping  mother,  at 
his  departure  for  the  Holy  Land.  A  shep¬ 
herd,  who  was  driving  his  sheep  to  the 
fields,  relieved  his  perplexity  ;  the  castle 
which  he  beheld  was  his  own  castle  of  Mar- 
chais,  and  he  had  awakened  in  Picardy, 
beneath  the  avenue  which  his  fathers  had 
planted.  He  blessed  the  Holy  Yirgin,  and 
awakened  his  companions,  whose  astonish¬ 
ment  was  as  great  as  his  own. 

The  image  of  the  oriental  Madonna  was 
still  in  their  hands  ;  they  reared  a  handsome 
church  to  enshrine  it,  and  the  Moslem  prin¬ 
cess  received  baptism  in  the  cathedral  of 
Laon. 

We  may,  without  scruple  believe  that 
this  little  statue  of  Mary  came  into  France 
by  more  natural  means  ;  but  what  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  doubt  is,  that  it  was  brought 
from  the  Holy  Land  by  three  lords  of  Eppes, 
knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem. 

The  most  illustrious  names  of  the  mon¬ 
archy  figure  in  the  list  of  pilgrims  to  Our 


356 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Lady  of  Liesse.  We  read  there  those  of 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Louis  II.  of  Bour¬ 
bon,  Prince  of  Conde,  Duke  of  Mercoeur  ; 
of  Prince  Albert  Henry  of  Ligne,  of 
Madam  Henrietta  Frances  of  France, 
Queen  of  England,  of  the  princes  of 
Longueville,  Marshal  DAncre,  Mademoi¬ 
selle  de  Guise,  the  Count  Egmont,  of 
Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  brother  of  Charles 
YI.,  of  Charles  YII.,  King  Rene,  Louis 
XI.,  Francis  I.,  Henry  II.,  Charles  IX., 
Queen  Mary  of  Medicis,  Louis  XIII.,  Ann 
of  Austria,  Louis  XIV.,  etc. 

Several  of  these  great  personages,  not 
satisfied  with  leaving  rich  presents  at  Our 
Lady  of  Liesse,  placed  their  statues  there  : 
that  of  Louis  II.  of  Bourbon,  Prince  of 
Conde,  was  of  gold. 

Mary  dArquin,  then  grand  Marshal  of 
Poland,  and  subsequently  queen  of  that 
kingdom,  came  to  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady 
in  1671  ;  she  offered  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
a  child  in  silver,  representing  Prince  Alex¬ 
ander  Sobieski,  her  son,  with  a  golden 
chain  enriched  with  diamonds,  to  testify 
that  she  devoted  him  to  the  Mother  of  God, 
as  her  slave.1 

This  sanctuary  was  pillaged  like  the 
others  by  the  Huguenots  ;  the  Revolution 
came  to  glean  what  was  left. 

The  chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  Liesse  still 
attracts,  at  the  present  day,  a  great  con¬ 
course  of  pilgrims. 

In  the  legend  of  St.  Liphard  de  Meung, 
who  lived  in  550,  mention  is  made  of  the 
town  of  Clery,  and  of  an  oratory  dedicated 


( 1 )  Histoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  Liesse,  pp.  10, 
11,  et  12. 


there  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  1280, 
some  ploughmen  placed  there  a  little  statue 
of  Our  Lady,  which  they  had  one  day 
turned  up  under  their  ploughshare.  This 
discovery  made  a  sensation,  and  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  most  illustrious  nobles 
of  the  time.  Among  these,  Simon  de 
Melun,  a  great  baron,  who  had  accompanied 
St.  Louis  to  Africa,  and  whom  Philip  the 
Fair  elevated  to  the  rank  of  marshal  of 
France,  contemplated  founding  a  collegiate 
church  there  ;  but  his  glorious  death,  at 
the  siege  of  Courtray,  prevented  his  exe¬ 
cuting  this  pious  project,  which  his  widow 
and  son  made  it  their  duty  to  accomplish. 
After  his  victories  in  Flanders,  Philip  the 
Fair,  who  had  prospered  under  the  protec¬ 
tion  of  Mary,  was  struck  with  the  con¬ 
course  of  the  faithful  who  repaired  to  Our 
Lady  of  Clery  ;  he  increased  the  number 
of  the  canons,  and  resolved  to  rebuild  the 
church  ;  but  death,  which  defeats  so  many 
projects,  religious  as  well  as  others,  left 
him,  in  this  respect,  no  other  merit  than 
his  good  intention.  The  church,  neverthe¬ 
less,  was  begun  in  his  reign,  and  continued, 
through  the  munificence  of  his  third  son, 
Charles,  Duke  of  Orleans.  Philip  of 
Valois,  that  noble  prince,  who  said  to  his 
soldiers,  in  a  conquered  land,  “Respect 
the  churches !  ”  completed  that  of  Our 
Lady,  which  the  English  Salisbury  pillaged 
during  the  celebrated  siege  of  Orleans. 
Louis  XI.,  who  put  new  sleeves  in  his  old 
doublets,  to  wear  them  till  they  were 
threadbare,  but  who  well  knew  how  to  act 
his  part  as  king,  when  he  pleased,  built  the 
church  of  Clery,  gave  it  2,330  golden 
crowns,  settled  upon  it  great  revenues, 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


357 


erected  it  into  a  royal  chapel,  and  richly 
endowed  its  canons. 

This  monument,  the  object  of  so  much 
expense  and  care,  wgs  destroyed  by'  fire 
in  1472,  as  they  had  just  finished  roofing  it. 
“The  whole  was  burnt  and  consumed,” 
says  the  chronicle  of  Louis  XI.  ;  but  the 
church  was  rebuilt  anew  under  the  inspec¬ 
tion  of  the  king’s  secretary. 

Louis  XI.,  having  recovered  his  health 
at  Clery,  and  attributing  his  recovery  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  enriched  its  collegiate 
church  with  fresh  donations,  and  had  his 
tomb  prepared  in  it,  “  He  placed  himself 
in  it  several  times,”  says  one  of  his  histo¬ 
rians,  “to  see  whether  the  place  fitted  his 
body,  and  was  well  proportioned  to  receive 
it  after  his  death.”  He  was  interred  there, 
according  to  his  desire.  His  wife,  Charlotte 
of  Savoy,  was  laid  there  near  him,  some 
time  after. 

The  Huguenots,  who  respected  tombs  of 
kings  as  little  as  they  did  altars  of  saints, 
broke  down  the  statue  of  Louis  XI.,  and 
violated  his  royal  tomb  for  the  sake  of 
plunder.  This  tomb,  reconstructed  by 
Louis  XIII.,  was  mutilated  again  during 
the  Be  volution,  and  restored  by  Louis 
XVIII.  Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
still  reigns  there,  with  the  greatest  fervor, 
in  the  ancient  church  of  Louis  XI. 

The  pilgrimage  to  Our  Lady  of  the 
Thorn,  near  Chalons-sur-Marne,  began  in 
the  first  years  of  the  fifteenth  century.  On 
the  eve  of  the  feast  of  the  Annunciation, 
the  year  1419,  two  young  shepherds  who 
were  tending  their  sheep  by  the  side  of  a 
small  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Bap¬ 
tist,  perceived  a  bright  light  in  the  midst 


of  a  bramble  bush  near  them.  The  fore¬ 
most  sheep,  frightened  at  this  light,  ran 
away,  but  the  young  lambs  came  near  the 
bush  ;  the  shepherds  followed  their  exam¬ 
ple,  and  discovered  a  little  statue  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  holding  in  her  arms  her 
divine  Infant.  The  miraculous  light  hav-* 
ing  increased  when  the  night  came  on,  the 
people  ran  from  all  points  whence  it  could 
be  seen  ;  and  as  the  spot  where  this  prod¬ 
igy  took  place  was  very  elevated,  it  could 
be  verified  from  a  distance  of  ten  leagues 
round  about.  The  Bishop  of  Chalons,  at 
the  head  of  his  chapter,  and  several  par¬ 
ish  priests  of  the  neighboring  villages, 
came  in  procession  to  the  place.  They 
found  the  bush  as  green  as  in  spring  ;  they 
took  out  the  little  statue  of  the  Madonna, 
and  transferred  it  to  the  small  chapel  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  which  was  near  at  hand. 

This  prodigy  attracted  all  the  faithful  of 
Champagne  to  the  chapel,  which  soon  be¬ 
came  a  celebrated  pilgrimage.  With  the 
offerings  of  the  pilgrims,  a  superb  church 
was  built  from  the  designs  of  an  Irish 
architect ;  this  work  was  continued  with 
perseverance  ;  in  spite  of  the  wars  with 
the  English,  the  inhabitants,  though  im¬ 
poverished  and  plundered,  did  not  hesitate 
to  leave  their  plows  to  go  and  bring  stones 
from  the  interior  of  Lorraine.  The  work 
went  on  with  fresh  activity  when  Charles 
VII.  sent  a  considerable  sum  to  continue 
this  fine  edifice.  It  took  a  century  to  build 
it,  and  during  that  century,  in  spite  of 
wars,  of  the  black  plague,  of  famine,  of  all 
the  scourges,  in  fine,  of  which  the  English 
were  certainly  the  worst,  the  same  fervor 
had  been  kept  up.  The  cities  of  Chalons 


358 


HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


and  Yerdun  contributed  to  the  decoration 
of  this  edifice,  which  was  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  the  miraculous  bush.  The  one 
gave  to  it  superb  stained  glass,  which  told 
the  history  of  the  miracle  ;  the  other,  mag¬ 
nificent  bells  ;  the  liberal  donations  of  the 
'faithful,  great  and  small,  rich  and  poor,  did 
the  rest. 

During  the  Huguenot  wars,  the  English 
Protestants,  masters  of  part  of  Champagne, 
having  heard  of  the  riches  contained  in  the 
sanctuary  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Thorn,  re¬ 
solved  to  plunder  and  destroy  it ;  but  the 
proprietor  of  the  place,  a  nobleman  full  of 
courage  and  faith,  had  the  beautiful  church 
fenced  in  with  palisades,  and  having  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  handful  of  young 
men  collected  together  by  patriotism  and 
devotion  to  Mary,  succeeded  in  repulsing 
the  enemy  and  saving  the  altar  of  the  Ma¬ 
donna.  Forced  to  beat  a  retreat,  the  Eng¬ 
lish  behaved  like  Yandals  ;  they  fired  a 
final  volley  at  the  stained  glass  windows, 
and  destroyed  a  great  part  of  them.  Nev¬ 
ertheless,  by  a  kind  of  prodigy,  the  famous 
pane  of  glass  on  which  is  represented  the 
finding  of  the  miraculous  statue  remained 
untouched.  In  memory  of  that  fortunate 
day,  the  trustees  of  the  Church  of  Our 
Lady  of  the  Thorn,  down  to  the  Revolu¬ 
tion,  annually  presented  to  the  descendants 
of  the  nobleman  who  had  saved  it  from 
profanation  and  pillage,  two  blessed  swords, 
which  they  received  on  the  feast  of  the 
Assumption,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin. 

A  solemn  procession  takes  place  in  this 
church  every  year,  on  the  15  th  of  August ; 
it  is  composed  of  a  crowd  of  delicate  young 


children,  who  have  been  vowed  to  wear 
white  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  each 
holds  a  taper  ;  these  are  the  suppliants  of 
Mary.  Science  issued  a  sentence  of  death 
against  them  from  their  entrance  into  the 
world  ;  their  mothers  devoutly  appealed  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  they  hope,  thanks 
to  her  aid  and  support,  to  be  able  to  save 
these  frail  plants,  who  grow  beneath  the 
shade  of  her  holy  protection,  and  who  need 
it  to  acclimate  themselves  upon  earth. 
Nothing  is  more  affecting  than  to  see  these 
little  angels,  clothed  in  white,  and  pale  as 
the  flowers  which  form  the  wreaths  round 
their  heads,  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  Mary, 
and  beseeching  her,  by  repeating  the 
prayer  which  is  dictated  to  them,  without 
as  yet  understanding  its  meaning,  to  pre¬ 
serve  their  poor  little  lives,  which  are  at 

the  same  time  those  of  their  mothers . 

When  the  rosy  tints  of  health  have  re¬ 
appeared  on  their  infantine  faces,  when  at 
length  the  seventh  year  has  passed  over 
their  young  heads,  and  they  are  about  to 
leave  off  the  white  livery  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  with  what  joy  do  their  happy  mo¬ 
thers  bring  them  fo  the  mass  of  thanksgiv¬ 
ing  !  What  heartfelt  prayers  arise  then  to 
Our  Lady  of  the  Thorn  at  that  altar ! 

There  exists  in  the  Vosges  a  pilgrimage, 
which  keeps  up  among  poor  women  a  su¬ 
perstition  which  partakes  at  the  same  time 
of  Christian  and  maternal  feeling.  About 
the  year  1070,  a  religious  of  Senones  built 
on  the  bank  of  a  solitary  torrent  a  hermit¬ 
age  and  a  chapel,  where  people  came  to 
pray  to  Our  Lady  of  Meix  ;  the  pilgrimage 
was  subsequently  discontinued,  or  sup¬ 
pressed.  At  the  present  day,  the  chapel 


— 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


359 


has  fallen  to  ruin,  and  a  half-broken  stone 
cross  alone  towers  amid  the  ruins ;  but 
underneath  these  ruins  there  are  subter¬ 
raneous  vaults,  and  a  shapeless  stone  altar 
yet  tells  where  they  still  come  to  lay  those 
little  children  whom  death  has  smitten  on 
the  threshold  of  life,  and  who  have  been 
unable  to  receive  the  sacred  sign  which 
would  have  made  them  like  unto  the  angels. 
“  No  sooner  are  they  laid  upon  this  stone,” 
says  the  mountaineer  who  serves  as  a  guide 
to  the  traveller  in  this  dark  crypt,  “  than 
their  eyes  open  again,  a  slight  breathing 
escapes  from  their  little  lips  closed  by 
death,  the  water  of  baptism  flows  upon 
their  foreheads  ;  then  they  fall  asleep  again, 
to  ascend  to  heaven.”  By  digging  a  little 
into  the  ground,  the  remains  of  these  poor 
little  flowers  of  humanity,  which  withered 
at  the  icy  breath  of  death  in  the  first  hour 
of  their  morning,  are  found  round  about 
the  altar  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
who  raises  up  the  little  children  to  life, 
that  they  may  go  to  Jesus  Christ;  that 
ignorant  but  exalted  love  which  came  to 
beg  the  miracle  of  Mary,  interred  them 
beneath  her  wing,  that  she  might  not  forget 
them ! 

Incredulity  may  declaim  at  this  super¬ 
stition  of  the  heart ;  tender  and  pious  souls 
will  find  in  it  only  a  motive  for  gentle  com¬ 
miseration.  No  doubt,  more  than  one  mo¬ 
ther  has  been  deceived  in  thinking  that  she 
saw  the  cold  lips  of  her  child  become 
reanimated  with  her  kisses,  to  receive  the 
sacred  water  ;  but  whoever  should  dare  to 
advance  that  Mary  cannot  perform  miracles 
as  great  when  she  pleases,  would  be,  to  say 
the  truth,  a  bold  mortal. 


The  Pyrenees,  those  noble  larchcrowned 
mountains  whose  bowels  formerly  enclosed 
mines  of  gold,  and  where  cascades,  glittering 
in  the  sun,  fall  from  so  prodigious  a  height, 
and  bound  so  far  from  their  native  rocks,  as 
to  resemble  a  long  piece  of  silvery  gauze 
unrolled  in  the  air  ;  the  Pyrenees,  some 
spots  of  which,  fresh  and  graceful  as  the 
Eden  of  old,  are  saddened  by  the  fall  of 
gigantic  rocks,  which  revive  the  idea  of 
chaos  ;  the  Pyrenees  are  not  without  sanc¬ 
tuaries  dedicated  to  Mary :  the  oldest  and 
most  famous  is  that  of  Our  Lady  of  Heas, 
the  resort  of  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  val¬ 
leys  of  Bearn  and  Bigorre.  Among  the 
precipices  of  Heas,  an  altar  has  been  erect¬ 
ed,  where  the  goatherd  would  never  have 
dared  to  perch  a  temporary  shed  against 
the  storm  ;  the  Romans  would  have  dedi¬ 
cated  this  altar  to  the  genius  of  storms — 
the  Christians  have  erected  it  to  her  who 
appeases  the  winds  and  the  waves.  On  the 
8th  of  September,  the  Nativity  of  Mary, 
and  on  the  15th  of  August,  the  day  of  her 
glorious  death,  a  prodigious  crowd  assemble 
at  Our  Lady  of  Heas  from  the  neighboring 
valleys.  Each  pilgrim,  as  he  returns, 
breaks  off  a  piece  of  the  blessed  rock, 
which  he  carries  home  with  great  respect, 
as  a  relic  to  his  cottage. 

The  mountain  pilgrimages  are  pictur¬ 
esque  ;  but  how  affecting  are  those  of  the 
sea  shore !  How  much  good  does  a  sanc¬ 
tuary  of  Mary  effect  whose  towering  spire 
seems  to  show  us  heaven,  from  the  height 
of  a  promontory  whence  it  is  descried  afar 
off  on  the  deep !  The  mariner,  who  sadly 
bids  it  adieu,  as  he  departs  from  the  land 
where  he  leaves  his  wife  and  little  children, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


360 


I 


] i ails  it  with  rapture  on  his  return;  that 
steeple  looks  to  him  beautiful  as  hope,  and 
mingles  with  that  anxiety  which  oppresses 
his  heart  in  spite  of  himself,  when  he  is  on 
the  point  of  beholding  his  family  again, 
whom  he  has  quitted  for  months,  and  per¬ 
haps  years,  a  certain  religious  confidence, 
which  makes  him  believe  that  all  goes  well, 
thanks  to  the  protection  of  the  “good  Vir¬ 
gin.”  . And  then,  it  was  perhaps 

Our  Lady  who  preserved  from  shipwreck 
both  himself  and  his  ship’s  crew ;  and  the 
first  care  of  these  poor  people,  on  landing, 
will  be  to  go,  barefooted,  as  they  did  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  to  hang  upon  the  walls  of  the 
seaside  chapel  the  offering  which  they 
vowed,  when  the  hurricane  was  shivering 
the  masts  and  rending  the  sails.  “La 
Vigie,”  a  newspaper  of  Dieppe  related, 
last  year,  in  its  number  for  October  3,  one 
of  those  moving  scenes  which  make  particu¬ 
lar  impression  upon  the  people,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  infidelity  of  the  times.  “A 
ceremony  of  a  truly  affecting  nature  took 
place  yesterday  at  the  church  of  St  James,” 
says  that  journal.  “  The  crew  of  the  lugger 
L’Automne,  which  encountered  so  violent 
a  tempest  on  the  third  of  September,  gave 
up  all  for  lost,  when  it  entered  the  mind  of 
the  master,  Louis  Couteur,  to  make,  in  the 
name  of  his  companions,  a  vow  to  Our 
Lady  of  Good  Help,  the  patroness  of  mar¬ 
iners.  He  had  scarcely  pronounced  the 
vow,  when  a  sunbeam,  suddenly  breaking 
through  the  intense  darkness,  which  envel¬ 
oped  them,  came  to  revive  their  hopes  and 
restore  their  sunken  courage.  This  vow 
those  brave  fellows  in  their  gratitude  ful¬ 
filled  yesterday  in  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady 


of  Good  Help.  Yesterday,  accordingly, 
all  the  crew,  who  had  escaped  from  the 
tempest,  proceeded,  barefooted  and  bare¬ 
headed,  in  their  sailor  garb,  carrying  on 
their  sturdy  shoulders  the  ex-voto  or  votive 
offering,  placed  on  a  litter,  and  surrounded 
with  blue  streamers,  to  the  chapel  of  Our 
Lady,  accompanied  by  their  relatives  and 
friends,  and  a  considerable  crowd  of  people. 
An  address,  full  of  feeling,  was  made  to 
them  by  the  parish  priest,  who  after  the 
mass  of  thanksgiving,  recited  the  ‘  De  Pro- 
fundis’  for  the  captain  and  four  sailors  who 
perished  in  the  waves.” 

Our  Lady  of  Grace  is  one  of  the  most 
ancient  seaside  chapels  of  Normandy  ■  this 
sanctuary  was  built,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  in  consequence  of  a  vow  made, 
in  a  great  tempest,  by  a  Norman  duke, 
who  was  very  devout  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
The  site  of  this  handsome  chapel,  set  in  a 
grove  of  large  trees,  in  a  grassy  plain 
enamelled  with  flowers,  is  beautiful  and 
calm,  like  the  rich  and  fresh  landscapes  of 
the  magnificent  province  of  which  it  forms 
part.  Our  Lady  of  Grace  appears  like  the 
fortress  of  Honfleur  ;  from  the  little  moun¬ 
tain  which  it  crowns,  the  mouth  of  the 
Seine  is  visible,  and  farther  on  the  ocean, 
with  its  long  waves  of  dark  green,  which 
receives  in  its  bosom  the  river  of  blue 
waters.  Two  roads  lead  to  the  chapel : 
the  one  rough  and  rocky,  the  other  smooth 
and  even  ;  once  on  a  time  the  inhabitants 
of  Honfleur  took  delight  in  tracing  it,  grad¬ 
ing  down  its  steepness,  covering  it  with 
small,  fine  gravel,  so  that  a  gracious  prin¬ 
cess,  whose  noble  bounty  had  endeared  her 
ter  these  parts,  might  ascend  it  without 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


fatigue,  when  she  went  to  offer  her  prayers 
and  vows  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  The  hur¬ 
ricane  of  revolutions  has  borne  the  noble 
lady  afar,  as  the  wind  does  a  rose  leaf ;  but 
the  remembrance  of  her  charity  still  sub¬ 
sists. 

One  day,  not  long  ago,  groups  of  specta¬ 
tors  covered  the  little  grassy  esplanade, 
which  is  crowned  by  Our  Lady  of  Grace  ; 
they  clung  to  the  jutting  rocks,  hung  on  to 
the  bushes,  and  climbed  the  trees,  all  eyes 
were  turned  seaward,  looking  out  for  some 
expected  object.  The  enthusiasm  was 
great,  but  religious  and  somewhat  mourn¬ 
ful  ;  prayers  ascended  to  heaven,  and  tears 
fell  from  many  eyes  ;  a  vessel  passed  under 
the  heights  of  Our  Lady,  a  ship  draped  in 
black,  and  a  coffin  on  her  deck.  .  .  .  The 
prayers  of  the  clergy  descend  upon  her  ; 
the  people  wept !  ...  On  that  day  there 
was  no  chapel  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  on 
either  bank  of  the  Seine,  where  multitudes 
of  the  faithful  did  not  pray  for  the  soul  of 
the  great  emperor,  and  Our  Lady  of  Grace 
was  very  fervently  invoked  for  that  illus¬ 
trious  castaway  of  fortune,  who  died  on  a 
rock,  and,  worst  of  all,  where  floated  the 
flag  of  England. 

Half  a  league  from  Pornic,  a  small  sea¬ 
port  ten  leagues  from  Nantes,  rises  pic¬ 
turesquely  on  a  height  overlooking  the 
ocean,  the  seaside  village  and  church  of  St. 
Mary  ;  this  church,  whose  steeple  tells  its 
remote  antiquity,  and  which  contains  in  its 
narrow  cemetery  the  grave  of  a  crusader, 
is  held  in  great  veneration  among  the 
Breton  sailors,  who  often  repair  thither  to 
fulfil  their  vows.  Whenever  a  Breton  ves¬ 
sel  passes  under  its  peculiar  sail  in  sight  of 

46 


361 


St.  Mary’s,  the  sailors  uncover  their  heads 
and  say  the  “Hail  Mary.”  Not  a  peasant 
along  the  coast  goes  into  the  sea  to  bathe, 
without  dipping  his  hand  into  the  water, 
and  making  with  it  devoutly  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  turning  his  head  toward  the  protect¬ 
ing  sanctuary  •  the  fishermen  when  tossed 
about  by  tempests,  which  are  more  danger¬ 
ous  on  the  coasts  than  an  open  sea,  cherish 
hope  as  long  as  they  can  see  from  a  distance 
the  picturesque  steeple  of  the  church  of  St. 
Mary, — “the  Virgin  beholds  them.”  This 
thought  prevents  their  losing  courage,  and 
is  in  itself  an  arm  of  safety. 

When  the  tall  haughty  waves  of  the 
Atlantic,  driven  by  a  furious  wind,  come 
roaring  on  to  the  mouths  of  the  sandy  bays 
of  Guienne,  and  when  they  recede  from 
the  shore,  sweeping  along  the  pebbles  with 
a  hoarse  and  frightful  roaring,  if  there  ap¬ 
pears  in  the  horizon  of  the  sea  a  disabled 
vessel,  struggling  with  all  its  might  against 
the  storm,  then  to  Our  Lady  of  Arcachon, 
turn  the  wives,  mothers,  and  children  of 
the  sailors  of  old  Aquitaine  in  prayer  for 
the  vessel ;  which  may,  if  it  is  wrecked  on 
the  coast,  cast  upon  his  native  shore  the 
corpse  of  some  dear  one.  This  chapel  of 
Mary,  where  clouds  of  white  sea-gulls  come 
and  perch,  heralding  in  shrill  cries  the 
coming  storm,  stands  in  a  wild  lonely  spot, 
relieved  here  and  there  by  some  groves  of 
tapering  pine.  Many  sailors  and  poor 
women,  in  alarm,  come  thither  barefoot, 
dropping  the  black  beads  of  their  rosaries 
through  their  rough  hands ;  and  many  a 
votive  offering,  hung  upon  the  ancient 
walls,  announces  how  often  the  prayer  of 
faith  has  been  heard  by  the  Holy  Virgin. 


3G2 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Our  Lady  of  La  Garde,  whose  thirteenth 
century  chapel  of  bluish  gray  limestone 
stands  upon  the  summit  of  a  high  mountain, 
from  which  can  be  seen  the  Mediterranean, 
with  its  islands,  its  Castle  of  If,  and  its 
waves,  whether  bright  or  dark,  receives 
the  last  thoughts  and  the  last  look  of  the 
Provencal  mariner  as  he  leaves  his  country. 
Thither  he  directs  his  steps  when  his  ship 
returns  to  port,  after  a  voyage  in  the  dis¬ 
tant  countries  of  the  Levant ;  it  is  no  rare 
thing  to  see  the  sailors  climb,  on  their 
knees,  the  summit  crowned  by  that  old 
chapel,  to  return  thanks  to  her,  whom  they 
call,  with  quite  Italian  familiarity,  “the 
good  Mother  of  Protection,”  for  having 
preserved  them  from  the  perils  of  the  sea, 
the  wind,  and  the  plague.  But  not  to 
mariners  only  is  the  Madonna  of  Marseilles 
good  and  ready  to  extend  her  aid  ;  she  is 
the  guardian  of  the  city,  which  flies  to  her, 
with  pious  confidence,  in  all  calamities. 
When  the  cholera,  which  desolated  and 
depopulated  France,  appeared  on  the  soil 
of  Provence,  the  ancient  and  beautiful 
Phocean  city  knelt,  as  one  man,  before  its 
beloved  protectress,  who  did  not  fail  to 
succor  it.  Moreover  to  testify  its  gratitude 
to  her,  Marseilles  has  just  consecrated  to 
her  a  magnificent  statue  of  solid  silver,  of 
admirable  workmanship.  It  is  well ! 

In  Corsica,  Our  Lady  of  Lavisina, 
seated  within  sight  of  the  blue  waves  of 
the  Mediterranean,  wafts  to  her  pilgrims, 
as  well  as  to  the  ships  whose  sails  vanish 
in  the  horizon,  the  perfume  of  her  orange- 
trees,  as  a  charming  token  of  her  presence. 
This  sanctuary,  dedicated  to  the  Nativity 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  was  for  a  long  time 


obscure,  and  the  coral  fishers,  who  frequent 
that  fine  portion  of  the  coast  of  the  island, 
alone  went  there  to  pray  ;  when  about  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
Madonna  of  Corsica  worked'  miracles,  the 
fame  of  which  extended  even  to  Italy. 
The  church  was  then  enlarged  and  orna¬ 
mented  ;  the  faithful  of  the  island  crowded 
to  it,  barefooted  and  with  tapers  in  their 
hands,  on  the  feast  of  the  patroness  ;  which 
is  still  done  with  the  same  devotion  as  of 
old.  The  picture,  which  adorns  this  chapel, 
the  work  of  an  Italian  painter,  represents 
Mary  as  a  child  over  whose  head  St.  Anne 
gracefully  drops  a  transparent  veil. 

The  origin  of  the  celebrated  pilgrimage 
of  Our  Lady  of  the  Hermits,  the  Loretto 
of  Switzerland,  dates  back  to  the  heroic 
times  of  Charlemagne.  The  saint  who  first 
inhabited  the  hermitage  of  Einsiedeln,  was 
a  young  Suabian  lord,  named  Meinrad,  be¬ 
longing  to  the  illustrious  family  of  the 
counts  of  Hohenzollern.  Gifted  with  that 
pensive  temperament  which  still  forms  the 
prominent  feature  of  the  German  charac¬ 
ter,  Meinrad,  when  scarcely  past  his  early 
youth,  loved  to  bury  himself  in  the  dense 
woods,  which  then  covered  his  country,  and 
to  commune  alone  with  his  God,  by  the 
sound  of  bubbling  springs,  flowing  beneath 
the  shady  oaks.  Ofttimes  night  overtook 
him  attentively  reading  the  Scriptures  in 
an  old  gold-clasped  volume,  which  he  had 
inherited  from  his  fathers,  or  meditating 
profoundly  on  the  miracles  and  benefits  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  His  soul  soared  aloft 
in  solitude  ;  despising  the  world  and  its 
worthless  goods,  Meinrad  made  his  vows 
in  the  Abbey  of  Bichenau,  which  he  sub- 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


363 


sequently  left  to  occupy  a  small  hermitage 
built  on  the  top  of  Mount  Etzel.  There  he 
spent  seven  years  ;  but  the  good .  odor  of 
his  virtues  descended  to  the  depths  of  the 
valleys  ;  the  herdsmen  and  wood  cutters 
came  to  him,  then  great  lords,  then  noble 
ladies,  humbly  to  solicit  his  prayers  and 
counsels.  These  acts  of  homage  troubled 
the  young  hermit,  who  loved  naught  but 
contemplative  prayer  and  the  peaceful 
woods  ;  one  night  he  secretly  left  his  her¬ 
mitage,  carrying  with  him,  as  his  sole  pos¬ 
session,  the  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
the  only  ornament  of  his  chapel,  and  took 
refuge  in  a  wood  in  the  canton  of  Schwytz, 
which  bore  the  characteristic  name  of  the 
“  dark  forest.” 

Thirty-two  years  afterward,  he  was  as¬ 
sassinated  by  miscreants,  with  whom  he 
had  shared  the  water  of  his  fountain  and 
wild  fruits  of  the  forest ;  the  birds  of 
heaven  pursued  the  murderers,  who  under¬ 
went  the  chastisement  which  their  crime 
deserved.1 

After  Meinrad’s  tragical  death,  his  cell, 
where  miracles  were  wrought,  was  unten¬ 
anted  for  almost  half  a  century.  At  the 
end  of  that  time,  a  small  colony  of  hermits 
came  and  settled  there  under  the  care  of 
St.  Benno,  of  the  ducal  house  of  Burgundy. 
Thence  the  surname  of  Our  Lady  of  the 
Hermits,  which  was  given  to  the  chapel  of 
Einsiedeln.  St.  Eberhard  applied  his  large 
property  to  the  erection  of  a  monastery  in 
this  place,  and  became  its  first  abbot. 

( 1 )  The  murderers  were  betrayed  by  two  ravens 
who  pursued  them  incessantly  as  far  as  Zurich; 
they  even  made  their  way  through  the  windows  of 
the  inn  which  the  assassins  had  entered,  and  did 


The  chapel  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  as  it 
was  in  the  time  of  St.  Benno,  was  placed  in 
the  great  church  of  the  convent,  of  which 
St.  Meinrad’s  cell  formed  the  choir ;  the 
French  destroyed  this  chapel,  which  had 
resisted  the  furious  assaults  of  Protestant- 
ism  ;  but  G-od  permitted  that  the  miracu¬ 
lous  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  should  be 
saved  in  time.  In  1803  it  was  replaced 
with  great  solemnity  in  the  church  of  Ein¬ 
siedeln,  which  in  1817  recovered  part  of  its 
ancient  magnificence,  from  the  assembling 
of  the  most  distinguished  artists,  and  the 
abundant  alms  of  the  faithful. 

The  monastery  of  Einsiedeln  does  not 
rise  beneath  a  mild  sky  ;  its  steeple,  cov¬ 
ered  with  snow  most  of  the  year,  is  out¬ 
lined  upon  dull  clouds,  which  threaten  long 
frosts  ;  at  its  base  extends  a  barren  coun¬ 
try,  where  scanty  harvests  ripen  with  diffi¬ 
culty  ;  fruit  is  rare  and  insipid,  and  the 
fields  are  enlivened  only  by  the  lilac  flower 
of  the  potato  ;  but  here  Our  Lady  delights 
to  exhibit  her  power,  and  the  rocky  road 
of  the  hallowed  mountain  is  often  bedewed 
with  the  noblest  blood  of  Germany  ;  more 
than  one  count  of  the  empire,  more  than 
■one  noble  German  lady,  has  made  it  a  duty 
to  ascend  the  Einsiedeln  barefoot.  There 
still  lingers  a  spark  of  the  ancient  fervor 
of  Frederick’s  knights  in  old  Germany. 
As  to  the  Catholic  population  of  Switzer¬ 
land,  nothing  can  equal  their  confidence 
in  Our  Lady  of  the  Hermits,  and  there 
are  few  families,  even  in  the  most  dis¬ 
not  leave  them  till  they  had  witnessed  their  pun¬ 
ishment.  In  memory  of  this  event  the  Abbey  of 
Reichenau  bears  two  ravens  on  its  seal. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


u-± 


tant  cantons,  who  omit  this  ancient  pil¬ 
grimage. 

“  The  first  thing  that  strikes  the  sight,  in 
the  fine  church  of  Einsiedeln,”  says  a 
French  traveller,  who  visited  it  in  1839, 
“  is  the  miraculous  chapel,  where  the  un¬ 
pretending  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  is 
exposed.  Mass  was  said  there,  and  a 
great  crowd  of  the  faithful — men,  women, 
and  children,  of  all  ranks  and  of  all  ages 
— -joined  in  the  holy  sacrifice,  fervently 
waiting  for  the  time  of  Communion  ;  others 
were  crowding  round  the  confessionals ; 
others,  having  already  received,  were  hear¬ 
ing  a  mass  of  thanksgiving  in  the  side 
chapels.  Almost  every  canton  of  Switzer¬ 
land  was  represented.  There  you  saw  the 
thick  bodices  of  Fribourg,  the  short  petti¬ 
coat  of  G-uggisberg,  the  waist  ornamented 
with  silver  chains,  and  the  black  lace- 
*  trimmed  cap,  of  the  women  of  Berne,  the 
white  crests  of  Schwytz,  the  velvet  collar 
of  Schaffhausen,  and  the  little  casquette  of 
the  Yalais.  In  a  group,  from  which  other 
pilgrims  kept  aloof  with  a  kind  of  respect, 
wn  recognized  the  ribands,  shawls,  and  ele¬ 
gant  mien  of  the  women  of  France.  The 
men,  less  numerous,  and  more  uniformly 
dressed,  still  betrayed  their  origin  by  cer¬ 
tain  diversities  of  physiognomy.  One 
could  distinguish  among  them  French,  Oer- 
mans,  and  Italians  ;  but  the  respect  and 
fervor  of  all  were  alike.” 

In  a  visit  of  devotion  to  the  abbey  of 
Einsiedeln,  Queen  Hortense  laid  upon  the 
altar  of  the  celebrated  Swiss  Madonna  a 
superb  branch  of  hortensia,  made  of  large 
diamonds. 

Volumes  have  been  written  in  Switzer¬ 


land,  on  the  miracles  worked  by  the  Ma¬ 
donna  of  Einsiedeln  ;  from  these  marvel¬ 
lous  accounts  we  select  only  one  fantastic 
legend  of  the  seventeenth  century,  which 
we  find  in  a  very  rare  devotional  work, 
printed  at  Fribourg.  The  Swiss  piously 
believe  in  the  authenticity  of  this  strange 
fact ;  the  French  are  free  to  disbelieve  it. 

In  one  of  those  immense  halls  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  walls  of  which  were 
adorned  with  frescoes,  of  the  most  frightful 
character,  and  around  which  were  seen 
those  stone  seats,  found  only  in  the  feudal 
manors  of  Germany,  some  Swiss  gentle¬ 
men  were  seated  at  table,  passing  round 
the  Bhenish  wine  in  large  goblets.  In  the 
very  midst  of  this  national  feast,  and  while 
a  young  officer,  by  name  Berthold,  was 
saying  the  wildest  nonsense,  a  pilgrim  was 
introduced,  who  was  going  alone  and  bare¬ 
foot  to  Our  Lady  of  the  Hermits,  but  was 
driven  to  seek  shelter  from  a  coming  tem¬ 
pest,  that  already  made  the  great  pines  of  a 
neighboring  forest  creak,  and  rolled  in  fury 
the  waves  of  the  lake,  which  extended  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountain.  The  nobleman 
arose  from  his  place,  and  courteously  led 
his  new  guest  to  the  corner  of  a  wide 
Gothic  fireplace,  where  whole  trunks  of 
oak  were  burning.  This  duty  fulfilled, 
Berthold,  with  no  respect  for  the  austere 
presence  of  the  traveller,  resumed  the  fool¬ 
ish  and  impious  conversation  which  he  had 
interrupted,  now  and  then  giving  a  glance 
at  the  pilgrim,  to  ascertain  the  effect  pro¬ 
duced  upon  him  by  his  audacious  and 
wicked  words  ;  but  the  pale  and  emaciated 
countenance  of  the  holy  man  was  as  rigid 
as  marble.  When  the  banquet  was  over, 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


3G5 


the  guests  called  for  their  horses,  to  return 
home.  “The  night  is  dark,’7  said  the  lord 
to  the  young  miscreant,  who  had  the  honor 
to  belong  to  his  family  ;  “  you  have  to  pass 
through  a  defile  which  is  haunted  by  those 
wandering  spirits  who  move  about  the 
world  in  the  dark,  to  do  mischief.  ....  I 
am  afraid  you  may  meet  with  some  sad  ad¬ 
venture  ;  take  my  advice  and  stay.” 

“  Bah  !  ”  laughingly  replied  the  officer, 
who  was  in  the  French  service,  “I  fear 
neither  God  nor  devil  !  ” 

“  Are  you  quite  sure  ?  ”  said  the  pilgrim 
in  a  tone  of  dark  raillery,  which  startled 
the  rest. 

“  So  sure,  my  good  pilgrim,  that  I  drink 
to  Lucifer,  and  ask  him  to  escort  me  to¬ 
night.  if  he  is  disengaged.” - 

“You  would  richly  deserve  it,”  cried 
the  lord  of  the  place. 

“We  will  pray  to  Our  Lady  for  you,” 
said  the  traveler  ;  “you  will  stand  in  need 
of  it.” 

“  I  will  not  trouble  you  to  do  so,”  replied 
Berthold,  saluting  the  holy  man  in  derision. 
A  few  minutes  after,  he  was  riding  down 
the  heathy  slope,  which  was  crowned  by 
the  little  fortified  castle,  singing  as  he  went 
the  refrain  of  a  drinking  song. 

The  hour  was  late,  the  silence  profound, 
and  the  solitude  absolute  ;  the  moon  full 
and  solitary,  peered  out,  at  times,  amid 
huge  black  clouds,  in  a  starless  sky,  and 
broad  flashes  of  lightning  darted  across  the 
horizon.  The  young  nobleman,  for  some 
cause  or  other,  stopped  singing,  but  kept 
swearing.  At  length  he  arrived  at  the 
dangerous  pass  to  which  his  relative  had 
alluded,  and  which  bore  the  name  of  the 


Devil’s  Way,  a  name  common  enough  in 
Switzerland.  It  was  a  deep  gorge  hollowed 
out  between  the  reddish  sides  of  two  moun¬ 
tains,  a  sinister  place,  where  the  Alpine 
goatherd  would  scarce  trust  himself  in 
broad  day.  At  that  late  hour,  when  the 
stillness  and  darkness  made  superstitions 
formidable,  the  young  Swiss,  uneasy  at 
times,  mechanically  put  his  hand  upon  his 
sword  ;  then  ashamed  of  himself,  laughed 
at  his  fear.  “  I  have  solemnly  called  upon 
Lucifer  to  serve  me  as  a  torch-bearer,”  said 
the  miscreant,  who  wrnnted  to  give  his  pride 
the  satisfaction  of  a  bravado;  “but  he 
turns  a  deaf  ear  ....  or  else  hell  is 
empty.” 

The  thunder  rolled  afar,  and  by  a  long 
gleam  lighting  up  the  woods  and  mountains 
he  beheld  two  hideous  dwarfs  at  his  horse’s 
head, — “Ah!”  said  the  officer,  who  felt 
himself  growing  pale  ;  then,  resuming  all 
his  insolence,  “Begone,  infernal  crew!” 
cried  he,  furiously  brandishing  his  sword  ; 
“ye  two  miserable  bergmannlein  (dwarfs) ! 
you  might  frighten  a  cowherd  of  the  Alps.” 

The  bergmannlein  disappeared,  and  the 
galloping  of  two  horses,  who,  swift  as  the 
wind,  came  down  the  almost  perpendicular 
side  of  the  mountain,  made  Berthold  quickly 
turn  his  head.  They  were  two  horsemen, 
covered  with  black  armor,  and  mounted  on 
horses  of  the  same  color.  Their  eyes 
glared  like  burning  lamps  through  their 
closed  vizors  ;  on  their  arms  hung,  by  a 
small  chain  of  polished  steel,  the  morgen- 
stern  of  ancient  Germany,  a  mace  studded 
with  long  iron  spikes,  still  reeking  with 
human  blood  ;  and  will-o’-the-wisps  played 
on  their  helmets  as  crests. 


- — . .  . . . — - — — - t 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


366 


The  dark  horsemen  silently  drew  up  on 
either  side  of  the  pale  officer,  snatched  the 
reins  from  his  trembling  hands,  and  the 
three  horses  set  off  with  the  swiftness  of 
the  wind ;  mountains  after  mountains  dis¬ 
appeared  ;  sparks  flashed  from  the  flinty 
pebbles  of  the  road ;  space  was  seen  only 
to  be  traversed.  Soon  they  passed  frail 
bridges  of  flexible  branches,  beneath  which 
roared  the  cataracts,  and  where  the  boldest 
chamois  hunter  scarce  dared  to  set  foot. 
Thus  they  reached  the  region  of  eternal 
snows,  and  the  horses  with  redoubled  fury 
plunged  on  toward  a  gulf,  with  a  torrent 
rolling  faintly  far  down  in  its  dizzy  abyss. 
Suddenly,  from  amid  those  dark  waters, 
which  gleamed  at  times  with  subterraneous 
tires,  were  heard  a  multitude  of  deep  hoarse 
voices.  “Vengeance!  vengeance!”  they 
cried;  “give  us  the  seducer,  the  false 
friend,  the  duellist !  ” 

“We  bring  him!”  replied  the  horsemen, 
brandishing  their  heavy  maces. 

A  cold  sweat  run  down  Berthold’s  fore¬ 
head  ;  his  hair  in  terror  stood  on  end,  and 
his  features  withered  in  convulsive  horror  ; 
for  among  these  accusing  voices,  were  ac¬ 
cents  but  too  well  known  which  went  to  his 
very  soul  ;  remorse  began  to  speak  as 
loudly  as  fear. 

‘  ‘  Give  us  the  lawless  gambler,  the  slan¬ 
derer,  the  blasphemer,  the  perjurer!  ”  cried 
out  the  voices  from  the  abyss. 

Berthold’s  dark  guides,  laughing  within 
their  helmets,  with  a  metallic  chuckle, 
horrible  to  hear,  replied  to  the  sub¬ 
terranean  voices,  “We  bring  him!  we 
bring  him !  ” 

“  Bring  us  the  impious  wretch !  ” 


“We  bring  him  !  ”  howled  out  the  black 
horsemen. 

Berthold  was  all  but  insane. 

The  three  horsemen  were  at  the  very 
edge  of  an  abrupt  rock,  where  yawned  the 
abyss  which  so  imperiously  demanded  the 
Swiss  noble.  Another  second  and  all  would 
be  over !  .  .  .  .  When  lo,  the  two  horse¬ 
men,  in  the  midst  of  their  mad  gallop, 
suddenly  become  motionless,  like  two 
equestrian  statues  of  black  marble.  The 
faint  murmur  of  a  bell  had  just  died 
away  upon  the  .snowy  plain ;  it  was  the 
midnight-office  sounding  from  Our  Lady  of 
Einsiedeln.  Berthold  saw  that  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  had  paralyzed 
the  terrible  power  which  was  dragging 
him  to  hell,  and  hastily  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  he  commended  himself  ardently 
and  sincerely  to  the  protecting  Madonna, 
who  seemed  to  interpose  between  him  and 
the  exemplary  punishment  which  he  ac¬ 
knowledged,  with  compunction,  that  he 
deserved.  The  bell  ceased,  and  the  young- 
officer  felt  his  heart  shrink  with  horror 
when  he  saw  the  two  horsemen  violently 
moving  upon  their  black  coursers.  But  the 
voice  of  repentance  had  reached  Mary’s 
starry  throne,  and  the  phantoms,  after  ges¬ 
tures  of  rage  and  regret,  plunged  to  the 
bottom  of  the  gulf,  leaving  Berthold  on  the 
brink.  The  moon  now  emerged  from  the 
clouds,  which  had  before  obscured  the  sky, 
shone  like  a  golden  lamp  in  the  high  vault 
of  heaven  and  bathed  the  scene  in  a  glori¬ 
ous  light ;  to  his  great  surprise  the  officer 
discovered,  that  he  was  on  one  of  the 
highest  plateaus  of  Mount  Bighi,  from  which 
he  had  great  difficulty  in  descending. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


Some  days  afterward,  to  the  profound  as¬ 
tonishment  of  his  festive  companions,  the 
young  lord  went  barefoot  to  Our  Lady  of 
the  Hermits,  and  made  a  vow,  in  expiation 
of  his  orgies,  that  no  beverage  should 
henceforth  pass  his  lips  but  the  water  of 
the  spring. 

In  an  obscure  corner  of  the  canton  of 
Unterwald,  on  the  border  of  a  path,  which 
like  a  long  serpent,  winds  among  the  fallen 
boulders  which  cover  the  mountain  side,  at 
the  narrowest  point  of  the  passage,  where 
the  traveller,  contemplating  at  his  feet  still 
deeper  precipices,  and  above  his  head  more 
frightful  fragments,  advances  between  two 
threats  of  death,  rises  a  small  open  oratory, 
decorated  with  homely  pictures  represent¬ 
ing  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This  sweet  image, 
thus  placed  far  away  from  every  habitation 
and  all  succor,  has  received  the  name  of  Our 
Lady  of  the  Passer-by.  This  place,  often 
accursed,  was  called,  long  ago,  the  Devil’s 
Strainer.  After  various  -attempts  to  dimin¬ 
ish  the  danger,  they  thought  of  building  a 
chapel  there,  and  placing  in  it  a  holy  image, 
that  no  one  might  forget,  however  great 
might  be  his  fear  or  danger,  to  invoke  the 
name  of  our  good  God,  and  make  the  sign 
of  the  cross.  But  where  find  workmen 
bold  enough  to  go  and  work  there  ?  Sev¬ 
eral,  however,  volunteered  and  went,  after 
arming  their  hearts  with  piety  by  the  help 
of  the  Holy  Mass.  And  the  Mother  of 
God,  to  prove  to  these  pious  workmen  that 
their  courage  in  contending  with  supersti¬ 
tious  terrors  and  real  dangers  was  pleasing 
to  her,  secured  the  tottering  rocks  by 
threads  of  the  Virgin  fastened  to  blades 
of  grass  and  the  moss  of  the  rock.  “  From 


Q  C*  h’ 

O0  i 


that  time,”  say  the  Swiss  of  Unterwald, 
“  the  passage  has  been  safe  ;  no  accident 
happens  there,  by  day  or  by  night.  Our 
Lady  is  so  good,  that  she  protects  all  that 
pass  by,  even  those  who  do  not  see  her,  or 
will  not  honor  her.”1 

The  pilgrimage  of  Maria-Zell,  in  Austria, 
hardly  yields  in  celebrity  to  that  of  Our 
Lady  of  Einsiedeln.  Its  founder,  whose 
name  is  lost,  was  a  religious  of  the  Abbey 
of  St.  Lambert,  who,  about  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century,  took  up  his  abode  in 
the  valley  of  Affleuz,  in  order  to  win  to  the 
faith  some  still  pagan  Carintliian  tribes. 
This  pious  German  missionary  brought 
with  him  a  little  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  carved  of  linden  wood,  which  he  ex¬ 
posed  to  the  veneration  of  his  neophytes 
on  the  fallen  trunk  of  an  aged  tree,  for 
want  of  better  pedestal.  The  Carinthian 
shepherds  sheltered  the  little  Madonna  as 
well  as  they  could  beneath  a  hut  like  that 
of  the  wood-cutters,  and  came  in  crowds  to 
pray  to  her  in  this  poor  shed,  where  their 
simple  petitions  were  often  granted  by  the 
powerful  Virgin. 

Such  was  the  humble  beginning  of  that 
famous  shrine,  of  which  the  pilgrims  in  our 
day  are  princes  and  emperors.  In  1220, 
Henry,  Margrave  of  Moravia,  and  his  wife, 
Agnes,  out  of  gratitude  for  a  wonderful 
cure  obtained  through  the  intercession  of 
Mary,  built  the  stone  chapel  seen  in  the 
midst  of  the  church  ;  its  altar  receiving  the 
image,  which  till  then  had  remained  on  the 
trunk  of  the  tree.  Louis  I.,  King  of  Hun¬ 
gary,  after  an  unexpected  victory  over  the 


( 1 )  See  L.  Veuillot,  Voyage  en  Suisse,  1839. 


368 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


Turks,  built  the  church  which  encloses  the 
chapel.  The  Mussulmans  came  to  Maria- 
Zell  in  1530,  but  at  the  moment  when  their 
chief  directed  the  point  of  his  lance  against 
the  miraculous  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  he  was  seized  with  blindness,  and  his 
panic-struck  soldiers  fled.  The  Emperors 
Matthias,  Ferdinand  II.,  Ferdinand  III., 
and  Leopold  I.,  made  pilgrimages  to  Maria- 
Zell.  Maria  Teresa  made  her  first  com¬ 
munion  there  in  1728  ;  the  Emperor  Fran¬ 
cis  went  there  himself  in  1814  ;  and  the 
present  emperor,  who  is  no  less  devout  to 
Mary  than  his  great  ancestors,  has  just  per¬ 
formed  this  pilgrimage  with  the  empress 
and  part  of  his  court ;  a  magnificent  offer¬ 
ing  in  precious  stones  marks  the  munifi¬ 
cence  of  the  two  illustrious  pilgrims,  who 
came  to  implore  the  support  of  the  Queen 
of  heaven  to  govern  their  people  wisely 
and  paternally,  as  did  their  glorious  and 
Catholic  predecessors. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Illyrian  sea,  three 
hundred  and  lift}"  fathoms  above  its  level, 
rises  a  mountain  which  bears  the  name  of 
Monte  Santo ;  on  the  top  of  this  mountain 
is  a  Franciscan  convent,  where  people  ven¬ 
erate  the  miraculous  image  of  St.  Mary  of 
Castagnavizza ;  King  Charles  X.,  a  benefi¬ 
cent  prince  and  a  pious  monarch,  reposes 
there  under  the  guardianship  of  the  hea¬ 
venly  protectress  of  France ;  some  day, 
perhaps,  when  stormy  passions  are  stilled, 
six  feet  of  French  earth  may  be  granted  to 
the  descendant  of  St.  Louis,  Henry  IV., 
and  Louis  XIV. 

In  the  palatinate  of  Kalisch,  in  Poland, 
there  is  a  small  town  seated  on  a  height, 
in  a  very  strong  position,  the  modern  for¬ 


tifications  of  which  were  extolled  by  a 
traveller  who  passed  through  that  kingdom 
about  the  year  1750.  The  town,  always 
guarded  by  a  force  of  artillery,  is  Czen- 
stochowa,  much  more  famed  for  its  abbey 
of  Fathers  of  Death,  or  religious  of  the 
Congregation  of  St.  Paul,  which  contained 
a  miraculous  picture  of  Mary,  than  for 
anything  else  ;  Poles  and  foreigners  flocked 
to  this  sanctuary,  where  every  rich  pilgrim 
left  magnificent  offerings.  Besides  the  pic¬ 
ture  of  the  Madonna,  which  the  religious 
affirmed  to  be  the  real  portrait  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  painted  by  St.  Luke,  a 
rather  bold  opinion,  they  used  to  exhibit 
to  the  veneration  of  the  faithful  a  relic  less 
disputed  ;  the  table  at  which  the  Holy 
Family  took  their  meals.  Polish  sentinels 
of  honor  were  placed  at  the  gates  of  the 
sanctuary  of  Our  Lady  of  Czenstochowa, 
and  at  different  parts  of  the  convent ;  fresh 
blown  flowers  were  laid  every  morning  at 
the  feet  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  but  all  the 
sweet  and  simple  grace  of  the  veneration 
of  Mary  could  not  banish  from  this  chapel 
a  religious  horror,  which  chilled  one  to  the 
very  heart.  The  catacombs,  with  their  lu¬ 
gubrious  accompaniments  of  human  bones, 
were  hardly  more  frightful  than  those  spec¬ 
trelike  religious,  who  wore  upon  their  black 
habits  skulls  and  cross  bones,  such  as  we 
see  on  mortuary  palls,1  and  who  had  skulls 
painted  in  a  hundred  places  in  their  church. 
This  devotion  to  Our  Lady  of  Czenstocho¬ 
wa  has  been  transplanted  into  France  by 
the  Poles  in  our  days.  A  pious  Polish 
family,  residing  near  Paris,  moved  by  a 


( 1 )  Histoire  des  Ordres  Monastiques,  t.  iii.,  c.  44. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


369 


feeling  akin  to  that  which  led  Hector’s 
widow  to  give  the  renowned  name  of  the 
Simois  to  an  obscure  rivulet  in  Epirus, 
conceived  the  truly  touching  idea  of  in¬ 
augurating  the  image  of  the  tutelary  Ma¬ 
donna  of  Poland  in  an  aged  oak  of  the 
forest  of  St.  G-ermain.  On  the  13th  of 
August,  1840,  a  Polish  priest,  in  presence 
of  a  numerous  attendance  of  Poles  of  both 
sexes,  dedicated  the  holy  image  in  the  fine 
tree,  which  had  been  chosen  for  a  temple 
no  doubt  for  want  of  money  to  build  one  ; 
then  the  whole  assembly,  kneeling  on  the 
grass,  began  to  recite,  with  voices  full  of 
emotion  and  with  tears,  the  litany  of  the 
Blessed  Yirgin  ;  then  they  prayed  for  the 
dead,  for  their  distant  country ;  they  im¬ 
plored  of  Heaven  more  prosperous  days, 
and  retired  after  reviving  their  courage 
with  that  sentiment  of  religion  which  en¬ 
ables  us  to  bear  so  much. 

Belgium  has  ever  been  distinguished 
among  all  the  countries  of  Europe  for  its 
tender  devotion  to  Mary ;  of  the  numerous 
places  of  pilgrimage  which  she  has  pos¬ 
sessed  and  still  possesses,  we  will  only 
refer  to  that  of  Our  Lady  of  Hal,  of  which 
Justus  Lipsius,  one  of  the  most  distin¬ 
guished  scholars  of  the  seventeenth  cen¬ 
tury,  has  left  us  an  interesting  description. 

Our  Lady  of  Hal,  situated  in  a  beauti¬ 
ful  town,  surrounded  by  a  pleasant  and 
fertile  country  watered  by  the  Senne,  is 
considered  a  charming  church  even  in  that 
Catholic  land  of  ancient  Netherland,  where 
the  churches  are  magnificent.  The  chapel 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  is  seen  on  the  left. 
The  statue  is  of  wood,  gilt,  and  has  a  crown 
of  fine  gold.  With  one  hand  the  Blessed 

t 


Yirgin  supports  her  Divine  Son,  and  with 
the  other  she  holds  out  a  lily,  that  charm¬ 
ing  flower,  the  emblem  of  chastity,  which 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Pyrenees  poetically 
call  Andredana  Maria  arrosa  (the  rose  of 
the  Yirgin  Mary).  She  formerly  wore  on 
her  breast  six  large  pearls,  with  a  fine  ruby 
in  the  centre.  Twelve  cities,  or  towns, 
which  had  experienced  the  effects  of  her 
protection,  provided  her  dress.  Annually, 
on  the  first  Sunday  of  September,  their 
deputies  brought  her  twelve  magnificent 
robes,  in  testimony  of  gratitude  and  devo¬ 
tion.  On  that  day,  a  solemn  procession 
took  place,  in  which  the  image  was  carried  in 
triumph  by  the  deputies  of  the  twelve  towns, 
through  the  city  of  Hal  and  its  suburbs. 
The  people  of  Liege  are  also  accustomed 
to  come  thither  every  year  in  procession, 
on  Whitsunday.1 

Several  princes  have  contributed  to  en¬ 
rich  this  sanctuary.  On  the  altar,  accord¬ 
ing  to  Justus  Lipsius,  were  the  twelve 
apostles,  and  at  the  ends,  angels  with 
torches,  all  of  silver.  No  altar  exhibited 
so  great  n  number  of  lamps,  coats-of-arms, 
standards,  crosses,  chalices,  and  different 
figures  in  gold  and  silver.  Philip  the 
G-ood,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  had  given  to  it, 
among  other  rich  presents,  a  second  statue 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  with  a  silver  knight 
and  soldier,  both  in  complete  armor  ;  his 
son  Charles  gave  a  silver  falcon  ;  the  Em¬ 
peror  Maximilian  enriched  this  sanctuary 
with  a  tree  of  gold  ;  Charles  Y.  with  a 
coat-of-arms  ;  Pope  Julius  II.  with  a  silver 


( 1 )  Diva  Virgo  Hallensis  ;  Millot,  Histoire  deg 
Troubadours,  t.  i.,  p.  467. 


47  * 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


370 


lamp.  On  the  right  were  seen  the  statues 
of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  of  Albert, 
Duke  of  Saxony,  and  of  one  of  their  cour¬ 
tiers  on  his  knees.  Above  their  heads 
were  suspended  flags  which  conquerors  had 
offered  to  Mary.  There  was  also  to  be 
seen  a  monstrance  of  silver-gilt,  of  con¬ 
siderable  weight,  given  by  Henry  VIII., 
King  of  England.  Justus  Lipsius  himself, 
not  satisfied  with  having  carefully  written 
the  history  of  Our  Lady  of  Hal,  hung  up 
his  silver  pen  before  the  image  of  Mary. 

Next  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  St. 
Peter’s  at  Eome,  there  is  not  in  all  Chris¬ 
tendom  a  more  famous  pilgrimage  than 
that  of  “La  Santissima  Casa  di  Loretto.” 
The  holy  house  of  Nazareth  was  venerated 
by  the  Christians  even  in  the  lifetime  of 
the  apostles,  and  St.  Helen  enclosed  it  in  a 
temple  which  received  the  name  of  St. 
Mary.  Under  the  rule  of  the  Arab 
caliphs,  a  crowd  of  French  pilgrims  came 
to  adore  God  and  honor  his  Mother  in  this 
poor,  simple  dwelling,  where  Jesus  and 
Mary  had  so  long  led  a  laborious  and  hid¬ 
den  life  ;  but  when  the  Sedjukide  Turks 
had  subdued  their  old  masters,  the  pilgrims 
of  Europe,  who  ventured  into  Syria  to  visit 
Jerusalem  and  Nazareth,  suffered  barbar¬ 
ous  treatment,  the  recital  of  which,  rousing 
with  wrath  the  whole  West,  hurled  it  upon 
Asia. 

When  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  had  been  pro¬ 
claimed  King  of  Jerusalem,  Tancred,  whose 
lofty  deeds  have  been  sung  by  Tasso,  was 
appointed  Governor  of  Galilee  ;  this  prince, 
who  was  very  devout  to  Mary,  proved  it 
by  the  sumptuous  offerings  with  which  he 
enriched  the  church  of  Nazareth. 


After  the  disastrous  expedition  of  St. 
Louis,  that  corner  of  the  earth,  which  was 
regarded  as  the  cradle  of  Christianity,  was 
defended  foot  by  foot  by  the  brave  Knights 
Templars,  who  shed  tears  of  rage  and  blood 
at  the  sight  of  the  holy  places  profaned  by 
Saracens. 

Galilee,  whitened  with  the  bones  of  the 
Latin  warriors,  became  Mahometan ;  “  God 
was  not  pleased,”  says  Father  Torsellini,1 
“  that  the  holy  house  of  Mary  should  re¬ 
main  exposed  to  the  profanations  of  bar¬ 
barians  ;  he  transported  it  by  the  hands  of 
angels  into  Slavonia,  and  thence  to  the 
March  of  Ancona,  in  the  midst  of  a  laurel 
wood  belonging  to  a  pious  and  noble  widow 
named  Lauretta.”  “The  report  goes,”  he 
adds,  “that  on  the  arrival  of  the  holy 
house,  the  great  trees  of  the  Italian  forest 
bowed  down  in  token  of  respect,  and  re¬ 
tained  that  position  till  the  axe,  or  old  age, 
had  levelled  them  with  the  ground.” 

The  church  of  Loretto,  one  of  the  finest 
in  Italy,  has  been  affectionately  adorned, 
by  the  popes,  who  have  often  come  thither 
on  a  pilgrimage  like  the  common  faithful ; 
three  gates  of  chased  bronze  give  entrance 
into  the  holy  temple,  in  the  centre  of  which 
stands  the  Santa  Casa  in  its  covering  of 
white  marble,  adorned  with  magnificent 
bas-reliefs,  designed  by  Bramante,  and 
executed  by  Sansovino,  Sangallo,  and  Ban- 
din  elli. 

The  miraculous  statue  of  the  Madonna  is 
thirty-three  inches  high  ;  it  is  carved  out  of 
cedar-wood,  covered  with  magnificent  drap¬ 
ery  and  placed  on  an  altar  glittering  with 


( 1 )  Historia  Lauretana,  c.  ii.,  p.  6. 

* 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY.  C't  ] 

precious  stones.1  The  niche  which  it  oc- 

Loretto  was  the  ex-voto  with  which  a  cele- 

cupies  is  said  to  be  covered  with  plates  of 

brated  Florentine  composer  of  the  early 

gold.2  Before  it  burn  a  number  of  solid 

years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  repaid  a 

silver  lamps. 

miracle  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This  com- 

La  sala  del  tesoro  no  longer  displays 

poser,  whose  name  was  Barroni,  suddenly, 

wealth  enough  to  ransom  all  Italy ;  but  it 

like  Beethoven,  lost  his  hearing  ;  after  in 

has  received,  even  in  our  days,  very  mag- 

vain  exhausting  the  succor  of  art,  he  in- 

nificent  gifts  of  princes  and  popes.  ’Among 

voked  that  of  Mary,  and  set  out  on  a  pil- 

these  pious  gifts  we  may  mention  a  gold 

grimage  to  Our  Lady  of  Loretto.  There 

%  monstrance,  set  with  diamonds,  a  chalice, 

he  was  cured,  after  praying  with  faith,  and 

and  a  censer  offered  by  the  Emperor  Na- 

in  his  gratitude  to  the  Holy  Madonna,  he 

poleon  to  the  Madonna  ;  a  silver  gilt  chalice, 

composed,  by  inspiration,  in  her  praise,  a 

set  with  rubies  and  aqua  marinas,  offered, 

chorus,  which,  under  the  title  of  “  Litanie 

in  1819,  by  Prince  Eugene  Beauharnais  ; 

della  Santa  Casa,”  was  performed  for  the 

another  chalice,  adorned  with  brilliants,  by 

first  time  on  the  15th  of  August,  1881. 

his  wife,  a  Princess  of  Bavaria  ;  a  large 

This  litany  was  repeated  every  year  after- 

gold  and  diamond  cross,  and  a  crown  of 

ward  for  the  feast  of  the  Madonna ;  Ros- 

amethysts,  rubies,  and  diamonds,  offered 

sini,  happening  to  pass  by  Our  Lady  of 

by  the  King  and  Queen  of  Spain,  at  their 

Loretto,  was  struck  with  the  charm  of  this 

pilgrimage  to  Loretto,  in  1816  ;  a  bouquet 

composition,  and  introduced  it,  we  are  told, 

of  diamonds  offered,  in  1815,  by  Maria 

into  his  Tancredi.3 

- 

Louisa,  sister  of  the  King  of  Spain,  Queen 

The  popes  have  delighted  to  testify  their 

of  Etruria,  and  Duchess  of  Lucca ;  an 

respect  for  Mary,  by  making  her  miracu- 

immense  heart  of  very  fine  gold,  with  a 

lous  sanctuary  of  Loretto  the  object  of  their 

precious  stone  in  the  centre,  suspended 

devout  solicitude.  Pope  St.  Pius  V.  offered 

from  a  chain  of  emeralds  and  amethysts, 

to  the  Santa  Casa  two  silver  statues  of  St. 

the  gift  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  to  the 

Peter  and  St.  Paul ;  he  did  still  more  by 

Madonna.  It  would  be  impossible  to  en- 

diverting  from  its  natural  channel  a  river, 

umerate  the  precious  stones  and  rich  pre- 

whose  sluggish  and  generally  stagnant  wa- 

sents  of  all  kinds  offered  by  princes  and 

ters  sent  up  the  most  unwholesome  exha- 

kings,  under  the  simple  title  of  dono  di 

lations  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  a  small 

una  pia  persona,  in  the  register  containing 

town  has  been  formed,  under  the  shadow 

the  names  of  benefactors  to  the  Santa 

of  the  magnificent  church  of  Mary.  Gre- 

Casa. 

gory  XIII.  founded  a  college  for  young 

- 

The  beautiful  litany  of  Our  Lady  of 

Illyrians,  in  the  actual  enclosure  of  Loretto, 

(')  “  The  altar  of  the  Madonna  glitters  with 

( 3 )  “-La  vaga  nicchia  e  ricoferta  di  lame  d’oro.’’ 

gold  and  precious  stones.” — (Italy,  by  Lady  Mor- 

— (Don  Vincenzo  Murri,  Storia  della  Santa  Casa.) 

gan,  t.  iii.,  c.  25.) 

( 3 )  Gazette  Musicale. 

HISTORY  OP  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


372 


as  if  to  console  the  Dalmatians  for  the  loss 
of  the  Madonna,  who  only  stopped  a  mo¬ 
ment  with  them,  the  better  to  take  her 
flight  to  the  fair  shores  of  Italy.  Sixtus  V. 
founded  the  order  of  Knights  of  Loretto, 
specially  devoted  to  defend  the  shores  of 
the  Italian  Mediterranean  against  the  in¬ 
cursions  of  barbarians.  Benedict  XIV. 
embellished,  with  truly  persevering  gen¬ 
erosity,  this  sanctuary,  where  Pius  VII., 
after  recovering  his  liberty,  went  to  kneel 
before  he  entered  Rome,  and  where  he  left, 
as  a  memorial  of  his  visit,  a  superb  gold 
chalice,  with  this  inscription:  “Pius  VII., 
sovereign  pontiff,  restored  to  liberty  on  the 
day  of  Annunciation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  and  coming  from  France  to  Rome, 
left  at  Loretto  this  monument  of  his  devo¬ 
tion  and  gratitude.”  His  holiness  Gregory 
XVI.  also  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Loretto. 

Spain  has  dedicated  to  devotion  to  Mary 
Mount  Montserrat,  an  isolated  mountain, 
ten  leagues  from  Barcelona,  which  was, 
according  to  the  celebrated  naturalist  Hum¬ 
boldt,  the  great  Atlas  of  the  ancients,  at 
the  foot  of  which  the  fine  kingdom  of  Va¬ 
lencia  displayed  the  golden  apples  of  the 
garden  of  the  Hesperides.  This  mountain, 
which  owed  its  name  of  Monte  Serrato 
(sawed  mountain)  to  its  extraordinary 
form,  seems  as  if  composed  of  proportioned 
pieces,  which  makes  it  look  as  if  divided 
and  covered  with  pyramids,  or  pine  cones ; 
so  that  it  appears,  from  afar,  to  be  the 
work  of  men.  At  a  distance,  it  is  a  pile  of 
grottoes  and  Gothic  pyramids  ;  when  near, 
each  cone  appears  a  mountain  by  itself ; 
and  all  the  cones,  terminated  by  needles, 
or  points,  which  make  a  great  noise  when 


the  wind  blows,  form  an  enormous  mass  of 
about  five  leagues  in  circumference.  It  was 
probably  this  singular  confirmation  that  led 
to  the  invention  of  the  fable  of  the  giants, 
who  had  heaped  mountain  upon  mountain 
to  scale  the  heavens. 

On  a  platform  of  this  celebrated  moun¬ 
tain  has  been  built  the  superb  convent, 
dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  pilgrimages  of 
Christendom.  An  inscription,  of  the  year 
1239,  preserved  in  the  convent  above  a 
larger  picture  of  the  same  period,  thus  re¬ 
cords  the  foundation  of  this  fine  monastery : 
“In  the  year  808,  under  the  government 
of  the  Count  of  Barcelona,  Geoffrey  the 
Hairy,  three  young  shepherds  having  one 
night  seen  a  great  light  descend  from  the 
sky,  and  heard  melodious  music  in  the  air, 
informed  their  parents  of  it.  The  bailly 
and  the  Bishop  of  Manresa  having  hastened, 
with  all  this  people,  to  the  spot  which  they 
pointed  out,  saw  likewise  the  light  from 
heaven,  and  after  some  search,  discovered 
the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  They  de¬ 
sired  to  remove  it  to  Manresa  ;  but  having 
reached  the  place  where  the  monastery 
now  stands,  they  could  not  advance  any 
farther.  This  prodigy  induced  the  Count 
of  Barcelona  to  build  a  convent  of  women 
there,  for  which  he  obtained  nuns  from  the 
royal  Abbey  of  Las  Puellas  of  Barcelona  ; 
the  first  abbess  of  Our  Lady  of  Montserrat 
was  his  daughter  Richilda,  who  took  pos¬ 
session  of  it  about  the  year  895.  This 
community  of  nuns  subsisted  till  976,  when 
Borrell,  Count  of  Barcelona,  with  the  con¬ 
sent  of  the  pope,  placed  Benedictine  monks 
at  Montserrat.” 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


O  A 

O  I  O 


The  convent  of  Montserrat  is  a  grand 
and  noble  edifice,  situated  on  a  very  nar¬ 
row  ledge,  projecting  from  the  mountain, 
which  bears  the  name  of  St.  Mary’s  plat¬ 
form  ;  immense  rocks  project  above  it, 
which  seem  every  moment  ready  to  fall ; 
it  is  defended  by  the  steep  points  of  the 
mountain,  as  natural  fortifications,  and  on 
the  accessible  side  by  six  strong  towers. 
Besides  the  convent  and  the  church  of  Our 
Lady,  the  fortified  enclosure  contains  the 
house  of  entertainment  for  travellers,  the 
hospital,  and  infirmary.  The  church  of 
Our  Lady  of  Montserrat  has  only  a  nave, 
but  is  nevertheless  very  spacious ;  the 
choir .  stalls  are  of  very  remarkable  work¬ 
manship.  The  face  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
in  this  statue  is  almost  black,  like  those  of 
Toledo  and  G-uadaloupe,  and  many  others 
visited  in  Spain  ;  she  is  represented  at  full 
length,  of  an  already  advanced  age  ;  though 
very  brown,  the  face  is  graceful :  she  is 
seated  on  a  throne-like  chair,  and  holds  in 
her  right  hand  a  globe,  from  which  springs 
a  fleur-de-lis,  while  she  supports  with  the 
other  hand  the  Infant  Jesus,  seated  on  her 
lap,  giving  a  blessing  with  his  right  hand, 
and  holding  in  the  other  a  globe,  sur¬ 
mounted  by  a  cross. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  mountain,  divided 
into  four  classes,  namely,  monks,  hermits, 
choristers,  and  lay  brothers,  succeed  each 

(  )  Ihe  following  poem  by  the  eminent  Irish 
poet,  Father  Francis  Mahony,  is  based  on  this 
incident : 

DON  IGNACIO  LOYOLA’S  VIGIL 

IN'  THE  CHAPEL  OF  MONTSERRAT. 

When  at  thy  shrine,  most  holy  Maid ! 

The  Spaniard  hung  his  votive  blade, 


other  uninterruptedly  in  their  prayers. 
Such  is  the  arrangement  of  the  places,  that 
from  several  of  the  hermitages  the  chanting 
of  the  monastery  is  heard,  and  the  sound 
of  the  bells  of  the  different  hermits,  re¬ 
peated  by  the  echoes,  answers  back  from 
the  turnings  and  rugged  points  of  the  moun¬ 
tain.  From  the  summit  of  Montserrat,  the 
kingdoms  of  Valentia  and  Murcia  are  seen, 
and  even  as  far  as  the  Balearic  Isles,  giving 
one  of  the  finest  prospects  in  the  world. 

Princes  and  kings  of  Spain  often  climbed 
afoot  the  steep  path  which  leads  to  the  altar 
of  Mary,  and  numberless  captives  have 
come  hither  to  hang  up  the  chains  which 
they  had  worn  among  the  Moors.  Saint 
Ignatius  of  Loyola,  before  he  devoted  his 
life  to  religion,  came  thither  to  watch  his* 
arms,  according  to  the  usages  and  customs 
of  that  old  chivalry,  of  which  his  head  was 
then  full.  After  passing  the  night  in  prayer, 
and  solemnly  dedicating  himself  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  as  her  knight,  according 
to  the  warlike  ideas  which  possessed  his 
mind,  and  under  which  he  conceived  the 
things  of  God,  says  Father  Bouhours,  his 
historian,  he  hung  up  his  sword  on  a  pillar 
near  the  altar  ;  as  a  sign  that  he  renounced 
secular  warfare  ;  and  then,  after  commu¬ 
nicating  early  in  the  morning,  he  left  Mont¬ 
serrat.1 

Our  Lady  del  Pilar,  at  Saragossa,  is  one 

* 

And  bared  his  helme'd  brow — 

Not  that  be  feared  war’s  visage  grim, 

Or  that  the  battle-field  for  him 
Had  aught  to  dauut,  I  trow ; 

“Glory!”  he  cried,  “with  thee  I’ve  done! 

Fame!  thy  bright  theatres  I  shun, 

To  tread  fresh  pathways  now : 


374 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


of  the  oldest  and  most  magnificent  pilgrim¬ 
ages  in  Spain.  King  Ferdinand  repaired 
thither  with  Queen  Christina  a  short  time 
before  his  death,  and  both,  after  pray¬ 
ing  very  devoutly,  like  Catholic  mon- 
archs,  as  they  were,  before  the  venerable 
image  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  of  Saragossa, 
left  her,  on  departing,  proofs  of  their  muni¬ 
ficence. 

The  cathedral,  dedicated  to  Mary,  is  a 
grand  edifice,  five  hundred  feet  long,  with 
three  spacious  naves  and  a  host  of  chapels. 
Modern  travellers  extol  its  chapels  of  mar¬ 
ble  and  jasper,  their  walls  hung  with  votive 
offerings  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones  ; 
its  silver  lamps  throw  so  bright  a  light  on 
walls  covered  with  brilliant  and  precious 
ornaments,  as  to  surround  the  statue  with 
such  a  dazzling  glory,  that  it  completely 
vanishes  amid  this  mirage  produced  by  the 
light,  the  flash  of  gold,  and  the  sparkle  of 
the  rubies  and  diamonds.  The  attire  of 
the  Yirgin,  placed  in  a  standing  posture  on 
a  pillar  of  jasper,  about  three  feet  high, 
was  valued  then  at  several  millions. 

A  still  very  famous  pilgrimage  in  Spain, 
is  that  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe.  Father 
Mariana  assures  us  that  this  image,  which 


To  track  thy  footsteps,  Saviour  God, 

With  throbbing  heart,  with  feet  unshod : 

Hear  and  record  my  vow. 

“  Yes,  thou  shalt  reign  !  Chained  to  thy  throne 
The  mind  of  man  thy  sway  shall  own 
And  to  its  conqueror  bow. 

Genius  his  lyre  to  thee  shall  lift 
And  intellect  its  choicest  gift. 

Proudly  on  thee  bestow.” 

Straight  on  the  marble  floor  he  knelt, 


was  famous  as  early  as  the  fourth  century, 
was  sent  by  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  to 
St.  Leander,  Bishop  of  Seville.  Then  king 
Don  Alphonso,  in  1340,  endowed  this  sanc¬ 
tuary,  which  he  annexed  to  his  own  private 
domain.  Forty-nine  years  after,  Don  John 
I.  gave  it  to  certain  Hieronymite  monks, 
adding  to  it  the  lordship  of  a  large  town, 
which  had  grown  up  near  it.  The  convent, 
which  took  the  name  of  Santa  Maria,  is 
situated  in  the  midst  of  the  present  city ; 
and,  as  the  times  when  it  was  founded  were 
very  insecure,  it  has  more  the  appearance 
.of  a  superb  citadel,  than  of  a  peaceful 
monastery.  There  is  an  infirmary  for  sick 
poor,  a  house  of  entertainment  for  stran¬ 
gers,  two  colleges,  and  fine  cloisters. 

In  1389,  the  celebrated  Spanish  archi¬ 
tect,  John  Alphonso,  began  the  church, 
which  has  three  naves,  and  the  walls  of 
which  are  ornamented  with  magnificent  ex 
votos,  attesting,  as  the  Spaniards  say, 
more  than  three  thousand  authentic  mira¬ 
cles  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin.  The  image  of 
the  Blessed  Yirgin  is  upon  the  high  altar, 
which  but  a  few  years  ago  was  lighted  by 
more  than  a  hundred  solid  silver  lamps. 
She  is  clothed  in  a  white  robe,  and  holds 


And  in  his  breast  exulting  felt 
A  vivid  furnace  glow ; 

Forth  to  his  task  the  giant  sped. 
Earth  shook  abroad  beneath  his  tread, 
And  idols  were  laid  low. 

India  repaired  half  Europe’s  loss ; 

O’er  a  new  hemisphere  the  Cross 
Shone  in  the  azure  sky ; 

And  from  the  Isles  of  far  Japan 
To  the  broad  Andes,  won  o’er  man 
A  bloodless  victory  !  • 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 


r)  r-  - 

o  l  o 


(Ik:  Divine  Infant  in  her  arms.  Queen 
Dona  Maria,  wife  of  Don  John  II.,  his  son, 
Don  Henrique,  and  some  other  princes, 
chose  as  their  burial  place  this  church, 
which  is  decorated  with  excellent  paintings 
by  Zurbaran  and  Jordan. 

The  worship  of  Our  Lady  de  la  Gfuada- 
lupe  crossed  the  ocean,  and  was  established 
by  miracles  in  Mexico,  a  country  totally 
devoted  to  the  Mother  of  G-od.  An  ac¬ 
count  printed  at  Rome  in  1786  relates  that 
a  converted  Indian,  who  went  every  Satur¬ 
day  to  Mexico,  situated  eight  miles  from 
his  village,  in  order  to  hear  mass  in  honor 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  had  a  miraculous 
apparition  upon  a  hill  formerly  in  great 
renown  among  the  Mexican  idolaters,  who 
called  it  Tepijacac,  and  had  consecrated  it 
to  Tonantim,  the  mother  of  the  gods.  One 
Saturday,  the  9th  of  December,  in  the  year 
1631,  the  pious  Diego,  passing  by  the  foot 
of  this  hill,  heard  a  sweet  harmony,  which 
he  took  at  first  for  the  singing  of  birds,  but 
which,  after  listening  more  attentively,  he 
could  ascribe  only  to  angels.  Over  Tepi¬ 
jacac  hung  an  iridescent  cloud,  on  which 
the  most  brilliant  colors  went  and  came  : 
and  from  it  issued  a  sweet  voice,  calling 
the  pious  Mexican  by  name.  Full  of  as¬ 
tonishment,  and  quite  unable  to  account  for 
so  marvellous  an  adventure,  Diego  climbed 
the  hill,  on  the  top  of  which  he  perceived 
a  woman  of  most  majestic  beauty ;  floods 
of  light  streamed  from  her  white  garments, 
which  reflected  on  the  surrounding  rocks, 
seemed  to  transform  them  into  precious 
stones.  The  Blessed  Virgin,  for  she  it  was, 
told  Diego  that  it  was  her  pleasure  that 
there  should  be  built  a  temple  in  her  honor 


upon  this  hill,  under  the  name  of  Our  Lady 
de  Gfuadalupe,  and  enjoined  him  to  inform 
Juan  de  Zumarraga,  at  that  time  Bishop 
of  Mexico.  The  prelate  heard  this  recital 
in  silence,  and  dismissed  the  Mexican, 
telling  him  that  he  must  have  a  positive 
guarantee  for  the  truth  of  his  words,  and 
a  more  assured  sign  of  the  will  of  Heaven. 
Informed  by  her  messenger  of  the  failure 
of  his  commission,  the  Blessed  Virgin  or¬ 
dered  him  to  go  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill, 
and  gather  there  a  bunch  of  flowers.  It 
was  not  the  season  for  flowers  ;  and  the 
top  of  that  rock  had  never  produced  any¬ 
thing  but  briers  and  thorns  ;  but  Diego 
obeyed  nevertheless,  without  demur,  and 
his  faith  was  rewarded ;  for  he  soon  saw 
himself  in  the  midst  of  the  most  fragrant 
and  splendid  flowers.  He  made  a  bouquet 
of  them,  which  Mary  ordered  him  to  pre¬ 
sent  to  the  bishop.  “He  will  believe  this 
time,”  said  the  Blessed  Virgin,  with  a 
smile. 

Diego  hastened  to  the  episcopal  palace, 
where  the  scent  of  the  flowers  concealed 
under  his  cloak  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  bishop’s  officers  ;  they  obliged  Diego  to 
show  them,  and  wished  to  touch  them. 
Wonder  of  wonders!  the  flowers  are  im¬ 
pressed  upon  the  cloth  ;  they  are  no  longer 
any  more  than  painted  roses  and  lilies  ! 
The  bishop  appears,  and  Diego,  opening 
the  folds  of  his  dress,  perfumed  with  a 
heavenly  odor,  finds,  to  his  great  astonish¬ 
ment,  that  the  flowers,  as  they  became 
blended  together,  have  formed  a  delightful 
picture  of  Mary.  The  prelate,  after  bend¬ 
ing  profoundly,  took  off  the  cloak  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  Mexican,  and  exposed  it 


376 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


in  liis  chapel,  until  another  sanctuary  should 
be  raised  for  it,  which  they  hastened  to 
build,  in  the  place  designated  by  the 
Blessed  Yirgin.  When  the  edifice  was 
built,  the  picture  was  translated  thither, 
and  ever  since  has  wrought  a  number  of 
miracles,  and  become  the  most  celebrated 
Madonna  of  America. 

This  new  sanctuary  not  being  able  to 
contain  the  crowds  that  flocked  to  it,  about 
1695  they  began  to  think  of  building 
another.  The  Archbishop  of  Mexico, 
Francis  de  Aguiar  and  Seixas,  laid  the 
corner  stone.  This  is  the  splendid  church, 
admired  at  this  day  ;  half  a  million  of  dol¬ 
lars  was  expended  upon  it.  On  the  1st  of 
May,  1709,  the  holy  picture  was  translated 
thither,  and  placed  on  a  throne  of  silver, 
valued  at  $80,000. 

As  the  offerings  multiplied,  day  by  day, 
rich  altars  were  erected  of  beautiful  mar¬ 
ble  ;  the  treasury  was  enriched  with  costly 
vessels.  The  great  silver  gilt  lamp  weighs 
alone  more  than  six  hundred  and  twenty 
marks,  and  the  workmanship  surpasses  the 
material.  Around  the  sanctuary  runs  a 
large  balustrade  of  silver,  and  continues  to 
the  choir,  which,  according  to  the  custom 
of  Spain,  occupies  the  end  of  the  church. 
This  first  balustrade  is  protected  by  a  sec¬ 
ond  one  of  a  precious  wood,  ornamented 
with  countless  small  figures  in  silver,  of 
exquisite  workmanship.  A  viceroy  of 
Mexico,  Don  Antonio  Maria  Buccarelli, 
surrounded  the  picture  with  a  frame  of 
solid  gold,  and  enriched  the  altar  with 
twelve  gold  candlesticks.  In  1749,  a  chap¬ 
ter  was  founded  for  the  service  of  this  sanc¬ 
tuary.  Mexico  was  solemnly  dedicated  to 


Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe,  and  a  holiday  of 
obligation,  established  on  the  12th  of  De¬ 
cember,  under  the  rite  of  a  double  of  the 
first  class,  with  a  privileged  octave.  Bene¬ 
dict  XIY.  extended  this-  feast  to  all  the 
States  of  his  Catholic  majesty.  A  city 
sprung  up  around  this  sanctuary.  Guada¬ 
loupe  is  to  America  what  Loretto  is  to  Eu¬ 
rope.  The  image  represents  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Conception,  with  this  inscription, 
“  Non  facit  taliter  omni  nationi.1” 

Our  Lady  of  Lampadusa,  standing  like 
a  beacon,  between  Malta  and  Africa,  on  a 
small  desert  island,  but  on  which  the  lamp, 
kept  up  alternately  by  Christians  and  Mus¬ 
sulmans,  remained  perpetually  lighted  for 
centuries ;  Our  Lady  of  Monte  Nero, 
which  overlooks  Leghorn,  and  the  church 
of  which,  frequented  by  a  countless  crowd 
of  pilgrims  and  loaded  with  ex-votos,  over¬ 
looks  that  fair  Tuscan  sea,  where  the  young 
maidens  of  Italy  go,  on  the  eves  of  Our 
Lady’s  feasts,  to  fling  garlands  of  flowers, 
such  as  were  offered  of  yore  to  the  nymphs 
of  Amphytrite  ;  Our  Lady  of  Mercy,  near 
Savona,  in  the  valley  of  St.  Bernard,  the 
most  beautiful  sanctuary  which  the  piety 
of  the  Genoese  has  reared  on  its  shore  in 
honor  of  Mary  ;  Our  Lady  of  Consolation, 
at  Turin ;  of  Charme,  in  Maurienne  ;  of 
Albines,  near  Chambery  ;  of  Passaw, 
where  the  French  priests,  exiled  by  revo¬ 
lutionary  bayonets,  went  to  beg  to  behold 
their  country  once  again,  regretting  the 
streams  of  France,  on  the  banks  of  the  ma- 


0  The  Mexicans,  to  testify  their  respect  for  Our 
Lady  of  Guadaloupe,  gave  her  name  to  their  first 
steam  vessel. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  MART. 


377 


jestic  Danube,  the  king  of  the  rivers  of 
Germany. 

As  to  the  other  sanctuaries  of  Mary 
scattered  over  all  parts  of  the  world,  we 
refer  the  reader  to  the  following  historical 
calendar.  This  calendar,  published  during 
the  minority  of  Louis  XIY.,  includes  every 
place  of  pilgrimage  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin 
throughout  Christendom  ;  and  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  pious  foundations,  which  render  it 
very  precious  ;  it  is  moreover  a  very  scarce 
work,  no  longer  found  for  purchase.  It  is 


needless  to  say  that  things  have  changed, 
and  that  many  a  religious  edifice  conse¬ 
crated  to  the  Mother  of  God,  which  then 
flourished,  is  now  naught  but  a  mass  of 
ruins  j  not  in  vain  have  lime  and  revo¬ 
lution  marched  onward.  This  calendar, 
which  completes  our  work  on  the  pilgrim¬ 
ages,  is  given  with  no  other  guarantee  than 
the  authorities  cited  by  the  author  himself, 
with  its  dates  and  miracles,  such  as  it  stood 
for  centuries. 


48 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR 


OF 

FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN 

FOUNDATIONS  AND  DEDICATIONS  OF  CHURCHES  IN 
HONOR  OF  OUR  BLESSED  LADY. 


“Fecit  mihi  magua  qui  potens  eat.' 


1  - 


■ 

•  7 

.  ' 

• 

. 

'  -■ 

*  .  * 

' 

- 

a  .  r&irf. . '  AO'ii-O'r- 


■ 


t,;:;.-;;;',  v.i'AA-h  '  '■ 

>-  : ' 

■  * 

.  .  .  ,  ....  ...  *  .  ‘  :  -  '•  /  -  i  'V  •'  f  ■:  '/  I  h  t"!  ,  •  6  ■.  ■' 


i  ; . 


••  •  '  ; 


-- 


. 

...  ...  •  •  •  •  c 


r  “  }<  J«J  i  Mi  fa  .>i.  -m:  .  '  '  --M 

' 

, 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR 


OF 

FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN: 

FOUNDATIONS  AND  DEDICATIONS  OF  CHURCHES  IN 
HONOR  OF  OUR  BLESSED  LADY. 


JANUARY. 

1. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Annunciation,  at 
Florence,  by  Cardinal  William  d’Estouville,  in  the 
year  1452.  There  is  preserved  in  this  church,  a 
picture  of  the  Annunciation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
which  was  found  miraculously  finished  when  the 
painter,  who  had  sketched  it,  prepared  to  put  the 
finishing  strokes  to  it. — (Archangel;  Janius.) 

2. 

Foundation  of  the  Abbey  of  Dunes,  in  Flanders, 
in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  the  year  1128, 
by  Fulk,  a  Benedictine  monk. — (Chronicon  Ber- 
tiennse.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Sichem,  near  Louvain,  in  the  duchy 
of  Brabant.  It  is  said  that  four  drops  of  blood 
exuded  from  this  statue  in  the  year  1306. — (Justus 
Lipsius  in  his  History  of  Sichem,  ch.  v.) 

4. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Treves,  in  Germany, 
in  the  year  746,  by  Hydolph,  Archbishop  of  Treves. 
The  Princess  Genevieve,  wife  of  Syfrede,  Palatine 


of  Treves,  and  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Brabant, 
erected  this  church  in  a  wood,  on  the  very  spot 
where  Our  Lady  appeared  to  her,  and  assured  her 
that  her  innocence  should  one  day  be  acknowl¬ 
edged. — (Additions  to  Molanus,  De  sanctis  Bel- 
gicis.) 

5. 

On  this  day,  in  the  year  1606,  a  paralytic  man  is 
said  to  have  been  miraculously  cured  in  the  Church 
of  Our  Lady  of  Sichem,  in  Brabant.— (Justus  Lip¬ 
sius,  History  of  Sichem,  cap.  24. ) 

6. 

Our  Lady’s  presence  on  this  day,  at  the  marriage 
feast  of  Cana,  induced  her  Son,  aged  then  thirty 
years,  to  change  water  into  wine  :  this  was  his 
first  public  miracle. — (S.  Epiphanius,  Halves  51.) 

7. 

Return  of  Our  Lady,  with  Jesus  and  St.  Joseph, 
from  Egypt  into  Judea. — (Martyrologium  Roma¬ 
nian,  7  Jan.) 

8. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Commencement  at  Naples. 
This  chapel  was  built  by  St.  Helena,  and  conse- 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


382 


crated  by  St.  Sylvester,  in  the  year  320. — (Petrus 
Stephanus,  de  locis  sacris  Neapolitans.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  beyond  the  Tiber,  at  Rome.  This 
church  was  built  by  Calixtus  I.  in  the  year  224. — 
(Baronius  in  apparatu  ad  annales  et  in  Annales  ad 
Ann.  224.) 

10. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Guides,  at  Constantinople, 
where  one  of  the  distaffs  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
shown,  with  some  of  the  clothes  of  the  Infant 
Jesus,  which  St.  Pulcheria  bestowed  on  this  church. 
— (Nicephorus  Tractatus  3,  cap.  7. ) 

11. 

Our  Lady  of  Bessiere,  in  Limousin.  A  certain 
heretic,  who  had  derided  the  devotion  paid  to  this 
image,  saw  his  house  consumed,  without  being  able 
to  discover  whence  the  tire  originated. — (Triple 
Couronne,  1.  i.,  Trait.  2,  S.  10,  n.  6.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Broad  Street,  at  Borne,  situated 
on  the  very  spot  where  St.  Paul  remained  for  two 
years,  wearing  an  iron  chain,  where  he  preached 
the  Gospel  and  wrote  several  of  his  epistles. — 
(Triple  Couronne,  as  above,  n.  6.) 

13. 

Pius  V.  reformed  the  Little  Office  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  in  the  year  1571. — (Balinghem  on  the 
Calendar.) 

14. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Word,  near  Montserrat,  in 
Spain,  so  called  because  it  is  asserted  that  she 
restored  speech  to  a  dumb  man,  in  the  year  1514. 
— (Balinghem  on  the  Calendar.) 

15. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Portico,  at  Rome,  where  an 
image  is  seen  which  is  said  to  have  been  brought 
from  heaven  by  an  angel  to  Blessed  Galla,  widow 


of  the  consul  Symmachus. — (Ex  monumentis  S. 
Marise  in  Portico.) 

16. 

On  this  day  Our  Lady  of  Montserrat,  in  Spain, 
miraculously  delivered  several  captives  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Turks. — (Historia  Montiserr.) 

17. 

Our  Lady  of  Peace,  at  Rome.  In  the  year  1483, 
the  Duke  of  Calabria,  having  besieged  Rome,  to 
punish  Sixtus  IV.,  for  having  prevented  his  aiding 
the  Duke  of  Ferrara  against  the  Venetians,  this 
sovereign  pontiff  had  recourse  to  the  Queen  of 
heaven,  bound  himself  by  vow  to  build  a  church, 
under  the  title  of  Our  Lady  of  Peace,  if  it  should 
please  her  to  deliver  the  city  from  the  siege,  and 
to  restore  peace  to  Italy.  His  prayer  having  been 
heard,  he  fulfilled  his  vow,  by  commencing  a 
church,  which  was  finished  by  Innocent  VIII.,  his 
successor. — (Gabriel  Pennotus,  Historia  tripartita 
Canonicorum  Regularium,  lib.  iii.,  cap.  33,  §  2.) 

18. 

Our  Lady  of  Dijon,  in  Burgundy.  This  image, 
formerly  named  of  Good  Hope,  delivered  the  city 
from  the  fury  of  the  Swiss,  in  the  year  1513 ;  in 
thanksgiving  for  this  favor,  there  is  a  general  pro¬ 
cession  there  every  year. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  42.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  Gimont,  near  Toulouse.  This 
church  of  Citeaux  is  much  celebrated  in  the  coun¬ 
try  for  its  miracles. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  34.) 

20. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Tables,  at  Montpellier.  A 
very  ancient  and  renowned  church.  The  arms  of 
the  city  are  the  Blessed  Virgin  holding  her  divine 
Son  in  her  arms,  upon  a  bezant,  gules. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  38.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Consolation,  at  Rome,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Capitol.  This  Madonna  began  to  work  mira¬ 
cles  in  the  year  1471. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  43.) 


FEASTS  OF  THE 

BLESSED  VIRGIN.  383 

22. 

had  great  devotion  to  this  image,  on  account  of  a 

Betrothal  of  Our  Lady.  This  feast,  celebrated 

miracle  which  it  wrought  in  his  favor. — (Triple 

privately  in  France  many  years  ago  by  devout  per- 

Couronne,  n.  43.) 

eons,  was  approved  by  Pope  Paul  III.,  in  1546. — 
(Petr.  Auratus  Imago  Virtutis,  c.  10.) 

30. 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Rose,  at  Lucca,  in  Italy.  Three 
roses  were  found  in  the  montli  of  January,  in  the 

Betrothal  of  Our  Lady,  according  to  the  ritual 

arms  of  this  image,  according  to  a  Latin  chroni- 

of  Arras.  This  feast  began  to  be  celebrated  in  the 

cle. — (Caesar  Franciotte,  Historia  Lucensis.) 

year  1556. — (Monumenta  Ecclesise  Atrebatensis.) 

31. 

24. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  Blessed  Angela  de 

Our  Lady  of  Damascus.  From  this  picture, 

Foligno. — (See  her  Life.) 

which  is  painted  on  wood,  there  is  said  to  exude  a 
miraculous  oil  which  restored  sight,  in  the  year 
1203,  to  the  Sultan  of  Damascus,  and  Mahomme- 

r  •  4  *  -  ■ 

dan  as  he  was,  in  acknowledgment  of  this  benefit, 

FEBRUARY. 

he  founded  a  lamp  to  burn  perpetually  before  this 
picture. — (Spondanus,  Annals,  year  1203.) 

l. 

25. 

0 

Yigil  of  the  Purification  of  Our  Lady,  at  Paris. 

— (Locrius  on  the  Calendar.) 

Translation  of  the  winding-sheet  and  tomb  of 

2. 

Our  Lady  to  Constantinople,  by  Juvenal,  Bishop 

of  Jerusalem,  under  the  reign  of  Marcian,  in  the 

Candlemas  or  Purification  of  Our  Lady.  This 

year  455. — (Ferreolus  Locrius  in  Chronicon  ana- 

feast  was  instituted  in  the  year  544,  under  the 

cephal.) 

Emperor  Justinian,  on  occasion  of  the  plague 

26. 

which  ravaged  Constantinople,  where  there  often 
died  ten  thousand  persons  in  a  single  day.  In  the 

Our  Lady  of  Longchamps,  founded,  in  1261,  by 

year  701,  Pope  Sergius  added  to  this  feast  the 

Elizabeth,  sister  of  St.  Louis. — (Gallia  Christiana, 

ceremony  of  solemnly  blessing  candles. — (Baronius 

t.  iv.) 

Annals  ann.  544.) 

27.  ' 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Life,  at  Venasque,  in  Provence. 

Our  Lady  of  Seidaneida,  near  Damascus.  From 

The  chronicle  relates  that  this  image  has  often  re- 

this  picture,  which  was  painted  on  wood,  inex- 

stored  life  to  children  who  died  without  baptism, 

haustible  oil  exuded,  whatever  quantity  was  taken. 

in  order  that  they  might  receive  that  sacrament. — 

The  virtue  of  this  oil  was  so  great,  that  it  healed 

(Triple  Couronne,  n.  89.) 

even  the  infidels  themselves. — (Arnold,  Abbot  of 

28. 

Lubec  cited  by  Baronius,  ann.  870,  and  by  Spon¬ 
danus,  ann.  1203.) 

Our  Lady  of  Good  Succor,  near  Rouen.  This 
image  is  very  celebrated  in  the  country. — (Ex 

4. 

archivis  hujus  ecclesias.) 

Our  Lady  of  the  Pillar,  at  Saragossa,  in  Spain, 

29. 

so  called,  because,  according  to  the  tradition,  the 

Blessed  Virgin  appeared  to  St.  James  the  Great, 

Our  Lady  of  Ch&tillon  sur  Seine.  St.  Bernard 

upon  a  jasper  pillar,  in  the  year  36,  and  ordered 

384 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


him  to  build  a  church,  which  the  Spaniards  main¬ 
tain  to  have  been  the  first  dedicated  to  Our  Ladj. 
— (Beutereus,  lib.  i.  c.  et  3.) 

5. 

Dedication  of  the  first  temple  of  Our  Lady,  by 
St.  Peter,  at  Tripoli,  now  Tortosa. — (Canisius,  lib. 
v.  de  Beata  Virgine,  ch.  32.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  of  Louvain,  in  Belgium.  This  Vir¬ 
gin,  in  high  veneration  in  that  country,  began  to 
work  miracles  in  the  year  1444. — (Balingham  on 
the  Calendar.) 

7. 

Our  Lady  of  Grace,  in  the  Abbey  of  Saint-Sauve, 
at  Montreuil  sur  Mer. — (Chronieon  S.  Salvi.) 

8. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Lily,  near  Melnn.  This  abbey 
of  Cistercian  nuns,  was  founded  by  Queen  Blanche, 
mother  of  the  King  St.  Louis. — (Gallia  Christiana, 
t.  iv.) 

9. 

Octave  of  the  Purification  of  Our  Lady,  insti¬ 
tuted  in  the  Cathedral  of  Saintes,  on  account,  it  is 
said,  of  the  bells  having  been  heard  to  ring  most 
sweetly  of  themselves.  The  sacristans  having  run 
to  the  church,  saw  several  unknown  men  holding 
lighted  tapers  and  melodiously  chanting  hymns  in 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  is  venerated  in 
a  chapel  of  this  church  under  the  title  Of  Our 
Lady  of  Miracles,  and  approaching  softly,  they  be¬ 
sought  one  of  the  last  of  that  august  number  to 
give  them  his  taper,  in  proof  of  the  miracle.  This 
taper  is  religiously  preserved  in  that  church. — 
(Saussey,  Martyrologium  Gallicum,  Feb.  9.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Dove,  near  Bologna,  in  Italy, 
built,  it  is  said,  in  a  place  which  a  dove  designated, 
by  flying  round  and  round,  for  two  days,  about 
certain  masons  who  were  at  work,  and  to  whom  it 
seemed  to  mark  out  a  certain  site. — (Triple  Cou- 
ronne,  n.  107.) 


11. 

St.  Mary  of  Liques,  near  Calais.  This  monas¬ 
tery,  of  the  order  of  the  Premonstratensians,  was 
founded  in  the  year  1131,  by  Kobert,  Lord  of 
Liques. — (Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Argenteuil,  near  Paris,  built  by 
Clovis  I.,  in  the  year  101.  This  priory  preserves  a 
portion  of  the  seamless  garment  of  our  Lord. — 
(Thomas  Bosius,  lib.  ix.,  de  Signis,  ecclesise,  c.  9.) 

13. 

Our  Lady  du  Four  Chaud,  at  Bourges,  so  called 
because,  in  the  year  545,  a  Jew  is  said  to  have  shut 
up  his  son  in  a  hot  oven,  because  he  had  received 
baptism  and  communicated  on  Easter  Sunday ;  he 
was  taken  out  sound  and  whole,  through  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  Our  Lady.  A  church  was  built  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  memory  of  this  event. — (An- 
nales  de  France  sous  Childebert.) 

14. 

Our  Lady  of  Bourbourg,  in  Flanders.  It  is 
asserted  that  this  image  having  been  struck  by  a 
wicked  man,  in  the  year  1383,  the  sacrilegious 
wretch  fell  dead  on  the  spot. — (Bzovius,  ex  Ar¬ 
ch  ivis  ecclesise  Burburg.) 

15. 

Our  Lady  of  Paris,  first  built  by  King  Childe¬ 
bert,  in  the  year  522 ;  about  the  year  1257,  King 
St.  Louis  erected  a  larger  one  in  the  same  place,  on 
the  foundations  which  King  Philip  Augustus  had 
laid  in  the  year  1191. — (Du  Breuil,  Theatre  des 
antiquites  de  Paris,  lib.  i.) 

16. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Thom,  near  Chalons,  in  Cham¬ 
pagne,  so  named  because  this  image  was  found 
under  a  white-thorn. — (Triple  Couronne,n.  54.) 

17. 

Our  Lady  of  Constantinople,  formerly  the  syna¬ 
gogue  of  the  Jews,  which  was  converted  into  a 
church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  by  the  Emperor 
Justin  the  Younger,  in  the  year  566. — (Loerins.) 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


385 


18. 

Our  Lady  of  Laon,  erected  into  a  cathedral  and 
founded  by  St.  Eemigius,  Archbishop  of  Eheims, 
about  the  year  500,  where  he  consecrated,  as  its 
first  bishop,  St.  Genebaud,  his  nephew.  Miracles 
are  wrought  there  ;  and,  among  others,  we  read 
that  in  the  year  1395,  there  was  seen  on  the  steeple, 
the  picture  of  a  crucifix,  the  wounds  of  which 
bled. — (Thomas  Walsingham,  Hist,  of  England, 
under  King  Eichard  I.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  Good  Tidings,  near  Eouen,  where 
a  great  number  of  people  are  seen,  particularly  on 
Saturdays. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  52.) 

20. 

Our  Lady  of  Boulogne-sur-Mer.  A  statue  is 
seen  here  which  is  said  to  have  been  brought  in  a 
ship  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  in  the  year  633. 
Louis  XI.  gave  to  this  church  a  heart  of  solid  gold, 
weighing  two  thousand  crowns,  in  the  year  1479, 
and  he  decreed  that  all  the  kings  of  France,  his 
successors,  should  make  the  same  present  on  their 
attaining  the  crown. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  53.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Bon  Port,  at  Dol,  affording  succor 
to  mariners. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  51.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  of  Succor,  at  Eennes,  in  Brittany. — 
(Idem.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  Eoches,  near  Salamanca,  in  Spain. 
The  image  venerated  here  was  found  miraculously, 
in  the  year  434,  by  Simon  Vela,  who  then  erected 
a  church. — (Balingham  on  the  Calendar.) 

24. 

On  this  day,  in  the  year  591,  St.  Gregory  the 
Great  having  had  the  picture  of  Our  Lady,  which 
was  painted  by  St.  Luke,  carried  in  procession,  the 
plague  ceased  at  Eome.— (Idem.) 


25. 

Our  Lady  of  Victory,  at  Constantinople.  The 
city  was  delivered  from  the  siege  of  the  Saracens 
by  the  aid  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  the  year  621. 
— (Eereolus  Locrius.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  des  Champs,  at  Paris,  anciently  dedi¬ 
cated  to  Ceres.  St.  Denis,  after  exorcising  the  evil 
spirits,  consecrated  it  to  Our  Lady.  A  picture  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  is  still  to  be  seen  here,  on  a 
small  stone,  a  foot  square,  which  was  made  after 
that  which  St.  Denis  brought  to  France.  This 
house,  which  is  a  Benedictine  priory,  was  after¬ 
wards  occupied  by  the  Carmelites,  who  were  re¬ 
ceived  there  in  the  year  1604,  and  founded  by 
Catharine,  Princess  of  Longueville.  It  was  the 
first  occupied  by  those  nuns  in  France ;  Mother 
Anne  of  Jesus,  the  associate  of  St.  Teresa,  was  its 
first  superior. — (Du  Breuil,  Theatre  des  Antiquites, 
lib.  ii.) 

27. 

Our  Lady  of  Light,  near  Lisbon,  in  Portugal.  A 
light  was  seen  for  a  long  time  shining  in  this  place, 
without  any  one  being  able  to  discover  the  cause 
of  that  phenomenon,  when  Our  Lady,  appearing 
to  a  prisoner,  promised  him  liberty  on  condition 
of  his  erecting  a  church  in  her  honor  in  this 
place,  which  she  had  chosen. — (Antonius  Vas- 
concellius  in  Descriptione  regni  Lusitanise,  c.  7, 
§  5.) 

28. 

Institution  of  the  monastery  of  the  Annuncia¬ 
tion,  at  Bethune,  in  Artois,  by  Francis  de  Melun 
and  Louisa  de  Foix,  his  wife,  in  the  year  1519. — 
(Fereolus  Locrius.) 


MARCH. 

l.  ‘ 

Establishment  of  the  Feast '  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  Our  Lady,  by  Sixtus  IV.,  in  the 


49 


386 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


year  1476,  and  a  grant  of  indulgences  to  those 
who  attend  the  offices  of  the  church  or  Mass. — 
(T.  iv.  Conciliorum.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Apparitions,  at  Madrid,  so  called 
because  in  the  year  1499,  the  Blessed  Virgin  ap¬ 
peared  during  a  whole  week  to  a  young  woman 
named  Yves,  and  ordered  her  to  build  a  church  in 
her  honor,  on  the  spot  where  she  should  find  a 
cross  planted  to  Our  Lady. — (Life  of  Blessed 
Jane.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Longport,  in  Valois.  This  abbey, 
of  the  Cistercian  order,  was  founded  in  the  year 
1131,  by  Josselin,  Bishop  of  Soissons. — (Gallia 
Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  de  la  Garde,  in  Arragon,  so  called  for 
having  preserved  from  death  a  child  who  had 
fallen  into  a  well,  in  the  year  1221. — (Bzovius, 
year  1221.) 

5. 

Our  Lady  of  Good  Succor,  at  Nancy,  in  Lor¬ 
raine.  This  Madonna,  it  is  believed,  enabled  Bene, 
Duke  of  Lorraine,  to  gain  a  victory  over  Charles 
the  Bold,  the  last  Duke  of  Burgundy. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  55.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  of  Nazareth,  at  Black  Bock,  in  Por¬ 
tugal.  This  image  was  honored  at  Nazareth  in 
the  time  of  the  apostles,  if  we  may  believe  a  wri¬ 
ting  which  was  found,  by  a  hunter,  attached  to 
this  image,  in  the  year  1150. — (Triple  Couronne, 
n.  13.) 

7. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Star,  at  Villa  Viciosa,  in  Por¬ 
tugal,  so  called  from  a  star,  which  a  shepherd  saw 
shining  where  the  church  is  built. — (Triple  Cou¬ 
ronne,  n.  17.) 


8. 

Our  Lady  of  Virtues,  at  Lisbon,  in  Portugal. — • 
(Antonius  Vasconcellius  in  Descriptione  regni 
Lusitanise,  c.  7,  §  5.) 

9. 

Foundation  of  Savigny,  in  the  diocese  of  Avran- 
ches,  in  Normandy,  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  about  the  year  1112,  by  the  blessed  Vitalis, 
hermit,  who  was  its  first  abbot. — (Gallia  Christi, 
t.  iv.) 

10. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Vine,  near  Viterbo,  in  Tus¬ 
cany,  a  fine  church,  occupied  at  present  by  Do¬ 
minicans. — (Bzovius,  ad  ann.,  1487.) 

11. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Forests,  at  Porto,  in  Portugal. 
This  image  was  found  again  in  a  forest,  where  it 
had  been  hidden  by  Queen  Matilda,  wife  of  Al- 
phonsus  I. — (Joannes  Barrius,  lib.  de  Bebus  Inter- 
amnensibus,  c.  12.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Miracles,  in  the  cloister  of  St. 
Maur  des  Fosses,  near  Paris.  It  is  said  that  this 
image  was  found  made  when  the  sculptor,  named 
Bumold,  was  about  to  begin  it. — (Du  Breuil,  The¬ 
atre  des  Antiquites,  lib.  iv.) 

13.  ' 

Our  Lady  of  the  Empress,  at  Borne.  A  tradi¬ 
tion  records  that  this  image  spoke  to  St.  Gregory 
the  Great,  in  the  year  593. — (Antonius  Yepez,  ad 
ann.  84,  divi  Benedicti.) 

14. 

Our  Lady  de  la  Breche,  at  Chartres,  where  a 
procession  takes  place  every  year,  in  thanksgiving 
for  Our  Lady’s  having  delivered  the  city,  when  be¬ 
sieged  by  heretics,  in  the  year  1568.  It  was  during 
this  siege  that  not  a  cannon  or  musket  ball  fired 
by  the  besiegers  at  the  image  of  Our  Lady,  placed 
upon  the  Drouaise  gate,  struck  it,  although  the 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


387 


marks  of  them  are  still  seen  two  or  three  inches 
from  it. — (Sebastien  Rouillard,  Parthenie,  c.  3.) 

15. 

In  the  year  911,  the  city  of  Chartres  was  mira¬ 
culously  delivered  from  the  siege  laid  to  it  by  Rollo 
or  Raoul,  Duke  of  the  Normans  ;  for  as  he  was  on 
the  point  of  taking  the  city,  Gaucelin,  the  forty- 
seventh  Bishop  of  Chartres,  mounted  on  the  top 
of  the  ramparts,  holding  a  relic  of  Our  Lady  as  an 
ensign,  which  struck  such  terror  in  the  enemy’s 
camp,  that  all  retreated  in  disorder  ;  in  memory  of 
this  fact,  the  meadows  of  the  Drouaise  gate  are 
called,  to  this  day,  the  meadows  of  the  Repulsed 
(des  Recules). — (Sebastien  Rouillard,  Parthenie, 
c.  7,  n.  5.) 

16. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Fountain,  at  Constantinople, 
built  by  the  Emperor  Leo,  in  the  year  460,  in 
thanksgiving  for  the  apparition  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  to  _  him,  near  a  spring,  to  which  he  was 
charitably  leading  a  blind  man,  when  he  was 
merely  a  common  soldier,  and  the  fact  that  she 
foretold  that  he  would  be  emperor. — (Nicephorus, 
lib.  xv.,  c.  15.) 

17. 

In  the  year  1095,  under  Pope  Urban  II.,  a  coun¬ 
cil  was  held  at  Clermont,  in  Auvergne,  at  which 
the  Office  of  Our  Lady  was  instituted. — (Council 
of  Clermont.)  Foundation  of  the  Abbey  of  Bau- 
mont-les-Toure,  by  Ingestrude,  in  the  year  600. — 
(Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

18. 

In  the  year  1686,  Our  Lady  of  Loretto,  was 
erected  into  a  cathedral  by  Sixtus  V.,  having  been 
previously  a  collegiate  church. — (Tursellini,  Histo- 
ria  Lauretana,  v.  10.) 

19. 

The  Beautiful  Lady,  at  Nogent-sur-Seine.  It  is 
affirmed  that  it  is  impossible  to  remove  this  cele- 
i  rated  picture  from  its  little  chapel,  which  is  only 


four  or  five  feet  square. — (Ex  monumentis  Novi- 
gentenis.) 

20. 

Our  Lady  of  Calevoirt,  at  Uckelen,  near  Brussels. 
This  image  began  to  work  miracles  in  the  year 
1454,  which  induced  the  erection  of  a  magnificent 
chapel  in  honor  of  Our  Blessed  Lady,  in  the  year 
1623.  The  Infanta  of  Spain,  Isabella  Clara  Eu¬ 
genia,  devoutly  visited  it  the  same  year. — (Aub. 
Mirasus,  in  Annalis  Belgicis.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Bruges,  in  Flanders,  where  a  lock 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin’s  hair  is  exhibited,  given  by 
a  Syrian  bishop,  named  Moses. — (Hugo  Farcitus, 
lib.  i.,  Miracul.  B.  Virg.) 

22. 

On  Palm  Sunday,  in  the  year  1098,  St.  Robert, 
Abbot  of  Moleme,  retired  with  twenty-one  of  his 
monks  to  the  diocese  of  Chalons-sur-Saone,  where 
he  built,  in  honor  of  Our  Lady,  the  celebrated 
monastery  of  Citeaux,  the  head  house  of  the  order. 
— (Arnold  Vionus,  lib.  i. ;  Ligni  vitae,  c.  47.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  Victory.  This  image  bears  that 
name,  because  the  French  having  fortunately  taken 
it  from  the  hands  of  the  Greeks,  during  a  sangui¬ 
nary  engagement  with  them  near  Constantinople, 
in  the  year  1204,  they  gained  by  means  of  it  a 
complete  victory. — (Spondanus,  Annals  ann.  1204.) 

24. 

Eve  of  the  Annunciation  of  Our  Lady,  instituted 
by  Gregory  II.  On  this  day,  Our  Lady  kept  the 
Passover  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  49. 
— (Balingham,  Metaphrastes.) 

25. 

The  Annunciation  of  Our  Lady.  This  feast  was 
instituted  by  the  apostles,  and  is  the  most  ancient 
of  all. — (John  Bonifacius,  lib.  ii.,  Historia  Vir 
ginis,  c.  5.) 


388 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


26. 

Our  Lady  of  Soissons,  occupied  by  Benedictine 
nuns.  In  this  abbey  is  seen  one  of  the  shoes  of 
Our  Lady. — (Hugo  Farcitus.) 

27. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lord  to  Our  Lady  imme¬ 
diately  after  his  resurrection.  —  (Alphonsus  a 
Castro,  c.  17.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Castlebruedo,  at  Olian,  in  Cata¬ 
lonia.  It  is  related  that  every  year,  on  the  day  of 
the  Annunciation,  three  lights  were  seen  of  a  blue 
color,  which  shone  through  the  glass  windows  of 
this  church,  lighted  the  lamps  and  wax  candles, 
went  out  by  the  same  way,  and  immediately  dis¬ 
appeared. — (Ludo  Marinasus.  lib.  v.,  de  rebus  His- 
panicis,  c.  ultimo.) 

29. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  St.  Bonet,  Bishop  of 
Clermont,  in  Auvergne,  whom  she  ordered  to  say 
mass  one  night  when  he  had  remained  in  the 
church  to  pray.  The  saint  leaning  against  a  pillar, 
as  if  to  hide  himself,  the  stone  became  soft  and 
made  the  place  for  him,  which  is  seen  to  this  day. 
But  the  Blessed  Virgin  having  obliged  him  to 
officiate,  she  left  him,  when  mass  was  over,  the 
chasuble  which  had  been  brought  him  by  angels 
to  celebrate  in.  The  heavenly  present  is  still  to  be 
seen  at  Clermont,  where  it  is  preserved  with  great 
care. — (See  his  Life  in  Surius,  Jan.  15.) 

30. 

Restoration  of  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady,  at  Bou- 
logne-sur-mer,  by  Caude  Dormy,  bishop  of  that 
city. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  53.) 

31. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Holy  Cross,  at  Jerusalem, 
where  is  kept  a  part  of  Our  Lady’s  veil,  given  by 
St.  Helena. — (Onuuhrius,  lib.  vii..  Eccl.) 


APEIL. 

1. 

Octave  of  the  Annunciation  of  Our  Lady,  in  the 
Carmelite  order. — (Balingham  on  Calend.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  the  Great,  at  Poitiers,  where  is  shown 
an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  whose  hands 
the  keys  of  the  city  were  found  miraculously  while 
the  mayor’s  servant  was  looking  everywhere  foi 
them,  to  open  the  gates  to  the  English,  to  whom 
he  had  promised  to  betray  the  city. — (Jean  Bou¬ 
cher,  Annales  d’ Aquitaine.) 

3. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lord  to  Our  Lady  and  the 
apostles  in  the  supper-room  on  the  eighth  day  after 
his  resurrection. — (Balingham  on  Calend.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  Grace,  in  Normandy.  This  image 
is  very  famous  in  the  country,  and  people  come  to 
venerate  it  from  all  parts.  —  (Archives  of  the 
Church.) 

5. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  Pope  Honorius  IV., 
for  the  confirmation  of  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of 
Mount  Carmel. — (Balingham  on  Calend.) 

b. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Conception,  at  the  Capuchin 
Convent  of  Douay,  in  Flanders,  where  is  seen  a 
picture  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  which  was 
miraculously  preserved  from  fire,  in  the  year  1553. 
— (Amatus  Franciscus,  in  his  Manuscript  Work.) 

7. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Forsaken,  at  Valencia,  in  Spain. 
This  image  is  in  a  chapel,  where  it  is  said  that  a 
great  noise  is  made  when  any  one  is  drowned  or 
assassinated  near  the  city.  —  (Triple  Couronne. 
n.  28.) 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


8. 

Feast  of  the  miracles  of  Our  Lady,  at  Cambron, 
near  Mons,  in  the  Low  Countries. — (Locrius.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  Myans,  near  Chambery,  in  Savoy. 
It  is  believed  that  this  image,  in  the  year  1249, 
prevented  the  lightning,  which  had  already  con¬ 
sumed  the  town  of  Saint  Andre  with  sixteen  vil¬ 
lages,  from  going  farther,  and  was  the  cause  of  its 
stopping  at  Myans.— (Triple  Oouronne,  n.  114.) 

10. 

Our  Lady  of  Laval,  in  Vivarais.  This  church  is 
much  visited  for  obtaining  rain  to  preserve  the 
fruits  of  the  earth. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  41.) 

11. 

On  this  day  a  blind  man  is  said  to  have  recover¬ 
ed  his  sight  in  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Mont¬ 
serrat,  in  the  year  1538.— (Balingham  on  Calend.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Charity,  in  the  Abbey  of  the  Feuil- 
lants,  seven  leagues  from  Toulouse.  It  is  said  that 
this  image  has  several  times  wept. — (Triple  Cou¬ 
ronne,  n.  34.) 

13. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  the  blessed  Jane  of 
Mantua. — (See  her  Life.) 

14. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  St.  Ludwina,  in  the 
year  1433. — (John  Brushman.) 

15. 

In  the  year  1011,  the  Blessed  Virgin  gave  the 
white  habit  to  the  blessed  Alberic  instead  of  the 
black  which  he  wore. — CSee  his  Life.) 

16. 

Our  Lady  of  Victories,  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Mark,  at  Venice.  This  is  the  famous  image  which 
the  Emperors  John  Zimisces  and  John  Comnenus 


38!) 


carried  in  a  triumphal  car;  it  is  now  borne  in  pro¬ 
cession  at  Venice  to  obtain  rain  or  fine  weather. 

17. 

Our  Lady  of  Arabida,  m  Portugal,  where  an 
image  is  seen  which  an  English  merchant  used  to 
carry  about  him.  Finding  himself  one  day  in 
danger  of  shipwreck,  he  saw  his  image,  surrounded 
with  a  great  light,  on  top  of  the  rock  of  Arabida, 
whibh  induced  him  to  build  a  little  hermitage 
there,  in  which  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  16.) 

18. 

Grant  of  plenary  indulgences,  by  Urban  VI.,  to 
those  who  visit  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto. 
— (Balingham  on  the  Calendar.) 

19. 

Confirmation  of  the  Feast  of  the  Conception  of 
Our  Lady,  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  the  year 
1545. — (Council  of  Trent.) 

20. 

Our  Lady  of  Scheir,  in  Bavaria.  This  church 
was  built  on  the  spot  where  the  castle  stood,  which 
those  of  the  house  of  Scheir  voluntarily  ceded  to 
Our  Lady,  except  Arnaud,  who,  in  punishment  of 
his  obstinacy,  was  drowned  in  a  neighboring  lake. 
— (Herith,  de  origine  gentis  et  principibus  Bavarise.) 

21. 

Institution  of  the  Confraternity  of  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Conception,  at  Toledo,  in  the  year  1506,  by 
Cardinal  Francis  Ximenes,  archbishop  of  that  city. 
— (See  his  Life  by  Gomez,  etc.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  of  Betharam,  in  the  diocese  of  Lescar, 
in  the  province  of  Bearn.  This  image  was  found, 
in  the  year  1503,  by  some  shepherds,  who,  seeing 
an  extraordinary  light  on  the  spot  where  the  higli 
altar  of  the  chapel  now  stands,  came  up  and  found 
an  image  of  Our  Lady,  for  which  they  at  once  erect¬ 
ed  a  chapel.— (Triple  Couronne,  n.  32.) 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


390 


23. 

Grant  of  indulgences,  by  Pope  Calixtus  II.,  in 
the  year  1455,  to  those  who  visit  the  cathedral  of 
Arras,  where  a  veil  and  girdle  of  Our  Lady  are 
preserved. — (Andreas  Herby,  from  the  Manuscripts 
of  the  Church  of  Arras.) 

24. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Reparation,  at  Flo¬ 
rence,  by  Eugenius  IV.,  in  the  year  1436. — *(Ba- 
lingham  on  the  Calendar.) 

25. 

Dedication  of  the  Lower  Holy  Chapel  of  Paris, 
in  honor  of  Our  Lady,  by  Philip,  Archbishop  of 
Bourges,  in  the  year  1248. — (Du  Breuil,  Theatre 
des  Antiquites.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  of  Valera,  in  Navarre.  This  image 
was  found  miraculously  in  the  year  1048 ;  Dom 
Garcias  de  Na'iera,  King  of  Navarre,  built  a  church 
for  it,  which  several  kings  of  Navarre  visited. — 
(Andre  Favin,  liv.  iii.,  Hist,  de  Navarre.) 

27. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  year  1419,  Our  Lady  de 
Haut,  in  Hainault,  restored  a  child  to  life  who  had 
been  dead  three  days. — (Justus  Lipsius,  History  of 
Our  Lady  of  Hal,  c.  19.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Oak,  near  the  town  of  Sable,  in 
Anjou.  This  image  has  wrought  so  many  mira¬ 
cles,  that  it  is  at  present  very  famous  in  the  coun¬ 
try  ;  Marshal  de  Bois-Dauphin  built  a  fine  church 
for  it,  and  a  house  of  reception  for  the  pilgrims. — 
(Triple  Couronne,  n.  50.) 

29. 

Our  Lady  of  Faith,  at  the  Augustinian  convent 
of  Amiens.  This  image  remained  a  long  time  in 
the  cabinet  of  a  young  lady,  who  made  a  present 
of  it  to  the  church  of  the  Augustinians,  where  it 
has  wrought  many  miracles. — (Augustinian  Manu¬ 
scripts,  Amiens.) 


30. 

Our  Lady  of  Nantes,  in  Brittany.  This  church, 
dedicated  to  the  apostles  Peter  aud  Paul,  by  Felix 
Bishop  of  Nantes,  was  demolished  by  the  Normans, 
in  the  year  937,  aud  rebuilt  by  Alain,  Duke  of 
Brittany. — (Fortunatus,  lib.  iii. ;  Carm.,  c.  1,  2,  3, 
and  4.) 


MAY. 

1. 

In  the  year  1449,  some  of  the  principal  gold¬ 
smiths  of  Paris  began  to  give  the  May-pole  to  the 
Church  of  Our  Lady.— (Du  Breuil,  Antiquites  de 
Paris,  liv.  i.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Oviedo,  in  Spain,  where  they  pos¬ 
sess  some  of  the  Blessed  Virgin’s  hair. — (Baling- 
ham  on  the  Calendar.) 

3. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  the  Blessed  Mary 
Razzi,  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  in  the  year 
1597. — (Balingham  on  the  Calendar.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  Succor,  three  leagues  from  Caen, 
in  Normandy.  Every  year  a  solemn  procession  is 
made  to  this  chapel. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  51.) 

5. 

Our  Lady,  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  witnesses  the 
Ascension  of  Our  Lord,  and  then  returns  to  Jeru¬ 
salem,  to  retire  into  the  upper  room  with  the  apos¬ 
tles. — (Acts  i.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  of  Miracles,  in  the  Church  of  Our  Lady 
of  Peace,  at  Rome.  It  is  related  that  in  the  year 
1483,  a  man  who  had  lost  his  money  by  gaming, 
after  blaspheming  this  picture,  gave  it  four  stabs 
with  a  dagger,  and  that  it  bled  so  copiously  that 
the  miracle  was  at  once  divulged  all  over  the  city. 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


391 


This  picture  is  still  preserved  in  the  Church  of 
Our  Lady  of  Peace,  where  it  is  to  be  seen  at  the 
high  altar,  set  in  marble. — (Gabriel  Pennotti,  His¬ 
tory  of  the  Canons  Regular,  lib.  iii.,  c.  33,  §  2.) 

7. 

Our  Lady  of  Haut,  in  Hainault,  where  is  seen 
one  of  the  three  little  statues  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
which  St.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Andrew  II., 
King  of  Hungary,  had  religiously  honored,  and 
which  she  left  by  will  to  her  holy  daughter  Sophia, 
who  gave  it  to  the  church  of  Haut,  in  the  year 
1267.  Several  miracles  have  been  since  wrought 
by  it.— (Justus  Lipsius,  History  of  Our  Lady  of 
Hal,  c.  3.) 

8. 

In  the  year  1202,  the  learned  Justus  Lipsius 
gave  his  silver  pen  to  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of 
Haut,  in  Hainault,  where  it  is  still  seen  hanging 
before  the  high  altar. — (See  his  Life.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  Loretto,  in  the  March  of  Ancona, 
in  Italy.  This  chapel  is  the  house  of  Nazareth, 
where  the  mystery  of  the  Redemption  was  an¬ 
nounced. — (Turselini,  History  of  Loretto,  lib.  i.,  c. 
1,  2,  5,  6,  7,  8,  10.) 

10. 

Dedication  of  the  city  ©f  Constantinople  to  Our 
Lady,  by  Constantine  the  Great,  under  the  patri¬ 
arch  Alexander. — (Nicephorus,  lib.  viii.,  e.  26.) 
Our  Lady  of  Saussaie,  near  Paris.  The  church  of 
this  Benedictine  priory  was  dedicated  to  Our  Lady, 
in  the  year  1305,  by  Pope  Clement  V. 

11. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  St.  Philip  Neri, 
whom  she  healed  of  a  serious  malady,  in  the  year 
1594. — (See  his  Life.) 

.  12. 

Our  Lady  of  Virtues,  at  Aubervillers,  near 
Paris.  This  image  has  wrought  so  many  miracles 
in  this  church,  that  it  is  called  Our  Lady  of  Vir¬ 


tues,  though  it  is  dedicated  to  St.  Christopher. 

(Du  Breuil,  lib.  iv.) 

13. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Martyrs,  called  the 
Rotunda,  at  Rome,  by  Boniface  IV.,  in  the  year 
608.  This  temple  was  called  the  Pantheon,  be¬ 
cause  it  was  dedicated  to  all  the  gods  of  paganism. 
— (Beda,  lib.  ii.,  History  of  England.) 

■m 

14. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Noyon,  by  Har- 
douin,  thirty-seventh  bishop  of  the  same  city,  in 
the  year  998. — (Chronicon  Annonise,  t.  iii.) 

15. 

Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  Our  Lady  and 
the  apostles,  in  the  year  34  of  our  Lord  and  the 
forty-eighth  of  the  age  of  the  Virgin. — (Christo¬ 
pher  a  Castro,  Historia  Virginis.) 

16. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  St.  Catharine  of 
Alexandria,  whose  body  was  discovered  on  the 
13th  of  this  month,  on  Mount  Sinai,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  a  revelation  which  the  Queen  of  heaven 
gave. — (See  her  Life.) 

17. 

Our  Lady  of  Tears,  in  the  duchy  of  Spoletto, 
in  Italy.  It  is  said  that  this  picture,  painted  on  a 
wall,  shed  many  tears  in  the  year  1494.— (Gabriel 
Pennotus,  lib.  iii.,  Historia  Tripartita,  c.  34.) 

18. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Bonport,  of  the  Cis¬ 
tercian  order,  near  the  Pont  de  T Arche,  in  the 
diocess  of  Evreux.  This  abbey  was  founded  by 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  on  the  11th  of  March,  in 
the  year  1190. — (Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

19. 

"Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Flines,  near  Douay, 
by  Peter,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  in  the  year  1279. 
This  abbey  of  nuns,  of  the  order  of  Citeaux,  was 


392 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


given  to  St.  Bernard  by  Margaret  de  Dampierre, 
in  the  year  1234.— (Chronicon  Fliniense.) 

20. 

Dedication  of  the  church  of  La  Ferte,  in  the 
diocese  of  Chalons,  in  Burgundy,  in  honor  of  Our 
Lady.  This  abbey,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Citeaux, 
was  founded  in  the  year  1113  by  Savaric  and 
William,  Counts  of  Chalons.— (Ex  Archiviis  Ab- 
batis  Firmitatis.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Sweat,  at  Salerno,  in  Italy.  It  is 
said  that  this  Madonna  sweated  blood  and  water 
in  the  year  1611,  as  a  presage  of  a  great  conflagra¬ 
tion  which  happened  on  the  following  day. — (P. 
Spinelli,  Tractatus  de  exemplis  et  miraculis,  last 
chapter.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  of  Monte  Vergine,  near  Naples.  This 
image  preserved  from  the  flames  the  monastery 
and  church  consecrated  in  her  honor. — (Ibid.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  Miracles,  at  St.  Omer’s,  where  a 
glove  and  some  portion  of  the  hair  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  are  preserved. — (Chronicon  Bertinense.) 

24. 

Gregory  XV.,  in  the  year  1622,  issues  a  decree, 
forbidding  any  to  uphold  opinions  adverse  to  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  The  same  decree  forbids 
the  use  in  the  mass  or  office  of  any  other  term 
than  that  of  Conception.— (Balingham  on  the 
Calendar.) 

25. 

Our  Lady  the  New,  at  Jerusalem,  built  by  the 
Emperor  Justinian,  in  the  year  530. — (Procopius, 
de  (Edific.  imperatoris  Justiniani.) 

26. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Vaucelles,  in  the 
diocese  of  Cambray,  by  Samson,  Archbishop  of 
Rheims.  This  abbey,  of  the  order  of  Citeaux,  was 
founded  in  the  year  1132.— (Cistercian  Chronicle.) 


27. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Naples,  called  St. 
Mary  Major,  by  Pope  John  II.,  in  the  year  533.  A  * 
picture  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  painted  by  St.  Luke, 
was  carefully  preserved  in  this  church. — (Schrad- 
erus,  lib.  ii.) 

28. 

Feast  of  relics  of  Our  Lady,  at  Venice,  where  are 
exposed  to  the  veneration  of  the  faithful,  portions 
of  the  robe  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of  her  mantle, 
veil,  and  girdle. — (History  of  the  Relics  published 
at  Venice.) 

29 

Feast  of  Our  Lady  des  Ardents,  at  Arras;  a  wax 
candle  is  kept  in  the  cathedral  of  Arras,  which  is 
held  to  have  been  brought  thither  by  Our  Lady,  in 
the  year  1095. — (Jacobus  Meyer  in  Annals  of 
Flanders,  ann.  1095.) 

30. 

Dedication  of  the  church  of  Monte  Vergine, 
near  Naples,  built  in  the  year  1126,  by  St.  William, 
founder  of  the  order  of  Monte  Vergine,  and  re¬ 
paired  in  the  year  1519. — (John  Juvenal,  lib.  vii., 
de  Antiquitatibus,  c.  3.) 

31. 

Our  Lady  of  Dolours,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Ger- 
vase,  at  Paris.  This  image  which  was  at  the  cor¬ 
ner  of  des  Rosiers  Street,  was  mutilated  by  a  J ew, 
in  the  year  1528 ;  Francis  I.  had  it  solemnly  car¬ 
ried  to  St.  Gervase,  and  he  ordered  a  statue  to  be 
made  of  silver  gilt,  which  he  himself  set  up  in  the 
place  of  the  first.  This  statue  was  stolen  in  the 
year  1545,  and  another  of  stone  was  substituted 
for  it,  which  always  retained  the  name  of  Our 
Lady  of  Silver. — (Du  Breuil,  Theatre  des  Anti- 
quites,  lib.  iii.) 


JUNE. 

l. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Star,  at  Aquileia,  in  Italy. 
This  church  is  so  called,  because  it  is  affirmed  that 


FEASTS  OF  THE 

BLESSED  VIRGIN.  393 

a  star  Avas  seen,  in  open  day  on  the  head  of  St. 
Bernardine  of  Siena,  when,  preaching  at  Aquileia, 
he  applied  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  that  passage  of 
the  Apocalypse,  where  it  is  said  that  there  were 
twelve  stars  on  her  head. — (See  his  life  in  Surius.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Edessa,  in  Asia  Minor.  It  is  as¬ 
serted  that  this  image,  placed  beneath  the  gateway 

1  of  a  church,  spoke  to  St.  Alexis,  and  made  known 
to  the  people  the  merit  of  that  saint.  Thence  it 
was  removed  to  Borne,  where  it  is  highly  honored. 
— (Thomas  Bosius,  lib.  ix.  c.  9.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Sosopoli,  in  Pisidia.  This  image 
distilled  a  miraculous  oil,  as  is  testified  by  Germa- 
nus,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  in  a  letter  read 
at  the  second  council  of  Mce,  assembled  for  the 
defence  of  holy  images. — (Art.  4,  of  the  Council 
of  Mce.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Hill,  at  Fribourg,  where  many 
miracles  are  wrought. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  85.) 

5. 

The  chronicle  relates  that  in  the  year  1428,  Our 
Lady  of  Haut,  in  Hainault,  restored  a  child  to  life, 
who  had  been  dead  several  days,  that  he  might 
receive  baptism;  that  he  lived  five  hours  after 
receiving  that  sacrament,  and  then  melted  away 
by  degrees,  like  snow,  in  presence  of  seventy  per¬ 
sons. — (Justus  Lipsius,  History  of  Our  Lady  of 
Hal,  ch.  21). 

6. 

Institution  of  the  nuns  of  the  Visitation  of  Our 
Lady,  founded  at  Annecy,  in  Savoy,  in  the  year 
1610,  by  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  Bishop  of  Geneva, 
and  St.  Jane  Frances  Fremiot  de  Chantal,  who  was 
the  first  nun. — (Henri  de  Maupas  du  Tour,  2° 
partie,  ch.  i.) 

7. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  du  Val,  of  the  Order 
of  Citeaux,  seven  leagues  from  Paris,  under  Louis 

* 

• 

XIII.,  on  the  18th  of  April,  in  the  year  1616. — 
(Manuscripts  of  Church.) 

8. 

Our  Lady  of  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  built  by  St. 
Peter,  patriarch  of  this  city.— (Baronius,  ann.  310.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  Ligny,  near  Bar  le  Due,  in  Lor¬ 
raine.  This  image  is  very  famous  for  the  frequent 
miracles  wrought  there.— (Triple  Couronne,  n.  57.)  * 

10. 

Our  Lady  of  Cranganor,  in  the  East  Indies.  It 
is  asserted  that  this  church  was  built  by  one  of  the 
three  Magi.— (Osorius,  t.  i.,  de  Gestis  Emman.) 

11. 

Our  Lady  of  Esquernes,  half  a  league  from 

Lille,  in  Flanders.  This  image  began  to  work 
miracles  about  the  year  1162. — (Buzelinus,  Annals 
of  Gaul,  lib.  ii.) 

12. 

The  chronicle  records  that  on  this  day  Our  Lady 
appeared  to  St.  Herman,  of  the  Premonstratensian 
order,  and  gave  him  a  lock  of  her  hair. — (See  his 

Life  in  Surius.) 

13. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Sichem,  near  Lou¬ 
vain,  in  the  year  1604,  by  Mathias  Hovius,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Mechlin.  The  image  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  seen  in  this  church,  was  originally  placed 
in  the  hollow  of  an  oak-tree. — (Justus  Lipsius,  de 

Virg.  Aspricol.,  c.  4.) 

14. 

In  the  year  371,  there  fell  from  heaven,  at  Arras, 
something  like  white  wool  mixed  with  heavy  rain, 
of  which  mention  is  made  by  St.  Jerome,  and  it  is 
maintained  that  the  famine  being  great  in  the 
country,  the  inhabitants  of  Arras  had  recourse  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  sent  them  this  heavenly 
present,  commonly  called  manna,  some  remains  of 

394 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


which  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  church  dedicated 
in  her  honor.— (Archives  of  the  Abbey  of  Trull.) 

15. 

Foundation  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Feuillants,  in 
the  diocese  of  Toulouse  and  Rieux,  in  the  year 
1145. 

16. 

Our  Lady  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  built  by  Charle¬ 
magne,  and  consecrated  by  Leo  III.,  in  the  year 
804,  where  there  were  assembled  three  hundred 
and  fifty  prelates.  Charlemagne  gave  to  this 
church  two  tunics  of  Our  Lady,  in  the  year  810, 
from  which  Charles  the  Bald  took  one,  sixty-five 
years  afterward,  to  give  it  to  the  church  of 
Chartres. — (Ferreolus  Locrius,  lib.  v.,  Marise,  Aug., 
c.  17.) 

17. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Forest,  near  Boulogne-sur-Mer. 
This  little  chapel  is  very  celebrated  in  that  country. 
— (Triple  Couronne,  n.  53.) 

18. 

Apparition  of  Our  Lady  to  St.  Agnes  of  Monte 
Pulciano,  with  whom,  it  is  said,  she  left  a  small 
cross,  which  is  still  shown  with  great  solemnity, 
on  the  1st  of  May.— (Chronicle  of  St.  Dominic, 
part,  i.,  lib.  i.,  c.  72.) 

19. 

At  Treves,  in  Germany,  is  seen  in  the  church  of 
St.  John  the  Evangelist,  built  in  333,  the  comb  of 
Our  Lady,  given  by  Agritius,  archbishop  of  that 
city. 

20. 

Our  Lady  of  Blachernse,  in  the  harbor  of  Con¬ 
stantinople,  where  they  possess  the  winding-sheet 
of  Our  Lady,  given  by  the  Empress  St.  Pulcheria, 
who  had  received  it  from  Juvenal,  Bishop  of  Jeru¬ 
salem. — (Nicephorus,  lib.  xv.,  c.  14.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Matarieh,  at  Grand  Cairo  in  Egypt, 
where  is  seen  a  miraculous  fountain,  which  Our 


Lady  obtained  by  her  prayers,  when  she  fled 
thither  with  the  Holy  Family ;  and  it  is  held,  by 
tradition,  that  there  she  washed  the  swaddling 
clothes  of  the  Infant  Jesus.— (Triple  Couronne, 
n.  5.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  of  JSTarni,  in  Italy.  It  is  said  that 
this  image  spoke  to  the  Blessed  Lucy,  to  whom  she 
gave  the  Infant  Jesus  to  hold.— (Triple  Couronne,- 
Trait.  3.) 

23. 

The  Justinian  Madonna  at  Carthage.  This 

«  . 

church  was  built  by  the  Emperor  Justinian,  m 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  whom  he  attributed 
the  victories  which  he  gained  over  the  Vandals. — 
(Baronius,  year  534.) 

24. 

Our  Lady  of  Clos-Evrard,  near  Treves.  This 
image  was  fastened  to  an  oak  by  a  vinedresser, 
who  wished:  to  honor  it  5  but  Our  Lady  ordered 
him  to  build  a  small  hut  in  her  honor.  The 
miracles  which  were  wrought  there  caused  this 
hut  first  to  be  exchanged  for  a  little  chapel,  and 
at  last  for  a  church,  which  was  dedicated  in  the 
year  1449,  by  James  de  Rircq,  Archbishop  of 
Treves. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  82.) 

25. 

In  the  year  431,  the  council  of  Ephesus,  which 
declared  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  must  be  called 
Mother  of  God.— (Acts  of  Council.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  of  Meliapore,  in  the  East  Indies, 
where  St.  Francis  Xavier  often  retired  to  pray  — 
(See  his  Life.) 

27. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Dorada,  at  Toulouse.  This 
place,  which  was  formerly  dedicated  to  the  goddess 
Pallas,  was  changed  into  a  church  of  Our  Lady, 
when  the  inhabitants  received  the  faith.— (Forcat., 
lib.  i.,  de  Gallico  Imperio.) 

* 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.  395 


28. 

Dedication  of  tlie  church  of  the  Carthusians  of 
Paris,  under  the  title  of  Our  Lady,  by  John 
d’Aubigny,  Bishop  of  Troyes,  in  Champagne,  in 
the  year  1325. — (Du  Breuil,  Theatre  des  Anti- 
quites,  lib.  ii.) 

29. 

Our  Lady  of  Buglose,  two  leagues  from  Acqs, 
in  Gascony.  This  image  was  miraculously  found 
in  the  year  1634,  and  removed  to  the  parish  of 
Buglose. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  36.) 

30. 

Our  Lady  of  Calais,  built  by  the  English,  while 
they  possessed  that  city,  of  which  they  were  mas¬ 
ters  during  two  hundred  and  ten  years  ;  a  magni- 
fiicent  chapel  was  added  to  it,  in  the  year  1631,  by 
James  de  Bolloye,  parish  priest  of  Calais. — (Davila, 
t.  ii.) 


JULY. 

1. 

Dedication  of  the  church  of  Jumieges,  in  Nor- 
mandy,  in  the  year  1067,  by  Maurice,  Archbishop 
of  Rouen,  at  the  instance  of  King  William. — 
(Thomas  Walsingham.) 

2. 

The  Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This 
feast  was  instituted  by  Urban  IV.,  in  the  year 
1385,  and  confirmed  by  Boniface  IX.,  in  the  year 
1389.— (Antoine,  iv.  part,  tit.  xv.,  chap.  24.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  la  Carolle,  at  Paris.  It  is  said  that 
this  image,  which  was  placed  at  the  corner  of  the 
Rue  aux  Ours,  was  stabbed  with  a  knife,  in  the 
year  1418,  and  that  it  bled  profusely.  In  memory 
ol  this,  fireworks  are  set  off  every  year,  in  which  a 
waxen  figure  is  burnt,  which  represents  the  sacri¬ 
legious  wretch  who  gave  the  blow.— (Du  Breuil, 
lib.  ii. ) 


4. 

Our  Lady  of  Miracles,  at  Avignon,  built  by  Pope 
John  XXII.,  on  the  occasion  of  two  criminals  be¬ 
ing  condemned  to  the  fire  ;  one  who  had  invoked 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  spared  by  the  flames,  while 
the  other  was  entirely  consumed. — (Richard  of 
Cluny,  Life  of  John  XXII.) 

5. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Cambray,  in  the 
year  1472,  by  Peter  de  Ranchicourt,  Bishop  of 
Arras.  This  church  was  built  in  honor  of  Our 
Lady,  in  the  year  524 ;  reduced  to  ruins  by  the 
Normans  in  the  year  882 ;  rebuilt  by  Dossillon, 
twenty-first  Bishop  of  Arras,  in  the  year  890 ;  and, 
finally,  after  having  been  burnt  in  the  years  1064 
and  1148,  it  was  put  in  its  present  condition  in  the 
year  1251. — (Ohronicon  Hannon.,  t.  iii.,  lib.  ii., 
chap.  23.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  of  Iron,  near  Blois,  in  Dunois.  It  was 
in  this  chapel  that,  about  the  year  1631,  a  child, 
who  had  been  smothered  by  struggling  in  its  cra¬ 
dle,  came  to  life  the  moment  that  its  parents  had 
devoted  it  to  Our  Lady  of  Iron. — (Archives  of  the 
Chapel.) 

7. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Arras,  in  the  year 
1484,  by  Peter  de  Ranchicourt,  bishop  of  that  city. 
This  church  was  built  by  St.  Vaast,  Bishop  of 
Arras,  in  the  year  542,  according  to  Baronins,  by 
the  liberal  donations  of  the  first  kings  of  France.-. 
The  Normans  destroyed  it  in  the  year  583,  and, 
after  being  rebuilt,  it  was  burnt  by  lightning  in 
the  year  1030,  and  built  again  in  the  year  1040. — 
(Locrius,  lib.  ii.) 

It  is  related  that,  in  the  year  1410,  Our  Lady  of 
Haut,  in  Hainault,  restored  life  to  a  child  of  Brus¬ 
sels  who  had  been  drowned  in  a  well.  This  child, 
having  been  taken  out  of  the  well  dead,  was  de¬ 
voted  to  Our  Lady,  and  he  immediately  came  to 
life. — (Justus  Lipsius,  History  of  Our  Lady  of 
Hal,  ch.  16.) 


390 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OR 


8. 

Our  Lady  of  Peace,  at  the  Capuchin  Convent  in 
the  Rue  St.  Honore,  at  Paris. 

9. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Coutances,  by  Geof- 
fry  de  Mowbray,  in  1056. 

10. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Boulogne,  near  Paris, 
in  the  year  1469,  by  Chartier,  Bishop  of  Paris. 
The  confraternity  of  Our  Lady  of  Boulogne  is  so 
illustrious,  that  six  of  our  kings  have  chosen  to 
belong  to  it. — (Du  Breuil,  Antiq.,  lib.  iv.) 

11. 

Our  Lady  of  Clery,  four  leagues  from  Orleans. 
This  church  was  rebuilt  by  King  Louis  XI.,  who 
was  buried  there  m  the  year  1483. — (Locrius,  M. 
Aug.  lib.  iv.  c.  68.) 

12. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  all  Graces,  at  the 
convent  of  the  Minims  of  Xigeon,  near  Paris,  in 
the  year  1578.  This  house  was  given  in  'the  year 
1476,  by  Ann  of  Brittany,  wife  of  Louis  XII.,  to 
St.  Francis  of  Paula,  who  had  instituted  his  order 
in  the  year  1436. — (Du  Breuil,  Antiquites  de 
Paris.) 

13. 

A  century  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  the 
image  of  Our  Lady  of  Chartres  was  carved  in  a 
*  forest,  in  the  midst  of  the  plains  of  La  Beauce,  by 
order  of  Priscus,  king  of  the  people  of  Chartres, 
and  was  set  up  afterwards  with  this  inscription, 
“Virgini  pariturse” — that  is,  To  a  Virgin  who  is 
to  bring  forth — in  the  same  place  where  it  is  seen 
at  the  present  day,  which  was  then  a  cave,  where 
the  Druids  offered  their  sacrifices.  St.  Potentianus, 
second  Bishop  of  Sens,  whom  the  Apostle  St.  Peter 
had  sent  into  France,  stopped  at  Chartres,  where 
he  blessed  this  image,  and  dedicated  the  cavern  as 
a  church,  in  the  year  of  Jesus  Christ  46. — (Sebas¬ 
tian  Rouillard,  Parthen  ;  c.  iv.  n.  1.) 


14. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Bush,  in  Portugal.  This 
image  was  seen  in  the  middle  of  a  burning  bush, 
by  a.  shepherd;  Vasquez  Perdigon,  Bishop  of 
Evora,  caused  to  be  built  in  this  place,  in  the  year 
1403,  a  church  and  monastery,  which  was  given  to 
the  monks  of  St.  Jerome.  —  Vasconcellius  De- 
scriptio  regni  Lusitaniae,  c.  vii.  §  5.) 

15. 

In  the  year  1099,  the  Turks  were  defeated  by 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  who  on  this  day  took  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  of  which  he  was  made  king ;  and  formerly 
the  feast  of  this  event  was  celebrated  annually 
with  a  double  office  and  octave. — (Molanus,  at  this 
day.) 

16. 

The  feast  of  the  Scapular;  tradition  says  that 
Our  Lady  gave  it,  herself,  about  the  year  1251,  to 
the  Blessed  Simon  Stock,  an  Englishman  ;  this  de¬ 
votion  has  since  spread  all  over  the  world.  The 
popes  John  XXII.,  Gregory  XIII.,  Sixtus  V., 
Gregory  XIV.,  and  Clement  VIII.,  granted  indul¬ 
gences  to  those  belonging  to  this  confraternity. — • 
(Cartagena,  de  Ortu  ordinis  Carmelitarum.) 

17. 

In  the  year  1565,  Pius  V.  approved  of  the  reform 
of  the  barefooted  Carmelites,  instituted  by  St.  Te¬ 
resa,  at  Avila,  in  Spain. 

18. 

Our  Lady  of  Victory,  at  Toledo,  so  called  from 
a  signal  victory  which  was  gained  over  the  Moors, 
by  Alphonsus  IX.,  King  of  Castile,  in  the  year 
1202,  after  having  a  flag  carried,  on  which  was  the 
picture  of  Our  Lady. — (Report  of  King  Alphon¬ 
sus  to  Innocent  III.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  Moyen  Pont,  near  Peronne.  This 
image  was  found  by  a  shepherd,  near  the  ponds, 
where  the  meadows  of  Amele  are  at  present;  a 
church  was  built  there,  which  was  repaired  in 
1612. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  53.) 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


20. 

Our  Lady  of  Grace,  at  Picpus,  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine,  of  Paris.  This  image,  which  is  in  a  small 
ship  of  wood  with  two  angels  at  the  end,  was  made, 
in  1629,  from  a  splinter  taken  from  the  famous 
image  of  Our  Lady  of  Boulogne-sur-Mer. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  47.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Verdun,  in  Lorraine,  celebrated  for 
numerous  miracles.  St.  Polichraine,  fifth  Bishop 
of  Verdun,  dedicated  this  church  on  his  return 
from  the  council  of  Ohalcedon. —  (Archives  of 
the  Church  of  Verdun.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  de  la  Garde,  near  Marseilles.  The 
Queen  of  heaven  is  much  honored  in  this  church, 
where  every  Saturday  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is 
exposed  from  midnight  till  noon.  There  are  seen 
more  than  thirty  large  silver  lamps,  with  a  quan¬ 
tity  of  branches  of  coral,  of  extraordinary  size. — 
(Chronicon  Massilliense.) 

23. 

Institution  of  the  order  of  Premontre,  by  St. 
Norbert,  in  the  year  1120,  after  a  revelation  from 
Our  Lady. — (Bibliotheca  Praemonstr.,  lib.  i.,  c.  2.) 

24. 

Foundation  of  Our  '  Lady  of  Cambron,  near 
Mons,  in  Hainault,  by  Anselm  de  Trasigny,  lord 
of  Peronne. — (MS.  of  the  year  1148;  Hanno’s 
Chronicle.) 

25. 

Our  Lady  of  Bouchet,  two  leagues  and  a  half 
from  Blanc,  in  Berry,  a  pilgrimage  which  attracts 
a  great  concourse  of  pilgrims.  The  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  is  made  of  the  wood  of  an  aged 
oak,  where  the  first  image  was  found. — (Ex  monu¬ 
ments  hujus  loci.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  of  Faith,  at  Canchy,  near  Abbeville. 


397 


This  image,  having  been  removed  from  the  oak 
where  it  is,  into  a  chapel  which  was  built  for  it, 
fifty  yards  off,  was  miraculously  found  again  in  its 
former  place. — (Archives  of  Canchy.) 

* 

27. 

In  the  year  1480,  the  Knights  of  Rhodes  gained 
a  signal  victory  over  the  Turks,  by  the  help  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  who  appeared  on-  the  walls  of  that 
city,  holding  a  lance  in  her  hand ;  the  enemy, 
panic-struck,  fled  in  disorder,  and  lost  the  greater 
part  of  their  army. — (Bosius,  History  of  the 
Knights  of  Rhodes.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Foye,  at  Gravelines.  This  image 
is  very  celebrated  in  the  country. — (History  of  Our 
Lady  of  Foye,  at  Gravelines.) 

29. - 

In  the  year  1546,  it  was  decreed  at  the  council 
of  Trent  that,  respecting  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  constitution  of 
Sixtus  IV.  should' be  strictly  observed,  under  the 
penalties  therein  imposed. — (Balingham  on  the 
Calendar.) 

30. 

Our  Lady  de  Gray,  near  Besangon,  in  Franche 
Comte.  This  image  made  of  the  oak  of  Montaigu, 
was  much  honored  in  the  country. — (Triple  Cou¬ 
ronne,  n.  58.) 

31. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Murdered,  at  Ce'ica,  near  Lor- 
ban,  a  Cistercian  monastery  in  Portugal.  It  is 
said  that  this  image  was  brought  from  heaven  to 
the  Abbot  John,  uncle  of  King  Alphonsus,  and 
that  it  restored  to  life  several  persons  who  had 
been  murdered;  that  in  memo'ry  of  this  miracle 
they  had  from  that  time  a  red  mark  on  their 
throats,  like  that  which  is  seen  at  present  on  the 
throat  of  the  image. — (Cistercian  Chronicle,  lib. 
vi.,  c.  27  and  28.) 


398 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


AUGUST. 

1. 

In  the  year  1218,  Our  Lady,  appearing  on  this 
day  to  St.  Raymond,  of  the* order  of  St.  Dominic, 
to  James,  King  of  Arragon,  and  to  St.  Peter  No- 
lasco,  made  known  to  all  the  three  separately  that 
she  desired  them  to  establish  an  order  for  redeem¬ 
ing  captives. — (Surius,  Life  of  St.  Raymond.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Angels,  or  of  Portiuncula  six 
hundred  yards  from  the  city  of  Assisium,  in  Italy. 
The  Benedictine  monks  gave  this  chapel  to  St. 
Francis,  at  his  request ;  and  he  wished  the  convent 
which  he  built  there,  to  be  the  Mother  house  of 
his  order.  He  there  assembled  the  first  General 
Chapter,  which  numbered  five  thousand  religious, 
and  there  he  yielded  up  the  ghost,  in  the  year 
1226,  the  twentieth  of  his  conversion,  and  the 
forty-fifth  of  his  age.  —  (Franciscan  Chronicle, 
part  i.,  lib.  ii.,  c.  1.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Bows,  in  London.  It  is  related 
that  this  image,  having  been  carried  away  by  a 
storm,  together  with  more  than  six  hundred 
houses,  in  the  year  1071,  it  fell  uninjured  with 
such  violence,  that  it  broke  into  the  pavement,  and 
sunk  more  than  twenty  feet  into  the  earth,  whence 
it  was  never  possible  to  draw  it  out. — (Willel. 
Malmesbury,  lib.  iv.,  in  Willel.,  2.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  Dordrecht,  in  Holland,  built  by 
St.  Sautere  on  the  spot  designated  by  an  angel,  as 
it  is  said,  who  was  sent  by  the  Blessed  Virgin ;  she 
received  afterwards,  the  crown  of  martyrdom  in 
this  church.  To  render  her  memory  more  cele¬ 
brated,  God  caused  a  fountain  to  flow,  after  her 
death,  which  cured  fevers. — (Molanus  on  the  Bel¬ 
gian  Saints.) 

5. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Snows,  called 
St.  Mary  Major,  and  formerly  of  the  Crib,  at  Rome, 


because  our  Saviour’s  crib  is  kept  there.  It  was 
built  by  John,  a  patrician,  and  his  wife,  on  the 
very  place,  which  they  found  covered  with  snow, 
on  the  5th  of  August,  in  the  year  367,  and  rebuilt 
by  Sixtus  II.,  about  the  year  432. — (Baronius, 
Notes  at  the  year  367.) 

Dedication  of  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  the 
Angels,  at  Rome,  by  Pope  Pius  IV.,  in  the  year 
1561.  This  church,  which  anciently  formed  part 
of  the  thermae,  or  baths  of  Diocletian,  was  erected 
as  a  titular  church  of  a  cardinal,  favored  with 
many  indulgences,  and  given  by  the  same  pope  to 
the  Carthusians. — (Balingham  on  the  Calendar.) 

Our  Lady  of  Protection,  in  the  church  of  the 
Feuillants,  in  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  at  Paris.  It 
was  so  named  by  Queen  Ann  of  Austria,  in  the 
year  1561,  in  thanksgiving  for  the  favors  which 
she  had  received  from  the  Queen  of  heaven. — (Du 
Breuil,  Antiquites,  lib.  iii.) 

6. 

In  the  year  963,  the  church  of  Our  Lady  of 
Chartres  was  entirely  burnt,  except  the  tunic  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  is  seen  there  to  this  day. 
— (Sebastien  Rouillard,  Parthen.,  c.  vii.) 

7. 

Our  Lady  of  Schiedam,  in  Holland.  The  chro¬ 
nicle  relates  that  a  merchant,  who  had  stolen  this 
image,  having  embarked  with  the  intention  of 
selling  it  at  the  fair  at  Antwerp,  could  never  get 
away  from  the  port.  Alarmed  at  this  prodigy,  he 
restored  the  image  which  he  had  taken  away,  and 
it  was  solemnly  translated  to  the  church  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  where  St.  Ludwina  used  to  pass 
whole  nights  in  prayer. — (John  Bruchman,  Mino- 
rita.) 

8. 

Our  Lady  of  La  Kuen,  near  Brussels.  This 
church  was  built  by  order  of  Our  Lady,  who  is 
said  to  have  marked  out  its  dimensions  with  a  line 
which  is  still  shown. — (Additions  to  Molanus.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  CEgnies,  in  Brabant,  the  birthplace 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.  399 


of  Mary  of  (Egnies,  who  visited  this  holy  image 
once  a  year,  barefoot,  during  the  severe  rigors  of 
winter. — (James  de  Vitriaco,  on  her  Life.) 

10. 

Institution  of  the  order  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy, 
at  Barcelona,  in  the  year  1218. — (Surius,  Life  of 
St.  Raymond.) 

11. 

In  the  year  810,  the  Emperor  Nicephorus  and 
the  Empress  Irene  sent  to  Charlemagne  two  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin’s  robes ;  he  deposited  them  in  his 
church  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  from  which  Charles 
the  Bald  took  one,  which  he  presented  to  the 
Cathedral  of  Chartres. — (Locrius  Anaceph.,  p.  3.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Rouen,  erected  by  Robert,  Duke  of 
Normandy.  Richard  I.,  king  of  England,  gave 
great  gifts  to  this  church,  and  the  kings  of  France 
have  granted  it  great  privileges. — (Merula,  Cos- 
mographia,  part  ii.,  lib.  iii.,  c.  30.) 

13. 

Death  of  Our  Lady  in  presence  of  the  apostles, 
except  St.  Thomas.  Like  her  divine  Son,  she  rose 
again  and  ascended  to  heaven  on  the  third  day 
after  her  death. — (Suarez.,  t.  ii. ;  in  p.  Disp.  21, 
sect,  in  fine.) 

14. 

Vigil  of  the  Assumption  of  Our  Lady,  with  fast¬ 
ing,  of  which  mention  is  made  by  Nicolas  I.,  who 
was  pope  in  the  year  858.  It  is  recorded  that  on 
this  day  angels  were  heard,  near  the  city  of  Sois- 
Bons,  singing  this  anthem :  “  Eelix  namque  es, 
sacra  Virgo  Maria,  et  omni  laude  dignissima,  quia 
ex  te  ortus  e&t  Sol  justitise,  Christus  Deus  nos  ter.” 
— (Thomas,  Concep.,  lib.  ii.,  part  7.) 

15. 

The  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This 
feast  was  instituted,  according  to  St.  Bernard,  in 
the  very  time  of  the  apostles. — (St.  Bernard,  Ep. 
174.) 


16. 

On  this  day  the  sepulchre  of  Our  Lady  was 
opened,  and  in  proof  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
already  assumed  into  heaven,  nothing  was  found 
but  her  winding-sheet,  which  gave  a  delicious  per¬ 
fume. — (Saussey,  Martyrologium  Gallicum,  die  As- 
sumptionis.) 

17. 

Philip  the  Fair  gained  on  this  day  a  signal  vic¬ 
tory  over  the  Flemings,  in  the  year  1304,  after 
commending  himself  to  Our  Lady  of  Chartres. 
Out  of  gratitude  for  this  favor,  he  gave  to  it  in 
perpetuity  the  land  and  lordship  of  Barres,  founded 
a  daily  mass  for  ever,  and  left  to  this  church  all 
the  accoutrements  which  he  wore  on  that  day  of 
victory.  This  feast  is  kept  in  the  Church  of  Notre 
Dame,  at  Paris,  on  the  following  day,  the  18th,  and 
the  office  is  double. — (Sebastien  Rouillard,  c.  6.) 

18. 

In  the  year  1022,  King  Robert  founded  a  chapel 
in  honor  of  Our  Lady  in  the  court  of  the  palace, 
at  Paris,  on  the  spot  where  the  Sainte  Chapelle 
now  stands. — (Du  Breuil,  Antiquites  de  Paris.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  Jerusalem,  near  Montecorvo,  in 
Portugal.  A  chapel  is  there  seen  built  in  imitation 
of  the  one  at  Jerusalem ;  it  is  said  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  herself  gave  the  plan. — (Vasconcellius,  in 
Descriptione  regni  Lusitanise.) 

20. 

In  the  celebrated  church  of  the  Benedictines  of 
Affighem,  in  Brabant,  is  seen  an  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  of  which  it  has  been  received  by 
tradition  that  St.  Bernard,  saluting  it  in  these 
terms,  “  Salve,  Maria,”  it  answered  him,  “  Salve, 
Bernarde.” — (Justus  Lipsius,  t.  ii.,  c.  4,  §  4.) 

21. 

In  the  year  1022  was  instituted  the  order  of  the 
thirty  knights  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Star,  at  Paris, 
by  King  Robert,  who  said  that  the  Blessed  Virgin 


400 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


was  the  Star  of  his  kingdom. — (A.  Favin,  Histoire 
de  Navarre.) 

22. 

Octave  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  instituted  by  Pope  Leo  IV.  in  the  year  847. — 
(Bosius,  n.  2.) 

23. 

On  this  day,  in  the  year  1328,  Philip  de  Valois, 
being  surrounded  by  Flemings  near  Mount  Oassel, 
had  recourse  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  immedi¬ 
ately  delivered  him  from  that  danger.  Out  of 
gratitude  for  this  favor,  when  he  made  his  entry 
into  Paris,  he  went  straight  to  Notre  Dame,  and 
,  going  into  the  church  on  horseback,  he  proceeded 
the  whole  length  of  the  nave  up  to  the  crucifix, 
and  there  laid  down  his  arms.  The  picture  of  this 
monarch  on  horseback  was  for  a  long  time  to  be 
seen  in  that  church,  to  which  he  gave  a  revenue 
of  100  livres,  to  be  levied  on  his  domain  of  Gati- 
nais. — (Triple  Oouronne,  trait.  4,  c.  7,  n.  7.) 

24. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Benoiste  Vaux, 
nearly  a  league  from  Verdun,  in  Lorraine.  This 
chapel  preserves  an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
rendered  famous  by  miracles ;  in  this  place  is 
found  a  miraculous  fountain,  the  water  of  which 
cures  several  maladies. — (Histoire  de  Notre  Dame 
de  Benoiste  Vaux,  ch.  i.  and  ix.) 

25. 

Our  Lady  of  Eossano,  in  Calabria.  It  is  said 
that  the  Saracens,  seeking  to  surprise  the  town  of 
Eossano,  where  they  had  already  planted  ladders, 
were  repulsed  by  Our  Lady,  who  appeared  attired 
in  purple,  and  holding  in  her  hand  a  lighted  torch : 
this  so  terrified  them,  that  they  took  to  flight. — 
(Gabriel  de  Barry.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  de  la  Treille,  at  Douay.  It  is  related 
that  when  some  children  were  playing  disrespect¬ 
fully  before  this  image,  it  made  with  the  hand  a 
sign  of  disapproval.  This  miracle  induced  the  in¬ 


habitants  of  Douay  to  build  a  chapel  for  it,  in  the 
year  1543. — (Buzelin,  in  Annal.  Gallo-Flandr.) 

27. 

Our  Lady  of  Moustier,  eight  or  ten  leagues 
from  Sisteron,  in  the  direction  of  Marseilles.  An 
ancient  tradition  records  that  a  lord  of  the  coun¬ 
try  captured  by  the  Turks,  made  a  vow  to  build  a 
chapel  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  if  she  were 
pleased  to  deliver  him.  The  Blessed  Virgin  heard 
his  prayer;  an  angel  took  him  on  his  wings,  and 
carried  him  back  to  his  country.  The  nobleman 
erected  a  magnificent  chapel  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
where  numerous  miracles  are  wrought. — (Manu¬ 
script  Account.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Kiow,  the  metropolitan  church  of 
Eussia,  in  Poland,  where  there  is  a  large  image  in 
alabaster,  which  spoke  to  St.  Hyacinth,  in  the  year 
1241,  and  told  him  not  to  abandon  it  to  the  enemy 
who  was  besieging  the  city,  but  to  carry  it  off  with 
him,  which  he  did  without  any  difficulty,  the  im¬ 
age  having  lost  its  weight. — (Life  of  St.  Hyacinth.) 

29. 

Our  Lady  of  Clermont,  ten  leagues  from  Cracow, 
where  there  is  a  picture  painted  by  St.  Luke,  and 
sent  to  the  Empress  St.  Pulcheria  ;  that  princess 
placed  it  in  the  church  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Guides, 
at  Constantinople,  from  which  it  was  taken  by  Leo, 
Duke  of  Eussia;  the  Duke  of  Opolia  wanted  to 
remove  it  to  his  duchy,  in  the  year  1380;  but 
when  he  had  got  to  the  mountain  of  Clermont,  it 
became  so  heavy  that  it  was  impossible  to  carry  it 
farther;  and  seeing  by  this  miracle  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  had  chosen  that  mountain  for  her 
abode,  they  built  a  church  there. — (Bzovius,  ad 
ann.  1383.) 

30. 

Our  Lady  of  Carquere,  on  the  river  Douro,  in 
Portugal.  Egas  de  Monis,  tutor  of  King  Alphon- 
sus  I.,  carried  the  young  prince  into  this  ancient 
church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  that  his  legs  might 
be  straightened  through  her  intercession;  which 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


401 


perfectly  succeeded. — (Vasconcellius,  in  Eegib. 
Lusit.  Anacephal.  1  and  2.) 

31. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Founders,  at 
Constantinople.  The  Empress  St.  Pulcheria  erected 
this  church,  and  gave  it  the  girdle  of  Our  Lady. 
A  feast  of  this  relic  is  kept  at  Constantinople, 
under  the  title  of  the  Deposition  of  Our  Lady’s 
girdle.  The  French  having  taken  this  city,  this 
precious  treasure  was  carried  off  by  Nivellon, 
Bishop  of  Soissons,  and  placed  in  the  celebrated 
abbey  of  Our  Lady,  with  a  portion  of  the  veil  of 
that  Queen  of  heaven. — (Nicephorus,  lib.  iv.  c.  8.) 


SEPTEMBER, 

1. 

On  the  first  Sunday  of  this  month,  in  St.  Peter’s 
church,  at  Louvain,  a  feast  is  kept  in  honor  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  called  the  Collection  of  all  the 
Feasts  of  Our  Lady. — (Molanus,  ad  Usuard,  Mar- 
tyrolog.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Helbron,  or  of  Nettles,  in  Franco¬ 
nia,  in  Germany.  This  imag^  began  to  work  mira¬ 
cles  in  the  year  1441. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  73.) 

3. 

Dedication  of  the  Abbey  of  Corneville,  in  honor 
of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  the 
year  1147,  by  Hugo,  Archbishop  of  Eouen. — (Gal¬ 
lia  Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

4. 

In  the  year  1419,  Our  Lady  of  Haut,  in  Hain- 
ault,  restored  to  life  a  young  woman,  named  Jane 
Maillard,  who  was  drawing  water  from  a  very  deep 
well,  when  the  stonework  at  the  top  giving  way, 
she  fell  to  the  bottom.  She  was  taken  out  quite 
dead ;  but  her  mother  having  offered  her  by  vow 
to  Our  Lady  of  Haut,  she  immediately  showed 
signs  of  life.— (Justus  Lipsius,  Our  Lady  of  Hal, 
c.  19.) 


5. 

Our  Lady  of  Bois,  near  Arras.  A  knight,  who 
attempted  to  turn  this  chapel  into  a  stable,  in  the 
the  year  1478,  was  killed  on  the  spot  by  his  horse. 
— (Triple  Couronne,  n.  62.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Fountain,  half  a  league  from 
Valenciennes.  Tradition  relates  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  appeared  in  this  place  to  a  hermit,  when 
the  plague  ravaged  the  town,  and  commanded  him 
to  tell  the  inhabitants  to  fast  on  the  following  day, 
and  pass  the  night  in  prayer.  Having  done  this, 
they  saw  her  descend  from  heaven,  and  gird  the 
town  all  around  with  a  cord.  This  cord  is  still 
preserved  at  Valenciennes.  —  (Narrative  of  the 
Affair.) 

7. 

Vigil  of  the  Nativity  of  Our  Lady,  instituted 
by  Gregory  II.,  about  the  year  722. — (Balingham 
on  the  Calendar. ) 

8. 

The  Nativity  of  Our  Lady,  which  happened,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Baronius,  in  the  year  of  the  creation  of 
the  world  4007,  on  a  Saturday,  at  daybreak,  fifteen 
years  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour.  This  feast 
was  instituted  on  the  8th  of  September,  in  the 
Greek  Church  and  in  the  Latin,  in  the  year  436, 
according  to  the  same  Baronius ;  and  in  France, 
by  St.  Maurillus,  Bishop  of  Angers. 

Dedication  of  the  church  of  Our  Lady  of 
Liesse,  in  the  diocese  of  Laon,  ten  leagues  from 
Eheims.  Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Montserrat, 
in  Catalonia. 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  Puy,  in  Velay.  St.  George,  who 
was  its  first  bishop,  had  marked  out  the  site  of  this 
church,  which  was  not  built  till  about  the  year  221. 
The  Blessed  Virgin  herself,  gave  the  charge  of  it 
to  St.  Evodius,  or  Vosi,  the  seventh  bishop  of  the 
same  place,  whom  she  ordered  to  transfer  his  epis¬ 
copal  see  to  Puy.  St.  Evodius  obeyed  the  Blessed 
Virgin ;  but  when  he  wished  to  consecrate  his  new 


402 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


church,  it  was  made  known,  to  him  that  the  dedi¬ 
cation  of  it  had  been  performed  by  angels ;  the 
doors  opened  of  themselves,  the  bells  rung  of 
themselves,  the  candles  were  found  lighted,  and 
the  holy  Chrism,  which  the  angels  had  used,  ap¬ 
peared  quite  fresh  upon  the  altar  and  the  walls. — 
(Odo  Gisseus,  de  Virg,  Aniciens.,  lib.  ii.,  c.  7,  8, 
and  9.) 

10. 

Our  Lady  of  Trut,  near  Cologne.  This  church 
was  built  under  Otho  I.,  by  St.  Heribert,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Cologne,  on  the  very  spot  where  idols 
had  been  formerly  worshipped. 

11. 

Our  Lady  of  Hildesheim,  in  the  duchy  of  Bruns¬ 
wick,  in  Germany.  An  image  is  there  venerated, 
which  Louis  the  Meek  always  wore  about  him. 
One  day,  when  he  had  forgotten  it  in  a  wood,  it 
became  so  heavy  that  it  was  impossible  to  remove 
it,  which  made  the  king  resolve  to  build  a  church 
there. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  75.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Healing,  in  Lower  Normandy. 
Miraculous  cures  are  wrought,  in  great  numbers, 
in  this  church. — (Archives  of  the  Church.) 

13. 

Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe,  in  Spam.  This  image, 
which  Pope  Gregory  sent  to  St.  Leander,  Bishop 
of  Seville,  was  concealed,  on  the  invasion  of  the 
Moors,  with  the  body  of  St.  Fulgentius,  in  the  cave 
of  Guadaloupe,  where  it  remained  nearly  six  hun¬ 
dred  years,  till  Our  Lady  revealed  it  to  a  shepherd. 
— (Mariana,  History  of  Spain.) 

14. 


arose  on  the  election  of  a  successor  to  Celestin  IV., 
by  the  intrigues  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II., 
which  caused  the  cardinals  to  have  recourse  to  Our 
Lady,  obliging  themselves,  by  vow,  to  add  an  oc¬ 
tave  to  her  Nativity,  when  she  should  have  given 
them  a  pope.  Innocent  IV.  having  been  elected, 
he  instituted  this  octave  in  the  year  1243,  the  first 
of  his  pontificate. — (Arnoldus  Wionius,  tib.  v., 
Ligni  vitse,  c.  22.) 

16. 

Our  Lady  of  Good  Tidings,  at  Orleans,  built  by 
King  Robert,  in  the  year  996,  on  the  very  spot 
where  he  learnt  the  good  news  that  his  father, 
Hugo,  had  escaped  death— (Locrius,  Mariae  Au¬ 
gust®,  lib.  iv.,  c.  62.) 

17. 

Inauguration  of  the  image  of  Our  Lady  of  Puy, 
in  Velay.  King  St.  Louis  gave  this  image  to  the 
church  of  Puy,  in  the  year  1254,  on  his  return 
from  beyond  the  seas. 

18. 

Our  Lady  of  Smelcem,  in  Flanders.  The  chro¬ 
nicle  relates  that  some  shepherds  observed  that 
their  sheep  bent  their  knees  before  this  image. 
This  occasioned  Baldwin,  surnamed  Fair  Beard,  to 
choose  this  place  to  build  a  church  in  thanksgiving 
for  having  been  cured  by  our  Saviour  of  a  malady 
which  he  had  had  for  seventeen  years. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  63.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  Healing,  near  Mount  Leon,  in  Gas¬ 
cony, — (Geoffroy,  Histoire  de  la  Vierge  de  Gue- 
rison.) 

20. 


Ii 


Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Frontevrault,  in 
Poitou,  by  Pope  Calixtus  II.,  in  the  year  1129. — 
(Gallia  Christiana.) 

15. 

Octave  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
instituted  on  occasion  of  some  disputes,  which 


Our  Lady  of  the  Silver  Foot,  at  Toul,  in  Lor¬ 
raine,  where  an  image  is  seen,  which  according  to 
an  ancient  tradition,  informed  a  woman,  in  the 
year  1284,  of  an  act  of  treachery  which  was  plan¬ 
ning  against  the  city,  and  as  a  sign  of  it,  the  image 
put  out  its  foot,  which  was  found  changed  into 
silver.— (Triple  Couronne,  n.  57.) 


— 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.  403 


21. 

Our  Lady  of  Pucha,  in  the  kingdom  of  Valentia. 
This  image  was  found  in  the  year  1223,  by  means 
of  seven  stars  which  were  seen  shining  on  this 
spot,  which  made  people  dig  into  the  earth,  where 
they  found  an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. — 
(Bernard  Comes,  Historia  Hispan.,  lib.  x.) 

22. 

The  giving  of  the  name  of  Mary  to  Our  Lady, 
by  St.  Anne,  her  mother. — (Petrus  a  Castro, 
Hist  Virg.  c.  2.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  Valvencre,  in  Spain.  This  image 
was  found  in  an  oak,  on  the  very  spot  where  is  now 
seen  the  magnificent  church  which  Alphonsus  IV., 
King  of  Castile,  rebuilt.  —  (Antonius  Yepez, 
Chronicle.) 

24. 

Our  Lady  of  Roquemadour,  or  Rock  of  Ama¬ 
teur  in  the  diocese  of  Cahors,  in  Quercy.  This 
place  of  pilgrimage  is  so  named  because  St.  Ama¬ 
teur,  vulgarly  called  St.  Amant,  lived  for  some 
time  upon  this  rock,  which  began  to  be  famous 
about  the  year  1140. — (Hugo  Farcitus,  de  Miracul. 
B.  Virg.  Rupiramat.) 

25. 

Our  Lady  of  Passer,  at  Rodez.  This  image  hav¬ 
ing  been  often  removed  from  the  place  where  it 
was,  to  another  place,  was  always  found  again  at 
its  old  post,  which  made  it  necessary  to  build  a 
church  there. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  53.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  of  Victory,  at  Tournay.  The  inhab¬ 
itants  carried  the  keys  of  the  city  into  the  church 
of  Our  Lady,  in  the  year  1340,  because  they  knew 
that  the  Queen  of  heaven  alone  was  able  to  deliver 
them  from  the  English,  who  had  besieged  them  for 
forty  days ;  they  had  no  sooner  testified  this  confi¬ 
dence  in  the  Blessed  Virgin,  than  the  siege  was 
raised,  when  the  inhabitants  had  hardly  provisions 
left  for  three  days. — (Archives  of  Tournay.) 


27. 

Our  Lady  of  Good-meeting,  half  a  league  from 
Agde.  This  image,  made  of  baked  clay,  was  dis¬ 
covered  miraculously,  in  the  year  1523. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  34.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Cambron,  of  the  order  of  Citeaux, 
in  Hainault,  near  Mons.  It  is  said  that  this  image, 
being  struck  by  a  wicked  man,  in  the  year  1322, 
bled  copiously. — (Histoire  Camberon.,  Duaci.  ann. 
1602.) 

29. 

Our  Lady  of  Tongres,  in  the  diocese  of  Cam- 
bray.  This  image,  in  the  year  1081,  was  taken 
into  a  garden,  where  the  Bishop  of  Cambray 
erected  a  church. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  1602.) 

30. 

Our  Lady  of  Beaumont,  in  Lorraine,  between 
Domremy  and  Vaucouleurs.  Joan  of  Arc  very 
often  retired  into  this  church,  to  commend  the 
affairs  of  France  to  the  Queen  of  heaven  and  earth, 
who  ordered  her  to  take  up  arms  to  deliver  that 
kingdom. — (Triple  Couronne,  traite  3,  ch.  7.) 


OCTOBER. 

l. 

Foundation  of  the  Abbey  de  la  Couronne,  of  the 
order  of  St.  Augustin,  in  the  diocese  of  Angou- 
16me,  under  the  title  of  Our  Lady,  by  Lambert, 
who  was  its  first  abbot,  in  the  year  1122. — (Gallia 
Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Assumption,  at  Naples,  built 
by  the  canonesses  regular  of  St.  Augustine,  out  of 
gratitude  for  the  favor  which  the  Mother  of  God 
did  them,  by  warning  them  to  leave  a  house  which 
fell  down  as  soon  as  they  were  gone  out  of  it.— 
(Triple  Couronne,  n.  42.) 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


404 


3. 

Our  Lady  of  La  Place,  at  Rome.  This  image 
having  fallen  into  a  well  at  the  house  of  Cardinal 
Copocius,  in  the  year  1250,  the  water  swelled  up 
miraculously,  and  cast  out  the  image,  which  the 
cardinal  placed  in  his  chapel.  But  Pope  Innocent 
IV.  obliged  him  to  build  another  on  the  very  spot 
where  the  miracle  had  occurred.  This  chapel  hav¬ 
ing  been  given  to  the  Servites,  they  have  erected  a 
fine  church,  in  which  the  well  is  enclosed. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  100.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  Vaussivieres,  on  the  mountains  of 
Auvergne,  near  Mont  d’Or,  where  there  is  an 
image  which  has  remained  miraculously  from  the 
ruins  of  Vaussivieres,  which  was  destroyed  by  the 
English  about  the  year  1374.  This  image  having 
been  transferred  to  the  Church  of  Besse,  was  found 
again  in  its  former  place. — (Duchene,  c.  9.) 

5. 

Our  Lady  of  Buch,  in  the  Pine  Mountains,  in 
Guienne.  The  sea  cast  this  image  upon  the  sands, 
while  St.  Thomas,  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  was 
praying  in  behalf  of  two  vessels  which  he  saw  in 
danger  of  perishing.  He  respectfully  received  this 
image  and  deposited  it  in  this  place,  in  a  small 
chapel  which  he  built  there. — (Florimond  Raymon, 
Histoire  des  Heresies,  liv.  i.) 

Saint  Mary’s  of  Jersey,  consecrated  in  the  year 
*  1320,  in  the  English  Channel. — (Chartrier  de  Cou- 
tances,  called  Le  Livre  Noir.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  de  la  Plebe,  in  the  marshes  of  Venice, 
built  in  the  year  1480.) 

7. 

Festival  of  the  Rosary,  instituted  by  Pope  Gre¬ 
gory  XIII.  in  the  year  1573,  in  consequence  of  the 
celebrated  victory  of  Lepanto,  gained  by  the  Chris¬ 
tians  over  the  Turks. — (Joseph  Stephan.,  Tract,  de 
Indulg.  Rosarii.) 

8. 

Our  Lady  of  Gifts,  at  Avignon.  The  tradition 


which  attributes  the  foundation  of  this  church  to 
St.  Martha,  reports  that  it  was  consecrated  by  our 
Lord  himself.  Afterwards,  having  been  demol¬ 
ished  by  the  Saracens,  it  was  repaired  by  the  Em¬ 
peror  Charlemagne. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  40.) 

9. 

In  the  year  723,  the  night  after  the  Saracen 
prince  had  unjustly  ordered  the  hand  of  St.  John 
Damascenus  to  be  cut  off,  Our  Lady  reunited  it 
miraculously  to  his  wrist,  after  this  faithful  ser¬ 
vant  had  prayed  to  her  for  it  with  the  design  of 
continuing  to  write  in  defence  of  holy  images. — 
(John,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  Life  of  St.  John 
Damascenus,  in  Surius.) 

10. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Cloister,  at  Besan9on.  The 
image  of  Our  Lady,  placed  in  the  Cloister  of  La 
Madeleine,  was  preserved  from  a  fire,  in  the  year 
1624,  though  the  niche  where  it  stood  was  reduced 
to  ashes. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  58.) 

11 

Our  Lady  the  White,  in  the  church  of  the  mon¬ 
astery  of  the  Feuillants,  at  Ouville,  in  the  district 
of  Caux.  This  image  is  much  venerated  in  the 
country. — (Archives  of  the  Monastery.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Faith,  in  the  country  of  Liege. 
This  image  was  found  by  a  carpenter  named  Gilles 
de  Wanlin,  in  the  year  1609,  who,  as  he  was  cut¬ 
ting  down  an  oak,  with  the  intention  of  making  a 
boat,  found  in  it,  enclosed  in  an  iron  grating,  an 
image  of  Our  Lady,  made  of  white  clay,  a  foot 
high,  which  was  placed  in  another  oak,  and  after¬ 
wards  in  a  church  which  was  built  on  the  very 
place  of  the  oak  which  had  borne  this  fair  fruit.— 
(Triple  Couronne,  n.  60.) 

13. 

Dedication  of  Clairvaux,  in  the  diocese  of 
Langres,  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  St.  Ber¬ 
nard  was  the  first  abbot  of  this  celebrated  monas¬ 
tery,  where  he  died  in  the  year  1153,  aged  sixty- 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN". 


405 


20. 


three  years.  Alphonsus  L,  King  of  Portugal,  in 
the  year  1142,  hound  himself  and  his  successors  to 
pay  every  year,  as  the  vassal  of  Our  Lady  of  Clair- 
vaux,  fifty  gold  maravedis. — (Cistercian  Chron¬ 
icle.) 

14. 

Our  Lady’  of  La  Pochette,  near  Geneva.  A 
shepherd  coming  up  to  a  bush,  where  he  heard  a 
plaintive  voice,  found  there  an  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  which  led  to  a  church  being  built 
there. — (Astolph,  Historia  universalis  B.  Marise 
Virginis.) 

15. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Terouenne,  in  the 
year  1131,  by  Milo,  its  thirteenth  bishop. — (Jacob 
Meyerus,  lib.  ii.,  Annal.  Flandrise.) 

16. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Milan,  by  Pope 
Martin  V.,  in  the  year  1417.  This  church  was 
built  in  1388  by  John  Galleas,  Duke  of  Milan. — 
(Philip  Bergomensis,  lib.  iv.,  Supl.  ann.  1388.) 

17. 

Dedication  of  the  Crypt  of  Our  Lady  of  Char¬ 
tres,  by  St.  Pontianus,  in  the  year  46.  Dedication 
of  the  Church  of  Citeaux,  in  the  diocese  of  Cha¬ 
lons,  under  the  title  of  Our  Lady. — (Sebastian 
Rouillard,  c.  4,  n.  4.) 

18. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Rheims,  built  by  St. 
Nicasius,  archbishop  of  that  city,  in  the  year  405. 
This  church  having  fallen  to  ruins,  was  rebuilt  by 
Ebo  and  Hincmar.  It  was  finished  in  the  year 
845. — (Flodoardus,  lib.  i.,  c.  6.) 

19. 

Dedication  of  the  Abbey  of  Royaumont,  under 
the  title  of  the  Holy  Cross  and  Our  Lady,  by 
John,  Archbishop  of  Mytilene,  in  the  year  1235. 
This  monastery  had  been  founded  by  St.  Louis,  in 
the  year  1 227. — (Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv.) 


Dedication  of  the  church  of  Pontigny,  four 
leagues  from  Auxerre,  under  the  title  of  Our 
Lady.  This  abbey  was  founded  in  1114  by  Thi- 
baud,  Count  of  Champagne. — (Angl.  Manriq.) 

21. 

Our  Lady  of  Talan,  near  Dijon.— (Ex  monu- 
mentis  Divion.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Under-ground,  half  a  league 
from  Grand  Cairo.  It  is  held  by  tradition  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  lived  for  some  years  in  this  subter¬ 
ranean  chapel. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  9.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  Consolation,  near  Honfleur.  This 
chapel  is  much  frequented;  two  children  have 
been  raised  to  life  there,  in  memory  of  which  their 
figures  are  there  in  silver. — (Archives  of  the  place.) 

24. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Hermits,  in  Switzerland,  where 
there  was  formerly  a  small  hermitage  in  the  midst 
of  woods  occupied  by  St.  Meinrad,  till  the  Em¬ 
peror  Otho  built  a  church  there,  in  compliance 
with  an  order  which  he  received  from  heaven. 
This  chui'ch  contains  a  small  chapel  of  Our  Lady, 
which  was  consecrated,  it  is  said,  in  the  year  1418, 
by  Our  Lord,  accompanied  by  angels  and  saints, 
who  performed  the  functions  of  ordinary  ministers 
of  the  church,  in  presence  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. — 
(Triple  Couronne,  n.  84.) 

25. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Toledo,  in  Spain, 
about  the  year  1075,  by  Bernard,  archbishop  of  that 
city.  This  cathedral  has  a  revenue  of  more  than 
300,000  livres. — (John  Mariana,  lib.  ix.,  c.  18.) 

26. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Victory,  near  Senlis, 
in  the  year  1225,  by  Guarin,  Bishop  of  Senlis,  and 
Chancellor  of  France.  This  abbey  was  built  by 


406 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


Philip  Augustus,  in  thanksgiving  for  the  victory 
which  he  gained  over  the  Emperor  Otho  IV.,  at 
Bouvines,  in  the  year  214. — (Carta  Tabularis  de 
Victoria.) 

27. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Basilla,  in  Lombardy,  beyond 
the  Po,  where  there  is  a  church  built  by  the  express 
order  of  Our  Lady. — (Albert.  Leander,  Descriptio 
Italise.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Vivonne,  in  Savoy,  where  a  mira¬ 
culous  image  is  venerated,  which  was  found  by  a 
ploughman.  This  statue,  having  been  removed 
three  times  into  the  village  church,  was  always 
found  again  in  its  former  place,  which  necessitated 
the  building  of  a  church,  which  was  given  to  the 
Carmelites. — (Astolphus,  in  Histor.  univers.  imag. 
B.  Virg.) 

29.  * 

Our  Lady  of  Orope,  near  Bielle,  in  Savoy ;  this 
image,  of  cedar  wood,  six  feet  high,  is  in  a  chapel, 
which  St.  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Vercelli,  erected, 
about  the  year  380 ;  he  often  retired  thither  during 
the  troubles  caused  by  the  Arians. — (Triple  Cou- 
ronne,  n.  112.) 

30. 

Our  Lady  of  Mondevi,  at  Vic,  in  Piedmont, 
where  there  is  a  picture  which  a  tile-maker  had 
painted  on  a  brick  pillar,  which  he  had  erected  for 
that  purpose.  This  pillar  has  been  enclosed  in  a 
church,  where  the  miracles  which  are  wrought 
attract  a  great  concourse  of  people. — (History  of 
Mondevi,  c.  2.) 

31. 

In  the  year  1116,  an  altar  boy  having  fallen  into 
the  well  of  St.  Fort,  which  is  in  the  church  of 
Chartres,  was  saved  by  Our  Lady.  All  the  time 
that  he  was  in  the  well,  he  heard  the  angels  an¬ 
swering  the  public  prayers  which,  were  chanted  in 
the  church ;  whence  the  custom  arose  at  Chartres 
that  the  choir  never  answer  aloud  to  the  Dominus 


vobiscum,  chanted  at  high  mass  and  canonical 
hours. — (Sebastian  Rouillard,  Parthen.,  c.  6,  n.  14.) 


NOVEMBER. 

1. 

Feast  of  All  Saints,  instituted  in  honor  of  Our 
Lady  and  all  the  saints,  at  Rome,  by  Pope  Boni¬ 
face  IV.,  about  the  year  608,  and,  since,  in  all 
churches  of  Christendom,  by  Pope  Gregory  IV., 
about  the  year  829,  at  the  prayer  of  Louis  le  De- 
bonnaire,  who  made  a  decree  for  its  observance  in 
all  his  dominions. — (Baronius  on  the  Martyrologi- 
uni  Romanum.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Emmimont,  near  Abbeville.  This 
church  is  much  visited  by  pilgrims.  —  (Antiq. 
d’  Abbev.,  lib.  i.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Rennes,  in  Brittany.  The  English 
having  made  a  mine  to  blow  up  the  town,  it  is 
said  that  the  candles  in  the  chapel  w'ere  found 
miraculously  lighted ;  the  bells  rung  of  themselves, 
and  the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  seen  to 
stretch  out  its  arms  towards  the  middle  of  the 
church,  where  the  mine  was,  which  by  that  means 
was  discovered. — (Triple  Couronne,  Trait.  3,  c.  7 
and  8.) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  Port  Louisa,  at  Mila'n.  Tradition 
reports  that  this  image  received  one  day  the  homage 
of  two  angels,  whom  several  persons  saw  bending 
the  knee  before  it. — (Astolphus,  ex  Hist,  universal, 
imag.  B.  Virgin.) 

5. 

Our  Lady  of  Damietta,  in  Egypt.  This  church 
was  consecrated  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
in  the  year  1220,  by  Pelagius,  apostolic  legate.— 
(iEmilius,  in  Philippo.) 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN .  407 


6. 

Our  Lady  of  Valfleurie,  seven  leagues  from 
Lyons.  This  church  is  so  called,  because  the 
image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  the  high  altar  was 
found  by  shepherds  in  some  broom,  which  had 
flowered  about  the  feast  of  Christmas. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  47.) 

7. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Pond,  near  Dijon.  This  image 
of  baked  earth  was  discovered  in  the  year  1531,  on 
occasion  of  an  ox  stopping  always  in  this  place, 
and  though  he  grazed  there  constantly,  the  grass 
was  always  found  still  more  abundant. — (Ibid., 
n.  42.) 

8. 

Our  Lady  of  Belle  Fontaine,  in  the  diocese  of 
La  Rochelle.  This  image  has  been  honored  from 
time  immemorial. — (Archives  of  the  Abbey.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  Good-Succor,  in  Perch e,  near  Rou- 
malard.  This  church  is  much  frequented  by  per¬ 
sons  who  are  in  affliction. — (Triple  Couronne,  n. 
52.) 

10. 

In  the  year  1552,  Our  Lady  of  Loretto  healed 
of  an  incurable  malady  a  Turkish  pacha,  who  was 
persuaded  by  one  of  his  slaves,  who  was  a  Chris¬ 
tian,  to  have  recourse  to  the  Blessed  Virgin ;  this 
Mohammedan  believed  him,  and  promised  to  give 
him  his  liberty,  if  Our  Lady  cured  him.  Having 
recovered  his  health,  he  sent  several  presents  to 
the  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto,  and,  among 
others,  his  bow  and  quiver. — (Tursellini,  Hist. 
Lauret,  lib.  iii.,  c.  18.) 

11. 

On  this  day,  about  the  year  1546,  the  Portuguese 
gained  a  great  victory  over  the  infidels,  who  had 
been  before  the  castle  of  Die,  in  the  East  Indies, 
for  the  space  of  seven  months,  and  who  would 
have  carried  it  by  storm,  if  Our  Lady  had  not  ap¬ 
peared  upon  the  walls ;  which  caused  so  great  ter¬ 


ror  in  the  enemy’s  camp,  that  the  siege  was  at  once 
raised. — (Balingham  on  the  Calendar.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Tower,  at  Fribourg,  built  on 
the  lands  of  the  heretics,  on  the  very  spot  where 
an  image  of  Our  Lady  had  been  found. — (Triple 
Couronne,  n.  85.) 

13. 

Dedication  of  the  Abbey  of  Bee,  in  Normandy, 
in  the  year  1077,  by  Lanfranc,  Archbishop  of  Can¬ 
terbury.  This  abbey  of  Benedictines  was  founded 
about  the  year  1045  by  Herluin,  who  was  its  first 
abbot. — (Gulielmus  Gemitieensis,  lib.  vi.  de  ducib. 
Norman.,  cap.  9.) 

14. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Grotto,  in  the  diocese  of  La- 
mego,  in  Portugal.  This  chapel  was  cut  in  the 
rock,  in  the  same  place  where  an  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  had  been  found. — (Vasconcellius, 
in  Descriptio  regni  Lusitan.) 

15. 

Our  Lady  of  Pignerol,  built  in  honor  of  the  As¬ 
sumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  about  the  year 
1098,  by  Adelaide,  Countess  of  Savoy.— (Archives 
of  the  Place.) 

16. 

Our  Lady  of  Chieves,  in  Hainault,  where,  in  the 
year  1130,  the  lady  of  the  place,  named  Ida,  had 
a  chapel  built  near  a  fountain  where  an  image  of 
Our  Lady  had  been  found,  which  has  since  wrought 
many  miracles. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  62.) 

17. 

Institution  of  the  confraternity  of  Our  Lady  of 
Sion,  at  Nancy,  in  Lorraine,  in  the  year  1393,  by 
Ferri  of  Lorraine,  Count  of  Vaudemont. — (Ibid., 
n.  66.) 

18. 

Our  Lady  of  Bourdieux,  near  Bourges.  This 
|  abbey  of  Benedictines  was  built  in  the  year  928, 


408 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


by  Ebbo,  the  Lord  of  Berry. — (Bzovius,  ad  ann. 
928.) 

19. 

Our  Lady  of  Good  Tidings,  in  the  Abbey  of  St. 
Victor,  which  was  visited  every  Saturday,  by  Mary 
of  Medicis.  The  abbey  was  founded  in  1113  by 
Louis  the  Large. — (Ex.  Archiv.  S.  Victoris  Pari- 
siensis.) 

20. 

Our  Lady  of  La  Gardia,  near  Bologna,  in  Italy. 
This  picture  was  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Sophia, 
at  Constantinople,  with  this  inscription :  “  This 
picture,  painted  by  St.  Luke,  must  be  taken  to  the 
mountain  of  La  Gardia,  and  placed  over  the  altar 
of  the  church.”  A  Greek  monk  set  out  for  Italy 
about  the  year  433,  with  the  picture  entrusted  to 
him,  and  deposited  it  on  the  mountain  of  La 
Gardia. — (Bzovius,  ad  ann.  1433,  n.  379.) 

21. 

Presentation  of  Our  Lady.  This  feast  was  in¬ 
stituted  in  the  Greek  Church  more  than  nine  hun¬ 
dred  years  ago,  since  St.  Germanus,  who  held  the 
see  of  Constantinople  in  the  year  715,  composed  a 
sermon  upon  it. — (Baronius,  Notes  to  the  Mar- 
tyrology.) 

22. 

Institution  of  the  Confraternity  of  the  Presenta¬ 
tion  of  Our  Lady,  at  St.  Omer’s,  in  the  year  1481. 
— (Adalardus  Tassart,  in  Chron.,  ad  ann.  1481.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Vault,  near  the  town  of  St. 
Anastasia,  in  the  environs  of  Florence. — (Triple 
Cour.,  n.  102.) 

24. 

In  the  year  1535,  Our  Lady  of  Montserrat  re¬ 
stored  the  use  of  speech  to  a  Savoyard  who  had 
lost  it. — (History  of  Montserrat.) 

25. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Rock,  in  the  territory  of  Fie- 


zoli,  in  Tuscany.  This  image  is  placed  in  a  rock, 
where  two  shepherds  retired  to  pray;  Our  Lady 
ordered  them  to  build  a  church  in  this  place. — 
(Archangel.  Janius,  in  Annal.  PP.  Servitarum.) 

26. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Mountains,  in  Italy,  between 
the  Esquiline  and  Viminal  Hills.  This  image  was 
miraculously  found  in  the  year  1500. — (Triple 
Cour.,  n.  99.) 

27. 

Dedication  of  the  town  of  Lesina,  in  the  cam- 
pagna  of  Rome.  This  town  was  given  to  Our 
Lady  in  the  year  1400,  by  Margaret,  Queen  of  Po¬ 
land,  and  mother  of  Ladislas. — (Bzovius,  liv.  ix. 
de  Signis  Ecclesiaa.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  in  England,  greatly 
honored  by  Edward  I.,  who,  as  he  was  playing  one 
day  at  chess,  rose  up  instinctively  from  his  seat, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  large  stone  became  loose  in 
the  roof,  and  fell  upon  the  chair  where  he  had 
been  sitting.  From  that  time  he  particularly  hon¬ 
ored  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham.— (Thomas  Wal¬ 
singham,  History  of  England  under  Edward  I.) 

29. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Crown,  at  Palermo,  so  called 
because  it  was  there  that  the  kings  of  Sicily  re¬ 
ceived  the  royal  crown,  as  holding  it  from  the 
Mother  of  God,  and  unwilling  to  wear  it  for  any 
but  her. — (Thom.  Facellus,  lib.  viii.  prioris  decad. 
de  rebus  Siculis.) 

30. 

Our  Lady  of  Genesta,  on  the  coast  of  Genoa,  in 
Italy.  A  poor  woman,  named  Petruccia,  under¬ 
took  to  build  this  church,  a  task  which  appeared 
to  every  one  impossible;  she  however  proceeded  to 
lay  the  corner  stone,  and  assured  every  one  that 
she  should  not  die  till  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St. 
Augustin  finished  this  work.  In  fact,  this  church 
was  found  miraculously  completed  a  short  time 
afterwards. — (Segninus,  in  his  Chronicle.) 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.  409 


DECEMBER. 

1. 

Our  Lady  of  Ratisbonne,  in  Bavaria,  founded 
by  Duke  Theodon,  after  receiving  baptism  from 
St.  Kupert,  Bishop  of  Salzburg  and  apostle  of  Ba¬ 
varia,  who  afterwards  consecrated  this  church. — 
(Canisius,  lib.  v.  de  Beata  Virgine.  cap.  25.) 

2. 

Our  Lady  of  Didinia,  in  Cappadocia,  before 
which  St.  Basil  besought  the  Blessed  Virgin  to 
remedy  the  disorders  caused  by  Julian  the  Apos¬ 
tate;  he  was  there  favored  with  an  apparition 
which  presaged  the  death  of  the  emperor. — (Baro- 
nius,  ad  ann.  303.) 

3. 

Our  Lady  of  Filerma,  near  Malta.  This  image 
having  remained  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Mark  of  Rhodes,  was  removed  into 
the  Church  of  St.  Catharine,  and  finally,  the 
knights  having  quitted  Rhodes,  it  was  placed  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  this  having  been 
entirely  burnt  down,  the  image  remained  entire. — 
(Triple  Couronne,  n.  91. ) 

4. 

Our  Lady  of  La  Chapelle,  at  Abbeville.  This 
church  was  built  about  the  year  1400,  on  a  small 
hill,  where  formerly  they  worshipped  idols. — (An- 
tiquites  d’Abbeville,  liv.  i.) 

5. 

In  the  year  1584  was  instituted  the  first  so¬ 
dality  of  Our  Lady  at  the  Jesuits’  college,  at 
Rome,  whence  is  derived  their  custom  of  establish¬ 
ing  it  in  all  their  houses. — (Balingham  on  the 
Calendar.) 

6. 

Our  Lady  of  Fourviere,  at  Lyons,  on  the  moun¬ 
tain,  famous  for  miracles,  and  for  the  extraordinary 
concourse  of  the  people  of  that  great  city,  particu¬ 
larly  on  all  Saturdays. 

52 


7. 

On  this  day,  a  Sunday,  in  the  year  1550,  the 
canonesses  of  Our  Lady  of  Paris  being  in  proces¬ 
sion  before  the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which 
is  near  the  door  of  the  choir,  a  heretic  from  Lor¬ 
raine,  breaking  through  the  crowd,  sword  in  hand, 
sought  to  strike  that  image,  but  he  was  prevented 
by  those  present,  and  on  the  Thursday  following, 
he  was  executed  before  the  porch  of  Our  Lady. — 
(Du  Breuil,  Antiq.  de  Paris,  liv.  i.) 

8. 

The  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This 
festival  began  in  the  East,  more  than  nine  hundred 
years  ago,  since  mention  is  made  of  it  by  St.  John 
Damascene,  who  lived  in  721.  It  was  instituted  in 
England  in  the  year  1100  by  St.  Anselm,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Canterbury;  afterwards  in  the  diocese 
of  Lyons,  in  the  year  1145  ;  and  finally,  Sixtus  IV. 
commanded,  in  the  year  1576,  the  celebration  of  it 
throughout  Christendom.  —  (Molanus,  Notes  to 
Usuard.) 

9. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Conception,  at  Naples,  so  called 
because,  in  the  year  1618,  the  viceroy,  with  all  his 
court,  and  the  soldiery  of  Naples,  made  a  vow,  in 
the  church  of  Our  Lady  the  Great,  to  believe  and 
defend  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. — (Triple  Couronne,  n.  43.) 

10. 

Institution  of  nuns  of  the  Conception  of  Our 
Lady,  by  Beatrice  de  Sylva,  to  whom  it  is  said  that 
Our  Lady  appeared  in  the  year  1484,  clothed  with 
a  white  robe  and  a  scapular  of  the  same  color,  with 
a  blue  mantle.  Beatrice,  sister  of  Blessed  Amadeus, 
adopted  this  habit  for  her  order,  which  was  approv¬ 
ed  by  Innocent  VIII.,  under  the  rule  of  Citeaux. 
— (Vasconcellius,  in  Descriptione  regni  Lusitanias.) 

11. 

Our  Lady  of  Angels,  in  the  forest  of  Livry,  four 
leagues  from  Paris.  Three  merchants  of  Anjou 
having  been  ill-treated  in  1212  in  this  forest,  by 


410 


HISTORICAL  CALENDAR  OF 


robbers  who  tied  them  to  trees,  intending  to  leave 
them  there  to  die,  had  recourse  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  who  immediately  sent  to  them  three  angels  to 
restore  them  to  liberty.  After  this  miracle,  several 
more  were  wrought,  which  made  this  chapel  very 
celebrated. — (Registers  of  the  Abbey  of  Livry.) 

12. 

Our  Lady  of  Good  Tidings,  at  Abbeville.  This 
little  chapel,  which  is  in  St.  Peter’s  priory,  has  al¬ 
ways  been  much  frequented. — (Antiquites  d’ Abbe¬ 
ville,  liv.  i.) 

13. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Holy  Chapel,  at  Paris.  This 
image,  which  is  under  the  portal  of  the  lower  Holy 
Chapel  has  wrought  many  miracles. 

14. 

Our  Lady  of  Alba  Regia,  in  Hungary,  was  built 
by  St.  Stephen,  King  of  Hungary,  who  had  given 
his  kingdom  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. — (John  Boni- 
facius,  Historia  Virginis,  lib.  ii.,  c.  i.) 

15. 

Octave  of  the  Conception  of  Our  Lady,  insti¬ 
tuted  by  Pope  Sixtus  IV. — (Bullarium.) 

16. 

Institution  of  the  celebrated  confraternity  of 
Our  Lady  of  Good  Deliverance,  in  the  Church  of 
St.  Stephen  des  Gres,  at  Paris,  about  the  year  1533, 
to  which  Gregory  XIII.  granted  ample  indulgences 
in  the  year  1538. 

17. 

Our  Lady  of  Amiens,  the  cathedral.  This  church 
had  for  its  first  bishop  St.  Firmin,  who  received 
the  crown  of  martyrdom  during  the  persecution  of 
Diocletian.  A  part  of  the  head  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist  is  seen  in  this  church,  which  a  traveller, 
named  Galo,  brought  thither  on  his  return  from 
Constantinople,  in  the  year  1205. — (Locrius,  Marise 
Auguste,  lib.  iv.,  c.  59.) 


18. 

Dedication  of  Our  Lady  of  Marseilles,  by  St. 
Lazarus,  in  presence  of  his  two  sisters,  Mary  Mag¬ 
dalen  and  Martha,  and  of  three  holy  prelates — 
Maximus,  Trophimus,  and  Eutropius. — (Canisius, 
lib.  v.,  Moral.) 

19. 

In  the  year  657, ISt.  Ildefonsus,  Archbishop  of 
Toledo,  was  saying  matins ;  Our  Lady,  it  is  said, 
appeared  to  him,  accompanied  by  a  great  number 
of  the  blessed,  and  holding  in  her  hand  the  book 
which  he  had  composed  in  her  honor,  she  thank¬ 
ed  him  for  it,  and  out  of  gratitude  gave  him  a 
white  chasuble.  This  celestial  present  is  still  pre¬ 
served  at  Oviedo,  Alphonsus  the  Chaste,  King  of 
Castile,  having  solemnly  transferred  it  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Saviour,  which  he  had  built. — 
(Baronius,  ad  ann.  657,  n.  42.) 

20. 

The  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  of  Moleme,  of  the  order 
of  St.  Benedict,  in  the  diocese  of  Langres,  was 
founded  on  this  day,  in  the  year  1075,  by  St. 
Robert,  who  was  its  abbot.  —  (Gallia  Christiana, 
t.  iv.) 

21. 

Foundation  of  St.  Acheul,  near  Amiens,  under 
the  title  of  Our  Lady,  by  St.  Firmin,  first  bishop 
of  that  city. — (Archives  of  St.  Acheul.) 

22. 

Our  Lady  of  Chartres  in  Beauce.  This  church, 
built  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  after  being  several 
times  demolished,  was  rebuilt  in  its  present  form 
by  St.  Fulbert,  fifty-fifth  bishop  of  Chartres. — 
(Sebastien  Rouillard,  Parthen.,  c.  5.) 

23. 

Our  Lady  of  the  Ardilliers,  at  Saumur,  in  An¬ 
jou.  Its  name  is  illustrious  throughout  France,  as 
well  on  account  of  the  crowds  of  people  who  were 
attracted  thither,  as  from  a  fountain  which  cured 
many  maladies.  This  image  represents  Our  Lady 


FEASTS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


411 


of  Pity  holding  in  her  arms  her  lifeless  Son, 
whose  head  is  supported  by  an  angel. — (Locrius, 
Marise  August*,  lib.  iy.,  c.  60.) 

24.  • 

Celebration  of  the  virginal  marriage  of  Our  Lady 
and  St.  Joseph,  kept  as  a  festival  for  a  long  time  at 
Sens  and  in  several  churches  of  France. — (Saussey, 
Martyrologium  Gallicum.) 

25. 

On  this  day,  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  the  Bless¬ 
ed  Virgin  brought  forth  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
in  the  stable  of  Bethlehem,  where  a  fountain 
sprung  up  miraculously  on  the  same  day. — (Baro- 
nius,  Apparat.  ad  Annal.) 

26. 

Institution  of  the  confraternity  of  the  Concep¬ 
tion  of  Our  Lady,  at  the  Great  Augustinian  Con¬ 
vent,  at  Paris,  in  the  year  1443,  where  there  have 
been  ample  indulgences  granted  since,  by  Pope 
Innocent  III. — (Du  Breuil,  Antiquites,  lib.  ii.) 

'27. 

Institution  of  the  order  of  Knights  of  Our 
Lady,  in  the  year  1370,  by  Louis  II.,  Duke  of  Bour¬ 
bon. — (Andrew  Favin,  lib.  viii.,  Histoire  de  Na¬ 
varre,  and  Theatre  d’Honneur,  lib.  iii.) 

28. 

Our  Lady  of  Pontoise,  seven  leagues  from  Paris. 
This  image,  which  stands  in  the  front  of  the 
church  of  the  suburb  of  this  town,  towards- Bo uen, 
is  celebrated  for  the  miracles  which  are  wrought 
there.— (Archives  of  the  church.) 


29. 

Our  Lady  of  Spire,  in  Germany.  St.  Bernard, 
entering  this  church  on  the  29th  of  December, 
1146,  was  honorably  received  there  by  the  canons, 
who  conducted  him  to  the  choir,  singing  the 
“Salve  Begina.”  At  the.  close  of  the  antiphon, 
St.  Bernard  saluted  the  image  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  in  these  terms :  “  0  clemens,  0  pia,  0  dulcis 
Virgo  Maria !  ”  and  it  is  said  that  she  answered : 
“Salve  Bernarde!”  The  words  of  this  saint  to 
the  image  are  seen  engraved  in  a  circle  on  the 
pavement  of  the  church,  on  the  same  spot  where 
he  pronounced  them,  and  they  have  since  been 
added  to  the  “Salve  Begina,”  which  was  composed 
in  the  year  1040,  by  Herman,  surnamed  Contrac¬ 
tus,  a  Benedictine  monk.  —  (Angelus  Manrique, 
annals  of  the  Cistercians,  year  1146,  c.  10,  etc.) 

30. 

St.  Mary’s  of  Boulogne,  in  Picardy.  This  church 
was  founded  by  the  hermits  of  St.  Augustine  in 
the  year  1159 ;  it  was  pillaged  by  Henry  VIII., 
King  of  England,  in  the  year  1544,  secularized 
and  made  a  cathedral  in  the  year  1559,  according 
to  Locrius. — (Gallia  Christiana,  t.  iv.) 

31. 

About  a  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  our 
Saviour,  the  image  of  Our  Lady  of  Chartres, 
which  the  Druids  had  consecrated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  who  was  to  be  a  mother,  raised  to  life  the 
son  of  Geolfry,  king  or  prince  of  Montlhery,  who, 
having  fallen  into  a  well,  had  been  found  dead ; 
out  of  gratitude  for  this  favor,  he  made  several 
presents  to  this  image,  as  the  history  of  this  mira¬ 
cle  attests,  which  is  represented  in  the  stained 
glass  of  the  great  church. — (Sebastien  Bouillard, 
Parthen.,  c.  iii.) 


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DEVOTION  TO  THE 

BLESSED  VIBGrEST  IN  IRELAND. 

T.  PATRICK  began  his  mission  in 

* 

\ 

excellence,  so  that  among  his  earliest  con- 

wJ/  the  most  western  portion  of  Europe, 

verts  were  virgins  who  consecrated  them- 

the  island  that  had  never  bowed  to  the  yoke 

selves  to  the  service  of  God,  and  taking 

of  Rome’s  legions,  at  a  moment  when  the 

Our  Blessed  Lady  as  their  model  and  pro- 

Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  had  received 

totype  sought  to  re-enact  in  their  lives  the 

a  new  impulse  throughout  the  Church.  The 

virtues  which  were  so  characteristic  of  her, 

daring  attack  of  Nestorius  on  the  honors 

and  must  ever  be  so  dear  to  her  heart.  The 

paid  to  the  Virgin  Mother  of  our  Lord, 

Apostle  of  Ireland  seems  almost  to  lack 

revealed  how  deeply  this  devotion  was  in- 

words  to  express  his  esteem  of  one  of  these 

terwoven  with  every  fibre  of  the  Catholic 

maiden  converts  and  early  children  of 

heart.  In  all  lands,  men  sought  to  increase 

Mary  in  Ireland,  evidently  of  highest  rank 

the  honors  paid  her,  and  missionaries  to 

and  adorned  with  all  mental  and  bodily 

pagan  lands  dwelt  with  renewed  fervor  on 

gifts,  who  renounced  all  to  follow  with  Mary 

her  exalted  merits  and  graces,  as  well  as 

our  Saviour’s  path  of  trial  and  obscurity.1 

on  the  immense  glory  with  which  her  divine 

Mary’s  name  became  a  prayer  on  the 

Son  had  crowned  her. 

lips  of  every  Irishwoman  and  so  remains 

St.  Patrick  from  the  first  impressed  on 

to  this  day.  The  very  novelists  who  write 

! 

his  hearers  among  the  natives  of  Ireland 

to  sneer  at  them,  bear  tribute  to  this  endur- 

the  beauty  of  holy  virginity,  and  held  up 

ing  devotion  to  Mary  which  characterizes 

Mary  as  the  type  and  model  of  all  female 

the  Irish,  for  they  make  them  constantly 

( ‘)  Et  etiam  una  benedicta  Scotta  genitiva,  no- 

— (St.  Patrick’s  Confession.  See  Sister  Mary  Clares 

bilis,  pulcherrima,  adulta,  erat  quam  ego  baptizavi. 

Life  of  St.  Patrick,  p.  601.) 

414 


DEVOTION"  TO  THE 


utter  the  word,  “  Wirrah,”  unconscious  that 
this  is  really  Muire,  the  name  of  Mary  in 
Irish.  To  her  they  fly  in  all  trouble  ;  to 
them  she  is  indeed  the  Comforter  of  the 
Afflicted,  the  Refuge  of  Sinners,  the  Help 
of  Christians.  The  domestic  salutation 
even  embraced  the  name  of  Mary.  To 
this  day,  in  speaking  Irish,  they  greet  each 
other  with  these  sweet  words :  “  God  and 
Mary  be  with  you  !  ”  and  the  reply  con¬ 
tains  it  as  well :  “  God  and  Mary  and 
Patrick.”1 

The  early  Irish,  on  becoming  Catholic, 
adopted  few  foreign  names  ;  the  Apostles, 
St.  Martin,  of  Tours,  stand  almost  alone, 
but  following  out  the  genius  of  their  own 
language  they  made  a  series  of  names  from 
Giolla  or  Maol,  client  or  servant,  many  of 
which  still  exist  as  family  names.  Gildea, 
Gilchrist,  Gillis,  are  Servants  of  God,  of 
Christ,  of  Jesus.  Giolla  Muire  and  Maol- 
muire  became  at  once  favorite  Irish  names, 
so  wide-spread  was  devotion  to  Mary.  The 
first  exists  as  Gilmary,  Gilmore,  Gilmuir ; 
the  latter  has  been  strangely  changed. 
These  names  were  latinized  when  necessary 
by  Marianus,  and  more  than  one  early 
Irish  writer  of  the  name  bore  to  the  conti¬ 
nent  his  stores  of  sacred  and  profane  learn¬ 
ing,  while  his  very  name  proclaimed  him  a 
servant  of  Mary. 

Several  churches  in  Ireland  dedicated  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  claim  to  have  been 
founded  by  the  great  apostle  of  the  nation 
himself.  The  Yellow  Tower  at  Trim,  as  an 
ancient  ruin  is  now  called,  which  is  really 
part  of  a  tall  steeple,  marks  the  site  of  a 


famous  abbey  said  to  have  been  founded  by 
St.  Patrick  and  dedicated  to  Our  Blessed 
Lady.3  But  the  Irish  soil  is  strewn  with 
ruins,  and  the  temporal  structures  raised  in 
honor  of  Mary,  have  perished  more  easily 
than  the  devotion  to  Our  Lady,  which  St. 
Patrick  and  his  fellow  missionaries  im¬ 
planted  in  the  hearts  of  the  first  converts, 
with  the  vital  truths  of  faith. 

A  nation  given  to  music  and  poetry  nat¬ 
urally  shaped  their  devotion  by  this  taste, 
and  hymns  to  Mary  are  among  the  earliest 
monuments  extant  in  the  Irish  language. 

Irish  poems  rhyme  ;  those  of  Greece  and 
Rome  did  not,  and  the  earliest  Latin 
hymns  in  which  rhyme  enters,  are  admitted 
to  have  been  of  Irish  origin. 

Among  these  early  hymns  we  will  here 
insert  one  : 

HYMN  OF  ST.  CUCHUMNEUS. 

(sixth  century.) 

In  alternate  measure  chanting,  . 

Daily  sing  we  Mary’s  praise ; 

And  in  strains  of  glad  rejoicing 
To  the  Lord  our  voices  raise. 

With  a  two-fold  choir  repeating 
Mary’s  never-dying  fame, 

Let  each  ear  the  praises  gather 
Which  our  grateful  tongues  proclaim. 

Juda’s  ever  glorious  daughter, 

Chosen  mother  of  the  Lord, 

Who  to  weak  and  fallen  manhood, 

All  its  ancient  worth  restored. 

From  the  everlasting  Father, 

Gabriel  brought  the  glad  decree 

That  the  word  divine  conceiving, 

She  should  set  poor  sinners  free. 

Of  all  virgins  pure,  the  purest 
Ever  stainless,  ever  bright, 


( 1 )  Moran,  Essays  on  the  Early  Irish  Church, 
p.  239. 


(  2 )  Hall’s  Ireland,  ii.,  p.  376. 


j' 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


415 


Still  from  grace  to  grace  advancing. 

Fairest  daughter  of  the  light. 

"Wondrous  title !  who  shall  tell  it 
Whilst  the  Word  divine  she  bore; 

Though  in  mother’s  name  rejoicing, 

Virgin  purer  than  before  ! 

By  a  woman’s  disobedience, 

Eating  the  forbidden  tree, 

Was  the  world  betrayed  and  ruined, 

Was  by  woman’s  aid  set  free. 

In  mysterious  mode  a  mother, 

Mary  did  her  God  conceive. 

By  whose  grace,  through  saving  waters, 

Man  did  heavenly  truth  receive. 

By  no  empty  dreams  deluded, 

For  the  pearl  which  Mary  bore, 

Men,  all  earthly  wealth  resigning, 

Still  are  rich  for  ever  more. 

For  her  Son  a  seamless  tunic, 

Mary’s  careful  hand  did  weave : 

O’er  that  tunic  fiercely  gambling, 

Sinners  Mary’s  heart  did  grieve. 

Clad  in  helmet  of  salvation, 

Clad  in  breastplate  shining  bright. 

May  the  hand  of  Mary  guide  us 
To  the  realms  of  endless  light. 

Amen,  amen,  loudly  cry  we ; 

May  she  when  the  fight  is  won, 

O’er  avenging  fires  triumphing, 

Lead  us  safely  to  her  Son.1 
Holy  angels  gathering  round  us, 

Lo  His  saving  name  we  greet, 

Writ  in  books  of  life  eternal, 

May  we  still  that  name  repeat ! 

Another  very  ancient  Irish  hymn  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  by  its  very  title  shows  how 
intense  was  the  devotion  of  the  people  to 
the  Mother  of  God  :  a  warlike  nation  made 
it  a  breastplate. 

Professor  O’Carry  gave  part  of  it  in  one 

( 1 )  Mary  and  the  Virgin  Saints  sit  around  the 
Lord  God  giving  him  praise  and  glory,  and  pray¬ 
ing  for  the  souls  in  trouble.  St.  Adamnan’s  Vision. 


of  the  last  lectures  which  he  delivered  be¬ 
fore  the  Catholic  University.  He  assigns 
it  a  date  anterior  to  the  English  invasion  : 

THE  PROTECTING  CORSLET  OF  MARY. 
Direct  me  how  to  praise  thee, 

Though  I  am  not  a  master  of  poetry, 

0  thou,  of  the  angelic  countenance  without  fault, 
Thou  hast  given  the  milk  of  thy  breast  to 
save  me. 

I  offer  myself  under  thy  protection, 

0  loving  mother  of  the  only  Son  ; 

And  under  thy  protecting  shield  I  place  my  body, 
My  heart,  my  will,  and  my  understanding. 

I  am  a  sinner  full  of  faults, 

I  beseech  of  thee  and  pray  thee  do  it, 

0  woman,  physician  of  the  miserable  diseases 
Behold  the  many  ulcers  of  my  soul. 

0  temple  of  the  three  Persons, 

Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 

I  invoke  thee  to  come  to  visit  me 
At  the  hour  of  my  judgment  and  of  my  death. 

0  queen,  to  whom  it  hath  been  granted  by  the 
King, 

The  Eternal  Father,  out  of  the  abundance  of 
his  love, 

As  inheritance,  to  be  the  mother, 

I  implore  thy  assistance  to  save  me. 

0  vessel,  who  carried  the  lamp 
More  luminous  than  the  sun, 

Draw  me  under  thy  shelter  into  the  harbor 
Out  of  the  transitory  ship  of  the  world. 

0  flower  of  beauty,  0  mother  of  Christ, 

0  lover  of  peace  and  mildness, 

I  pray  thee  hear  me :  May  it  ne’er  occur  to  me 
In  any  trial  to  forsake  thee. 

0  queen,  who  refuseth  not  any  person 
Who  is  pure  in  his  deeds,  morals,  actions, 
Beseech  thou  Christ  to  put  me 

(From  the  wily  demons)  amidst  the  saints. 


416  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


0  queen  of  the  saints,  of  the  virgins,  of  the  angels, 

0  honeycomb  of  eternal  life, 

All-surpassing  power,  presumptuous  valor, 

Goes  not  far  without  thee. 

I  am  under  thy  shelter  amidst  the  brave, 

0  protecting  shield,  without  being  injured  by 
their  blows, 

0  holy  Mary,  if  thou  wilt  hear  thy  suppliant, 

I  put  myself  under  the  shelter  of  thy  shield. 

When  falling  in  the  slippery  path 

Thou  art  my  smooth  supporting  handstaff, 

0  virgin  from  the  southern  clime, 

May  1  go  to  heaven  to  visit  thee. 

There  is  no  hound  in  fleetness,  or  in  chase, 
Northwind  or  rapid  river ; 

As  quick  as  the  mother  of  Christ  to  the  bed  of 
death, 

To  those  who  are  entitled  to  her  kindly  pro¬ 
tection. 

0  heart  without  sin,  0  bosom  without  guile, 

0  virgin  woman  who  had  chosen  sanctity, 

In  thee  I  place  my  hope  of  salvation 
From  the  eternal  torture  of  the  pain. 

0  Mary,  gentle,  beautiful, 

0  meekness,  mild  and  modest, 

I  weary  not  invoking  thee  : 

Thou  art  my  guarding  staff  in  danger. 

Turn  thine  eye,  0  woman  friend, 

Upon  the  distressed  nobles  of  Erin, 

To  them  restore  (the  happiness  of)  their  lives, 
And  obtain  for  them  from  the  Eternal  Father; 

Every  sinner  who  has  fallen  into  trouble, 

Of  their  number,  and  is  in  need  of  succor, 
Redeem  them,  0  virgin  woman, 

They  are  in  misery  until  thou  do  it. 

To  the  true  faith  without  dissimulation, 

May  the  kings  of  the  world  be  obedient, 
Through  the  invocation  of  Mary,  which  is  not 
weak, 

And  may  they  renounce  the  false  religion. 


To  those  who  are  in  the  pit  of  pain  in  fire, 
Whose  portion  is  of  evil. 

Deign  thy  relief  to  them,  0  Mary, 

And  Amen  say,  0  cleric. 

This  hymn,  to  which  some  additions  may 
have  been  made  in  the  latter  stanzas,  is 
still  sung  in  some  families,  where  the  tradi¬ 
tion  of  the  faith  has  remained  strong. 

How  highly  it  was  esteemed  is  evident 
from  the  following  metrical  commendation 
of  it,  taken  from  an  ancient  manuscript  in 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy  : 

Every  woman  sick  in  childbirth, 

If  she  has  this  or  that  it  be  read  for  her, 

She  will  get  relief  by  the  grace  of  God, 

And  of  Mary,  Mother  of  the  only  Son. 

Going  to  a  sea  voyage, 

Or  going  to  a  singlehanded  combat, 
Whosoever  of  the  two  hath  justice  on  his  side 
Shall  return  alive  without  danger. 

Every  person  who  recites  it  from  memory, 
And  hears  it  with  due  reverence, 

And  with  sweet  devotion  to  Mary, 

Shall  get  relief  and  protection. 

When  you  are  rising  in  the  morning, 

And  when  going  into  bed,  recite  it ; 

And  you  shall  have  Mary  as  your  friend 
To  redress  all  your  grievances. 

A  house  is  seldom  burned 

Which  is  under  the  protection  of  the  shield 

Of  the  Virgin  Mary, 

If  appropriate  reverence  be  given  to  her. 

Many  are  the  countless  virtues 

Of  the  protecting  shield  corslet  of  Mary, 

If  we  be  in  the  state  of  grace 

And  pray  to  her  at  all  times  with  devotion.1 

( 1 )  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Record,  April,  18*0, 
pp.  320-2. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


But  the  monuments  of  the  primitive  de¬ 
votion  in  Ireland  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  are 
not  confined  to  these  Irish  hymns,  sung 
only  in  the  churches  and  household  ora¬ 
tories  of  the  land.  Erin  gave  the  universal 
church  one  of  the  earliest  Christian  poets, 
who  employed  the.  muse  of  Virgil  and  Ovid 
to  serve  the  cause  of  the  living  God.  The 
poems  of  Sheil,  an  Irish  poet,  whose  name 
was  latinized  as  Sedulius,  were  received 
with  enthusiastic  applause,  and  have  been 
frequently  reprinted  in  modern  times.  So 
devout  was  he  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  so 
often  did  the  holy  daughter  of  David,  her¬ 
self  the  noblest  poetess  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  inspire  the  muse  of  Sheil  that  his 
hymns  in  honor  of  Mary  formed  a  treasure 
whence  the  whole  church  drew  hymns  to 
give  grace  and  majestic  beauty  to  the 
offices  of  the  church. 

His  Carmen  Paschale  attests,  too,  the 
early  belief  in  the  Immaculate  Conception 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  : 

Et  velut  e  spinis,  mollis  rosa  surgit  acuta 
Nil  quod  laedat  habeas,  matremque  obscurat  ho- 
uore ; 

Sic  Evae  de  stirpe  sacra  veniente  Maria 
Virginis  antiquae  facinus  nova  Virgo  piaret, 

Ut  quoniam  natura  prior  vitiata  jacebat 
Sub  ditione  necis,  Christo  nascente  renasci 
Posset  homo  et  veteris  maculam  deponere  carnis. 

Which  have  been  thus  translated : 

Safe  from  the  rugged  thorn  springs  up  the  tender 
rose, 

In  honor  hides  the  parent  stem,  in  beauty’s  soft¬ 
ness  grows ; 

So  from  the  sinful  stem  of  Eve,  all  sinless  Mary 
came 

To  cover  and  expiate  her  mother’s  deed  of  shame. 

53 


417 


That  though  so  long  had  nature  lain  beneat’. 
death’s  baleful  sway, 

Yet  now  with  Christ’s  nativity,  risen  man  might 
purge  old  sin  away.1 

But  of  his  hymns,  the  most  famous  and 
universally  known  throughout  the  church 
is  that  beginning : 

Salve  sancte  parens!  enixa  puerpera  regem 
Qui  ccelum  terramque  tenet  per  ssecula,  cujus 
Numen  et  seterno  complectens  omnia  gyro, 
Imperium  sine  fine  manet,  quae  ventre  beato. 
Gaudia  matris  habens  cum  virginitatis  honore, 

Nec  primam  similem  visa  es,  nec  habere  sequentem 
Sola  sine  exemplo  placuisti  femina  Christo. 

These  words  have  been  hallowed  by  their 
universal  use  throughout  the  church,  and 
may  be  translated:  “Hail  holy  mother, 
who  hast  given  birth  to  the  Almighty  King, 
who  rules  the  heavens  and  the  earth  for  all 
eternity,  whose  divine  power  and  sway 
compassing  all  things  in  an  eternally  fixed 
limit,  remains  without  end.  In  thy  blessed 
womb  thou  didst  unite  the  joys  of  mother¬ 
hood  with  the  honor  of  virginity :  none  has 
hitherto  been  like  to  thee  ;  nor  shall  here¬ 
after  any  such  be  found  ;  thou  alone  above 
all  others  hast  been  beloved  by  Christ.” 

The  Litany  as  a  form  of  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  is  very  probably  of  Irish 
origin,  and  like  the  rhymed  hymn  came 
from  the  Isle  of  Saints  to  the  continent  to 
be  adopted  in  all  lands. 

The  oldest  known  litany  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  is  one  which  the  most  competent 
antiquarians  and  critics  ascribe  to  as  early 
a  date  as  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century. 

( 1 )  See  Rev.  M.  Tormey,  Essay  on  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Conception,  p.  93  ;  Moran,  Essays  on  the  Early 
Irish  Church,  p.  234. 


418 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


This  beautiful  litany  now  once  more  cir¬ 
culating  among  the  faithful  of  Ireland,  is 
encouraged  by  Pope  Pius  IX.,  who  has  be¬ 
stowed  an  indulgence  on  those  who  recite  it. 

LITANY. 

0  great  Mary ! 

0  Mary,  greatest  of  Maries  ! 

0  greatest  of  women ! 

0  queen  of  angels ! 

0  mistress  of  the  heavens ! 

0  woman  full  and  replete  with  the  grace 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ! 

0  blessed  and  most  blessed ! 

0  mother  of  eternal  glory ! 

O  mother  of  the  heavenly  and  earthly 
church! 

0  mother  of  love  and  indulgence ! 

O  mother  of  the  golden  heights ! 

0  honor  of  the  sky ! 

0  sign  of  tranquillity  ! 

0  gate  of  heaven  ! 

0  golden  casket ! 

0  couch  of  love  and  mercy ! 

0  temple  of  the  divinity ! 

0  beauty  of  virgins ! 

0  mistress  of  the  tribes ! 

0  fountain  of  the  parterres ! 

0  cleansing  of  the  sins ! 

0  washing  of  the  souls  ! 

0  mother  of  the  orphans ! 

0  breast  of  the  infants  ? 

0  solace  of  the  wretched ! 

0  star  of  the  sea ! 

0  handmaid  of  God ! 

0  mother  of  Christ ! 

0  resort  of  the  Lord ! 

0  graceful  like  the  dove ! 

0  serene  like  the  moon ! 


0  resplendent  like  the  sun ! 

0  destruction  of  Eve’s  disgrace ! 

0  regeneration  of  life ! 

0  beauty  of  woman ! 

0  chief  of  the  virgins ! 

0  enclosed  garden ! 

O  closely  locked  fountain ! 

0  mother  of  God ! 

0  perpetual  virgin ! 

0  prudent  virgin ! 

0  serene  virgin ! 

0  chaste  virgin ! 

0  temple  of  the  living  God ! 

0  royal  throne  of  the  eternal  king ! 

0  sanctuary  of  the  Holy  Spirit ! 

0  virgin  of  the  root  of  Jesse! 

0  cedar  of  Mount  Lebanon  ! 

0  cypress  of  Mount  Sion  ! 

0  crimson  rose  of  the  land  of  Jacob ! 

0  blooming  like  the  olive-tree  ! 

0  glorious  son  bearer ! 

0  light  of  Nazareth ! 

0  glory  ©f  Jerusalem ! 

0  beauty  of  the  worlds ! 

0  noblest  born  of  the  Christian  flock ! 

0  queen  of  life  ! 

0  ladder  of  heaven,  hear  the  petition  of 
the  poor,  spurn  not  the  wounds  and  the 
groans  of  the  miserable. 

Let  our  devotion  and  our  sighs  be  carried 
through  thee  to  the  presence  of  the  Creator, 
for  we  are  not  ourselves  worthy  of  being 
heard,  because  of  our  evil  deserts. 

0  powerful  mistress  of  heaven  and  earth, 
dissolve  our  trespasses  and  our  sins ;  de¬ 
stroy  our  wickedness  and  our  corruptions  ; 
raise  the  fallen,  the  debilitated,  and  the 
fettered ;  loose  the  condemned ;  repair 
through  thyself  the  transgressions  of  our 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND.  419 

immoralities  and  our  vices  ;  bestow  upon 

riod,  the  Irish  Church  celebrated  the  Feast 

us  through  thyself  the  blossoms  and  orna- 

of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  as  is  attested 

ments  of  good  actions  and  virtues  ;  appease 

by  the  Metrical  Calendar  of  Aenghus  Ceile 

for  us  the  Judge  by  thy  voice  and  thy  sup- 

Dei,1  which  was  composed  before  the  year 

plications  ;  allow  us  not  to  be  carried  off 

800.  It  is  there  styled  “  The  Great  Festi- 

from  thee  among  the  spoils  of  our  enemies ; 

val  of  the  Blessed  Virgin and  the  Bol- 

allow  not  our  souls  to  be  condemned,  but 

landists  in  their  immense  Acta  Sanctorum 

take  us  to  thyself  forever,  under  thy  pro- 

give  a  prominent  place  under  that  early 

tection. 

day  in  the  month  of  Mary  to  the  honor 

We  beseech  and  pray  thee  further,  0 

thus  paid  her  in  the  primitive  Irish  Church. 

holy  Mary,  obtain  for  us  through  thy  great 

The  Festival  of  the  Visitation  of  the 

supplication,  from  thy  only  Son,  that  is, 

Blessed  Virgin,  so  dear  to  Saint  Francis  of 

Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God, 

Sales,  that  he  put  under  its  protecting  aegis 

that  God  may  defend  us  from  all  straits  and 

the  religious  order  of  women  which  he 

temptations ;  and  obtain  for  us  from  the 

founded  with  St.  Jane  Frances  de  Chantal, 

God  of  Creation,  that  we  all  obtain  from 

the  Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  St. 

Him,  the  forgiveness  and  remission  of  all 

Elizabeth,  was  celebrated  in  Ireland  on  the 

our  sins  and  trespasses,  and  we  may  obtain 

18th  of  December,  at  a  period  when  there 

from  Him  farther,  through  thy  supplication, 

is  no  trace  of  its  solemnization  in  the  con- 

the  perpetual  occupation  of  the  heavenly 

tinental  churches.8 

kingdom,  through  the  eternity  of  life,  in 

Churches  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Vir- 

the  presence  of  the  Saints  and  the  saintly 

gin  cover  the  soil  of  Ireland,  many  of 

Virgins  of  the  world  ;  which  may  we  de- 

them  dating  back  to  the  very  earliest  pe- 

serve,  may  we  occupy,  for  ever  and  ever. 

riod  of  Christianity,  ascribed  by  popular 

Amen.1 

tradition  to  St.  Patrick  and  his  immediate 

The  early  Irish  Church  observed  all  the 

successors.  They  were  not  Our  Lady  of 

great  festivals  of  Mary,  and  recent  re- 

Hope,  or  Succor,  or  Consolation ;  they  were 

searches  show  that  the  votaries  of  the 

simply  The  Blessed  Virgin  of  the  place, 

Blessed  Virgin  in  the  Clan-na-Gael  cele- 

and  under  that  simple  title  she  reaches  the 

brated  some  festivals  in  her  honor  which 

Irish  heart  with  a  power  peculiarly  its  own. 

were  not  common  on  the  continent  till  a 

To  them  she  was  ever  present  in  thought : 

much  later  date,  and  in  the  introduction  of 

in  no  other  land  was  there  ever  a  church 

which  further  investigation  may  trace  the 

reared  which  was  dedicated  “To  the  Son 

influence  of  the  zealous  Children  of  Mary 

of  the  Virgin.”  Yet  such  a  church  was 

sent  forth  by  the  Isle  of  Saints. 

erected  in  Ireland,  near  Bray,  and  it  still 

On  the  third  of  May,  in  the  earliest  pe- 

retains  the  name,  Kilmacanogue,  which  has 

( 1 )  See  Moran,  Essays  on  the  Early  Irish 

( 2 )  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  Dublin,  1857,  p. 

Church,  p.  228. 

yiii.  and  p.  27. 

DEVOTION  TO  THE 


420 


that  meaning  in  the  language  of  the  ancient 
Gael.  There  it  stands  amid  the  romantic 
scenery,  on  the  shore  of  the  channel  with 
the  bracing  air  of  the  sea  invigorating 
heart  and  limb. 

Another  Church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
dating  to  a  very  early  period,  is  that  now 
called  “  Our  Lady’s  Church,”  at  Glenda- 
lough,  one  of  the  seven  which  hallow  that 
romantic  spot,  and  which  like  the  others 
is  ascribed  to  St.  Kevin  as  its  founder. 
The  door  of  this  ancient  shrine  of  Mary 
consists  of  only  three  courses  of  hewn 
stone,  the  lintel  is  four  feet  six  inches  in 
length,  and  fourteen  inches  and  a  half  in 
depth.  The  door  is  six  feet  four  inches  in 
height,  two  feet  ten  inches  in  width  at  the 
bottom,  narrowing  slightly  so  that  it  is  four 
inches  less  in  width  at  the  top.  A  kind  of 
architrave  is  worked  around  the  door,  six 
inches  broad  ;  and  in  the  bottom  of  the 
lintel  an  ornament  is  wrought  in  a  cross. 
The  walls  are  carried  up  of  hewn  stone  to 
the  height  of  the  door,  and  the  remainder, 
as  though  the  builder  had  then  fallen  upon 
evil  times,  or  the  present  is  but  the  ruin  of 
a  rebuilding  after  Danish  invasion,  is  of  the 
rude  mountain  ragstone,  though  imcompar- 
ably  laid.1 

Most  of  the  early  churches  were,  how¬ 
ever,  apparently  of  wood,  thatched  ;  though 
some  were  undoubtedly  of  rough  stone, 
low  and  with  few  pretensions  to  architectu¬ 
ral  beauty.  The  doctrine  of  the  real  pres¬ 
ence  invested  the  altar  with  a  sanctity  un¬ 
known  in  any  other  form  of  worship,  and 


( 1 )  Hall’s  Ireland,  ii..  p.  220,  where  a  view  of 
the  ancient  doorway  may  be  seen. 


piety  supplied  wealth  and  inspired  talent 
and  art,  which  exist  even  in  the  rudest 
communities,  to.  adorn  the  sanctuary.  In 
the  lives  of  the  early  Irish  Saints  and  in 
their  writings,  the  offering  of  the  Eucharis¬ 
tic  sacrifice  is  expressed  by  a  term  peculiar 
to  Ireland — Conficere  Corpus  Domini — To 
make  the  Body  of  the  Lord.  This  term 
admits  of  no  doubt  as  to  their  belief  in  the 
real  presence.  The  altar  was  holy  and 
adorned  richly.  Of  these  early  churches 
all  traces  have  disappeared ;  no  subterra¬ 
nean  crypt,  no  tomb  of  royalty,  has  been 
discovered  in  our  time,  the  adornment  of 
which  would  enable  us  to  recal  the  shrines 
where  the  primitive  Irish  Christians  gath¬ 
ered  to  offer  up  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass, 
the  officiating  priest  being  in  the  Irish 
alone  of  western  languages  sacerdos,  a  real 
priest ;  not  merely  a  presbyter. 

Another  class  of  spots  consecrated  to 
Mary  were  the  Wells.  Of  these  the  most 
famous  was  the  celebrated  Well  of  Swords, 
which  was,  according  to  a  tradition  which 
we  shall  neither  endorse  nor  dispute,  blessed 
and  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  by  the  great 
St.  Columkill  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixth 
century.  This  Well,  consecrated  by  so 
many  fervent  prayers  offered  there  to  Mary 
and  by  her  favors,  is  now  utterly  neglected, 
overgrown  with  weeds,  and  stagnant.  It  is 
southwest  of  the  fine  round  tower  that 
graces  this  ancient  town  near  the  banks  of 
Malahide  creek. 

But  if  the  churches  themselves  have 
vanished,  another  class  of  monuments  has 
been  almost  miraculously  preserved — early 
Irish  manuscripts.  We  say  miraculously, 
because  the  English,  before  and  after  the 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND.  *  421 

conquest,  made  unrelenting  havoc  upon 
them,  and  especially  at  the  time  of  the  Re¬ 
formation  destroyed  ruthlessly  and  persist¬ 
ently  these  proofs  of  the  early  art,  learn¬ 
ing,  and  science  of  a  people  whom  for  seven 
centuries  they  have  been  incessantly  at¬ 
tempting  to  brand  with  ignorance.  If  de¬ 
struction  of  the  works  of  architecture,  sci¬ 
ence,  learning,  constitute  any  people  the 
foremost  of  Goths  and  Yandals,  the  Eng¬ 
lish  people  have  won  for  themselves  this 
bad  preeminence. 

Some  Irish  manuscripts,  and  not  a  few, 
were  carried  off  as  curiosities  to  England 
and  thence  to  other  countries,  to  France, 
Belgium,  and  even  Russia.  In  England, 
many  of  these  have  been  treasured  up  as 
Anglo-Saxon,  although  the  inscriptions  at 
the  end  in  the  hand  of  the  writer  attest 
their  Irish  origin.  Among  the  finest  of 
these  manuscripts  is  the  Book  of  Kells, 
preserved  now  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 
In  this  the  illuminations  give  us  a  fine  idea 
of  what  must  have  been  the  pictorial  deco¬ 
rations  of  the  early  Irish  churches.  This 
manuscript  is  according  to  the  testimony  of 
scholars  of  the  sixth,  certainly  not  later 
than  the  seventh,  century.  Westwood,  a 
recent  English  writer  in  his  Palaeographia 
Sacra  Pictoria  (Article,  Book  of  Kells)  says : 
“At  a  period  when  the  fine  arts  may  be 
said  to  have  been  almost  extinct  in  Italy 
and  other  parts  of  the  continent,  namely, 

from  the  fifth  to  the  end  of  the  eighth  cen¬ 
tury,  a  style  of  art  had  been  established 
and  cultivated  in  Ireland  absolutely  distinct 
from  that  of  all  other  parts  of  the  civilized 
world.  There  is  abundant  evidence  to 
prove  that  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centu¬ 
ries,  the  art  of  ornamenting  manuscripts 
of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  especially  of 
the  Gospels,  had  attained  a  perfection  in 
Ireland  almost  marvellous,  and  which  in 
after  ages  was  adopted  and  imitated  by  the 
continental  schools,  visited  by  the  Irish 
missionaries.” 

Yet  the  Irish  priests  and  monks  not  only 
reared  churches  in  honor  of  Mary  in  Ire¬ 
land,  but  scattering  through  England  and 
the  continent,  they  everywhere,  while 
forming  the  Teutonic  tribes  to  Christianity, 
inspired  a  touching  devotion  to  the  Mother 
of  God,  and  reared  churches  under  her  in¬ 
vocation.  Saint  .Columbanus,  Saint  Maxi¬ 
mus,  Saint  Fiacre,  Saint  Gall,  are  espe¬ 
cially  mentioned  as  building  churches  in 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.1  These 
churches,  as  Westwood  remarks,  they  en¬ 
riched  with  manuscripts,  illuminated  in  the 
national  style  and  naturally  applied  this 
same  Irish  art  to  adorn  the  sanctuaries  of 
Mary.  And  we  have  a  specimen  of  the 
Madonna  before  which  the  disciples  of  St. 
Patrick  knelt  to  implore  her  intercession 
with  God.  This  Book  of  Kells  contains 
among  its  other  illustrations  a  large  picture 

( 1 )  Messingham,  Florilegium  Insulae  Sanctorum. 
Vita  S.  Columbani,  p.  240.  “  Ubi  etiam  eccle- 

Biam  in  honorem  almae  Dei  genitricis,  semperque 
Virginia  Mariae,  ex  lignis  construxit  ad  magnitudi- 
nem  sanctissimi  corporis  sui.”  It  might  have  been 
called  Our  Lady  of  Joy,  for  it  was  famous  for  re- 

lieving  all  who  were  in  sorrow,  melancholy,  or  de¬ 
jection.  Vita  S.  Magnoaldi  sen  Magni,  p.  311. 

«  Dedicavit,  ecclesiam  in  honore  Dei  genitnce  Ma¬ 
rias.”  Vita  S.  Fiacrii,  p.  390.  “  Monaster ium  in 
honore  B.  Mariae  construxit.” 

422 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


of  Our  Blessed  Lady  holding  in  her  lap  her 
divine  Son.  She  is  enthroned  as  a  Queen. 
Westwood,  one  of  those  strange  beings  who 
strive  in  the  face  of  all  sense  and  reason  to 
deny  that  the  early  Irish*  Church  was  in¬ 
tensely  Catholic  gives  a  beautiful  facsimile 
of  this  ancient  picture  of  Our  Lady,  such 
a  one  as  doubtless  formed  the  altar-piece 
in  the  Church  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  of 
Baile-atha-Truim  and  many  another  shrine 
of  Mary  in  the  Isle  of  Saints.  “It  is  en¬ 
closed  within  a  highly  elaborate  border 
composed  of  intertwined  lacertine  animals 
with  dogs’  heads.  This  singular  composi¬ 
tion,”  says  Westwood,  “  is  interesting  from 
the  proof  it  affords  of  the  veneration  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  in  the  early  Irish  church  ;  the 
large  size  in  which  she  is  represented,  as 
well  as  the  glory  around  her  head  (which 
singularly  bears  three  small  crosses),  evi¬ 
dently  indicating  the  high  respect,  with 
which  the  Mother  of  Christ  was  regarded. 
The  Infant  Saviour,  it  will  be  observed,  is 
destitute  of  the  nimbus  ;  the  seat  on  which 
the  Virgin  is  seated  is  not  devoid  of  ele¬ 
gance,  terminating  above  in  the  dog’s  head 
with  an  immensely  elongated  interlaced 
tongue.  The  drawing  of  the  whole  is  en¬ 
tirely  puerile,  whilst  the  ingenuity  displayed 
in  the  intricate  patterns  at  the  sides  and 
upper  part  of  the  drawing  is  quite  remark¬ 
able.  This  singular  interlacing  of  the  limbs 
of  human  figures  is  peculiarly  characteris¬ 
tic  of  Irish  manuscripts.”  It  may  be 
added  that  Our  Saviour  has  his  hand  ex¬ 
tended,  in  the  act  of  benediction.  The 
angels  have  each  apparently  something 
used  in  Church  processions  of  the  time, 
two  procession  crosses,  the  cross  enclosed 


in  a  circle  ;  the  third  a  star  similarly  en¬ 
closed  at  the  top  of  his  staff,  while  the 
fourth  bears  what  in  other  Irish  paintings 
is  evidently  a  sceptre,  formed  of  two  sham¬ 
rocks,  starting  from  a  single  stem,  being 
with  the  throne  another  attribute  of  roy¬ 
alty  thus  given  to  Mary.  Greek  art  may 
indeed  have  been  introduced  to  decorate 
the  churches  of  Our  Lady,  for  many  of 
the  early  Irish  priests  visited  the  Holy 
Land  and  brought  Greeks  with  them,  so 
that  the  church  at  Trim  was  for  some 
time  called,  as  Usher  tells  us,  the  Greek 
church.1 

Litany,  hymns,  family  names,  immemorial 
ejaculations,  art,  all  alike  attest  the  deep 
devotion  of  the  early  Irish  to  the  Mother  of 
God.  The  devotion  of  Mary  was  so  inter¬ 
woven  with  every  fibre  of  the  Irish  heart, 
that  amid  all  the  horrors  of  the  Danish  in¬ 
vasions,  when  their  towns  were  laid  waste, 
churches  and  monasteries  destroyed,  and 
religious  and  priests  murdered  ;  amid  all  the 
scenes  of  blood  brought  about  by  the  in¬ 
sane  jealousies  and  intrigues  of  the  un¬ 
worthy  Irish  princes,  who  finally  brought 
in  the  stranger,  the  Blessed  Virgin  retained 
her  hold  on  the  Irish,  who  indeed  turned  to 
her  as  their  only  comfort  in  the  distressed 
state  of  their  land. 

The  female  saints  who  had  flourished  in 
Ireland  were  always  compared  to  Mary  as 
the  highest  type  of  excellence  in  woman  : 
Saint  Bridget  of  Kildare  is  styled  “The 
Mary  of  the  Irish  ;  ” 2  that  if,  as  the  old 


( 1 )  Usher,  Epist.  Hibern.  Syllog.,  Note  xxi. 

( 3 )  Moran,  Essays  on  the  Early  Irish  Church, 
p.  230. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


saying  ran,  “  Christianus  alter  Christus  :  a 
Christian  should  be  another  Christ :  the 
Christian  maiden  should  be  another  Mary.” 
“  There  are  two  holy  virgins  in  heaven  who 
may  undertake  my  protection,  Mary  and 
St.  Bridget,  on  whose  patronage  let  each 
of  us  depend,”1  says  the  early  writer  of  a 
life  of  St.  Bridget. 

So,  too,  this  Irish  saint  is  represented  as 
joining  her  prayers  to  those  which  the 
Blessed  Virgin  is  perpetually  offering  for 
the  souls  in  purgatory. 

The  last  canonized  saints  of  Ireland  show 
the  hereditary  devotion  of  the  land.  St. 
Malachi,  the  friend  of  the  illustrious  St. 
Bernard,  who  has  left  us  a  most  beautiful 
life  of  that  great  archbishop  of  Armagh, 
was  buried  in  the  chapel  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  in  which,  says  St.  Bernard,  it  was 
his  delight  to  spend  his  hours  in  prayer.2 

St.  Lawrence  O’Toole,  the  last  saint, 
dying  just  before  the  English  invasion  did 
so  much  to  replunge  Ireland  into  that  bar¬ 
barism  from  which  Christianity  had  raised 
her,  erected  a  new  church  in  Dublin  to 
the  honor  of  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mother.* *  And  it  is  recorded  that  while  he 
was  once  in  Wales  the  Blessed  Virgin  ap¬ 
peared  to  a  recluse  who  had  erected  a 
church  in  honor  of  Our  Lady,  and  there 
shut  himself  up.  She  asked  why  the 
church  had  never  been  dedicated,  and  bade 
him  call  upon  her  servant  Lawrence  to 

C)  Lanigan,  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland, 
iii.,  p.  20.  The  hymn  of  St.  Brogan  Cloen  to  St. 
Bridget  expresses  the  same  idea  in  nearly  the  same 
words. 

( * )  This  holy  bishop  died  Nov.  2,  1148.  “Jam 
omnibus  rite  peractis,  in  ipso  oratorio  Sanetae  Dei 


423 


perform  the  solemn  dedication,  which  the 
saint,  convinced  of  the  reality  of  the  vision, 
consented  to  do.4  But  the  most  striking 
proof  of  his  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God 
is  evinced  in  the  following  : 

In  the  church  of  St.  Martin,  Dublin, 
there  ministered  a  certain  priest,  named 
Galwed.  He  was  very  dear  to  the  arch¬ 
bishop,  as  he  had  trained  him  up  from  his 
youth  and  was  his  own  cleric.  Struck  by 
a  serious  illness,  this  priest  was  reduced  to 
extremity.  For  as  he  seemed  destitute 
alike  of  sense  and  breath,  many  thought 
him  dead :  others  thought  him  not  dead, 
but  in  ecstacy.  Accordingly,  they  put  off 
the  interment  for  three  days  and  nights. 
At  length  St.  Lawrence  came  and  ap¬ 
proaching  the  body,  moved  to  tears  by 
compassion,  he  addressed  the  corpse:  “0 
my  dearly  beloved  son,  if  thou  canst  thou 
wilt  speak  to  me  now !  ”  saying  this  he 
knelt  down  and  silently  prayed  to  our 
Lord.  The  ardor  of  his  prayer  was  evinced 
clearly  by  God’s  hearkening  to  his  ser¬ 
vant’s  voice.  When  the  prayer  was  ended, 
which  He  alone  heard  who  answered  it,  the 
priest  Galwed,  as  if  roused  from  a  heavy 
sleep,  arose  well,  returned  thanks  to  God 
and  to  Saint  Mary  and  to  the  Blessed  Law¬ 
rence  his  master,  and  turning  his  eyes  on 
the  bystanders  asked  what  was  the  matter 
and  what  brought  them  together.  They  all, 
astonished  and  alarmed  at  what  they  had 

Genitricis  Marias  in  quo  sibi  bene  complacuit. — 
(S.  Bernardus  in  Vita  S.  Malachiae.  Messingham.. 
p.  376.) 

( s )  Messingham,  p.  383,  bis. 

( 4 )  Ibid,  382,  bis. 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


424 


seen  performed,  answered  him  :  “We  were 
about  to  bury  you,  as  you  had  lain  like  a 
dead  man  for  three  days  without  showing  a 
sign  of  life.”  The  priest  answered :  “The 
Lord  knows  that  my  soul  was  separated 
from  my  body,  and  while  the  angels  were 
contending  for  it,  I  beheld  my  lord  Law¬ 
rence  kneeling  before  God  and  his  glorious 
Virgin  Mother,  Mary,  humbly  praying  for 
me :  and  our  Lord,  moved  by  his  prayer, 
ordered  my  soul  to  be  restored  to  my 
body.”  Then  the  blessed  bishop,  moved 
with  shame,  forbade  the  priest  under  pain 
of  excommunication  to  tell  it  to  any  one 
as  long  as  he  lived.1 

The  English  invaders  censured  much  in 
Ireland  and  in  the  Irish  church,  but  zeal¬ 
ous  as  the  Norman  clergy  were  for  the 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  not  one  ever 
breathed  the  charge  that  the  Irish  were  re¬ 
miss  on  that  point.  It  was  in  fact  the  great 
point  of  harmony  between  the  new  clergy 
and  the  old.  Bective  Abbey,  dedicated  to 
Our  Lady,  was  erected  in  1150  by  O’Me- 
lachlin,  King  of  Meath,  a  beautiful  token 
that  to  the  last  the  Irish  princes  were  de¬ 
vout  clients  of  Mary. 

The  Canons  Regular  who  came  in  from 
the  continent,  full,  like  all  the  Normans,  of 
devotion  to  Mary,  for  they  had  no  saints  or 
apostles  of  their  own,  entered  heartily  into 
the  Irish  devotion,  and  gave  new  splendor 
to  the  shrines  where  the  native  inhabitants 
had  so  long  venerated  her.  Trim,  which 
had  been  a  chosen  sanctuary  of  Mary  from 
the  days  of  St.  Patrick,  became  one  of  the 
most  famous  pilgrimages  of  Europe.  From 


( 1 )  Vita  S.  Laurentii  in  Messingham,  p.  385. 


the  days  of  King  Laoghaire,  church  after 
church  erected  on  the  spot  given  by  that 
monarch  had  received  Mary’s  clients  as 
they  came  on  pilgrimage  through  each  suc¬ 
cessive  age.  But  it  was  now  restored  with 
a  grandeur  never  before  attained,  and  the 
statue  of  Our  Lady  became  the  instrument 
of  many  miracles.  Irish  annals  mention 
many  of  these  surprising  cures  of  the  blind, 
the  deaf,  the  cripple,  of  those  on  whom  the 
heavy  hand  of  disease  had  been  laid.  The 
Blessed  Virgin  of  Trim  was  recognized 
even  by  lawgivers,  and  the  parliaments 
which  excluded  from  the  rights  of  human¬ 
ity  all  but  five  Irish  families,  scrupulously 
respected  the  Blessed  Virgin  of  Trim  and 
all  estates  and  rights  belonging  to  her.  In 
laws  passed  regarding  affairs  at  Trim,  a 
clause  would  be  inserted  saving  the  rights 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  of  Trim.  Nor  was 
it  only  in  this  negative  way  that  the  Par¬ 
liament  of  Ireland  sought  to  honor  Mary. 
In  1464,  the  Parliament  held  in  the  seventh 
year  of  Edward  IV.  the  victorious  son  of 
York,  passed  an  act  for  setting  up  as  a  na¬ 
tional  offering  a  wax  taper  to  burn  perpet¬ 
ually  before  this  image  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  amid  the  ex  votos  of  every  kind  which 
at  her  shrine  attested  the  gratitude  and 
fervor  of  those  who  had  there  received  the 
comfort  and  relief  sought  in  fervent  prayer. 
On  the  feasts  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  this 
act  provided  for  four  additional  tapers  to 
,  be  burnt  there  during  Mass. 

Still  more  important  was  the  provision 
made  to  protect  pilgrims.  Though  civil 
strife  still  raged  and  the  men  of  the  Pale 
were  often  engaged  in  deadly  conflict  with 
the  Irish,  and  the  tide  of  war  swept  along 


t  '  • 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND.  425 

the  Blackwater  and  Boyne,  the  pilgrim  to 

and  miraculous  power,  restored  to  his  sight 

Mary’s  shrine  was  secure.  This  statute 

and  speech.”* 

threw  its  protecting  shield  around  them, 

Who  would  have  supposed  that  when 

making  it  a  felony  to  molest  under  any  pre- 

devotion  to  Mary  was  so  general,  when  the 

text  a  pilgrim  going  to  the  shrine  of  the 

whole  kingdom,  from  its  nobles  in  Parlia- 

Blessed  Virgin  of  Trim*  or  returning  from 

ment  assembled,  down  to  the  outlaw,  alike 

it  to  his  distant  home.1 

venerated  the  Mother  of  God,  and  clung 

Not  far  from  this  ancient  pilgrimage 

to  all  the  time-honored  practices  of  Catholic 

another  had  grown  up  in  the  Abbey  of  Na- 

faith  and  devotion,  that  a  storm  was  about 

van,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Canons  Reg- 

to  burst  over  the  British  Isles,  filling  them 

ular  which  became  famous  throughout  all 

with  ruins,  and  making  the  avowal  of  that 

Ireland.  In  1450  Pope  Nicholas  V.  granted 

faith  a  crime.  Yet  so  it  was. 

indulgences  to  all  persons  undertaking  this 

In  less  than  a  century  the  moment  came. 

pilgrimage  or  contributing  to  repair  or 

Satan  received  power  for  a  time  to  war 

adorn  this  sanctuary  of  Mary.  Four  years 

against  the  saints,  and  he  warred  with  all 

later  the  Irish  Parliament  protected  by 

the  malignity  of  his  fiendish  nature.  When 

law,  pilgrims  to  the  shrine  at  Navan  as  it 

Henry  VIII.,  blinded  by  lust,  commenced 

had  those  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  of  Trim, 

to  act  in  concert  with  the  Reformers  whom 

and  even  went  further  exempting  from  ar- 

he  had  so  learnedly  opposed,  and  laid  his 

rest  or  molestation  those  deemed  rebels 

sacrilegious  hands  on  the  ark  of  God,  des- 

while  going  as  pilgrims  or  returning. 

olating  the  land,  Ireland  soon  felt  the  influ- 

Acts  of  Parliament  are  not  the  place 

ence  of  the  unholy  war.  The  Catholic 

where  writers  generally  look  for  the  record 

churches  were  pillaged,  profaned,  and  con- 

of  miracles  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  but  the 

verted  to  a  new  and  unheard  of  religion, 

preamble  of  an  Irish  act  passed  in  1460 

that  had  no  warrant  and  no  argument  but 

recites  at  length  the  case  of  a  Mr.  Stack- 

the  strong  hand  and  the  sword.  There  was 

bolle,  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 

scarcely  a  deserter  among  the  bishops  and 

wretches  so  inhuman  that  they  cut  out  his 

clergy  of  Ireland,  so  that  in  a  few  years 

tongue  and  put  out  his  eyes,  depriving  him 

Erin  presented  a  strange  spectacle.  A  na- 

at  once  of  the  light  of  heaven  and  of  the 

tion  of  Catholics,  with  their  clergy  and 

use  of  speech,  leaving  him  a  helpless  wreck 

hierarchy,  were  without  church  or  chapel, 

among  his  fellow  men.  Brought  before 

monastery  or  convent,  and  a  few  foreign 

this  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  Mr.  Stack- 

adventurers  occupied  such  of  the  ancient 

bolle  was,  as  we  are  assured  in  the  pream- 

religious  edifices  as  had  been  allowed  to 

ble  of  this  act,  “  by  her  grace,  mediation, 

stand.  And  in  these  few  the  altars  had 

( 1 )  Annals  of  the  ¥0111’  Masters,  ann.  1444. 

ops  of  Dublin,  p.  14.  I  have  the  volume  contain- 

Archdall’s  Monasticon,  p.  577. 

mg  the  Act  in  black  letter,  but  lent  it  and  cannot 

(  * )  Cited  in  Moran’s  History  of  the  Archbish- 

54 

unfortunately  cite  the  curious  preamble  in  full. 

- 

t 


426  '  DEVOTION  TO  THE 

been  destroyed,  the  rich  ornaments  swept 
away,  libraries  scattered  to  the  winds,  the 
very  walls  rudely  painted  over  to  hide  the 
pictures  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  of  the 
Saints  with  which  the  pious  founders  had 
adorned  them.1 

In  1538  the  Statue  of  Our  Lady  at  Trim 
still  stood,  invested  with  all  that  sanctity 
with  which  the  popular  devotion  had  sur¬ 
rounded  it. 

Though  the  vast  work  of  desolation  had 
actually  begun,  the  lord  deputy  of  Henry 
VIII.,  Lord  Leonard  Gray,  this  very  year 
in  one  of  his  circuits  visited  this  ancient 
shrine  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  notwith¬ 
standing  the  taunts  of  his  fellow-statesmen 
ready  to  follow  or  outstrip  the  king  in 
abandoning  all  the  practices  of  Christian- . 
ity,  “veray  devoutely  kneling  befor  Hir 
hard  thre  or  fewer  masses.” 2 

Such  was  the  last  official  honor  paid  to 
this  famous  Madonna.  The  reformers  pant¬ 
ed  to  destroy  it,  as  a  palladium  of  the 
Catholic  cause.  They  stigmatized  it  as  an 
idol,  and  Browne,  the  apostate,  intruded 
into  an  Irish  see,  wrote:  “There  goithe  a 
common  brewte  amonges  the  Yrish  men 
that  I  entende  to  ploke  down  Our  Lady 
of  Tryme,  with  other  places  of  pilgrimage, 
as  the  Holy  Cross,  and  souch  like ;  which 
indeade  I  never  attempted,  although  my 
conscience  wolde  right  well  serve  me  to 
oppresse  such  ydolles.” 3 

But  in  spite  of  this  disavowal,  the  very 
next  year  a  force  sent  by  Ormond  and 
Browne  invaded  this  long  revered  sanctu¬ 
ary.  The  splendid  and  rich  offerings  of 
the  highest  and  noblest  of  the  princes  of 
Ireland,  of  Celtic,  Norman  or  English  ori¬ 
gin  were  torn  away  from  the  ancient  shrine, 
the  altar  was  stripped  of  its  rich  decora¬ 
tions,  the  chalices  and  other  plate  for  the 
holy  sacrifice  sacrilegiously  carried  off,  and, 
finally,  the  revered  statue,  amid  the  groans 
and  cries  of  the  people  who  thronged 
around  the  armed  force  sent  to  protect  the 
banditti  in  their  work  of  unholy  profana¬ 
tion,  was  torn  from  the  spot  where  it  had 
so  long  been  revered,  and  carried  out  into 
the  streets  where  it  was  burned  to  ashes  ; 
whatever  sacred  object  met  their  hand 
serving  for  fuel,  be  it  ancient  missal,  pre¬ 
cious  manuscript,  works  that  antiquarian 
and  Christian  would  now  prize  beyond 
their  weight  in  gold.4 

Thus  perished  the  famous  Madonna  of 
Trim.  The  church  soon  shared  its  fate, 
and  the  yellow  steeple  now  alone  remains 
to  tell  what  this  shrine  of  Mary  was  in 
the  days  when  prince  and  peasant,  equal 
there,  thronged  its  aisles.  That  it  was  a 
grand  and  ecclesiastical  structure  every 
eye  can  see,  for  no  nobler  fragment  of  an¬ 
tiquity  can  be  found  in  Ireland.6 

That  of  Navan  was  next  to  fall.  The 
same  ruthless  hands  profaned  her  sanctu- 

( 1 )  Moran,  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  p.  14. 

( 3 )  T.  Alen  to  Crumwell.  State  papers  257, 
cited  in  Moore’s  Ireland,  ii.,  p.  311. 

( ’ )  Moore’s  Ireland,  ii.,  p.  330. 

( 4 )  The  most  miraculous  image  of  Mary,  which 
was  at  Baile-Atha-Truim,  and  which  the  Irish 
people  all  honored  for  a  long  time  before  that, 

which  used  to  heal  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  lame, 
and  every  disease  in  like  manner,  was  burned  by 
the  Saxons. — (Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  1537.) 

It  seems  not  to  have  been  the  work  of  Lord  Leon¬ 
ard  Grey,  though  generally  ascribed  to  him. 

( 6 )  Lacy,  Sights  and  Scenes  in  Fatherland, 
p.  205. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


ary  and  destroyed  by  fire  the  sacred  image, 
to  enrich  themselves  with  the  pious  offer¬ 
ings  of  centuries.  The  churches  themselves 
were  utterly  ruined  and  sold,  although  they 
realized  for  the  royal  treasury  less  than 
would  have  been  paid  at  the  time  for  a 
good  horse. 

The  war  had  commenced.  Every  Ma¬ 
donna  in  Ireland  was  doomed  to  destruc¬ 
tion.  Most  of  them  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  spoiler,  although  some  undoubtedly 
were  rescued  in  time  by  pious  hands  and 
hidden  away  in  the  hope  that  a  better  day 
would  soon  dawn  for  the  oppressed  church 
of  St.  Patrick.  But  too  often  the  pious 
guardian  of  the  statue  perished  ere  long 
and  the  carefully  hidden  treasure  was  lost. 

Among  the  few  that  escaped  the  icono¬ 
clastic  rage  of  the  enemy  at  this  melan¬ 
choly  period  was  a  famous  statue  of  Our 
Lady,  long  preserved  in  the  Dominican 
church  of  Our  Lady  of  Thanks,  at  Yough- 
al,  the  almost  solitary  madonna  of  the 
days  preceding  the  great  pagan  upheaval 
of  the  sixteenth  century.1  It  was  long  pre¬ 
served  amid  the  trials  and  troubles  of  the 
afflicted  church. 

Then  for  many  a  year  there  was  through¬ 
out  Ireland  no  shrine  for  Mary  but  the 
hearts  of  a  people  devoted  to  her  beyond 
the  power  of  persecution.  The  scapular 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  around  each  neck 
was  their  badge  of  Catholicity  ;  liveried 
servants  of  Mary,  they  could  not  be  dis¬ 
owned  by  her  Divine  Son.  The  holy  sacri¬ 
fice  ceased  as  a  public  worship.  It  was 
said  in  dens  and  caves,  in  mountain  glens, 


( ' )  Archdalls  Monasticon  Hibernicon,  p.  82. 


427 


amid  ruined  nave  and  shrine.  It  was  not 
to  be  heard  by  the  people  every  day  or 
every  Sunday  or  when  each  great  festival 
came  round  in  the  sweet  harmony  of  the 
ecclesiastical  year. 

For  years  in  the  Catholic  homes-  of  Ire¬ 
land,  homes  of  noble  and  of  peasant,  the  ro¬ 
sary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  beads  were 
the  great  act  of  devotion  which  bound  all 
together.  It  symbolized  their  chains,  their 
tears.  The  sorrowful  mysteries,  binding 
them  to  the  Man  of  Sorrows  and  his  Dolor¬ 
ous  Mother,  were  subjects  for  meditation 
meet,  indeed,  for  a  people  entering  upon  a 
martyrdom  unexampled  in  history,  and  to 
which  even  the  dreams  of  heathen  mytho¬ 
logy  in  their  refinements  of  torture  never 
reached.  But  fierce  as  was  the  diabolical 
energy  with  which  the  reformers  pursued 
the  unfortunate  Irish  Catholics,  they  were 
but  men,  and  human  strength  and  persist¬ 
ence  will  flag  at  last.  From  time  to  time 
there  would  come  a  lull  as  though  the  per¬ 
secutors,  weary  of  murder,  rapine,  and  mis¬ 
representation,  sought  relief  for  a  time 
from  their  unholy  toil. 

Then  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  quickly 
the  Irish,  forgetting  all  they  had  suffered, 
began  to  restore  the  tabernacle  of  God  in 
the  new  wilderness.  Religious  seemed  to 
spring  up  from  the  ground  of  their  ruined 
houses.  A  little  community  would  appear 
as  if  miraculously,  and  the  services  of  re¬ 
ligion  be  renewed  till  a  new  storm  swept 
all  away  like  a  new  simoom  in  the  desert. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  century  a  monas¬ 
tery  of  Cistercian  monks  was  leading,  as  of 
old,  their  fervent  cloistered  life  in  a  beauti¬ 
ful  abbey,  St.  Mary’s  de  Maggio,  at  Nenay. 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


428 


“  In  1580,  a  fanatical  band  having  entered 
the  adjoining  country,  spreading  on  every 
side  devastation  and  ruin,  the  monks  of 
Maggio,  forty  in  number,  were  in  hourly 
expectation  of  death.  They  resolved,  how¬ 
ever,  not  to  fly  from  the  monastery,  choos¬ 
ing  rather  to  consummate  their  course  in 
the  asylum  which  had  so  long  been  their 
happy  abode.  They,  therefore,  assembled 
in  choir,  and  having  recited  the  morning 
office  in  silence  and  prayer,  awaited  their 
executioners.  The  fanatical  soldiers  did 
not  long  delay.  On  coming  to  their  mon¬ 
astery  they  first  imagined  that  it  had  been 
abandoned,  so  universal  was  the  silence 
that  reigned  around  it,  and  they  plundered 
it  in  every  part.  On  arriving,  however, 

at  the  church,  they  found  the  forty  reli- 

% 

gious  kneeling  around  the  altar,  unmoved,  as 
if  unconscious  of  the  scenes  of  the  sacrile¬ 
gious  plunder  that  were  perpetrated  around 
them,  and  wholly  absorbed  in  prayer. 
Like  hungry  wolves  the  fanatics  at  once 
precipitated  themselves  upon  the  defense¬ 
less  religious.  The  cruelty  and  ferocity 
of  the  soldiers  were  surpassed  only  by  the 
meekness  and  heavenly  joy  of  the  victims, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  forty  names  were 
added  to  the  long  roll  of  our  Irish  saints, 
says  Henriquez,  the  Annalist  of  the  Cister¬ 
cians.  The  vigil  of  the  Assumption  was 
the  day  consecrated  by  their  death.  One 
lay  brother  of  the  monastery,  who  had  been 
absent  for  some  time,  returned  that  evening 
and  found  his  former  happy  abode  reduced 
to  a  heap  of  smoking  ruins,  and  entering 
the  church,  he  found  the  altar  and  choir 
streaming  with  blood.  Throwing  himself 
prostrate  before  the  mutilated  statue  of 


Our  Lady  he  poured  forth  his  lamentations 
that  her  monastery  was  no  more,  and  that 
her  glorious  festival,  which  should  be  then 
commenced,  would  pass  in  sadness  and 
silence.  He  had  scarcely  breathed  his 
prayer,  when  he  heard  the  bells  of  the 
monastery  toll,  and  lifting  his  head  he 
saw  his  martyred  brethren,  each  taking 
his  accustomed  seat ;  the  abbot  intoned 
the  solemn  vespers,  and  the  psalms  were 
sung,  as  was  usual  on  their  festive  days. 
The  angels  and  the  Queen  of  Heaven 
joined  their  voices  with  those  of  his 
now  sainted  companions.  The  enraptured 
lay  brother  knew  not  whether  he  had  been 
assumed  to  heaven  or  was  still  on  earth, 
till,  the  office  being  completed,  the  vision 
ceased,  and  he  once  more  contemplated 
around  him  the  mangled  and  bleeding  re¬ 
mains  of  the  martyred  religious.”1 

Such  is  the  beautiful  legend  of  the  mar¬ 
tyrs  of  St.  Mary’s  de  Maggio. 

This  devotion  to  Mary  was  not  confined 
to  religious  orders.  A  few  years  later,  a 
pious  lady,  Dame  Margery  Barnewell,  who, 
though  living  in  the  world  had  devoted 
herself  to  Glod,  and  following  the  footsteps 
of  Mary,  consecrated  her  virginity  to  her 
Maker.  Amid  the  greatest  perils  by  land  and 
water,  she,  with  a  companion,  confiding  in 
the  protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  which 
they  confidently  invoked,  reached  France 
in  safety,  having  even  once  been  compelled 
to  leap  from  a  ship  into  the  sea  to  preserve 
their  virtue.  And  the  dogs  on  the  shore, 
as  if  recognizing  the  merit  of  these  daugh¬ 
ters  of  Mary,  instead  of  attacking  them, 


( 1 )  O’Eeilly,  Memorial,  pp.  71-2. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND.  429 


led  them  to  the  gate  of  the  town  and  stood 
by  ready  to  protect  till  the  gates  were 
opened  in  the  morning.  The  astonished 
warders  led  them  to  the  bishop,  who  was 
then  saying  mass  in  the  church  of  St.  Malo, 
for  they  were  in  a  city  and  church  dedi¬ 
cated  to  an  Irish  saint.1 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth 
century  we  find  how,  even  amid  the  terrors 
of  persecution,  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  had  revived  and  manifested  itself,  as 
surely  as  the  plant  throws  out  leaves  and 
blossoms. 

As  early  as  1611,  there  was  in  Coleraine 
a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  pub¬ 
lic  honors  paid  to  it  roused  the  demon  in 
the  heart  of  the  Protestant  bishop,  Babing- 
ton.  O’Sullivan  Beare  in  his  Catholic  His¬ 
tory2  says  that  “  Babington  gave  orders  that 
the  Madonna  should  be  pulled  down  and 
burned.  His  sacrilegious  minions  had 
scarce  set  themselves  to  perform  this  ini¬ 
quitous  deed,  when  they  both  fell  dead. 
Successive  efforts  to  set  the  statue  on  fire, 
or  destroy  it  by  gunpowder,  were  all  inef¬ 
fectual  ;  it  remained  divinely  preserved 
despite  all  their  attempts,  whilst  the  bishop 
himself  was  overwhelmed  with  terror  and 
being  seized  with  illness  expired.  This 
occurred  in  the  month  of  September,  1611.” 

By  1628,  the  Carmelites,  those  friars  of 
Our  Blessed  Virgin  of  Mount  Carmel,  had 
their  chapel  open  in  Dublin,  where  the 
faithful  crowded  around  Our  Lady  of  Mount 
Carmel,  whose  scapular  they  had  so  long * (*) 

( 1 )  O’Reilly,  Memorial,  pp.  78-9. 

(*)  O’Sullivan  Beare,' Historia  Catliolica,  pp. 
287-8.  Moran’s  Archbishops,  p.  246. 

( ’ )  Moran’s  Archbishops,  p.  317. 


and  so  faithfully  worn,  so  that  had  the 
chapel  been  six  times  as  large  it  could  not 
have  held  them  all.  So  great  was  the  de¬ 
votion  that  priest  and  people  forgot  that 
they  were  under  the  sway  of  fanatics. 
They  had  credited  their  rulers  with  some 
grains  of  humanity.  They  were  soon  un¬ 
deceived. 

While  the  Lords  Justices  were  attending 
the  service  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
one  of  the  churches  they  had  wrested  from 
the  Catholics,  some  one  suggested  that  the 
Catholics  were  then  on  St.  Stephen’s  day, 
1629,  audaciously  worshipping  God  at  the 
Carmelite  Convent  in  Cook  street.  The 
Protestant  archbishop  requested  to  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  punish  the  offenders,  and  aban¬ 
doning  his  own  flock,  it  would  seem,  he  set 
out  with  a  band  of  soldiers  and  rushed  in 
upon  the  flock  gathered  around  Our  Lady 
of  Mount  Carmel.  In  a  moment  all  was 
terror.  The  people  fled,  the  church  was 
profaned,  the  altar  demolished,  the  statues 
hewn  in  pieces  by  the  sword,  and  the  Pro¬ 
testant  primate  sallied  forth  exulting  in  his 
victory,  leading  as  prisoners  two  Carmelite 
fathers.  The  scattered  flock  then  rallied, 
and  the  women  leading,  rushed  upon  the 
archbishop’s  party  with  such  impetuosity 
that  they  rescued  their  pastors,  routed  the 
soldiers,  and  compelled  the  warlike  arch¬ 
bishop  to  seek  safety  in  flight,  not  soon  to 
forget  the  heroism  of  the  female  votaries  of 
Our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel.3 

Then  came  the  day  when  the  Stuarts 
found  the  Puritans,  whom  they  had  sought 
to  conciliate  at  the  expense  of  the  Catho¬ 
lics,  arrayed  in  arms  against  them  :  and 
were  able  to  judge  whether  Catholicity  is  a 


430 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


safe  school  of  loyalty.  They  found  the 
Catholics,  in  spite  of  all  their  sufferings, 
ready  to  sustain  them.  This  we  may  re¬ 
gret,  for  this  loyalty  cast  aside  Ireland’s 
greatest  opportunity. 

During  the  period  of  the  celebrated  Con¬ 
federation  of  Kilkenny,  that  noble  city  was 
in  an  especial  manner  consecrated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  “The  solemnity  having 
been  announced  a  week  ahead,  the  citizens 
performed  various  works  of  piety  and 
mercy,  and  all  received  communion  on  the 
same  day.  A  high  mass  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  celebrated  in  St.  Mary’s.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  whole  day  her  statue  was  exposed 
to  public  veneration  in  the  church,  sur¬ 
rounded  with  relics  of  saints,  tapers,  ban¬ 
ners,  and  other  ornaments.  In  the  evening 
there  was  a  sermon,  and  then  a  suppliant 
procession  through  the  streets,  in  which  the 
bishop,  earls,  viscounts,  magistrates,  and 
the  whole  city  assisted  with  torches,  ban¬ 
ners,  and  other  emblems  of  piety.  The 
statue  was  placed  in  the  market-place  for 
public  veneration,  in  a  splendid  tabernacle 
of  exquisite  and  costly  workmanship  ;  the 
bells  of  all  the  churches,  and  the  pealing  of 
cannon  proclaiming  a  general  jubilee.  The 
litany  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto,  and  other 
prayers  were  chanted  aloud  in  the  market¬ 
place,  and  glad  bonfires  lighted  up  every 
street.  This  custom  was  kept  up  every 
Saturday,  one  of  the  Jesuits  always  giving 
a  short  sermon.”  .  .  Such  was  the  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  that  morning,  noon, 
and  evening,  men,  women,  and  children 


( 1 )  Manuscript  in  Stoneyhurst  College,  cited  in 
the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  pp.  148-9,  152. 


were  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  on  their 
knees  before  the  statue.1 

This  was  the  grandest  reparation  made 
to  Mary  in  Ireland  for  all  the  sacrileges  of 
the  Reformers  :  a  bright  page  in  the  glori¬ 
ous  annals  of  the  Confederation  of  Kil¬ 
kenny.  It  revived  the  ages  when  Mary  was 
the  Queen  of  the  Land,  when  all  sought  to 
honor  her  as  Kilkenny  did  that  day. 

A  statue  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
had  become  a  centre  of  devotion  at  Cash¬ 
el,  but  when  the  blood-thirsty  Inchiquin 
stormed  the  Rock  and  slaughtered  so  many 
thousands  in  cold  blood,  one  of  the  most 
fearful  massacres  in  the  world’s  history, 
everything  was  profaned,  the  altars  de¬ 
stroyed,  pictures  torn  to  pieces,  vestments 
paraded  in  triumph,  and  the  statue  of  Our 
Lady,  seized  in  the  blood-reeking  hands  of 
the  soldiery,  was  solemnly  beheaded  as  a 
traitor,  as  the  image  of  her  divine  Son  was 
also,  and  was  borne  along  in  mock-state 
with  laughter  and  ridicule.2 

Limerick,  too,  had  set  up  her  Madonna. 
Thomas  Stritch,  a  pious  and  devoted  Cath¬ 
olic,  after  performing  a  spiritual  retreat, 
was  elected  mayor  by  the  citizens  who 
knew  his  worth.  On  receiving  the  keys  of 
the  city,  he  laid  them  before  the  statue  of 
the  Most  Holy  Virgin,  praying  her  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  city  under  her  protection,  whilst 
at  the  same  time  as  an  act  of  homage,  all 
the  public  guilds  marched  in  procession  to 
the  church.  He  then  made  a  most  Chris¬ 
tian  address  to  the  whole  assembly,  en¬ 
couraging  them  to  an  inviolable  attachment 


( 5 )  O’Reilly,  Memorial,  p.  277  ;  Moran,  Sketch 
of  the  Persecutions,  p.  30. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND.  431 

to  God,  to  the  Church,  and  to  the  king, 
offering  to  lay  down  his  life  in  so  just  a 
cause.  God  was  pleased  to  accept  his 
offering,  and  when  the  city  fell,  he  received 
a  martyr’s  crown.  But  no  one  was  left  to 
record  the  fate  of  the  statue  of  Our  Lady.1 

Galway  during  these  halcyon  days  had  a 
community  of  Dominican  nuns  under  the 
title  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  and  confirmed  by 
the  pope’s  legate,  Monsignor  Rinuccini. 
Among  other  conditions  imposed  by  that 
illustrious  man,  he  directed  that  these  sis¬ 
ters  of  St.  Dominic  should  recite  the  Ro¬ 
sary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  every  day,  to 
solicit  from  the  divine  mercy  aid  and  pro¬ 
tection  for  the  afflicted  Catholics  of  Ireland, 
in  the  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed 
in  that  most  critical  period  of  their  history. 

But  their  stay  was  brief.  Fervent  as 
were  their  prayers,  God  wished  the  Church 
in  Ireland  to  drink  more  deeply  of  the 
chalice  of  his  Divine  Son.  Galway  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Cromwell  in  1652,  and 
the  nuns  were  scattered  and  compelled  to 
fly.  Many  sought  refuge  in  Spain,  two  of 
them  to  return  in  1686  during  the  brief 
reign  of  James  II.  and  restore  for  a  season 
the  Convent  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Rosary, 
to  be  broken  up  and  scattered  but  not  ex¬ 
tinguished  in  1697  under  the  penal  laws 
passed  by  the  violator  of  the  treaty  of 
Limerick,  the  cold-blooded  author  of  the 
massacre  of  Glencoe.2 

But  to  return  to  the  fierce  days  of  Crom¬ 
well.  Wherever  the  Puritan  armies  en¬ 
tered,  the  old  scenes  of  the  Reformation 

were  renewed  with  a  fiendishness  all  their 
own.  Every  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
became  the  object  of  the  vilest  outrages  ; 
indeed  no  statue  or  picture  was  spared. 

'How  the  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
was  kept  up  during  this  fearful  period  we 
see  by  occasional  glimpses.  Among  the 
religious  so  ruthlessly  slaughtered  was 
Father  Dominic  Neagren,  whose  constant 
exhortations  to  the  Catholics  to  recite  the 
Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  led  to  his 
glorious  martyrdom.  So  too  the  heroic 

Mrs.  Read,  mother  of  a  holy  and  learned 
priest,  made  her  children  from  their  earliest 
days  recite  daily  the  little  office  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  The  Queen  of  Martyrs 
resolved  to  enrol  her  in  that  choir,  one  of 
the  noblest  in  her  train.  While  the  sol¬ 
diers  who  had  rushed  in  upon  the  town  of 
Dunshaughlin  were  slaughtering  all  they 
found,  this  true  mother  in  Israel,  then  a 
woman  of  eighty,  stood  by,  encouraging 
the  sufferers  to  endure  their  sufferings 
with  constancy,  and  endure  every  torment 
for  the  faith.  At  last  stung  by  rage  at 
her  fearless  courage  they  set  her  up  as  a 
target  and  kept  firing  their  muskets  at 
her  till  she  expired.8 

Lady  Honoria  de  Burgo,  who  belonged 
to  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  lived 
piously  in  her  own  house  at  Burishool  in 
the  county  Mayo,  through  the  reigns  of 
Elizabeth,  James,  and  Charles,  a  very 
mother  to  the  needy  and  poor,  preserving 
her  baptismal  innocence  to  the  close.  In 
this  Cromwellian  persecution  she  endeav- 

( 1 )  Abelly,  Life  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  pp.  218-9. 

( ’ )  Murphy,  Sketches  of  Irish  Nunneries,  p  38. 

( 3 )  Moran,  Persecutions,  p.  198.  O’Keilly,  Me¬ 
morial,  p.  267. 

432 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


to  fly,  but  was  taken  and  thrown  so  vio¬ 
lently  into  a  boat  that  several  of  her*ribs 
were  broken  and  she  died.  But  before  she 
expired  her  servant  found,  and  bore  her 
lady  to  the  Dominican  church  of  Burishool 
laying  her  before  the  altar  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  Having  left  her  there  while  she 
sought  another  aged  sister  in  the  wood,  she 
was  amazed  on  her  return  to  find  Lady 
Honoria  kneeling  before  the  altar,  when 
she  had  left  her  as  she  supposed  dead.  She 
approached  her  and  found  her  now  indeed 
a  corpse  :  the  dying  saint  had  rallied  her 
last  strength  to  place  herself  in  an  attitude 
of  prayer  before  that  shrine  of  Our  Lady 
which  had  been  her  beloved  spot  on  earth : 
and  in  this  prayerful  posture  she  breathed 
her  last.1 

Devotion  to  Mary  was  shown  in  all  its 
fervor  at  Cork  in  1658,  when  the  Catholics 
were  summoned  to  take  one  of  those  ini¬ 
quitous  oaths  which  cowardly  governments 
devise  as  a  means  of  accomplishing  what 
they  know  they  cannot  effect  under  the 
laws  and  courts  of  justice.  They  bravely 
rejected  the  oath,  and  all  shouted  aloud, 
“0  God!  look  down  on  us!  0  Mary! 
Mother  of  God,  assist  us !  ”  and  by  their 
resolute  refusal  overawed  their  oppressors.2 

The  fall  of  the  Puritans  gave  a  brief 
respite  to  the  almost  exterminated  Irish 
Catholics,  and  once  more  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  eould  seek  the  light  and  re¬ 
joice  in  the  flowers  and  beautiful  adorn¬ 
ment  which  befit  it. 

( 1  )  O’Reilly,  Memorial,  p.  329. 

(’)  Moran,  Persecutions,  pp.  161-2. 

( s )  See  Synod  of  Trim,  1632,  in  Moran’s  Life 
of  the  Martyred  Archbishop  Plunkett,  p.  388 ;  Sy- 


The  Irish  hierarchy,  even  amid  the  per¬ 
secutions  of  the  seventeenth  century,  show 
how  fervently  they  inculcated  this  devotion 
by  the  Synods  held  amid  a  thousand  dan¬ 
gers.  By  these  the  feast  of  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Conception  was  made  a  holiday  of 
obligation,  not  as  in  the  early  Irish  Church 
in  May,  but  with  the  continental  churches 
in  December.  The  Irish  bishops  had  no 
difficulty  in  giving  a  reply  to  the  Holy 
Father,  Pius  IX..  as  to  the  belief  of  the ' 
Church  of  Ireland  on  this  prerogative  of 
Mary.3 

The  dethronement  of  James  II.  for  at¬ 
tempting  to  persuade  Englishmen  to  be  tol¬ 
erant,  led  to  fresh  persecutions  arising  out 
of  the  warlike  operations  in  Ireland. 

When  that  storm  passed,  a  storm  which 
for  the  third  time  nearly  left  the  Irish 
Catholics  without  a  bishop  in  the  island, 
religion  again  began  to  revive.  In  the  last 
century  religious  houses  of  women  sprang 
up.  The  nuns  of  Our  Lady  of  Mount 
Carmel  had  indeed  taken  possession  of  Ire¬ 
land  in  the  name  of  their  holy  patroness  as 
early  as  16  61. 4 

The  nuns  of  St.  Dominic,  sisters  of  the 
Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  as  we  may 
call  them,  devoted  to  the  other  great  em¬ 
blem  of  the  clients  of  Mary,  scattered  at 
Galway  by  the  Williamite  storm,  were  in 
part  gathered  into  a  new  community  near 
Dublin,  in  1717,  at  Fisher’s  lane,  and  sub-' 
sequently  in  a  house  that  in  olden  time  had 
sheltered  nuns  of  the  order  of  St.  Benedict. 

nod  of  Tuam,  O’Reilly,  Irish  Martyrs,  p.  434 ;  Mo¬ 
ran,  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  p.  459. 

( 1 )  Murphy,  Sketches  of  Irish  Nunneries, 
p.  48. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


433 


This  community,  at  a  later  day,  removed 
to  Cabra  and  became  a  fruitful  mother,  its 
filiations  being  the  convents  of  Kingstown, 
Booterstown,  and  Usher’s  Quay,  Dublin. 

Some  of  the  nuns  who  had  remained 
near  Galway,  regaining  courage,  restored 
the  old  convent  which  still  subsists,  and 
one  of  their  number  returning  to  a  convent 
in  Brussels  was  sent  to  found  the  convent 
of  Dominican  nuns  in  Drogheda,  which 
preserves  as  its  greatest  relic  the  head 
of  the  illustrious  martyr,  Archbishop  Plun¬ 
kett.1 

The  Dominican  nuns  at  Cabra  have  de¬ 
voted  themselves  to  one  work  of  mercy  in 
which  their  labors  have  been  singularly 
blessed,  the  education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb.2 

As  the  century  advanced,  God  raised  up 
an  illustrious  servant  of  Mary  to  accom¬ 
plish  a  great  work  in  Ireland.  This  was 
the  saintly  Miss  Nano  Nagle,  who  in  1769 
began  to  establish  schools  for  girls,  and,  in¬ 
cidentally,  for  boys,  in  Cork,  supporting 
them,  acting  herself  not  only  as  founder, 
institutor,  and  director,  but  as  teacher 
also,  living  at  the  time  in  her  own  family, 
and  beginning  her  good  work  so  stealthily 
that  her  own  brother  had  no  idea  of  her 
plans.  She  was  a  devout  child  of  Mary 
and  from  her  childhood  had  always  enter¬ 
tained  a  tender  devotion  to  the  Presenta¬ 
tion  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  Temple. 
She  had  felt,  too,  the  desire  to  lead  a  re¬ 
ligious  life  ;  and  now  saw  no  method  of 
placing  the  object  of  her  long  thoughts  and 
labors  on  a  permanent  basis  except  by 


( 1 )  Murphy,  Sketches  of  Irish  Nunneries,  p.  40. 
( ’ )  Ibid.,  p.  41. 


bringing  in  or  forming  a  religious  com¬ 
munity. 

Her  director  suggested  the  Ursulines, 
and  Miss  Nagle  entering  into  this  plan 
gained  four  pious  ladies  to  it.  They  went 
to  France,  and  performing  their  novitiate 
in  St.  J aines’s  Convent,  Paris,  returned  with 
Mother  Margaret  Kelly,  a  nun,  from  the 
convent  of  Dieppe.  The  first  Ursuline  con¬ 
vent  was  established  on  Irish  soil,  and  the 
first  to  enter  the  novitiate  was  Miss  Moy- 
lan,  sister  of  Washington’s  aid-de-camp  in 
our  glorious  struggle  for  freedom. 

This  convent  commenced  its  labors  in  a 
house  provided  by  Miss  Nagle,  but  sub¬ 
sequently  removed  to  the  home  of  the  mar¬ 
tyred  Sheares  at  Blackrock.  Its  progress 
has  been  wonderfully  blessed.  It  sent  out 
colonies  to  other  parts  of  Ireland,  and  to 
various  parts  of  America,  everywhere 
training  young  ladies  to  virtue  and  piety, 
and  especially  to  a  tender  devotion  to 
Mary. 

Miss  Nagle  did  not  enter  their  commun¬ 
ity.  She  wished,  indeed,  the  daughters  of 
the  rich  trained  in  the  school  of  Jesus  and 
Mary,  but  her  great  thought  was  the 
daughters  of  the  poor.  It  was  not  till  she 
had  actually  taken  up  her  residence  in  the 
convent,  that  she  found  these  ladies  resolved 
not  to  embrace  schools  for  the  poor  among 
their  duties.  Her  remonstrance  was  un¬ 
availing.  Then  she  withdrew. 

Disappointed  in  the  hope  which  had 
sustained  her  through  many  a  long  year  of 
anxious  expectancy,  Miss  Nagle  did  not 
despair.  She  turned  to  Mary,  and  taking 
up  her  abode  in  a  house  adjoining  the  Ur¬ 
sulines  was  joined  by  a  few  generous  ladies 


434  DEVOTION  TO  THE 


animated  by  the  same  spirit  that  filled  her 
heart.  She  dedicated  her  little  society  to 
the  Presentation  of  Our  Lady,  in  1777. 
These  daughters  of  Mary  were  to  be  bound 
only  by  annual  vows.  Their  vocation  and 
duty  was  to  seek  out  the  poor  girls  of  the 
city,  gather  and  instruct  them,  instilling 
into  their  minds  the  principles  of  religion, 
relieving  their  wants  where  they  were  in 
distress,  seeking  for  them  new  homes  ;  in 
a  word,  they  were  the  servants  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  the  poor. 

The  labors  of  the  new  community  were 
the  theme  of  general  conversation.  Every 
part  of  Ireland  sought  a  colony  of  these 
daughters  of  Mary.  Yet  God  permitted 
that  some  should  oppose  her,  and  the  ser¬ 
vant  of  God,  the  imitator  of  Mary,  was  as¬ 
sailed  with  reproaches  even  in  the  streets, 
and  treated  as  an  impostor' and  a  hypocrite. 
But  her  institute  was  firmly  established. 
The  house  of  the  Ursulines,  on  their  de¬ 
parture,  became  the  mother  house  of  th‘e 
Presentation  order,  and  here  this  great 
servant  of  God  died,  April  26,  1784,  and 
was  laid  beside  her  early  Ursuline  friends. 

Down  to  our  day,  the  Presentation  order 
has  continued  its  work  of  love,  and  has 
been  one  of  God’s  greatest  instruments  in 
saving  the  young  maidens  of  Ireland  from 
the  contaminations  of  a  world  where  vice 
and  error  seem  to  have  gained  power  a 
thousandfold. 

Some  years  after,  a  young  girl,  the  daugh¬ 
ter  of  Catholic  parents,  was  left  an  orphan 
to  the  care  of  Protestant  relatives  and 
eventually  adopted  into  a  Protestant  fa¬ 
mily.  To  all  appearance  it  was  a  virgin 
soul  lost  to  the  Church  and  to  Mary.  But 


there  lingered  in  the  child’s  heart  reminis¬ 
cences  of  a  pious  father  that  kept  her  from 
identifying  herself  with  any  denomination. 
She  was  neither  a  Catholic  in  knowledge 
nor  in  practice.  At  last,  however,  almost 
by  stealth,  she  hastened  to  a  learned  priest, 
subsequently  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  By 
him  she  was  instructed  and  prepared  to 
receive  the  sacraments  to  which  she  had 
been  a  stranger.  It  was  only  after  mak¬ 
ing  her  first  communion  that  Catharine 
McAuley  found  courage  to  tell  her  adoptive 
parents  that  she  was  in  heart  and  soul, 
practically  a  Catholic.  They  did  not  lose 
any  of  their  affection  for  her  at  this  avowal. 
Her  fidelity  to  her  maturely  adopted  re¬ 
ligion  produced  a  deep  impression.  She 
won  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Callaghan  to  the  faith 
before  they  died.  Left  to  her  own  gui¬ 
dance  with  an  independent  fortune,  her 
choice  was  not  the  pleasures  of  this  world. 
The  poor  had  been  ever  dear  :  the  danger 
of  girls  exposed  to  every  temptation  had  im¬ 
pressed  her  deeply.  She  opened  a  school 
for  the  poor  and  refuge  for  girls,  and  as  she 
had  a  peculiar  devotion  to  the  festival  of 
Our  Blessed  Lady  of  Mercy,  she  had  her 
chapel  dedicated  and  her  whole  establish¬ 
ment  placed  under  the  invocation  of  the 
Mother  of  God  under  that  sweet  title. 
Thus  on  the  24th  of  September,  1827,  were 
founded  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  by  Catharine 
McAuley  and  a  few  ladies  who  had  joined 
her.  Opposition  and  calumny  came  to 
prove  that  God  blessed  their  work — teach¬ 
ing  the  poor,  sheltering  homeless  girls, 
visiting  the  sick  Catholics  in  the  hospitals 
and  their  often  wretched  homes,  gathering 
up  orphans  and  abandoned  children. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


435 


The  congregation  was  in  a  short  time  or¬ 
ganized  canonically  by  the  archbishop,  and 
its  labors  were  blessed  beyond  all  example. 
How  the  order  has  borne  throughout  the 
world  the  banner  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy 
need  scarcely  be  told.  The  name  Sister 
of  Mercy,  unheard  of  half  a  century  ago, 
is  now  as  familiar  wherever  the  English 
language  is  spoken  as  that  of  Sister  of 
Charity.  Throughout  Ireland,  England, 
the  United  States,  Australia,  it  devotes  it¬ 
self  to  every  corporal  and  spiritual  work 
of  mercy.1 

Another  order,  dedicated  to  Mary,  the 
Loretto  nuns,  entered  Ireland  in  1821, off¬ 
shoot  of  a  convent  of  English  nuns,  founded 
at  Munich  in  the  days  of  persecution,  and 
approved  by  the  Holy  See,  June  13,  1713, 
under  the  title  of  Institute  of  the  Blessed 
Yirgin  Mary.  Their  establishment  has 
grown  into  a  beautiful  convent,  and  fine 
chapel  at  Rathfarnham.  Filiations  from 
this  house  grew  up  at  Dalkey,  Clontarf, 
Bray,  Fermoy,  at  Gibraltar,  and  in  India, 
in  Canada,  and  near  the  shores  of  Africa 
bearing  the  name  of  Mary  and  of  the  Santa 
Casa  of  Loretto. 

Thus  the  new  religious  orders  that  have 
sprung  up,  or  been  introduced  into  Irish 
soil,  vie  with  those  of  ancient  date  in  bear¬ 
ing  testimony  of  Irish  love  to  Mary,  and 
in  propagating  and  extending  the  devotion 
to  her. 

The  Catholic  literature  that  has  sprung 
up,  shows,  too,  how  dear  to  every  Irish 
heart  is  this  tender  devotion,  as  no  works 


( 1 )  Life  of  Mother  Catharine  McAuley ;  Mur¬ 
phy,  Sketches  of  Irish  Nunneries,  pp.  114-159. 


are  so  eagerly  received  as  those  which  tell 
of  Mary  ;  and  the  children  of  Erin  whom 
the  misgov  ernment  of  their  native  land  by 
its  alien  rulers,  alien  in  blood,  alien  in 
language,  alien  in  religion,  and  alien  in 
every  fibre  of  their  natures,  has  driven  into 
exile,  have  borne  throughout  all  lands  de¬ 
votion  to  Mary.  On  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic,  in  the  wild  prairies  of  the  West, 
amid  the  northern  snows  or  tropic  heats : 
in  India  and  Australia,  everywhere,  the 
Irish  priest  proclaiming  the  word  of  God 
invokes  Mary  and  inspires  his  flock  with  a 
filial  love  and  confidence  in  her  powerful 
intercession. 

In  Ireland  itself,  the  churches  in  recent 
years  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin, 
many  of  them  noble  structures,  tell  the 
story  of  devotion  so  unmistakably  as  to  fix 
the  attention  of  observing  Protestants. 
Throughout  Europe  the  Reformation,  the 
French  revolution,  and  modern  liberalism, 
two  godless  daughters  of  an  atheist  mother, 
have  destroyed  most  of  the  old  religious 
landmarks  of  the  various  countries.  As 
the  relics,  the  shrines,  the  churches  of  the 
early  local  saints  have  disappeared,  their 
honor  has  gradually  declined,  and  the  de¬ 
votion  to  God’s  saints  centres  more  espe¬ 
cially  in  her  who  is  the  Queen  of  saints. 

This  is  especially  the  case  in  Ireland. 
A  recent  writer,  Mr.  Godkin,  who  ex¬ 
amines  the  state  of  Ireland  with  an  evident 
desire  to  be  impartial,  in  his  visits  to 
Catholic  churches  and  establishments,  was 
struck  with  this  wonderful  development  of 
the  devotion  to  Mary  in  Ireland.  Like 
most  of  those  who  view  religion  from  the 
standpoint  of  dull  common  place,  the  devo- 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


436 


tion  to  Mary,  so  full  of  poetry,  so  sponta¬ 
neous  an  offspring  of  the  uncliilled  heart  is 
inexplicable.  It  is  so  general  and  so  full 
of  outward  manifestation  that  he  loses  him¬ 
self  in  attempts  to  fathom  and  explain, 
when,  in  fact,  it  is  as  natural  a  growth  of 
the  Church  as  are  the  beautiful  temples  with 
which  he  admits  the  poor  Catholics  of  Ire¬ 
land  are  covering  the  land,  throwing  into 
the  shade  in  their  grandeur,  the  structures 
reared  by  the  establishment  with  its  untold 
wealth.  Our  pages  have  shown  that  devo¬ 
tion  to  Mary  was  planted  in  the  Irish  heart 
by  its  great  apostle,  and  been  manifested 
in  every  age.  He  himself  tells  of  the 
chapel  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
erected  and  endowed  in  the  now  roofless 
church  of  St.  Nicholas  Within,  by  Lord 
Worcester  and  other  gentlemen  in  1479, 
to  have  mass  celebrated  for  the  souls  of  the 
founders  and  for  all  those  of  the  faithful 
departed. 

“But,”  says  he,  “the  strangest  part  of 
the  story  of  St.  Nicholas  Within  is  yet  to 
be  told.  The  chapel  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
with  an  endowment  of  about  £300  a  year, 
is  involved  in  the  ruin  of  the  church.  It 
was  impossible  since  the  Reformation  that 
any  of  those  who  received  thedncome  could 
have  performed  the  duties  for  which  the 
endowment  was  given,  namely,  to  celebrate 
mass  daily  for  the  souls  of  the  donors  and 
for  the  faithful  departed  generally,  yet  the 
endowment  has  been  enjoyed  by  Protestant 
clergymen  down  to  the  present  time.  In 
the  year  1840,  it  was  the  subject  of  an  ex¬ 
traordinary  trial  in  the  Court  of  Queen’s 


( 1  )  Bodkin’s  Ireland  and  Her  Churches,  p.  303. 


Bench,  Dublin.”1  It  was  there  decided 
that  the  Rev.  Tresham  Gregg  was  the  duly 
elected  chaplain  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,, 
votes  of  Catholics  for  his  opponent  being 
cast  out,  because  they  had  no  right  to  vote, 
as  the  revenue  by  law  could  not  be  con¬ 
trolled  by  those  who  still  held  the  faith  of 
the  donors.  Yet  surely  Lord  Worcester, 
Sir  John  Bath,  John  Chever,  Thomas  Bir¬ 
mingham,  Stephen  Butler,  and  John  West 
would  feel  perfectly  at  home  before  an 
altar  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  any  Catholic 
church  in  Dublin,  and  not  find  the  honor 
paid  her  any  too  excessive  for  their  piety.2 

“Most  my  readers  are  aware,”  says  the 
writer,  “that  the  month  of  May  is  now 
specially  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  and  that 
it  is  called  the  month  of  Mary.  It  is  gen¬ 
erally  ushered  in  by  pastorals  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  bishops  prescribing  certain 
devotions.  But  I  think  Protestants  gener¬ 
ally  are  not  aware  of  the  extent  to  which 
Roman  Catholic  zeal  manifests  itself  in  con¬ 
nection  with  this  devotion  to  the  Queen  of 
Heaven.” 

This  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is 
indeed  so  marked  in  its  outward  manifesta¬ 
tion  and  display  that  we  cannot  wonder  at 
the  impression  it  produces. 

Churches  in  which  the  purest  styles  of 
architecture  command  the  homage  of  the 
most  critical  taste  are  dedicated  to  Mary. 
Her  statue  in  marble,  whose  purity  is  typi¬ 
cal,  stands  on  or  near  the  altar  where  the 
body  of  her  Son  is  mystically  offered. 

The  grounds  of  the  Catholic  nobility  and 
gentry  show  the  same  purifying  influence 


( 1 )  Godkin,  pp.  179,  182. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN-  IN  IRELAND. 


437 


that  raised  Rome  from  the  drugs  of  pagan 
filth  to  the  glory  of  Christian  purity. 
While  the  votaries  of  this  world  deck  their 
grounds  with  the  statuary  that  often  raises 
a  blush  on  the  cheek  of  modest  innocence, 
the  demesne  of  the  Catholic  is  adorned 
with  creations  of  the  sculptor’s  chisel  not 
inferior  in  genius,  but  presenting  the  hu¬ 
manizing  and  elevating  models  of  the 
Virgin  without  spot,  either  holding  her 
Divine  Son,  an  infant  or  lifeless,  now 
conquering  the  serpent,  now  triumphing 
as  Queen. 

Ramsfort,  founded  by  a  Protestant 
bishop,  whose  name  it  bears,  thus  greets 
the  visitor,  showing  that  devotion  to  .Mary 
has  conquered  even  there. 

Of  all  the  churches  erected  in  honor  of 
Our  Lady,  none  exceed  in  beauty  the  two 
noble  structures  reared  in  Wexford,  and 
due  so  much  to  the  labors  of  the  same 
devoted  clergyman,  that  they  are  popularly 
known  as  Father  Roche’s  churches.  One, 
on  Rowe  street,  is  dedicated  to  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Conception  ;  the  other,  on  Bride  street, 
to  the  Assumption :  both,  therefore,  to  Our 
Blessed  Lady.  These  churches  are  of  the 
same  dimensions  and  similar  architecture, 
and  were  both  designed  by  Richard  Pierce, 
a  pupil  of  Pugin.  They  consist  of  a  nave 
and  side  aisles  with  the  tower  at  the  west¬ 
ern  end  of  the  nave,  and  a  handsome  north 
and  south  porch.  The  length  of  each 
church  is  130  feet  and  the  breadth  60  feet. 
They  are  built  of  a  purplish  stone  trimmed 
with  granite,  presenting  a  rich  and  warm 
appearance,  while  the  light  octagonal  spire, 
gracefully  rising  to  the  height  of  222  feet, 
is  a  truly  prepossessing  and  conspicuous 


feature.  All  the  details  are  wrought  out 
with  great  beauty,  the  noble  doors,  the 
magnificent  chancel  window,  the  paneled 
ceilings,  the  magnificent  altar,  ornamental 
screens  and  statuary,  including  in  each 
church  a  beautiful  statue  of  Our  Lady  in 
white  marble,  the  gift  of  the  Countess  of 
Shrewsbury,  all,  all  strikes  the  visitor  with 
a  sense  of  majesty  and  awe.  It  is  a  church 
full  of  the  spirit  and  beauty  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  worshippers  within,  strike 
the  stranger  as  much  as  the  church.  It  is 
the  spot  where  all  are  equal.  Here  social 
distinction  is  forgotten,  rich  and  poor, 
learned  and  unlearned,  the  mighty  and 
lowly  kneel  side  by  side. 

Dublin  has  her  grand  cathedral  of  the  Im¬ 
maculate  Conception  where  Ireland’s  first 
prince  of  Holy  Church,  Cardinal  Cullen, 
presides.  Kilkenny,  her  cathedral  of  St., 
Mary,  Drogheda  and  Athlone,  Newry  and 
Cork,  Bally  garret  and  Limerick  all  have 
fine  and  new  churches  which  attest  how 
devoted  Ireland  is  still  to  her  whom  the 
Church  addresses  in  words  which  seem  to 
have  been  especially  applicable  to  Ireland  : 

«  Stella  Maris,  succurre  cadenti  surgere  qui  cu¬ 
rat  populo.” 

and  now  at  last  rising  she  shows  in  every 
way  her  homage. 

Where  the  church  is  not  dedicated  to 
her,  there  is  often  a  splendid  Lady  chapel, 
or  at  least  a  fine  altar.  Private  seats  have 
elegant  chapels.  On  an  island  in  a  beauti- 
tiful  lake  at  Ramsfort  is  a  chapel  in  the 
Romanesque  style,  with  a  beautiful  campa¬ 
nile  containing  a  bell,  and  a  semicircular 
apse  with  stained-glass  windows.  This 


DEVOTION  TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  IRELAND. 


438 


exceedingly  pretty  temple  is  dedicated  to 
Mary.1 

Godkin,  on  visiting  the  Franciscan 
church  at  Wexford,  found  in  impressive 
prominence  the  altar  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
covered  by  an  elevated  canopy  resting 
upon  white  and  blue  pillars  with  golden 
capitals.  Upon  the  altar  stands  a  beautiful 
marble  statue  of  the  Virgin.  Three  lamps 
burn  constantly  before  it.  One  hundred 
candles  are  lighted  round  it  in  the  evening. * (*) 

( 1 )  See  Lacy’s  Sights  and  Scenes  in  Fatherland, 
pp.  29,  55,  68,  93,  120,  137,  214,  243,  304,  426,  461, 
492,  496,  504,  599,  610,  677,  688,  696. 

( * )  Godkin,  p.  308. 


Floral  ornaments  are  in  the  greatest  profu¬ 
sion  and  variety.8 

Dublin  boasts  a  magnificent  hospital 
called  “  Mater  Misericordiae  ”  —  “  Mother 
of  Mercy,”  which  Godkin  tells  us  has  been 
not  inappropriately  called  “The  Palace  of 
the  Sick  Poor,”  so  beautifully  does  a  single 
name  of  Mary,  that  to  every  Catholic  is  a 
volume,  tell  the  character,  of  the  institu¬ 
tion. 

Thus  do  all  attest  the  ever  increasing 
devotion  of  Ireland  to  the  Virgin  of 
virgins,  a  devotion  coeval  with  her 
Christianity  and  indissolubly  connected 
with  it. 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

.  i  v  i  ‘ 


AMERICA  is  a  new  land  ;  it  lias  no 
religious  history  elating  back  to  the 
earlier  days  of  Christianity  or  even  to  the 
Middle  Ages,  those  ages  of  faith,  which  did 
so  much  in  honor  of  Mary. 

But  America  from  its  discovery  has  a 
history  in  which  devotion  to  Mary  holds  a 
conspicuous  place. 

Columbus,  the  discoverer  of  the  New 
\  orld,  would  not  embark  except  under 
th,  patronage  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  It 
was  in  the  convent  of  Our  Lady  of  Ra- 
bida  that  he  received  the  first  cordial  and 
effective  encouragement,  and  when  at  last 
by  the  aid  of  Queen  Isabella  three  ships 
were  placed,  at  Palos,  under  his  command, 
he  did  not  set  sail  till  the  largest  vessel,  the 
Gallega,  was  placed  under  the  special  pro¬ 
tection  of  Our  Lady  and  solemnly  blessed 
under  the  name  Santa  Maria  (Saint  Mary). 

Before  embarking  all  went  in  procession 
to  the  convent  of  Our  Lady  to  implore  the 
Divine  assistance,  and  the  powerful  patron¬ 


age  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  When 
after  the  voyage  that  has  become  so  mem¬ 
orable  he  discovered  land,  Columbus  named 
the  first  island  San  Salvador  (Holy  Saviour), 
then  he  named  the  next  St.  Mary  of  the 
Conception.  And  when  the  storms  threat¬ 
ened  to  engulf  them  on  the  homeward 
voyage,  and  the  slight  vessels  were  flung 
heavenward  by  the  tempestuous  waves,  and 
quivered  in  every  timber,  while  the  lateen 
sails  almost  swept  the  surface  of  the  waves, 
they  appealed  to  Heaven  for  mercy,  vow¬ 
ing  pilgrimages  to  shrines  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe,  Our  Lady 
of  Loretto,  -and,  as  if  in  answer  to  their 
prayers,  they  made  land  at  Santa  Maria, 
one  of  the  Azores.1 

His  fellow-discoverers,  some  of  them 
rough  men  indeed,  evinced  a  similar  devo¬ 
tion.  There  is  something  touching  in  the 


( 1 )  Roselly  de  Lorgnes,  Life  c i  Christopher 
Columbus. 


440  DEVOTION 

TO  THE 

veneration  of  old  Balboa  for  his  favorite 

true  faith  in  California,  were  devout  ser- 

statue  of  the  Madonna.  The  maps  of  early 

vants  of  Mary  needs  no  argument  but  their 

discovery,  when  all  were  Catholic,  show 

names. 

this  devotion ;  they  are  studded  with  the 

Spanish  America  was  ever  devout  to 

name  of  our  Blessed  Lady  and  her  mys- 

Mary.  While  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian  and 

. 

teries,  or  of  favorite  shrines,  nor  has  the 

Franciscan  were  extending  her  honor  in 

unbelief  of  those  who  came  later  and 

Canada  and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 

deemed  it  pious  to  slight  her,  effaced  her 

Peter  de  Betancurt,  a  native  of  the  Canary 

name  in  all  cases. 

Islands,  was  founding  in  Guatemala  an 

Florida  has  St.  Mary’s  River,  the  Chesa- 

order  to  take  care  of  the  sick  and  to  edu- 

peake  was  St.  Mary’s  Bay,  and  one  of  the 

cate  the  children  of  the  poor,  opening  his 

capes  bore  the  same  holy  name,  and  the 

free  school  in  1655.  His  devotion  to  the 

first  settlement  of  Maryland  was  St.  Mary’s, 

Blessed  Virgin  was  great ;  he  called  his 

Anticosti  was  Assumption  Island.  Lake 

order  the  Religious  of  Bethlehem  ;  on  the 

Superior  poured  out  its  waters  over  St. 

first  Sunday  of  every  month  he  recited  the 

Mary’s  falls.  The  Mississippi  was  the  river 

rosary  in  her  honor  with  his  arms  extended 

of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Montreal  is 

in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and  in  his  order  all 

still  Ville  Marie.  Newfoundland  and  Cali- 

the  brothers  do  so  for  nine  nights  before 

fornia  retain  on  their  maps  Conception. 

Candlemas.  He  instituted  several  other 

Of  the  discoverers  and  explorers  of  the 

devotions  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

part  now  occupied  by  the  United  States  and 

seeking  in  all  imaginable  ways  to  make  her 

Canada  many  were  devoted  to  Mary.  De 

known  and  loved.  His  zeal  and  devotion 

Soto,  full  of  this  world,  yet  left  by  his  will 

to  this  Queen  of  Angels  led  him  even  in 

means  to  found  a  chapel  in  honor  of  the 

1654  to  bind  himself  by  vow  to  maintain 

Immaculate  Conception,  and  there  ordered 

and  defend  her  Immaculate  Conception  at 

his  body  to  be  interred  ;  but  he  was  con- 

the  peril  of  his  life,  and  he  renewed  the 

signed  to  the  bosom  of  a  mighty  river, 

vow  yearly  till  his  death.2 

which  a  Jesuit  father  nearly  a  century  and 

Mexico  has  ever  been  memorable  for 

a  half  later  christened  by  the  name  of 

devotion  to  Mary,  and  the  enthusiastic  his- 

River  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  as  if 

torian  of  her  devotion  has  chronicled  in  the 

to  dedicate  the  chapel  in  which’  he  lay.1 

preceding  pages  the  story  of  Our  Lady  of 

That  Father  John  of  St.  Mary,  who  bore 

Guadaloupe,  the  patroness  of  Mexico. 

the  light  of  the  Gospel  to  New  Mexico  in 

Mexico  still  reveres  with  honor  the 

1580,  or  the  Carmelite  Father  Andrew  of 

standard  which  Cortes  bore  as  he  advanced 

the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who 

to  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  which  he 

in  1601  first  offered  up  the  worship  of  the 

planted  in  triumph  on  its  walls.  It  is  of 

(  )  Will  of  Soto,  in  the  Historical  Magazine 

(■•*)  Helyot,  Hiskoire  des  Ordres  Religieux.  Tit. 

an I  in  Smith’s  Expedition  of  Soto. 

Bethlehemites. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA.  441 

damask  and  bears  painted  on  it  a  beautiful 
picture  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  crowned  with 
gold  and  surrounded  by  twelve  golden 
stars,  her  hands  clasped  as  in  prayer,  her 
hair  long  and  floating.  Her  dress  is  red, 
but  her  cloak  is  blue.1 

To  behold  this  is  to  know  that  the  devo¬ 
tion  to  Mary  is  coeval  with  the  entrance  of 
Spaniards  into  Mexico,  and  we  feel  but  the 
same  truth  on  visiting  the  hospital  and 
chapel  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
founded  by  Cortez  and  still  subsisting. 

When  missions  were  established,  the  first 
Mass  which  Indian  choirs  learned  to  sing 
was  the  votive  Mass  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
beginning  with  the  hymn  of  the  Irish  poet 
Shiel,  Salve  Panda  Parens .a  When  the 
Cathedral  of  Mexico  was  finally  established, 
canonically,  we  find  it  dedicated  to  the  As¬ 
sumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

South  America  shows  the  same  devotion 
in  its  splendid  churches,  and  magnificent 
statues  of  Mary,  like  that  at  Bogota,  a  mass 
of  jewels.  The  lives  of  all  the  saints  at¬ 
test  the  same.  Saint  Francis  Solano  rears 
his  shrine  on  a  desert  island  ;  St.  Rose  of 
Lima  and  Blessed  Mary  Ann  of  Quito 
walk  in  her  footsteps  ;  St.  Lewis  Bertrand, 
Blessed  Peter  Claver,  B.  Ignatius  Aze- 
vedo,  B.  John  Masias,  B.  Martin  Porras, 
B.  Sebastian  of  the  Apparition,  all  by 
word  and  example  teach  devotion  to 
Mary.  The  Jesuit  missions  of  Paraguay 
and  other  parts  breathe  her  devotion  in 
every  line  of  their  history. 

Canada  was  first  explored  by  Cartier, 

who  went  forth  in  1535  from  St.  Malo,  with 
the  blessing  of  the  bishop,  and  when  in  the 
dreary  wintering  on  the  St.  Lawrence  his  men 
died  of  scurvy,  and  human  means  failed  to 
check  it,  he  turned  to  the  Comfort  of  the 
Afflicted.  “  He  put  all  his  people  in  prayer 
and  orison,  and  made  them  bear  an  image 
in  representation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  to  a 
tree  an  arrowshot  distant  from  our  fort, 
through  ice  and  snow.  And  he  ordered 
that  on  the  succeeding  Sunday,  Mass  should 
be  said  at  that  spot,  and  that  all  those  who 
could  walk,  both  sick  and  well,  should 
,  go  in  procession  singing  the  Seven  Peni¬ 
tential  Psalms  of  David  with  the  Litany, 
praying  the  said  Virgin  to  vouchsafe  to 
pray  to  her  dear  Son  to  have  pity  on  us. 

The  Mass  said  and  celebrated  before  the 
said  image,  the  captain  made  himself  a 
pilgrim  to  Our  Lady  of  Roquemada  (Roc 
Amadour),  promising  to  go  there  if  Grod  did 
him  the  favor  to  return  to  France.” 3 

Such  was  the  first  pilgrimage  to  Our 
Lady,  in  Canada. 

Almost  at  this  time,  Don  Tristan  de  Luna 
was  endeavoring  to  found  a  settlement  at 
Pensacola — the  Bay  of  Santa  Maria.  He, 
too,  had  priests  devoted  to  Mary  and  a 
trait  of  her  protection  is  recorded.  Ii  a 
revolt  that  took  place,  two  of  the  ring¬ 
leaders  were,  after  it  was  quelled,  con¬ 
demned  to  die.  The  missionary  who  pre¬ 
pared  them  to  die  urged  them  to  invoke 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  One  recited  the  ro¬ 
sary  with  the  deepest  devotion  and  offered 
this  devotion  so  pleasing  to  Mary,  the  other 

( 1 )  Aleman,  Disertaciones  Historicos,  vol.  1, 
App.  p.  19. 

56 

( * )  lb.  vol.  11,  p.  164. 

( * )  Cartier,  Brief  Becit. 

* 

442 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


stubbornly  adhered  to  his  obstinacy.  The 
next  day  the  governor,  unaware  of  these 
facts,  suddenly  pardoned  one,  who  thus  by 
a  miracle  escaped  an  ignominious  death. 
It  was  he  who  had  invoked  the  Refuge  of 
Sinners.1 

A  few  years  later,  in  1565,  was  founded 
St.  Augustine,  the  oldest  city  in  the 
United  States,  so  old  that  there  are  houses 
still  standing  that  were  built  before  the 
first  English  settler  landed  in  America. 
This  city  was  begun  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Blessed  Yirgin. 

“It  was  at  the  hour  of  vespers,”  says 
Bancroft,  “on  the  evening  preceding  the 
festival  of  the  Nativity  of  Mary,  that  the 
Spaniards  returned  to  the  harbor  of  St. 
Augustine.  At  noonday  of  the  festival  it¬ 
self,  the  governor  went  on  shore,  to  take 
possession  of  the  continent  in  the  name  of 
his  king.  The  solemn  Mass  of  Our  Lady 
was  performed,  and  the  foundation  of  St. 
Augustine  was  immediately  laid.  It  is  by 
more  than  forty  years  the  oldest  town  in 
the  United  States.” 

It  became  a  centre  of  devotion  to  Mary. 
Near  it  was  a  chapel  long  a  famous  shrine 
and  recently  revived  by  the  pious  bishop 
of  St.  Augustine,  Nuestra  Senora  de  Leche, 
(Our  Lady  of  Milk).  Missionaries  pierced 
the  thick  forests,  they  crossed  the  mountain 
ranges,  they  swam  the  broad  rivers  of  the 
South.  They  toiled  with  the  Natchez, 
the  Creek  and  the  Cherokee  ;  they  estab¬ 
lished  missions  in  Carolina  and  Virginia, 
and  they  coasted  the  whole  Atlantic  border 
as  far  north  as  the  Chesapeake,  which  they 


(  1 )  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cronologico. 


called  St.  Mary’s  Bay,  and  on  the  Rappa¬ 
hannock  they  planted  a  mission  in  her 
honor. 

They  were  martyred,  it  is  true,  by  the 
Indians;  they  died  in  the  wild  forest  of 
starvation  or  fatigue  ;  but  that  did  not 
deter  others  from  following  in  their  steps. 

Among  the  Apalaches  rose  Our  Lady  of 
Loneliness,  and  when,  in  1693,  Pensacola 
was  founded,  the  church  was  dedicated 
to  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  from 
the  very  landing  all  gathered  for  prayer 
around  a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

In  the  Spanish  archives  at  Seville  a 
recently  deceased  historical  student2  found 
a  collection  of  documents  transmitted  from 
Florida,  with  a  piece  of  severed  rope.  It 
was  the  formal  testimony  of  the  deliverance 
on  the  scaffold  by  a  supernatural  severing  of 
the  rope,  of  an  innocent  man  unjustly  con¬ 
demned  to  die,  who  invoking  the  Blessed 
Virgin  with  fervor  was  rescued  when  all 
hope  seemed  to  have  vanished. 

When  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia  were  at 
last  settled  by  France,  we  find  as  the  lead¬ 
ing  spirit  the  noble  Samuel  Champlain  who, 
though  thrown  among  Huguenots,  had  not 
lost  aught  of  his  faith  and  fervor. 

“  The  salvation  of  a  single  soul,”  says 
this  pious  gentleman,  “is  worth  more  than 
the  conquest  of  an  empire,  and  kings  should 
seek  to  extend  their  dominions  in  countries 
where  idolatry  reigns,  only  to  cause  their 
submission  to  Jesus  Christ.”  He  undertook 
his  toils  and  labors  with  patience,  in  order 
“  to  plant  in  this  country  the  standard  of 
the  Cross,  and  to  teach  the  knowledge  of 


( a )  Buckingham  Smith. 


> 


BLESSED  VERGIN'  IN  NORTH  AMERICA.  443 


Grod  and  the  glory  of  his  Holy  Name,  de¬ 
siring  to  increase  charity  for  His  unfortun¬ 
ate  creatures.” 

He  sought  to  give  a  religious  character 
to  the  colonies,  and  St.  Mary’s  Bay,  Monts 
Notre  Dame,  and  other  similar  names  at¬ 
test  his  devotion  to  Our  Lady.  A  priest, 
Nicholas  Aubri,  was  lost  and  nearly  perish¬ 
ed  at  St.  Mary’s  Bay,  and  doubtless  invoked 
her  in  his  hour  of  peril  and  showed  his 
gratitude  on  his  final  rescue  which  enabled 
him  to  reach  the  settlement  at  St.  Croix, 
where  he  offered  up  the  holy  sacrifice,  the 
first  priest  on  New  England  soil.1 

Champlain  introduced  into  Canada,  in 
1615,  the  Recollects,  a  reformed  congrega¬ 
tion  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi. 
That  they  were  devoted  to  Our  Blessed 
Lady  need  scarcely  be  said.  The  seal  of 
their  mission  bore  on  it  the  figure  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin ;  the  little  convent  reared  by 
them  on  the  banks  of  St.  Charles,  the  river 
near  Quebec,  was  dedicated  to  Our  Lady 
of  Angels,  the  patroness  of  the  order  •  the 
first  thing  which  they  taught  their  neophytes 
was  to  pronounce,  with  reverence  the  names 
of  Jesus  and  Mary.2 

The  Jesuits,  who  after  commencing  their 
missions  in  Nova  Scotia  and  Maine,  came 
to  found  in  Canada  missions  which  have  ex¬ 
cited  the  admiration  and  wonder  of  all,  and 
have  found  in  our  day  Protestant  eulogists 
in  Bancroft,  Kip,  and  Parkman,  consecrated 
their  first  chapel  in  Canada  to  Our  Lady 
of  Angels.  “If  the  superiors  leave  me  at 


(')  Lescarbot,  Histoire  de  la  Neuvelle  France; 
Shea,  Catholic  Church  in  New  England,  in  His¬ 
torical  Magazine,  New  Series. 


liberty,  our  first  church  shall  be  called  aught 
but  Our  Lady  of  Angels,”  writes  Father 
Charles  Lalemant  to  his  brother  Jerome, 
in  1626.3 

They  had  scarce  begun  their  labors  when 
the  false  Frenchman,  Kirk,  came  to  conquer 
Canada  for  a  brief  season  ;  but  Richelieu 
sends  them  back  in  1632,  and  again  the 
servants  of  Mary  begin  their  labors  on  the 
Saint  Lawrence  and  iu  the  distant  west. 
Far  off  by  the  remote  shores  of  Lake  Simcoe 
they  plan  the  mission  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  and  the  relations  tell  how  the 
fathers  had  made  a  vow  to  give  the  names 
of  Mary  and  Joseph  to  the  first  persons 
baptized  by  them  ;  how  they  had  accom¬ 
plished  that  vow  ;  how  Joseph  died  a  holy 
Christian  death  soon  after,  but  Mary  was 
living,  and  was  the  first  Indian  who  had 
brought  her  children  for  baptism  and  edu¬ 
cation  to  the  missionaries.  Their  converts 
numbered  several  hundreds,  and  the  fathers 
often  heard  resounding  from  the  leafy  aisles 
of  the  forest  the  sweet  names  of  Jesus  and 
of  Mary. 

In  1639  they  summon  to  their  aid  new 
auxiliaries,  not  brave  and  fearless  men, 
soldiers  of  the  cross  trained  in  seminaries 
of  theology,  but  weak,  though  devoted  and 
dauntless  women. 

One  of  these,  Mother  Mary  of  the  In¬ 
carnation,  foundress  of  the  Ursuline  Con¬ 
vent  in  Quebec  had  been  already  interiorly 
called  to  this  field  of  labor.  ‘  ‘  One  holy 
Christmas-tide,  in  her  home  at  Tours,  when 


( a )  Sagard,  Histoire  du  Canada,  pp.  162,  175. 
576,  599 ;  Sagard,  Voyage  aux  Hurons,  p.  249. 

( ’ )  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  1626. 


444 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


her  heart  and  soul  had  been  particularly 
given  up  to  union  with  God,  by  meditation 
on  the  mystery  of  His  Incarnation,  she  fell 
asleep  and  dreamed.  She  thought  that 
she,  with  one  companion,  hand  in  hand, 
were  toiling  along  a  broken  and  difficult 
road  ;  more  difficult  than  ordinary,  because 
they  did  not  see,  but  only  felt,  the  obstacles. 
But  they  had  plenty  of  courage,  and  went 
on  until  they  reached  a  place  known  as  the 
Tannery,  beyond  which  lay  their  home. 

“  Here  they  were  met  by  a  venerable  old 
man,  in  whose  pure,  sacred  lineaments 
beamed  kindness  and  protection.  It  was 
he  who  had  watched  and  guided  St.  Mary 
and  her  Child  from  the  roofs  of  Bethlehem 
to  the  palm  shades  of  Egypt.  And  St. 
Joseph,  she  thought,  conducted  them  into 
a  vast  enclosure,  whereof  the  sky  was  the 
only  roof.  The  pavement  and  the  walls 
were  of  white,  spotless  alabaster,  and  arab- 
esqued  with  gold.  Here  all  was  silence, 
deep,  religious,  recollected.  And  without 
disturbing  the  holy  stillness  by  a  word, 
their  guide  pointed  out  to  them  the  way 
they  should  go.  And  they  saw  a  little 
hospice  of  quaint,  ancient  architecture,  but 
very  beautiful,  and  of  snow-white  marble  ; 
and  in  an  embrasure  of  this,  upon  a  deli¬ 
cately-sculptured  seat,  sat  Our  Blessed 
Lady,  St.  Mary,  with  the  infant  Jesus  in 
her  arms  ;  but  their  backs  were  toward  the 
travellers. 

“  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  sprang  forward 
and  embraced  the  throne  of  her  Queen, 
while  her  companion  knelt  at  a  little  dis¬ 
tance,  where  she  could  easily  see  the  Vir¬ 
gin  and  her  Child.  The  hospice  faced  the 
Orient.  It  was  built  upon  an  eminence, 


and  at  the  foot  of  this  was  a  vast  space, 
murky  with  clouds  ;  and  through  the  thick, 
chill  mists,  there  rose  into  pure  air  the 
spire  and  gables  of  a  church,  but  the 
body  of  it  was  hidden  by  the  heavy  fog. 
A  rugged,  perilous  road  led  down  the  rocks 
into  this  space,  winding  along  fearful  pre¬ 
cipices  and  through  cavernous  rents  in  the 
mountain.  Our  Lady’s  gaze  was  fixed 
upon  this  gloomy  space,  and  the  heart  of 
the  nun  kneeling  behind,  her  burned  with 
desire  to  see  the  face  of  the  Mother  of 
pure  delights. 

“  And  then  the  Virgin  turned  and  wel¬ 
comed  the  suppliant  with  a  smile  of  inef¬ 
fable  sweetness,  and  bending  down  she 
gently  kissed  her  forehead.  Then  she 
seemed  to  whisper  something  about  the 
Ursuline  to  the  divine  Child  in  her  arms. 
And  when  she  had  done  this  three  times 
the  vision  faded,  and  in  tremor  of  delight 
the  nun  awoke.” 1 

Mary  of  the  Incarnation  came  to  Quebec. 
A  devoted  French  lady,  Madame  de  la 
Peltree,  gave  means  to  found  the  Ursuliv 
convent,  and  gave  herself  to  it. 

For  two  centuries  and  a  half  that  Holy 
institution  has  taught  the  Canadian  girls  of 
all  ranks  and  races  to  love  Jesus  and  Mary. 

Their  annals  are  full  of  instances  of 
tender  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God  and 
of  her  favors  to  the  devout  clients  who 
sought  her  intercession. 

Louis,  a  Christian  Huron,  was  taken  by 
the  Iroquois  and  condemned  to  the  stake. 
After  the  preliminary  tortures  he  was  se¬ 
curely  bound  with  stout  cords  of  deer 


(  1 )  McLeod,  Devotion  in  N.  America. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


sinew  to  await  the  preparations  for  the 
final  act.  In  his  terrible  danger  he  invoked 
Mary,  and  the  bonds  of  his  right  hand  be¬ 
gan  to  relax.  How  fervent  then  rose  his 
prayer  of  thanksgiving  and  petition,  as 
they  fell,  leaving  his  hand  free  to  unloose 
the  rest  of  the  cords  that  bound  him. 
Guided  by  her  he  passed  unharmed  amid 
the  large  band  of  sleeping  Iroquois  and 
amid  countless  dangers,  where  the  Queen 
of  Mercy  seemed  to  make  him  invisible  to 
his  enemies,  he  reached  Quebec.1 

With  these  nuns  came  others,  Hospital 
Nuns  of  the  congregation  of  the  Mercy  of 
Jesus,  who  faced  all  the  dangers  of  the  sea 
and  the  trials  of  a  nascent  colony  to  devote 
themselves  from  love  to  Mary  to  the  care 
of  the  sick  settlers  and  Indians.  Mother 
Mary  Guenet  of  St.  Ignatius  was  the  su¬ 
perior  of  this  band  of  Christian  heroines, 
and  their  voyage  was  marked  by  peril  from 
an  immense  iceberg  which  nearly  destroyed 
their  vessel,  and  from  which  they  escaped 
miraculously  after  making  a  vow  to  St. 
Joseph,  the  glorious  spouse  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

They  too  founded  a  house  that  still  sub¬ 
sists,  the  H6tel  Dieu  of  Quebec.  Their 
first  farming  land  was  St.  Marys  ;  their 
chapel  dedicated  in  1646  under  the  pat¬ 
ronage  of  Our  Lady  of  Pity,  the  feast  be¬ 
ing  celebrated  on  the  Nativity  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  September  8th.  Every 
Friday  the  Stabat  Mater  was  chanted  here.2 

Mary  showed  herself  a  pitying  mother 


( 1 )  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  Letters. 
(’)  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  l’Hotel  Dieu,  pp. 
59,  93. 


445 


on  many  occasions.  In  the  month  of  Feb¬ 
ruary,  1659,  a  poor  family  having  a  little 
child  in  danger  of  death,  vowed  it  to  Our 
Lady  of  Pity,  and  promised  to  bring  it  to 
visit  our  church,  says  Mother  Juchereau. 
Their  confidence  was  rewarded,  for  health 
was  restored  to  the  child  as  soon  as  the 
vow  was  uttered,  even  before  they  had  ful¬ 
filled  their  promise,  and  all  regarded  the 
cure  as  miraculous ! 3 

This  house  numbers  among  its  holy 
members  the  illustrious  servant  of  God, 
Mother  Catharine  of  St.  Augustine,  who 
was  restored  to  health  by  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  who  appeared  to  her  during  a  fatal 
malady  under  which  she  was  sinking  dur¬ 
ing  her  passage  to  America.4  Her  life  was 
one  prayer,  and  her  union  with  our  Blessed 
Lady,  intimate.  She  inspired  all  with  de¬ 
votion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  com¬ 
munity  has  always  been  remarkable  for 
honoring  Mary. 

Meanwhile  a  new  settlement  arose  at 
Montreal.  The  new  city  was  termed  Ville 
Marie,  City  of  Mary,  and  in  the  ecclesias¬ 
tical  affairs  the  name  is  still  retained,  the 
Bishop  is  Episcopus  Marianopolitanus. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Olier,  the  founder  of  the 
Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice  and  of  Montreal, 
is  one  of  the  great  servants  of  Mary.  His 
father  was  one  of  the  most  sincerely  pious 
clients  of  Mary  in  France.  He  himself 
gloried  that  he  was  born  of  a  mother 
named  Mary,  and  in  a  street  called  Our 
Lady  of  Silver.  Even  in  boyhood  what- 


(3)  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  l’Hdtel  Dieu,  p.  115. 

( 4 )  Ragueneau,  Vie  de  la  Mere  Catherine  de 
St.  Augustin,  p.  49. 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


446 


ever  recalled  the  Blessed  Virgin  filled  him 
with  gratitude  and  joy.  He  never  under¬ 
took  anything,  or  put  on  new  clothes  with¬ 
out  going  to  offer  them  to  Mary  and  ask 
her  guidance.  When  ordained  a  priest  he 
said  his  first  Mass  in  the  Church  of  Our 
Blessed  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel.  He  held 
all  he  possessed  as  her  vassal,  used  them 
only  in  her  name,  and  wore  a  silver  chain 
around  his  neck  to  show  that  he  was  a 
bondman  of  Our  Lady.  The  Church  of 
St.  Sulpice  breathes  naught  but  Mary. 

Such  was  the  man  who  projected  the 
settlement  of  Montreal  and  called  it  Mary’s 
city.  The  Society  formed  by  him  in  the 
same  spirit  consecrated  the  island  to 
Mary. 

To  found  the  new  colony  they  selected 
Paul  de  Chomeday,  Seigneur  de  Maison- 
neuve,  a  soldier  who  for  twenty  years  had 
served  his  king  with  honor,  the  Blessed 
Virgin  with  devotion,  having  made  for  her 
sake  a  vow  of  perpetual  chastity,  never 
omitting,  for  any  reason,  the  recitation  of 
his  beads  and  the  little  office.  Under  him, 
then,  they  started  at  length  from  Bochelle, 
crossed  safely,  wintered  near  Quebec,  and  oh 
the  17th  of  Mary’s  own  month  of  May,  ar¬ 
rived  at  Montreal.  They  built  a  chapel  of 
bark,  erected  an  altar,  and  offered  up  the 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  On  that  day  they 
reserved  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  and  from 
that  day  it  has  always  been  reserved  in 
Ville  Marie.  “Henceforth,”  says  Ban¬ 
croft,  the  American  historian,  “the  hearth 
of  the  sacred  fires  of  the  Wyandots  was 
consecrated  to  the  Virgin.” 

Montreal,  too,  had  its  religious  institu¬ 
tions  consecrated  to  Mary.  Mademoiselle 


Mance,  a  lady  devoted  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  came  to  found  the  Hdtel  Dieu  or  Hos¬ 
pital,  which  was  soon  taken  up  by  a 
regular  community,  Hospital  Nuns  of  St. 
Joseph,  who  wore  a  ring  with  the  names 
of  the  Holy  Family,  Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph. 
Under  Mother  Judith  de  Bresolles  they  de¬ 
voted  themselves  to  rear  up  a  community 
which  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  ere  long  con¬ 
firmed.1 

For  the  instruction  of  the  young,  rose 
up  the  heroic  Margaret  Bourgeoys,  who 
founded  the  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  of 
Our  Lady. 

A  worthy  assistant  of  Maisonneuve, 
while  he  was  building  up  a  material  city 
for  Mary,  she  was  establishing  the  spiritual 
empire  of  that  Blessed  Mother  in  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful.  For  four  years  occupied  in 
these  labors,  she  went  from  house  to  house, 
for  as  yet  no  building  could  be  spared  her 
for  a  school,  not  even  the  stable  she  at  last 
secured.  But  if  the  first  governor  of  the 
town  could  give  her  no  building,  he  could 
and  did  give  her  land  ;  and  on  this,  think¬ 
ing  first  as  always  of  St.  Mary,  she  deter¬ 
mined  to  build,  not  a  school,  but  a  chapel, 
in  her  honor.  Then  she  redoubled  her  en¬ 
ergies,  running  about  to  every  one  in  the 
town ;  and  so,  one  brought  wood,  and 
another  stone  ;  a  few  money,  a  greater 
number  their  stout  arms,  willing  hearts, 
and  mechanical  skill ;  and  thus  the  chapel 
arose,  just  where  now  stands  the  Church 
of  Our  Lady  of  Good  Help  (du  Bon-Se- 
cours),  so  famous  for  its  miracles.  Her 
school  began  in  a  stable,  yet  with  no  con- 


( 1 )  Faillon,  Vie  de  Mile.  Mance. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA.  447 


vent  but  this  she  found  devoted  ladies  in 
France  to  join  her  for  love  of  Our  Lady* 

Another  treasure  she  also  acquired.  Mr. 
Le  Pretre,  Sieur  de  Fleury,  one  of  the  Mon¬ 
treal  Company,  had  a  little  statue  of  Our 
Lady,  by  which  it  had  pleased  God  to 
work  miracles.  This  he  determined  to 
send  to  Yille  Marie,  where,  he  hoped,  a 
chapel  would  be  built  for  it,  and  where  it 
would  be  more  honored  than  elsewhere,  as 
that  town  and  colony  were  more  particu¬ 
larly  consecrated  to  the  pure  Mother  of 
God  than  any  other  portion  of  the  world. 
Being  brought  to  Mr.  de  Fancamp,  another 
member  of  the  Company  in  Paris,  he  was 
healed  instantaneously  of  a  dangerous  ill¬ 
ness,  and  then  he  vowed  to  labor  stead¬ 
fastly  for  the  chapel,  headed  the  subscrip¬ 
tion  list  with  a  heavy  sum  from  his  own 
purse,  and  placed  that  sum  and  the  sacred 
image  at  once  in  the  hands  of  Sister  Mar¬ 
garet.  It  was  the  consolation  of  the  sis¬ 
ters  on  their  voyage,  and  the  object  of  their 
unremitting  zeal  on  their  arrival. 

Margaret’s  whole  life  was  devotion  to 
the  Blessed  Yirgin ;  every  thought  was 
affected  by  her,  every  act  was  done  as  if 
by  her  direction.  To  Mary  she  gave  her¬ 
self  in  France  ;  for  her  she  left  her  native 
land  forever  to  dwell  in  a  wild  and  just  dis¬ 
covered  country  in  a  town  bearing  the 
name  of  Mary,  to  establish  a  congregation 
under  the  name  of  Mary,  where  the  books, 
and  houses,  and  persons  wore  the  livery  of 
Mary,  and  where  Mary  herself  was  sol¬ 
emnly  chosen  first  and  perpetual  superior. 

For  at  the  first  formal  assembly  of  the 


( 1 )  Faillon,  Vie  de  Marguerite  Bourgeoys. 


congregation  for  the  election  of  a  superior, 
the  sisters  had  cried  with  one  voice,  that 
“  they  would  have  the  Blessed  Yirgin  for 
their  superior,  their  origin,  founder,  pro¬ 
tectress,  and  good  mother  for  time  and  for 
eternity.”  And  then  Margaret  and  the 
rest  of  them  prostrated  themselves  before 
the  image  of  our  dear  Lady.1 

Our  Lady  has  for  two  centuries  and 
more  blessed  their  labors.  How  many 
thousands  of  young  virgins  have  been 
trained  by  them  to  honor  God  in  the  clois¬ 
ter  and  in  domestic  life,  Canada  can  well 
attest. 

Nor  was  devotion  to  Mary  confined  to 
Sulpitian  clergymen,  Hospital  nuns,  Sisters 
of  the  Congregation  of  Our  Lady.  It  per¬ 
vaded  all  classes  at  Montreal.  Indian  wars 
desolated  the  land.  The  Iroquois  ravaged 
the  frontiers  of  the  French  settlement  and 
slew  men  even  within  the  towns.  Nearest 
and  most  exposed  to  the  fierce  enemy, 
Montreal  organized  the  Militia  of  the  Holy 
Family — Jesus,  Mary,  and  Joseph.  “Where¬ 
as  this  island  belongs  to  the  Blessed  Yir¬ 
gin,  we  deem  it  proper,”  says  the  gallant 
Paul  de  Chomeday,  Sieur  de  Maisonneuve, 
“  to  invite  and  exhort  all  who  are  zealous 
for  her  service  to  unite  in  squads  of  seven 
each,  and,  after  electing  a  corporal  by  plu¬ 
rality  of  voices,  to  meet  us  and  be  enrolled 
as  part  of  the  garrison,”  etc.  “We  order 
this  to  be  recorded  with  the  names  of  all 
who  are  enrolled  in  pursuance  thereof  to 
serve  as  a  mark  of  honor,  as  having  ex¬ 
posed  their  lives  for  the  interests  of  Our 
Lady  and  the  common  weal.”2 


( a )  Montreal  Historical  Society,  p.  134. 


448 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


At  their  head  was  an  Indian  fighter  as 
brave,  adroit,  skillful,  and  vigilant  as  that 
careless  Catholic,  Miles  Standish,  who  amid 
the  New  England  zealots  forgot  his  early 
training.  Lambert  Closse,  of  Montreal,  de¬ 
vout  to  Mary,  hero  of  a  hundred  fights,  is 
one  of  the  noblest  figures  in  early  history.1 

When  a  bishop  came — the  illustrious  de 
Laval  Montmorency — he  dedicated  his  Ca¬ 
thedral  to  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

As  the  missions  extended,  the  Jesuits  es¬ 
tablished  Missions  of  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception  and  of  St.  Mary  in  the  Huron  ter¬ 
ritory  and  on  the  upper  lakes.  Their 
central  mission  station  was  St.  Mary’s  on 
the  Wye.2  When  it  fell,  Father  Chaumo- 
not,  whose  almost  centennial  career  was 
devoted  to  the  glory  of  Mary,  reared  a 
chapel  of  N6tre  Dame  deFoye,  and  finally 
a  new  Loretto  in  America,  a  church  built 
in  exact  imitation  of  the  Santa  Casa  at  Lo¬ 
retto,  in  Italy.  This  became  the  holy  place 
of  the  Indians.  The  Iroquois  convert  found 
a  home  here,  side  by  side  with  his  ancient 
Huron  victim.  The  Hurons  themselves 
grew  in  holiness  and  all  primitive  virtues  ; 
and  their  brethren  in  far  exile  were  wont 
to  make  pilgrimages  hitherward,  bringing 
offerings  from  the  distant  West,  to  the  feet 
of  the  Virgin  Immaculate.  Another  and 
final  removal  to  a  very  short  distance  took 
place  long  after.  They  called  the  settle¬ 
ment  the  New  Loretto,  and  there,  to-day, 
are  gathered  the  remnant  of  the  tribe.3 

Treading  the  path  of  suffering,  the  illus¬ 


(* *)  Shea’s  Charlevoux. 

( ’ )  Shea’s  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions. 


trious  Father  Jogues,  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Mohawks,  was  hurried  through  woods  and 
rocks  to  their  village,  where  death  stared 
him  in  the  face  as  he  beheld  his  comrades 
burnt  alive  and  underwent  in  his  own  per¬ 
son  all  the  preliminary  tortures  of  that 
fearful  scene. 

“At  last,”  says  this  servant  of  Mary  in 
his  journal,  “  on  the  eve  of  the  Assumption 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  we  arrived  at  the 
first  village  of  the  Iroquois.  And  I  thank 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ jbat  He  thus  deigned 
to  grant  us  a  share  in  His  sorrows  and  His 
cross,  on  the  day  whereon  the  Christian 
universe  celebrates  the  triumph  of  His  sa¬ 
cred  Mother  taken  up  into  heaven.” 

While  entering  the  town  of  the  barba¬ 
rians  by  running  the  gauntlet,  Jogues  was 
thus  comforted  “by  a  vision  of  the  glory 
of  the  Queen  of  Heaven.” 

The  missionary,  in  his  long  captivity, 
taught  devotion  to  Mary.  One  day 
when  he,  with  the  pious  novice  Rene 
Goupil,  his  fellow  prisoner,  had  retired 
apart  to  pray,  two  young  men  followed 
and  ordered  them  back.  “  Dear  brother,” 
said  the  Father,  “  let  us  recommend  our¬ 
selves  to  our  Lord  and  to  our  good  Mother, 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  for  these  men  have 
some  evil  design.”  They  walked  back, 
telling  the  beads  of  their  rosary.  They 
had  said  four  decades,  when  a  tomahawk 
crashed  into  Ren  As  head  and  he  fell  utter¬ 
ing  the  name  of  Jesus.4 

His  life  was  devoted  to  Mary  and  to  her 


( 8 )  lb.  Chaumonot,  Autobiographic ;  Catholic 
World,  Aug.,  1872. 

( * )  Jogues,  Novum  Belgium,  Ren6 — (roupil. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


Divine  Son.  ind  though  he  died  beneath 
the  murderous  axe  by  the  bank  of  the  pine- 
lined  Mohawk,  he  did  not  die  in  vain. 
“  Two  churches  of  St.  Mary  stand  upon 
the  shores  of  that  beautiful  river,”  says 
one  of  our  most  eloquent  writers,  “the 
Arch  Confraternity  of  her  Immaculate 
Heart  is  established  in  the  principal  town 
bathed  by  its  waters.  For  the  beautiful 
flower  of  devotion  to  Mary  had  been  surely 
planted  by  Father  Jogues,  and  nurtured 
with  his  tears  and  blood  in  the  woodlands 
of  New  York,  when  he  kneeled  to  say  her 
office  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  traced  by  his 
crushed  fingers  on  the  trunk  of  the  maple.” 

The  same  devotion  to  Mary  pervaded 
the  whole  Huron  mission.  There  was  not 
one  who  has  not  left  proof  of  his  zeal  in 
her  service.  Of  one  Chastelain  we  find  a 
work  on  her  devotion  prepared  for  the  So¬ 
dality  at  Paris.  So  devout  to  her  was  the 
robust  heroic  Brebeuf,  one  of  tho&  giants 
of  the  faith,  that  she  appeared  to  him  filling 
his  heart  with  comfort  to  strengthen  him 
amid  the  torments  of  the  Iroquois  and  the 
aspersions  of  enemies.  Such  visits  left  in 
his  soul  a  profound  peace  and  an  intense 
desire  of  suffering.  Garnier,  another  mar¬ 
tyr,  writing  to  congratulate  a  brother  who 
had  entered  the  Carmelite  order  says  :  “  I 
beg  all  the  angels  to  chant  a  thousand  thou¬ 
sand  hymns  of  praise  and  benediction  to 
God  and  to  the  Mother  of  all  mercy,  that 
gentle  star  who,  I  believe,  has  led  you  to 
the  port  of  all  happiness.”  So  too  with 
Le  Moyne,  Chabanel,  Daran,  one  and  all. 
Chabanel  reached  America  on  the  Feast  of 
the  Assumption,  and  was  martyred  on  the 
Feast  of  the  Conception.  They  had  St. 

57 


449 


Mary’s  House,  they  had  the  Mission  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  ;  the  first  converts 
baptized  were  Joseph  and  Mary.  The 
Rosary  was  taught  at  once  to  the  converts, 
and  the  ears  of  the  unbelievers  caught  the 
word  “  Maria  ”  as  it  recurred  again  and 
again  in  the  prayer  of  the  faithful,  and  termed 
them  in  derision  Marians.  It  was  a  glorious 
triumph  for  these  Christians  of  the  far  north- 
land  to  bear  a  name  in  mockery  which 
bound  them  closely  to  the  Queen  of  Angels. 

Father  Marquette,  longing  to  explore 
the  then  unknown  Mississippi,  began  offer¬ 
ing  up  perpetual  devotions  to  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Mother  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
yearning.  Indeed,  things  seemed  to  work 
that  way.  He  was  sent  south  and  west¬ 
ward  to  Mackinac,  south  and  westward  to 
Green  Bay,  southward,  at  last,  to  the  Illi¬ 
nois.  Everywhere  he  heard  more  and 
plainer  tidings  of  the  great  river,  and  he 
redoubled  his  devotions.  Then  Mary 
heard  and  granted  his  prayers.  Joliet  ar¬ 
rived,  sent  by  the  Count  de  Frontenac, 
then  governor  of  Canada,  and  bringing 
with  him,  from  Marquette’s  superiors,  the 
long  wished-for  permission. 

They  took  all  possible  precautions,  made 
all  prudent  preparations,  but  “  above  all,” 
says  Marquette,  “I  placed  our  voyage  un¬ 
der  the  protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Im¬ 
maculate,  and  promised  her  that  if  she  ob¬ 
tained  us  the  grace  of  discovering  the  great 
river,  I  would  give  it  the  name  of  Concep¬ 
tion,  as  I  would  do  to  the  first  mission  I 
should  establish  among  those  new  nations.”1 


( 1 )  Eecit  des  Voyages  et  des  Descouvertes  Je  P. 
Jacques  Marquette,  cap.  ii. 


450  DEVOTION 


Before  embarking  on  the  Wisconsin,  they 
began  a  new  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  Immaculate,  which  they  practised  every 
day,  and  “  by  especial  prayers  we  placed,” 
he  says,  “  under  her  protection  the  success 
of  our  voyage  and  ourselves.”1  Then,  for 
a  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  they  float 
down  the  Wisconsin,  through  the  State  of 
that  name,  to  its  mouth  and  the  object  of 
their  wishes.  Then  out  upon  the  broad 
breast  of  the  Father  of  Waters,  and  down 
its  stream  past  Iowa,  Missouri,  Illinois,  not¬ 
ing  every  object,  the  nature  of  the  trees, 
the  varying  width  of  water,  the  animals, 
especially  the  “  wild  cattle,”  and  the  pan¬ 
thers  which  came  in  sight. 

Just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas 
they  had  been  attacked  by  a  party  of  hos¬ 
tile  Indians.  Death  seemed  inevitable. 
“But,”  says  the  faithful  Marquette,  “we 
had  recourse  to  our  patroness  and  guide, 
the  Holy  Virgin  Immaculate,  and  we  had 
great  need  of  her  assistance,  for  the  sav¬ 
ages  were  urging  each  other  to  the  slaugh¬ 
ter  by  fierce  and  continual  cries.”  But 
God  suddenly  touched  the  hearts  of  the 
old  men,  the  youth  were  checked,  and  for 
that  time  the  missionary  was  spared.  So 
he  discovered  the  Mississippi  and  named  it 
The  River  of  the  Conception.  Then  he  set 
out  to  plant  the  Mission  of  the  Conception 
among  the  Illinois  :  but  he  fell  sick  and 
wintered  at  Chicago,  consecrating  to  Mary 
the  site  of  the  great  city  of  the  W est.  In 
the  spring  he  founded  the  mission  and 
turned  back  towards  Mackinaw  only  to  die 


( 1 )  Shea,  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the 
Mississippi. 


TO  THE 


on  the  way  at  the  mouth  of  a  river  that 
now  bears  his  name. 

He  had  always  entreated  his  dear  Moth¬ 
er  that  he  might  die  on  Saturday,  the  day 
of  the  office  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
Well,  Saturday  had  come,  and  he  bade  his 
companions  paddle  to  the  shore,  to  a  knoll 
at  the  foot  of  which  a  little  river  ran  into 
the  lake.2  They  laid  him,  like  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  upon  the  shore,  and  stretched  some 
birch  bark  upon  poles  above  him.  There 
he  gave  them  the  last  directions,  thanked 
them  for  their  love,  begged  their  pardon  for 
the  trouble  he  had  given,  heard  their  con¬ 
fessions,  and  bade  them  take  some  repose. 
When  they  returned,  he  had  entered  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  ;  but  he  told 
one  of  them  to  take  his  crucifix  and  hold  it 
up  where  his  eyes  might  rest  upon  it. 
Looking  on  this,  he  uttered  his  profession 
of  faith,  and  thanked  the  Triune  Majesty 
for  the  grace  of  dying  a  missionary  of  J e* 
sus,  alone  and  in  the  land  of  savages 
Then,  now  and  again,  they  heard  him  say, 
“  Sustinuit  anima  mea  in  verbo  ejus,”  and 
“  Mater  Dei,  memento  mei.”  Then,  as  he 
seemed  to  be  passing  away,  they  called 
aloud,  as  he  had  told  them,  the  names  of 
Jesus  and  of  Mary,  and  at  the  sound  he 
raised  his  eyes  above  the  crucifix  ;  he  saw 
some  object  which  they  could  not  see,  for 
his  eyes  filled  with  the  light  of  ineffable 
joy  ;  a  look  of  intensest  delight  made  his 
whole  face  radiant ;  he  cried  out  J esus  and 
Mary  !  and  fell  asleep. 

“We  could  say  much  of  his  rare  vir- 


( 1 )  Shea’s  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the 
Mississippi,  p.  64. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


451 


tues,”  says  Father  Dablon,  “  of  his  mis¬ 
sionary  zeal,  of  his  childlike  candor,  of  his 
angelic  purity,  and  his  continual  union 
with  G-od.  But  his  predominant  virtue 
was  a  most  rare  and  singular  devotion  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  especially  in  the 
mystery  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  It 
was  a  pleasure  to  hear  him  preach  or  speak 
on  this  subject.  Every  conversation  and 
letter  of  his  contained  something  about  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Immaculate,  as  he  always 
styled  her.  From  the'age  of  nine  he  fasted 
every  Saturday,  and  from  his  most  tender 
youth  began  to  recite  daily  the  little  office 
of  the  Conception,  and  inspired  all  to  adopt 
this  devotion.  For  some  months  before  his 
death  he  daily  recited,  with  his  two  men,  a 
little  chaplet  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
which  he  had  arranged  in  this  form  :  after 
the  Creed,  they  said  one  ‘  Our  Father,  and 
Hail  Mary  then  four  times  these  words  : 
‘  Hail,  daughter  of  Ood  the  Father !  hail, 
Mother  of  Ood  the  Son  !  hail,  Spouse  of 
the  Holy  Ohost !  hail,  temple  of  the  whole 
Trinity !  By  thy  holy  virginity  and  im¬ 
maculate  Conception,  0  most  pure  Virgin, 
cleanse  my  flesh  and  my  heart.  In  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ohost ; ’  and  last  of  all,  the 
‘  Olory  be  to  the  Father,’  the  whole  thrice 
repeated. 

“So  tender  a  devotion  to  the  Mother  of 
Ood  deserved  some  singular  grace,  and  she 
accordingly  granted  him  the  favor  he  had 
always  asked,  to  die  upon  a  Saturday  ;  and 
his  two  companions  had  no  doubt  that  she 
appeared  to  him  at  the  hour  of  his  death, 
when,  after  pronouncing  the  names  of  Jesus 
and  Mary,  he  suddenly  raised  his  eyes 


above  the  crucifix,  fixing  them  on  an  object 
which  he  regarded  with  such  pleasure  and 
joy,  that  they  lit  up  his  countenance  ;  and 
they  from  that  moment  believed  that  he 
had  surrendered  his  soul  into  the  hands  of 
his  good  Mother.” 

We  have  mentioned  Our  Lady  of  Bon 
Secours  in  connection  with  Margaret  Bour- 
geoys.  “  If  you  should  make  a  pilgrimage 
to  this  American  shrine,”  says  an  eloquent 
writer,  “and  a  more  edifying  devotion  you 
will  not  find  on  this  continent,  you  will  see 
its  quaint  structure  on  the  hill-side,  fronting 
N6tre  Dame  Street,  and  overlooking  the 
broad  sail-covered  St.  Lawrence.  Its  not 
ungraceful,  rather  Oriental  looking  steeple, 
with  its  two  open  lanterns,  one  above  the 
other  ;  its  steep  snow-shedding  roof  and 
old-fashioned  ornamentation  of  the  door¬ 
way,  will  at  once  carry  you  back  to  the 
date  of  the  Jesuit  martyr  and  the  Indian 
missions.  In  1675,  the  Bev.  Mr.  Souart, 
of  St.  Sulpice,  headed  a  procession  of  all 
the  people  upon  the  feasts  of  Saints  Peter 
and  Paul,  and  solemnly  blessed  and  laid 
the  corner-stone.  The  walls  rose  swiftly  ; 
a  bell  was  cast  from  a  bronze  cannon  which 
had  been  burst  in  the  Iroquois  war  ;  the 
miraculous  statue  of  Our  Lady  was  placed 
in  a  shrine,  gilt  and  enriched  with  jewels, 
and  Bon  Secours  stood  open  to  the  faithful, 
the  first  stone  church  on  the  island  of 
Montreal.” 

The  first  church  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1754,  and  in  consequence  of  the  wars 
which  finally  brought  Canada  under  a 
Protestant  sovereign,  was  not  rebuilt  till 
1771.  Then  once  more  pious  hands  labored 
to  restore  the  sanctuary  of  Mary,  and  in 


452 


devotion  to  the 


1774  the  Canadian,  as  he  sailed  along  the 
mighty  river,  could  once  more  behold  the 
spire  of  Mary’s  Church  and  commend  him¬ 
self  to  her  motherly  care. 

When  the  ship-fever  was  ravaging  the 
city  of  Montreal,  and  the  ranks  of  the 
clergy  and  sisters,  who  devoted  themselves 
to  the  sick,  were  daily  thinned,  the  Bishop 
of  Montreal,  Ignatius  Bourget,  publicly 
bound  himself  by  vow  to  do  his  utmost  to 
re-establish  the  pious  pilgrimage  of  Our 
Lady  of  Gfood  Help,  which  had  ceased  to 
be  frequented  as  it  once  was. 

The  prayer  was  heard,  the  long  proces¬ 
sion  to  the  ancient  shrine,  the  constant 
stream  of  devout  souls,  imploring  the  inter¬ 
cession  of  Mary,  were  not  unheard.  The 
epidemic  that  menaced  all,  died  away.  In 
a  pastoral  letter,  the  pious  bishop  exclaims : 
“We  would  be  the  most  ungrateful  of  men, 
indeed,  and  our  tongue  should  cleave  to 
the  roof  of  our  mouth,  if  we  were  to  forget 
that  we  owe  to  the  fervent  prayers  in  the 
chapel  of  Bon  Secours  the  health  we  enjoy 
to-day.” 

A  new  statue  replaced  that  which  disap¬ 
peared  in  1831,  and  the  constant  visits  of 
the  pilgrims  show  that  all  regard  it  as  one 
of  those  privileged  spots  where  God  is 
pleased  to  show  His  great  mercy,  through 
the  intercession  of  Mary. 

Canada  as  a  Catholic  province  was  a  per¬ 
petual  eyesore  to  the  New  England  zealots 
of  the  seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth 
century.  To  overthrow  Catholicity  there, 
was  the  great  object  of  their  thoughts.  Not 
to  forego  the  opportunity  of  leveling  church 
and  convent,  of  showing  their  love  for 
Christ  and  her  whom  he  loved,  by  treating 


with  every  indignity  any  representation  of 
them,  they  exposed  their  frontiers  to  the 
horrors  of  Indian  war,  rejecting  all  Can¬ 
adian  proffers  of  neutrality.  They  were 
many,  the  Canadians  were  few.  In  1690 
a  mighty  expedition  was  sent  out  from 
Boston,  and  before  the  first  breath  of  intel¬ 
ligence  of  such  a  project  reached  the  French 
governor,  the  New  England  fleet  was  in  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Frontenac  hastened  back 
to  Quebec  from  Montreal,  and  did  what 
man  could  do.  He  was  brave  and  he  was 
capable.  When  he  looked  around  on  his 
petty  force,  he  thought  of  one  ally  not  to 
be  overlooked.  It  was  Mary’s  land,  and 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  invoked  at  every 
altar,  in  every  household.  A  painting  of 
the  Holy  Family  was  hung  out  on  the 
steeple  of  the  cathedral,  and  all  hearts 
beat  high  with  hope.  In  a  few  days 
Phips,  defeated  and  baffled,  fled  down 
the  river,  leaving  his  own  flag  in  the 
hands  of  the  French,  to  be  hung  up  in  the 
cathedral  as  a  trophy.  “  Then,”  says  a  nun 
of  the  H6tel  Dieu,  “a  magnificent  p.oces- 
sion  was  made  to  all  the  churches  ol  Que¬ 
bec  ;  the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
borne  in  triumph  as  Our  Liberatrix,  who 
had  vanquished  our  enemies  ;  all  resounded 
with  praises  of  the  Queen  of  Angels,  and 
of  her  who  had  just  given  us  such  signal 
marks  of  her  maternal  protection.  The 
feast  of  Our  Lady  of  Victory  (October  7) 
was  established  in  the  church  of  the  Lower 
Town  as  an  eternal  memorial  of  the  defeat 
of  the  English.  To  her  was  attributed  all 
the  glory  of  this  victory,  without  speaking 
of  the  prudence  of  the  governors,  the 
valor  of  the  officers,  the  bravery  of  the 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


453 


soldiers  and  settlers,  and  no  one  objected, 
so  convinced  were  all  that  Mary  alone  had 
repulsed  our  enemies.”1 

If  you  seek  this  plain,  unpretending, 
though  substantial  church,  by  the  market¬ 
place  in  the  Lower  Town  of  Quebec,  you 
will  find  it  called,  not  by  the  name  we 
have  given,  but  by  that  of  Our  Lady  of 
Victories,  and  you  will  ask  the  reason. 
You  will  find  that  again,  in  1711,  Canada 
was  menaced,  a  powerful  fleet  again  steered 
towards  the  mouth  of  the  Saint  Lawrence, 
a  formidable  army  marched  on  Montreal. 
In  that  city  the  ladies  discarded  all  fin¬ 
eries  for  a  year,  and  vowed  a  chapel  to 
Our  Lady  of  Victory  ;  at  Quebec  all  gath¬ 
ered  around  the  Mary-altars  to  implore 
once  more  her  potent  protection.  Though 
hopeful,  every  face  was  serious,  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  the  hour,  and  of  the 
utter  inefficiency  of  human  means.  The 
novena  to  Our  Lady  of  Pity  had  but  just 
ended  in  the  cathedral  of  Quebec,  when 
the  clients  of  Mary,  issuing  forth  on  the 
square,  met  persons  just  arrived  from 
France.  A  French  ship  had  entered  the 
river !  Where  then  were  the  English  ?  The 
fleet,  wrecked  with  fearful  loss  on  the  rocky 
shore,  had  strewn  the  river-side  with  dead 
and  fragments  ;  a  few  ships  bore  away  to 
spread  dismay  through  New  England.  On 
land,  panic  had  seized  their  army,  which 
broke  up  in  disorder.  Then  rose  in  Mon¬ 
treal,  beside  the  convent  of  the  Sisters  of 
the  Congregation  of  Our  Lady,  the  chapel 
of  Our  Lady  of  Victory,  and  that  at  Que¬ 
bec  assumed  its  present  name. 

( 1 )  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  l’Hotel  Pieu  de 
Quebec!,  p.  333. 


Not  far  from  Quebec  is  another  sanc¬ 
tuary  of  Mary,  Loretto,  founded  in  1674, 
by  the  Jesuit  missionary,  Father  Peter 
Mary  Joseph  Chaumonot,  known,  too,  as 
one  of  the  insti tutors  of  the  Confraternity 
of  the  Holy  Family.  It  was  built  in  exact 
imitation  of  the  Santa  Casa,  had  a  statue 
copied  from  that  venerated  in  the  Italian 
sanctuary.  It  was  at  once  a  pilgrimage, 
and  the  favors  received  there  increased  the 
devotion.  “  Some  years  after  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  the  Huron  mission  at  Loretto,” 
says  Father  Chaumonot,  “  Mary  Wendraka, 
a  fervent  Huron  Christian,  was  reduced  to 
extremity  by  a  violent  fever.  She  had  re¬ 
ceived  the  last  sacraments,  and  we  expect¬ 
ed  only  her  dissolution,  when  I  called  John 
and  Teresa,  her  two  surviving  children, 
and  made  them  promise  that  if  it  pleased 
the  Blessed  Virgin  to  restore  their  mother’s 
health,  they  and  I  would  say  the  Beads  of 
the  Holy  Family  nine  times  in  the  chapel 
Then  I  felt  inspired  to  go  and  pray  for  this 
poor  sick  woman.  I  had  not  been,  there 
ten  minutes  in  prayer  when  the  daughter 
came  to  tell  me  that  her  mother  was  asking 
for  me.  I  ran  at  once,  with  the  idea  of 
reciting  by  her  the  Commendation  of  a 
Departing  Soul.  I  entered  the  cabin,  and 
lo !  on  my  arrival  my  sick  woman  rose  and 
courtesied  to  me  in  the  French  style.  At 
first  I  thought  it  a  last  rally  of  nature,  or 
the  last  effect  of  the  violent  disease.  I 
pressed  her  to  lie  down  again  ;  she  told  me 
she  was  as  well  standing  as  lying  down. 
Again  I  urged  her  ;  she  told  me  that  she 
was  perfectly  cured  :  and  as  she  saw  that 
I  took  her  words  for  delirious  ravings,  she 
sent  her  children  out  so  as  to  tell  me  pri- 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


454 


vately  how  her  health  had  been  restored. 
“  A  little  after  yon  went  out  of  my  cabin, 
Father,”  said  she,  “  two  persons  appeared 
on  my  mat ;  I  saw  one  at  my  feet,  the 
other  at  my  head.  The  latter,  who  was  a 
young  woman,  or  rather  a  girl,  said  :  ‘Just 
touch  the  hem  of  my  robe  and  you  shall 
be  cured.7  I  would  not  presume  to  think, 
said  I  to  myself,  that  blessed  spirits  from 
heaven  would  be  sent  to  cure  me,  they 
must  be  evil  ones  trying  to  lead  me  into 
vanity.  While  this  thought  filled-  my 
mind,  the  same  one  passing  her  skirt  over 
my  face,  touching  it,  said :  ‘  There,  mother, 
you  are  cured,7  and  at  the  same  instant  she 
disappeared  with  the  little  boy  who  had 
appeared  at  my  feet.  Then  I  thought  of 
trying  whether  these  two  persons  had  really 
restored  my  health.  I  began  by  moving 
my  arms,  then  I  rose  and  walked,  I  even 
went  out,  and  all  with  as  much  ease  as 
though  I  had  never  been  sick,  although 
but  a  moment  before  I  had  been  as  im¬ 
movable  as  a  stone.  My  children  were  so 
astonished  that  they  fled  from  me  as  a 
spectre.  I  reassured  them,  and  sent  my 
daughter  for  you,  that  you  might  yourself 
judge  of  this  extraordinary  event.”  Father 
Chaumonot  expresses  his  opinion  that  the 
two  were  two  pious  children  whom  she  had 
buried,  and  who  were  thus  sent  from  hea¬ 
ven  by  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  restore  life 
to  her  who  gave  them  life. 

Missions  in  all  parts  sent  the  offerings 
of  Indian  converts  to  the  celebrated  sanc¬ 
tuaries  of  Mary  in  Europe,  where  they 
were  long  to  be  seen  at  Loretto,  Chartres, 
Dinan,  Annecy. 

In  Louisiana  the  Ursulines  dedicated 


their  chapel  to  Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Succor, 
and  for  more  than  a  century  this  sanctuary 
has  been  the  refuge  of  the  afflicted. 
While  Jackson  met  the  invader  in  the 
field,  the  women  of  New  Orleans  here 
besought  Mary  to  save  their  city  and  their 
honor. 

California,  settled  just  at  the  period  of 
our  Revolution,  shows  its  conquest  for 
Mary.  When  Father  Angelo  Somera  and 
Peter  Benedict  Cambon,  in  August,  1770, 
went  amid  the  wildest  tribes  to  plant  the 
mission  of  Saint  Gabriel  on  the  Rio  de  los 
Temblores,  with  only  a  few  soldiers,  less  as 
a  guard  than  as  an  aid  in  the  necessary 
labors,  they  had  just  selected  a  spot  when 
from  the  woods  came  the  wild  Indian  cr}-. 
A  motley  crowd  poured  down  on  the  little 
band,  ready  to  dip  their  hands  in  the  blood 
of  the  invaders  ;  but  the  missionaries  un¬ 
furled  to  the  breeze  the  standard,  bearing 
on  its  azure  ground  the  mild  features  of 
Our  Lady.  The  Indians  gazed  on  it  in  as¬ 
tonishment  and  throwing  aside  their  arms 
came  to  offer  presents  to  the  servants  of 
their  new  Queen.1 

The  English  colonies  were  settled  by 
those  who  had  learned  at  their  mothers’ 
knees  to  look  with  horror  on  Catholicity, 
and  most  of  all  on  the  honor  paid  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  One  spot  alone  was  Cath¬ 
olic  in  its  origin,  Maryland.  This  is  said 
to  have  been  so  named  in  honor  of  Henri¬ 
etta  Maria,  Queen  of  Charles  I.  We  may 
well  doubt  whether  it  was  not  called  Terra 
Mariae,  in  honor  of  her  who  was  the  pat¬ 
roness  of  that  queen,  who  is  never  called (*) 


( * )  Shea,  Catholic  Missions. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA.  455 

Mary  in  history,  and  hence  could  scarcely 

shoulder  with  their  countrymen,  a  new  era 

thus  have  suggested  the  term. 

was  opened :  and  with  the  peace  came  the 

The  Ark  and  Dove  that  bore  the  Catholic 

organization  of  the  little  church  in  what 

pilgrims  and  their  disguised  pastors,  Father 

had  been  the  English  Colonies.  John  Car- 

Andrew  White,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 

roll,  a  member  of  the  suppressed  Society 

and  his  companion,  landed  them  on  the 

of  Jesus,  the  friend  of  Franklin,  known 

Chesapeake,  St.  Mary’s  Bay,  only  to  found 

and  respected  by  all  the  great  men  of  his 

the  city  of  St.  Mary’s  and  show  it  to  be  in- 

day,  was  elected  by  the  American  clergy 

deed  Mary’s  land. 

and  appointed  by  Pius  VI.  Bishop  of  Bal- 

During  the  Colonial  period  we  know  too 

timore.  The  scene  of  his  consecration  is 

little  of  the  history  of  the  Church  to  trace 

the  Chapel  in  Lulworth  Castle,  dedicated  to 

the  devotion  to  Our  Lady  ;  but  we  see 

the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  the  day  of  the  great 

what  the  Jesuits  did  in  Philadelphia.  Their 

solemnity  which  gave  a  hierarchy  to  the 

first  church  was  dedicated  to  St.  Joseph  the 

United  States  was  the  Feast  of  the  Assump- 

Spouse  of  Our  Lady,  and  the  second  to  St. 

tion  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  day  of  her 

Mary — both  venerable  churches  still  sub- 

glorious  triumph,  August  15th,  1790.  The 

sisting  and  dating  back  to  the  days  before 

two  facts  tell  us  volumes  of  the  piety  and 

the  Devolution. 

veneration  which  overflowed  from  the  heart 

Of  that  period  while  the  penal  laws  of 

of  the  illustrious  Carroll  for  her  who  is  the 

Maryland  and  Virginia  still  bore  heavily 

guide,  the  light,  and  the  Queen  of  the 

on  the  Catholics,  when  in  Pennsylvania 

Clergy. 

they  were  barely  tolerated  and  viewed 

Well  might  the  sacred  orator  exclaim  : 

with  jealousy,  when  elsewhere  they  were 

“  Honorable  and  comforting  in  an  especial 

almost  unknown,  our  historians  preserve 

manner  is  this  awful  solemnity  to  his  and 

only  fragmentary  notices.  Little  was  com- 

our  common  benefactor,  the  founder  of  this 

mitted  to  paper,  lest  it  might  in  some  mo- 

holy  sanctuary,  which  shall  be  revered 

ment  of  popular  excitement  like  that  of 

through  succeeding  ages,  even  by  churches 

the  so-called  Negro  Riot  in  1741,  involve 

yet  unnamed,  as  the  privileged  happy  spot 

not  only  a  priest  but  all  who  had  at  all 

from  whence  their  episcopacy  and  hierar- 

been  connected  with  him  by  ties  of  friend- 

chy  took  their  immediate  rise,  and  this 

ship  or  acquaintance.  Hereditary  devotion 

precious  distinction  will  be  justly  attrib- 

to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  the  best  test  of 

uted  to  the  protection  and  favor  of  the 

the  piety  of  our  fathers  in  the  Faith.  The 

Glorious  Mother  of  God,  whose  house  it  is, 

Carrolls,  the  Neales,  the  Fenwicks,  the 

and  through  whose  patronage  all  Christian 

Elders,  and  Mulledys,  showed  in  their  lives 

churches  are  founded.” 

the  lessons  of  devotion  to  Mary  taught  in 

Mary  is  then  in  an  especial  manner  the 

the  Colonial  homes  in  those  days  of  trial. 

Mother  and  Guardian  of  the  Catholic  Hier- 

When  at  last  the  Revolution  camer  and 

archy  in  the  United  States,  for  it  was  in 

Catholics  could  step  forward  shoulder  to 

her  house  and  on  her  greatest  festival  that 

- — - — — — - — - — — — -  ■— * - - — 

11  - -  — ■ 

456 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


the  Holy  Spirit  descended  on  the  founder 
of  that  hierarchy. 

Priests  came  from  revolution-wrecked 
France.  They  gave  devotion  to  Mary  a 
new  impulse.  Those  who  still  felt  some  of 
the  old  ways  of  Colonial  days,  and  were 
shy  of  giving  expression  to  their  feelings 
gained  courage.  St.  Mary’s  College  arose 
in  Baltimore  ;  Mount  St.  Mary’s  at  Em- 
metsburg.  Then  priests  came  to  be  or¬ 
dained.  Badin  and  Galitzin  open  the  list. 

We  find  the  former  erecting  St.  Mary’s 
Church  in  Indiana  among  his  early  labors, 
and  through  life  ever  foremost  to  honor 
Mary  and  rear  up  clients  worthy  of  their 
mothers. 

Prince  Dmitri  Galitzin,  who  renounced 
princely  honors  in  Russia  to  labor  in  the 
mountains  of  Pennsylvania,  showed  at 
once  his  devotion  to  Our  Lady.  He  settled 
on  a  farm  left  by  the  charity  and  zeal  of  a 
pious  family  named  Maguire  for  a  priest. 
There  were  not  a  dozen  Catholics  scattered 
up  and  down  in  the  almost  unbroken  forest. 
Full  of  courage  he  reared  his  church  of 
logs,  some  thirty  feet  long,  and  began  the 
settlement  of  Loretto.  He  commenced  his 
colony  with  twelve  families :  when  this  pio¬ 
neer  of  the  Faith  went  to  his  reward  he 
left  behind  him  six  thousand  clients  of 
Mary  clustering  around  the  Loretto  of  the 
United  States.  On  this  Loretto  he  ex¬ 
pended  of  his  private  fortune  $150,000, 
counting  it  little  for  so  great  a  Queen. 

“As  he  had  taken  for  his'  models  the 
Lives  of  the  Saints,  the  Francis  of  Sales, 
the  Charles  Borromeos,  the  Vincents  of 
Paul,  so,  like  them,  he  was  distinguished  for 
his  tender  and  lively  devotion  to  the 


Blessed  Virgin  ;  and  he  lost  no  opportu¬ 
nity  of  extolling  the  virtues  of  Mary.  He 
endeavored  to  be  an  imitator  of  her  as  she 
was  of  Christ.  He  recited  her  rosary  every 
evening  among  his  household,  and  incul¬ 
cated  constantly  on  his  people  this  admira¬ 
ble  devotion,  and  all  the  other  pious  exer¬ 
cises  in  honor  of  Mary.  The  church  in 
which  he  said  daily  Mass,  he  had  dedicated 
under  the  invocation  of  this  ever-glorious 
Virgin,  whom  all  nations  were  to  call 
blessed.  It  was  in  honor  of  Mary,  and  to 
place  his  people  under  her  peculiar  patron¬ 
age,  that  he  gave  the  name  of  Loretto  to 
the  town  he  founded  here,  after  the  far- 
famed  Loretto,  which,  towering  above  the 
blue  wave  of  the  Adriatic,  on  the  Italian 
coast,  exhibits  to  the  Christian  pilgrim  the 
hallowed  and  magnificent  temple  which 
contains  the  sainted  shrine  of  Mary’s  hum¬ 
ble  house,  in  which  she  at  Nazareth  heard 
announced  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation, 
and  which  the  mariners,  as  they  pass  to  en¬ 
counter  the  perils  of  the  deep,  or  return  in 
safety  from  them,  salute,  chanting  the  joy¬ 
ous  hymn,  Ave  Maris  Stella !  For,  like 
St.  John,  he  recognized  in  her  a  mother 
recommended  to  him  by  the  words  of  the 
dying  Jesus  :  ‘  He  saith  to  the  disciple, 
Behold  thy  mother  !  ’  And  so,  when  the 
frame  was  worn  out  in  her  service  and  her 
Son’s,  he  went  up  to  see  her  face  on  high.” 1 

Mother  Seton,  the  illustrious  foundress 
of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  America  had  a 
filial  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God,  the 
common  mother  of  faithful  souls.  She  was 
full  of  confidence  in  the  intercession  of 


( * )  Hayden’s  Discourse  on  Galitzin. 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


457 


Mary,  taught  her  children  to  honor  and  in¬ 
voke  the  assistance  of  that  glorious  Virgin, 
and  as  a  tribute  of  her  veneration,  she 
promised  her  that  her  spiritual ,  daughters 
should  ever  bear  her  name.  Hence  many 
members  of  the  community  assume  the 
name  of  Mary  when  it  can  be  conveniently 
connected  with  their  distinctive  appellation, 
and  all  look  upon  it  as  theirs,  although  not 
mentioned.1 

While  the  holy  widow  was  thus  under  the 
patronage  of  Mary,  gathering  a  family  to 
be  the  servants  of  the  poor,  the  orphan, 
the  ignorant,  and  the  sick,  the  foundling, 
the  aged,  the  lunatic,  to  meet  every  form 
of  human  misery,  bodily  or  spiritual,  God 
called  another  of  her  sex  to  a  cloistered 
life.  Miss  Alice  Lalor  showed  her  love  of 
Mary  by  the  choice  of  the  rule  to  which 
the  spirit  of  God  attracted  her,  that  devo¬ 
ted  to  the  Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
How  her  convent  and  its  filiations  have 
grounded  in  the  hearts  of  the  young  maid¬ 
ens,  the  love  and  imitation  of  Mary,  all 
know.  The  piety  that  pervades  thousands 
of  American  homes  flows  from  the  grace  of 
devotion  to  Mary,  received  in  the  walls  of 
the  Visitation. 

The  Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Mount  Car¬ 
mel  came  from  seething  Europe  to  practice 
in  peace  the  austerities  and  severe  life  of 
their  holy  order,  and  this  Community  con¬ 
tinues,  by  its  prayers  offered  day  and  night 
through  Our  Lady’s  hands,  to  avert  from 
the  land  the  scourges  with  which  the  jus¬ 
tice  of  God  offended  by  rampant  crime 
menaces  it. 


( 1 )  White,  Life  of  Mrs.  Seton,  p.  419. 

58 


Dominicans  planted  convents  in  Ken¬ 
tucky  and  Ohio,  and  the  Rosary  consecrated 
both  shores  of  the  Beautiful  River,  at  whose 
head  the  Recollect  Father  Baron,  years  be¬ 
fore  had  his  chapel  of  the  Assumption  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  within  the  walls  of  Fort 
Du  Quesne.2 

As  churches  were  erected,  national  gra¬ 
titude  often  dedicated  a  shrine  to  St.  Pa¬ 
trick,  but  greater  love  invoked  the  name 
of  Mary. 

Ten  years  since,  a  pious  writer  said  : 
“There  are  nine  churches  dedicated  to 
Mary,  Help  of  Christians  ;  nine  to  Mary,  Star 
of  the  Sea,  two  to  Mary,  Refuge  of  Sinners, 
seven  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary.  There 
are  sometimes  only  one,  sometimes  as  many 
as  four,  to  Our  Lady  of  the  Port,  of  the 
Isle,  of  the  Cataract,  of  the  Gulf,  of  the 
River,  of  the  Rocks,  columba  in  foramini- 
bus  petrse,  Our  Lady  of  the  Portage,  of 
the  Snows,  of  the  Woods,  of  the  Lake,  of 
the  Desert.  There  is  Our  Lady  of  La 
Salette,  of  Belen,  of  Levis,  and  nine  of 
Guadaloupe.  Again,  we  have  Our  Lady  of 
Light,  of  Grace,  of  Good  Help,  of  Refuge, 
of  Good  Hope,  of  Prompt  Succor.  There 
are  four  to  Our  Lady  of  Victories,  three  to 
Our  Lady  of  Consolation,  five  to  Our  Lady 
of  Loretto,  seven  to  Our  Lady  of  Angels, 
nine  of  the  Rosary,  seven  of  the  Good 
Shepherd,  sixteen  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy, 
twentv-one  of  Sorrows,  twenty-two  of  Car¬ 
mel,  thirty-one  to  ‘  Our  Lady,’  simply. 

“There  are  three  churches  of  the  Mother 
of  God,  five  of  the  Purification,  eleven  of 
the  Nativity,  fourteen  of  the  Annuncia- 


( * )  Registre  du  Fort  Du  Quesne. 


' 

458  DEVOTION 

TO  THE 

tion,  sixteen  of  the  Yisitation,  fifty  of  the 

Loretto  to  satisfy  that  tender  devotion 

Assumption,  one  hundred  and  forty-five  of 

which  from  childhood  he  had  cherished  to- 

the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  three  hun- 

wards  the  Immaculate  Virgin,  Mother  of 

dred  and  sixty-seven  which  are  simply 

God :  and  he  made  a  spiritual  retreat  in 

called  Saint  Mary’s.” 

this  time-honored  city  of  Mary.1 

In  all,  there  stand  in  the  United  States 

Later  came  the  Fathers  of  the  Holy 

in  honor  of  its  Patroness,  more  than  a 

Cross,  whose  post-office  address  is  Notre 

thousand  churches. 

Dame,  Indiana,  so  boldly  has  devotion  to 

The  Rev.  Charles  Nerinckx  founded  an- 

the  Blessed  Virgin  forced  its  way  into  the 

other  Loretto  in  Kentucky,  as  the  home  of 

very  governmental  nomenclature  of  a 

a  sisterhood  devoted  to  education,  that 

Protestant  country.  Their  college  is  Our 

those  who  were  to  be  future  mothers  of 

Lady  of  the  Lake :  the  sisters  near  them 

families  might  imbibe  a  solid  piety  to  be 

call  their  home  St.  Mary’s  of  the  Immacu- 

their  future  guide  in  rearing  up  those  com- 

late  Conception,  and  all  vie  with  each  other 

mitted  to  their  care  by  God. 

in  extending  the  kingdom  of  Mary. 

Some  pious  ladies  soon  presented  them- 

Two  sisterhoods  of  Notre  Dame  labor  in 

selves  as  postulants,  and  the  foundations  of 

the  United  States.  The  Sisters  of  Notre 

the  new  society  were  laid,  April  26,  1812. 

Dame  from  Namur,  founded  by  Mother 

The  convent  was  not  such  a  one  as  princes 

Julia  Billiart ;  and  the  School  Sisters  of 

and  nobles  in  the  Middle  Ages  reared  for 

Notre'  Dame  who  trace  their  origin  to 

monastic  bodies  :  it  was  a  hollow  square 

Blessed  Peter  Fourier. 

of  log  cabins ;  the  chapel  occupying  a 

The  Ursulines  at  New  Orleans,  founded 

central  position  on  one  side  of  the  quad- 

when  the  fleur-de-lis  of  France  waved  over 

rangle.  It  was  called  Loretto,  and  the 

the  Mississippi  from  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 

sisters  were  to  cherish  a  special  devotion 

thony  to  the  Gulf ;  which  has  seen  the  flag 

towards  the  Mother  of  God.  The  name 

of  Spain,  the  tricolor,  the  stars  and  stripes, 

which  the  pious  Mr.  Nerinckx  gave  this 

and  the  Confederate  flag  float,  over  the  city, 

sisterhood  shows  his  deep  and  meditative 

has  its  Madonna,  Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Sue- 

devotion  to  the  Mother  of  Sorrows.  They 

cor,  and  to  it  ascribes  the  deliverance  of 

were  called,  “The  Lovers  of  Mary  at  the 

the  city  from  the  English.2 

foot  of  the  Cross.” 

Then  there  are  sisters  of  Our  Lady  of 

The  saintly  Bishop  Flaget  inspiring  all 

Charity  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  whose  lives 

these  good  works,  and  consoled  by  them 

are  devoted  to  reclaiming  those  whom 

had  that  genuine  stamp  of  the  blessed,  a 

society  defiles,  then  rejects  with  scorn. 

devotion  to  Mary.  In  his  visit  to  Europe, 

Then  came  the  Nuns  of  Loretto  from  Ire- 

he  stopped  to  visit  Our  Lady  of  the  Angels, 

land  :  “Servants  of  the  Immaculate  Heart 

the  Portiuncula  ;  he  spent  some  time  at 

of  Mary,”  to  teach  the  young  and  gather 

(  1 )  Spaulding’s  Life  of  Bishop  Flaget,  p.  315. 

( a )  See  Litany,  St.  John’s  Manual,  p.  1136. 

BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


459 


up  the  orphan.  Finally,  as  if  all  the  re¬ 
giments  of  the  great  army  set  in  array  are 
to  be  drawn  np  in  our  land,  the  Oblates  of 
Mary  Immaculate,  the  Friars  of  Our  Lady 
of  Mount  Carmel,  and  the  Servites  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  come  to  labor. 

Many  of  the  orders  led  by  the  Jesuit 
and  Oblate  labor  among  the  Indian  tribes 
and  not  unblessed  by  Mary’s  protection. 

Let  us  give  one  example  from  the 
sketches  of  that  illustrious  missionary, 
Father  De  Smet : 

“On  Christmas  eve,  1841,  a  few  hours 
before  the  midnight  Mass,  the  village  of 
St.  Mary  was  deemed  worthy  of  a  special, 
mark  of  Heaven’s  favor.  The  Blessed 
Virgin  appeared  to  a  little  orphan  boy 
named  Paul,  in  the  hut  of  an  aged  and 
truly  pious  woman.  The  youth,  piety,  and 
sincerity  of  this  child,  joined  to  the  Mature 
of  the  fact  which  he  related,  forbade  us 
to  doubt  the  truth  of  his  statement.  The 
following  is  what  he  recounted  to  me  with 
his  own  innocent-  lips  : — ‘  Upon  entering 
John’s  hut,  whither  I  had  gone  to  learn 
my  prayers,  which  I  did  not  know,  I  saw 
some  one  who  was  very  beautiful.  Her 
feet  did  not  touch  the  earth,  her  garments 
\\vre  as  white  as  snow  ;  she  had  a  star 
over  her  head,  a  serpent  under  her  feet, 
and  near  the  serpent  a  fruit  which  I  did 
not  recognize.  I  could  see  her  heart,  from 
which  rays  of  light  burst  forth  and  shone 
upon  me.  When  I  first  beheld  all  this  I 
was  frightened,  but  afterwards  my  fear  left 
me,  my  heart  was  warmed,  my  mind  clear, 
and  I  do  not  know  how  it  happened,  but 
all  at  once  I  knew  my  prayers.’  (To  be 
brief,  I  omit  several  circumstances.)  He 


ended  his  account  by  saying  that  several 
times  the  same  person  had  appeared  to  him 
while  he  was  sleeping,  and  that  once  she 
had  told  him  that  she  was  pleased  that  the 
first  village  of  the  Flatheads  should  be 
called  Saint  Mary.  The  child  had  never 
seen  or  heard  before  anything  of  the  kind  ; 
he  did  not  even  know  if  the  person  was  a 
man  or  a  woman,  because  the  appearance 
of  the  dress  which  she  wore  was  entirely 
unknown  to  him.  Several  persons  having 
interrogated  the  child  on  this  subject,  have 
found  him  unvarying  in  his  answers.  He 
continues  by  his  conduct  to  be  the  angel 
of  his  tribe. 

“Next  year,  1842,  we  performed  the 
devotion  of  the  month  of  Mary,  and  I  can 
flatter  myself  that  -the  exercises  were  at¬ 
tended  with  as  much  piety  and  edification 
as  in  the  most  devout  parishes  of  Europe. 
At  the  end  of  the  month  a  statue  was  borne 
in  triumph  to  the  very  place  where  our 
Blessed  Mother  designed  to  honor  us  with 
the  aforementioned  apparition.  Since  that 
day  a  sort  of  pilgrimage  has  been  estab¬ 
lished  there,  under  the  name  of  ‘  Our  Lady 
of  Prayer.’  ”* 

How  many  incidents  must  be  omitted  m 
a  sketch  like  this !  There  is  no  space  to 
tell  of  the  little  straw-thatched  chapel  of 
the  Cote  St.  Lambert,  near  Montreal,  of 
which  the  writer  years  ago  found  the  deed 
among  a  Canadian  notary’s  papers,  a  deed 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  herself.  The  rude 
chapel  has  passed  away,  but  a  cross  now 
marks  the  spot  reared  since  his  discovery.8 

( * )  Sketches,  etc.,  p.  192,  et  seq. 

( 3 )  Yiger,  Souvenirs  Historiques  de  la  Prairie ; 
McLeod,  History  of  the  Devotion,  p.  137. 


DEVOTION  TO  THE 


460 


Again,  a  farmer  in  Maine  turns  up  a 
leaden  plate  with  his  plough  and  throws  it 
aside.  Wanting  a  bit  of  lead  one  day  he 
went  to  cut  it,  but  on  taking  it  up  he  found 
letters  on  it  of  ancient  form.  An  anti¬ 
quarian  friend  soon  made  out  that  it  was 
once  in  the  corner  stone  of  a  chapel  near 
the  Penobscot,  erected  by  the  Capuchin 
Fathers  in  1648,  and  dedicated  to  Our 
Lady  of  Holy  Hope.1 

W e  could  tell  of  wampum  belts  still  kept 
at  Loretto  and  Chartres,  offerings  sent  two 
hundred  years  ago  by  converted  Indians 
to  those  shrines  of  Mary. 

Sodalities  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin  ex¬ 
ist  in  almost  all  colleges;  while  in  the 
academies  directed  by  nuns  and  sisters  the 
children  of  Mary  number  thousands  :  the 
Bosary  and  Scapular  Confraternities,  that 
wonderful  Archconfraternity  of  the  Imma¬ 
culate  Heart  for  the  Conversion  of  Sinners, 
and  others  approved  by  the  Holy  See,  gather 
the  faithful  into  nearer  brotherhood  and 
strengthen  them  to  meet  the  obstacles  to 
salvation,  never  perhaps  in  the  world’s  his¬ 
tory  so  great  as  now. 

Besides  religious  orders  devoted  to  Mary 
and  named  in  her  honor,  churches  dedi¬ 
cated  to  her,  the  piety  of  bishop  and 
priest,  religious  and  secular,  besides  sodali¬ 
ties  and  confraternities,  besides  these  are 
the  helps  to  devotion,  books,  beads,  scapu- 
ars,  medals.  The  rosaries  that  come  to 
this  country  from  abroad  would  amaze  some 
people  did  they  know  or  dream  of  the 
quantity.  There  seems  no  supplying  the 
demand.  Scapulars,  especially  that  vener- 


( 1 )  Historical  Magazine. 


able  one  handed  down  from  St.  Simon  Stock, 
the  scapular  of  Our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel, 
number  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
who  wear  them.  The  miraculous  medal,  as 
that  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  is  not 
inaptly  called,  has  so  justified  its  popular 
name  that  in  many  parts  Protestants,  es¬ 
pecially  ladies,  wear  it  to  place  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  Our  Blessed  Lady. 

The  Marian  literature  that  has  grown  up 
in  America  is  wonderful.  Archbishop  Ken- 
rick  gave  his  “  Holy  House  of  Loretto  ”  and 
that  excellent  “Month  of  Mary  ”  which  is  so 
dear  to  every  household.  “The  Grlories  of 
Mary,  ”  by  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori,  were  first 
translated  full  and  entire  here  and  have 
been  spread  far  and  wide.  Orsini’s  “Life 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin”  has  run  through 
edition  after  edition.  The  “  Life  ”  by  Mon¬ 
signor  Oentilucci,  has  also  been  published 
here.  “  The  Year  of  Mary,”  “  The  Graces 
of  Mary,”  “  The  Love  of  Mary,”  “  Medita¬ 
tions  on  the  Litany  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,” 
“The  Flowers  of  Mary,”  “Our  Lady  of 
Lourdes,”  “  The  Conversion  of  Batisbonne,” 
“Mary  in  Sorrow  and  Desolation,”  “Man¬ 
uals  of  the  Bosary  and  the  Scapular,” 
“Mary  at  the  Foot  of  the  Cross,”  “The 
Imitation  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,”  “The 
Children  of  Mary  Instructed,”  “The  Man¬ 
ual  of  the  Children  of  Mary,”  “  Mater  Ad- 
mirabilis,”  “Celebrated  Sanctuaries  of  the 
Blessed  Yirgin,”  “  McLeod’s  History  of  the 
Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Yirgin  in  North 
America ;  ”  such  are  the  titles  of  a  few  only 
of  the  books  current  among  the  Catholics 
here,  most  of  them  issued  in  this  country 
originally,  and  not  reprints,  showing  not 
only  that  the  faithful  read  with  avidity, 


BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


but  that  the  clients  of  Mary  feel  eager  to 
labor  with  pen  and  word  for  her  honor, 
while,  at  Notre  Dame,  they  boldly,  under 
Mary’s  banner,  enter  the  field  of  periodical 
literature,  and  issue  the  “Ave  Maria”  de¬ 
voted  to  the  honor  of  Mary. 

The  Blessed  Virgin  was  indeed  the  pa¬ 
troness  of  the  Church  through  the  United 
States,  as  she  was  of  Canada  and  Mexico  : 
but  the  crown  had  not  been  formally  placed 
on  her  brow.  This  act  was  the  glory  of 
the  Council  held  at  Baltimore  in  1846, 
when  twenty-two  bishops  there  assembled, 
chose  as  Patroness  of  the  United  States  of 
America  “  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  con¬ 
ceived  without  sin.” 

The  decree  is  in  these  words  : 

Whereas  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop 
of  Baltimore  and  his  suffragan  bishops  cel¬ 
ebrating  the  sixth  provincial  Council  in  the 
month  of  May,  1846,  respectfully  request 
the  Holy  See  to  approve  the  election  made 
by  them  in  council  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  conceived  without  original  sin,  as  the 
Patroness  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  .  .  .  the  most  eminent  and  rev¬ 
erend  fathers  in  the  General  Congregation 
de  Propaganda  Fide,  resolved  to  be¬ 
seech  Our  Most  Holy  Lord  to  deign  to 
consent  to  the  most  pious  wishes  of  the 
Council. 

Our  most  holy  Lord  Pius  IX.,  by  Divine 
Providence,  Pope,  benignly  approved  in  all 
the  opinion  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  at 
an  audience  held  February  7,  1847. 

The  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
December  the  8th,  was  made  the  Patronal 
Feast  of  the  United  States,  and  has  been 
made  a  holiday  of  obligation.1 


461 


“Devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,”  says 
the  Bishop  of  Natchez  in  his  sermon  before 
the  Second  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore, 
“  may  and  will  be  more  strong  and  lively 
in  one  person  than  in  another,  in  one  coun¬ 
try  than  in  another  ;  and  we  can  under¬ 
stand  how  in  one  age  it  may  grow  wider 
and  more  intense  throughout  the  whole 
Church  than  it  was  in  ages  which  preceded. 

“Now  some  men  of  extraordinary  holiness 
and  wisdom  have  foretold  that  the  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  should  have  an  im¬ 
mense  increase  as  the  world  grows  older.  .  . 
We  can  see  ourselves,  in  the  signs  of  the 
times  which  are  coming  on  us,  good  reason 
for  expecting  that  our  Lord  may  probably 
so  direct  the  conduct  of  His  holy  Church 
and  the  thoughts  and  hearts  of  her  faithful 
children,  as  to  make  the  devotion  to  His 
beloved  Mother  more  intense  and  more  ac¬ 
tive  than  it  has  been  before.  .  . 

“  It  is  a  continuance  of  the  old  mystery  of 
Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.  Our  Lord  still 
vouchsafes  to  have  Mary  give  Him  to  the 
world,  and  He  chooses  to  grow  in  our 
hearts  as  He  grew  at  Nazareth  under  the 
care  of  Mary. 

“You  can  see  it  illustrated  in  the  history 
of  religion  among  yourselves.  Some  of 
you  can  recall  when  first  began  to  be  com¬ 
mon  the  practice  of  wearing  the  medal  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception.  And  more  of 
you  can  remember  when  the  devotions  of 
the  month  of  May  were  not  yet  heard  of. 
Now  as  these  devotions  have  grown,  so  also 
have  grown  the  devotions  to  Jesus  in  His 
childhood  ;  to  Jesus  on  the  Cross  ;  to  His 


( 1 )  Concil.  II.  Plen.,  §  383. 


402 


DEVOTION*  TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 


Sacred  Heart;  to  His  Most  Precious 
Blood;  to  His  Five  Sacred  Wounds;  the 
Way  of  the  Cross ;  the  Yisiting  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament ;  the  Forty  Hours 
Adoration . 

“  And  as  for  the  country,  so  far  each  one 
of  us  in  our  own  hearts,  if  we  desire  that 
Jesus  take  full  possession  of  them  and 


reign  supreme,  let  us  every  day  more  and 
more  magnify  His  power  and  love  by  pour¬ 
ing  out  our  praise  and  blessing  on  His 
mightiest  work  and  His  dearest  friend,  His 
own  blessed  and  beloved  Mother.”1 


( 1 )  Sermon  of  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Elder.  Sermons 
before  Second  Plen.  Council,  pp.  95-100. 


HISTORY 

OF  THE 

LIFE  OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST, 

FROM  HIS  INCARNATION  TO  HIS  ASCENSION. 


PART  I. 

PROM  THE  INCARNATION  OP  THE  WORLD  UNTIL  THE  CURE  OP  THE 

MAN  BORN  BLIND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ST.  LUKE’S  PREFACE. - ETERNAL  GENERATION  OF  THE  WORD  AND  HIS  INCARNATION. - 

TESTIMONY  RENDERED  TO  HTM  BY  SAINT  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. - THE  HOLY  PRECURSOR 

ANNOUNCED  AND  PROMISED. 


THE  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of  J esus 
Christ  the  Son  of  God.”  (St.  Mark, 
i.  1.)  “Forasmuch  as  many  have  taken  in 
hand  to  set  forth  in  order  a  narration  of  the 
things  that  have  been  accomplished  among 
us :  according  as  they  have  delivered  them 
unto  us,  who  from  beginning  were  eye¬ 
witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word  ;  it 
seemed  good  to  me  also,  having  diligently 
attained  to  all  things  from  the  beginning, 
to  write  to  thee  in  order,  most  excellent 
Theophilus,  that  thou  mayst  know  the 
verity  of  those  words  in  which  thou  hast 
been  instructed.”  Thus  speaks  Saint  Luke 
(St.  Luke,  i.  1.) ;  and  Saint  Mark,  who 
was  also  a  disciple,  might  use  the  same 
language  ;  but  the  two  apostle  evangelists 


might  say  as  Saint  John  does  in  fact : 
“That  which  was  from  the  beginning, 
which  we  have  heard,  which  we  have  seen 
with  our  eyes,  which  we  have  looked  upon, 
and  our  hands  have  handled,  of  the  Word 

of  life . we  declare  unto  you . 

that  you  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us, 
and  our  fellowship  may  be  with  the  Father 
and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.”  (1  John,  i.  1,  3.) 
That  is  to  say  the  latter  relate  what  they 
actually  beheld ;  the  former  relate,  what 
they  heard  from  eye-witnesses.  If  the 
apostle  evangelists  were  enlightened  wit¬ 
nesses,  the  disciple  evangelists  were  atten¬ 
tive  hearers,  and  both  faithful  historians. 
They  agree  too  well  to  be  convicted  of 
contradiction,  and  they  are  too  dissimilar 


464 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


to  be  suspected  of  collusion  ;  and  the  vari¬ 
ances  do  not  prevent  our  recognizing  in 
them  organs  of  the  same  spirit,  almost  as 
in  varying  features  we  discern  the  children 
of  the  same  father.  We  now  commence 
their  narrative  by  telling  what  this  Eternal 
Word  (whose  temporal  life  is  the  subject 
of  this  History),  was  before  time  began. 

“  In  the  beginning1  was  the  Word,2  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 


( 1 )  When  all  that  had  a  beginning  began  to  be, 
He  already  existed :  therefore  He  is  without  be¬ 
ginning  ;■  therefore  He  is  eternal. 

(2)  The  Word  of  the  Father;  the  interior  ex¬ 
pression  of  his  intelligence ;  the  eternal  and  in¬ 
finite  knowledge.  The  term  of  this  knowledge  is 
a  divine  person  distinct  from  the  divine  person 
which  produces  it.  If  this  is  indeed  a  great  mys¬ 
tery,  may  we  not  add  that  it  is  the  only  mystery 
here  ?  For  that  this  person  must  he  consubstan- 
tial  and  co-eternal  with  his  principal,  is  as  evident 
as  that  the  knowledge,  reason,  and  wisdom  of  the 
Godhead  cannot  be  of  any  other  substance  or  of 
shorter  duration  than  God  himself.  The  same 
must  be  said  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  is  the  sub¬ 
stantial  love  of  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

( 9 )  Skeptics  might  perhaps  cavil  at  the  other 
expressions  in  this  verse  which  declare  the  divinity 
of  the  Word,  but  this  proposition  narrows  them 
explicitly  to  the  sense  of  divinity  strictly  speaking; 
for  is  it  possible  to  say  more  precisely  that  the 
Word  was  God,  than  by  saying  the  Word  was  God  ? 

( 4 )  This  repetition  represents,  if  we  may  so  speak, 
the  situation  of  the  Word  in  eternity  before  creation. 
He  dwelt  enclosed  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father ; 
as  yet  he  had  not  been  produced,  or  as  we  might 
say,  manifested  externally ;  he  was  by  the  creation 
and  incarnation.  This  may  be  considered  as  an 
abstract  of  what  the  Evangelist  states  and  is  going 
to  state  concerning  him. 

( 6 )  God  made  all  things  by  his  word,  since  he 
created  them  by  his  intelligence  ;  hence  we  say  of 
the  Word  as  correctly  as  of  the  Father  that  all 


was  God  ; 8  the  same  was  in  the  beginning 
with  God.4  All  things  were  made  by 
him  ; 6  and  without  him  waS“  made  nothing 
that  was  made. 

“  In  him  was  life,6  and  the  life  was  the 
light  of  men.7  And  the  light  shineth  in 
darkness,  and  the  darkness  did  not  com¬ 
prehend  it.8  There  was  a  man  sent  from 
God  whose  name  was  John.  This  man 
came  for  a  witness,  to  give  testimony  of 


things  were  made  by  him.  The  Arians  concluded 
from  this  that  the  Son  was  inferior  to  the  Father, 
since  he  acted  as  his  instrument  at  the  creation. 
Yet  an  intelligence  by  which  an  act  is  done  is 
never  denominated  an  instrument ;  and  were  it  so, 
we  must  aver  it  to  be  an  instrument  coequal  to  his 
employer.  For  who  ever  advanced  or  thought  that 
an  intelligent  being  was  greater  than  his  own  in¬ 
telligence,  or  his  intelligence  something  less  than 
himself  ? 

( ' )  He  was  the  author  and  the  meritorious 
cause  of  the  life  of  grace  to  be  followed  by  an 
eternal  life  of  glory.  This  explains  Saint  John, 
by  Saint  John  himself,  who  says,  Epistle  I.  John, 
v.  11,  “  God  has  given  to  us  eternal  life,  and  this 
life  is  in  his  Son.”  Here,  alluding  to  the  Son,  he 
says,  “  In  him  was  life.”  Obviously  the  same 
meaning. 

( 1 )  The  Word  gave  life  to  men  by  enlightening 
their  souls,  and  the  light  here  meant  is  the  light 
of  faith,  and  not,  as  many  say,  the  natural  light 
of  reason.  This  is  proved  by  many  reasons.  The 
following  suffices  :  The  Evangelist  speaks  here  of 
the  light  to  which  Saint  John  the  Baptist  bore 
testimony.  Now,  the  direct  object  of  St.  John  s 
testimony  was  not  Christ  as  author  of  natural  rea¬ 
son,  but  Christ  author  of  the  Christian  faith  and 
evangelical  law. 

(8)  Mankind  were- immersed  in  the  darkness 
of  ignorance  and  error.  They  did  not  see  the 
light,  because  they  did  not  wish  to  see  it.  Those 
who  blindfold  their  eyes  cannot  see  the  light  of 
day.  But  can  they  blame  the  sun  ? 


K  - 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  465 

the  light,  that  all  men  might  believe 

the  only  begotten  of  the  Father  full  of 

through  him ;  he  was  not  the  light,  but 

grace  and  truth.”  (St.  John  i.  1-14.) 

was  to  give  testimony  of  the  light.  That 

John  beareth  witness  of  him,  and  crieth 

(The  Word)  was  the  true  light  which  en- 

out,  saying  :  “  This  is  he  of  whom  I  said  ; 

lighteneth  every  man  that  cometh  into  this 

After  me  there  cometh  a  man,  who  is  pre- 

world.” 

ferred  before  me  ;  because  he  was  before 

“  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world 

me.”  (St.  John  i.  30.)  “  Of  his  fulness  we 

was  made  by  him,  and  the  world  knew  him 

all  have  received,4  and  grace5  for  grace. 

not.  He  came  to  his  own,  and  his  own 

For  the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  grace  and 

received  him  not ;  but  as  many  as  received 

truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.”  (Ib.  i.  16-17.) 

him,  he  gave  them  power  to  be  made  the 

Let  none  be  surprised  at  our  treating  of 

sons  of  God,  to  them  that  believe  in  his 

matters  so  far  above  the  human  under- 

name  :  who  are  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 

standing  as  these  ;  but  our  testimony  is  not 

the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 

the  less  admissible.  “No  man,  it  is  true, 

man,  but  of  God.1  And  the  word  was 

hath  seen  God  ;  but  the  only  begotten  Son, 

made  flesh,2  and  dwelt  among  us  :  and 

who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath 

we  saw  his  glory,3  the  glory  as  it  were  of 

declared  him  to  us.”  (St.  John,  i.  18.) 

( 1 )  Here  the  Evangelist  speaks  of  the  Incarna- 

brute.  This  observation  is  directed  against  the 

tion  of  the  Word,  and  also  of  the  spiritual  birth 

heretic  Apollinarius,  who  attributed  mere  sensation 

of  the  children  of  God,  as  the  first  is  the  merito- 

or  a  sensitive  soul,  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  not  a  ra- 

rious  cause,  and  proof  of  the  latter.  It  is  an  ar- 

tional  soul.  It  would  be  endless  to  relate  all  the 

gument  from  greater  to  less  inasmuch  as  it  is  more 

,  impious  absurdities  imagined  by  heretics  on  the 

difficult  that  the  Word  of  God  should  be  made 

Incarnation.  Faith  and  good  sense  acquiesce  per- 

flesh,  than  that  flesh  and  blood  should  become  the 

fectly  in  all  that  it  has  pleased  God  to  reveal  to  us 

adopted  child  of  God. 

on  the  subject. 

( * )  That  is  to  say,  became  man.  The  evange- 

( ’ )  His  glory  was  manifested  by  his  miracles. 

list  names  a  part  for  the  whole  :  and  that,  too,  the 

Saint  John  had  the  further  advantage  of  being  one 

most  despicable  part,  to  impress  us  more  deeply 

of  those  three  who  beheld  it  in  his  transfiguration. 

with  the  prodigious  humiliation  of  the  Son  of  God. 

( 4  )  All  graces  come  from  the  fulness  of  Jesus 

There  is  great  energy  in  the  juxtaposition  of  the 

Christ,  as  the  showers  which  fertilize  the  earth 

two  terms  the  Word  was  made  flesh.  Some  early 

come  from  the  fulness  of  ocean ;  the  rivers  that 

heretics  took  hence  occasion  to  say  that  the  word 

hear  them  back  again  only  restore  what  they  had 

assumed  merely  the  flesh,  and  animated  it  as  its 

received. 

soul.  Christ  refuted  them  in  advance  by  saying, 

( 6 )  The  law  of  grace  instead  of  the  grace  of 

“  My  soul  is  troubled  ;  my  soul  is  sorrowful  unto 

the  law ;  for  this  really  was  a  grace ;  but  the  latter 

death ;  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my 

is  so  superior  to  the  former,  that,  when  spoken  of 

spirit.”  Had  he  not  spoken  thus,  it  is  enough 

by  way  of  comparison,  the  first  might  simply  be 

that  he  is  more  than  once  styled  man  in  Scripture, 

called  the  law,  and  the  second  the  grace ;  the  more 

to  dispel  all  doubts  of  his  having  assumed  a  ra- 

so,  as  all  the  grace  of  the  old  law  sprang  from  the 

tional  soul.  A  body  without  a  soul  would  no  more 

grace  of  the  new  law,  of  which  it  was  an  antici- 

be  a  man  than  a  tree  is ;  and  if  its  soul  was  irra¬ 
tional,  it  would  differ  in  figure  only  from  the 

59 

■ 

pated  stream. 

466  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

The  man  first  to  point  out  to  the  world 
the  Incarnate  Word  should  himself  be  dis¬ 
tinguished  by  characteristics  so  clear  as  to 
make  his  testimony  irrefragable.  God  so 
provided,  and  as  we  shall  see  at  the  outset 
drew  on  him  the  attention  of  all  Judea  by 
the  prodigies  which  preceded  and  accom¬ 
panied  his  miraculous  birth. 

“  There  was  in  the  days  of  Herod,1  the 
king  of  Judea,  a  certain  priest  named 
Zachary,  of  the  course  of  Abia,2  and  his 
wife  was  of  the  daughters  of  Aaron,  and 
her  name  Elizabeth.  They  were  both  just 
before  God,  walking  in  all  the  command¬ 
ments  and  justifications  of  the  Lord,  with¬ 
out  blame.  And  they  had  no  son,  for  that 
Elizabeth  was  barren,  and  they  both  were 

well  advanced  in  years.  And  it  came  to 
pass  that  while  Zachary  executed  the 
priestly  office  in  the  order  of  his  course 
before  God,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
priestly  office,  it  was  his  lot  to  offer  in¬ 
cense,  going  into  the  temple  of  the  Lord  : 3 
and  all  the  multitude  of  the  people  was 
praying  without  at  the  hour  of  incense.4 

And  there  appeared  to  him  an  angel  of  the 

Lord,  standing  on  the  right  side  of  the 
altar  of  incense.  And  Zachary  seeing 
him  was  troubled,  and  fear  fell  upon  him. 

But  the  angel  said  to  him :  Fear  not, 
Zachary,  for  thy  prayer  is  heard,  and  thy 
wife  Elizabeth  shall  bear  thee  a  son,  and 
thou  shalt  call  his  name  John  : 6  and  thou 
shalt  have  joy  and  gladness,  and  many 

( *)  Three  Herods  are  named  in  the  New  Tes¬ 
tament.  This  one,  called  Herod  the  Great,  an  Idu- 
mean  by  birth,  was  the  first  of  his  family  who 
reigned  in  Judea,  and  the  only  one  who  possessed 
it  entire.  It  wts  he  who  massacred  the  Innocents. 
The  seooud  was  Antipas,  son  of  the  former,  Te- 
trarch  of  Galilee,  incestuous  husband  of  Herodias, 
and  murderer  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  the  same 
who  sent  Christ .  to  Pilate,  and  dressed  him  in 
mockery  in  a  white  garment.  The  third,  Herod 
Agrippa,  is  spoken  of  only  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos¬ 
tles.  He  was  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  who,  to¬ 
gether  with  his  brother  Alexander,  sons  of  Mari- 
amne,  was  put  to  death  by  Herod  the  Great,  their 
father.  This  Herod  beheaded  Saint  James;  cast 
Saint  Peter  into  prison  ;  was  at  length  stricken  by 
an  angel,  and  died,  devoured  by  worms,  because  he 
had  not  referred  the  glory  to'  God  when  a  flatter¬ 
ing  crowd  cried  out :  “  It  is  the  voice  of  a  god,  and 
not  of  a  man.”  He  was  the  father  of  Agrippa  be¬ 
fore  whom  Saint  Paul  pleaded. 

( 3 )  David  had  divided  all  the  priestly  order  into 
families  or  courses,  distinguished  by  thenameof  the 
original  leaders.  They  served  in  rotation  and  the 
various  duties  were  assigned  to  the  priests  by  lot. 

( 3 )  In  the  part  of  the  temple  where  the  altar 
of  incense  was.  It  was  separated  by  a  veil  from 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  into  which  the  high-priest 
alone  was  authorized  to  enter  once  a  year. 

( ‘ )  In  the  vestibule,  or  court,  where  the  people 
remained  in  prayer  as  priests  alone  were  allowed 
to  enter  that  part  where  the  altar  of  incense 
stood. 

( 6 )  The  phrase  “  thy  prayer  is  heard  ”  followed 
immediately  by  “thy  wife  Elizabeth  shall  bear  thee 
a  son,”  would  at  first  lead  us  to  infer  that  this  son 
was  the  object  of  Zachary’s  prayer ;  yet  had  he 
asked  it  he  would  scarcely  have  doubted  the  voice 
of  an  angel  promising  unless  we  assume  that  he 
asked  what  he  was  sure  that  he  never  could  ob¬ 
tain,  and  this  would  be  unreasonable.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  he  prayed  for  the  coming  of  the  lib¬ 
erator  of  Israel,  sole  object  of  the  vows  and  pray¬ 
ers  of  the  just  of  the  old  law.  The  birth  of  a  son 
was  given  as  a  proof  that  his  prayer  was  heard. 

The  angel’s  words  are  then  thus  explained :  “  Thy 
prayer  for  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Messias  is 
heard,  and  the  proof  I  give  thee  is,  that  thou  thy¬ 
self  shalt  have  a  son,  and  that  son  shall  be  his 
precursor.” 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


shall  rejoice  in  his  nativity  :  for  he  shall  be 
great  before  the  Lord  :  and  he  shall  drink 
no  wine  nor  strong  drink  ;  and  he  shall  be 
fdled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  even  from  his 
mother’s  womb.1  And  he  shall  convert 
many  of  the  children  of  Israel  to  the  Lord 
their  God  : 2  and  he  shall  go  before  him 
in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias  :  that  he 
may  turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  unto  the 
children,3  and  the  incredulous  to  the  wis¬ 
dom  of  the  just,  to  prepare  for  the  Lord  a 
perfect  people.  And  Zachary  said  to  the 
angel,  Whereby  shall  I  know  this  ?  for  I 
am  an  old  man,  and  my  wife  is  advanced 
in  years.  And  the  angel  answering  said 
to  him :  I  am  Gabriel,  who  stand  before 
God,  and  I  am  sent  to  speak  to  thee,  and 
to  bring  thee  these  good  tidings.  “And,” 
as  a  token  both  to  punish  and  to  cure  your 
incredulity,  “behold  thou  shalt  be  dumb, * (*) 

( 1 )  Saint  Augustine  says  that  Saint  John  was 
not  sanctified,  that  is,  purified  from  original  sin  in 
his  mother’s  womb,  but  merely  that  he  was  thence¬ 
forth  destined  to  the  office  of  precursor,  much  as 
Saint  Paul  says  of  himself,  that  God  had  separated 
him,  that  is,  chosen  him  for  the  apostleship,  from  his 
mother’s  womb.  The  words  now  before  us,  “  he  shall 
he  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  even  from  his  mother’s 
womb,”  refute  this  sentiment,  the  plenitude  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  being  incompatible  with  the  state  of  sin. 

( *)  Never,  perhaps,  were  the  Jews  more  scru¬ 
pulous  worshippers  of  the  one  Creator  God,  than 
at  the  period  of  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
Lord  their  God,  to  whom  Saint  John  converted 
many  of  the  children  of  Israel,  can  be  no  other 
than  Christ.  Besides,  it  is  added  that  John  shall 
go  before  him  (the  Lord  their  God),  that  is  to  say, 
be  his  precursor.  Now,  of  whom  was  Saint  John 
precursor,  if  not  of  Christ  ?  Therefore  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  different  from  the  Lord  God,  and  this 
proof  of  his  divinity  is  unanswerable. 

( 1 )  Patriarchs  who  shall  rejoice  to  behold  their 


467 


and  shalt  not  be  able  to  speak  until  the 
day  wherein  these  things  shall  come  to 
pass,  because  thou  hast  not  believed  my4 
words  which  shall  be  fulfilled  in  their  time. 

“And  the  people  were  waiting  for  Zach¬ 
ary,  and  they  wondered  that  he  tarried  so 
long  in  the  temple.  And  when  he  came 
out,  he  could  not  speak  to  them,  and  they 
understood  that  he  had  seen  a  vision  in  the 
temple.  And  he  made  signs  to  them,  and 
remained  dumb.  .  .  .  After  the  days  of 
his  office  were  accomplished,  he  departed 
to  his  own  house.  And  after  those  days 
liis  wife  Elizabeth  conceived  and  hid  her¬ 
self  five  months.3  Thus,”  said  she,  con¬ 
cealing  her  secret  joy  within  herself,  “hath 
the  Lord  dealt  with  me,  in  the  days 
wherein  he  hath  had  regard  to  take  away 
my  reproach  among  men.”  (St.  Luke,  i. 
5-25.) 

posterity  imitating  their  faith  and  piety.  Other 
interpreters  render  it :  To  give  to  the  children  the 
hearts  of  their  fathers,  that  is,  upright  and  virtu¬ 
ous  hearts,  like  those  of  their  fathers.  Both  mean¬ 
ings  are  good — the  first  is  most  generally  followed. 

( 4 )  It  seems  that  Zachary  merely  doubted  ;  yet 
to  doubt  is  not  to  believe,  and  the  word  of  the 
angel  is  exact.  Whether  doubt  or  incredulity,  it 
was  reprehensible,  and  justly  punished :  some  say 
he  sinned  mortally,  but  such  is  not  the  general 
opinion ;  surprise  and  want  of  thought  give  a  com¬ 
plexion  to  his  incredulity  similar  to  the  fault  of 
Moses,  which  did  hot  deprive  him  of  grace,  though 
it  entailed  exclusion  from  the  promised  Land. 

(6)  Elizabeth  was  loth  to  expose  to  public 
derision  the  first  signs  of  a  pregnancy  which  by 
reason  of  her  age  might  at  least  seem  equivocal. 
When  her  pregnancy  became  incontestible  and 
could  only  challenge  surprise  and  admiration,  she 
no  longer  avoided  observation.  This  is  the  most 
likely  explanation  of  her  conduct  under  these  cir¬ 
cumstances. 


468  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  H. 

ANNUNCIATION. - VISITATION. - BIRTH  OF  SAINT  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. - CANTICLE  OF  ZACHARY. 


THE  time  was  fulfilled,  and  all  was 
prepared  for  the  Incarnation  of  the 
Word,  when,  “in  the  sixth  month”  after 
the  conception  of  the  divine  Precursor,  “the 
angel  Gabriel  was  sent  from  God  into  a 
city  of  Galilee  called  Nazareth,  to  a  vir¬ 
gin  espoused1  to  a  man  whose  name  was 
Joseph,  of  the  house  of  David,  and  the 
virgin’s  name  was  Mary.  And  the  angel 
being  come  in,  said  unto  her  :  Hail  full  of 
grace  :  the  Lord  is  with  thee  ;  blessed  art 

t 

thou  among  women.  Who  having  heard, 
was  troubled  at  his  saying,  and  thought  with 

( 1 )  Several  reasons  are  adduced  why  God  wish¬ 
ed  tnat  the  Virgin,  who  was  to  be  the  mother  of 
his  son,  should  have  a  husband.  The  following  is 
considered  as  the  principal  reason :  The  virginity 
of  Mary  would  not  be  admitted  until  Jesus  Christ 
had  been  recognized  as  Messias.  It  would  have 
been  fearfully  unbecoming  that  till  then  he  should 
pass  as  illegitimate,  and  his  mother  as  a  degraded 
woman. 

The  Latin  word  desponsata  of  the  Vulgate, 
translated  espoused,  may  signify  betrothed  as  well 
as  married.  This  induced  many  holy  doctors  to 
say  that  Joseph  and  Mary  were  merely  betrothed, 
but  that  the  great  majority  hold  that  they  were 
really  married;  and  justly.  For  the  veil  of  mar¬ 
riage  to  shield  mother  and  son,  it  was  imperative 
that  Joseph  and  Mary  should  be  publicly  recog¬ 
nized  as  espoused,  at  least  nine  months  before  the 
birth  of  .  Christ. 

( 8 )  The  throne  of  which  David’s  was  but  a 
figure.  Yet  it  may  be  called  the  Throne  of  David, 
adding,  as  did  the  angel,  that  Jesus  Christ  shall 
reign  in  the  House  of  Jacob,  because  his  kingdom, 
the  Church  was  originally  formed  from  the  chil- 


herself  what  manner  of  salutation  this 
should  be.  And  the  angel  said  to  her, 
fear  not,  Mary,  for  thou  hast  found  grace 
with  God  :  Behold,  thou  shalt  conceive  in 
thy  womb  ;  and  shalt  bring  forth  a  son, 
and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus  ;  He 
shall  be  great,  and  shall  be  called  the  son 
of  the  Most  High  ;  and  the  Lord  God  shall 
give  unto  him  the  throne  of  David2  his 
father  ;  and  he  shall  reign  in  the  house  of 
Jacob  forever,  and  of  his  kingdom  there 
shall  be  no  end.3  And  Mary  said  to  the 
angel :  How  shall  this  be  done,4  because  I 

dren  of  Jacob,  who  recognized  him,  and  ranged 
themselves  under  his  laws.  Those  who  rejected 
him  no  longer  being  the  true  Israel,  that  is,  being 
no  longer  a  part  of  the  people  of  God,  from  which 
they  lopped  themselves  off,  the  Gentiles  took  their 
place,  and  formed,  with  the  posterity  of  J acob,  one 
undivided  people,  of  whom  Jacob  is  the  common 
stem  to  which  all  the  branches  are  united,  some 
natural  shoots ;  others  engrafted  on  it.  Such  is  the 
comparison  of  Saint  Paul,  which  likens  the  people 
of  God  to  a  great  trunk  that  has  always  subsisted, 
and  during  the  lapse  of  centuries  has  but  lost 
some  branches  to  acquire  others. 

( 8 )  The  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth,  which  is 
the  visible  church,  is  not  to  end  like  all  the  mon¬ 
archies  which  have  successively  appeared  on  earth ; 
but  it  shall  last  as  long  as  the  »vorld.  The  uni¬ 
versal  dominion  which  Jesus  Chiist  exercises  over 
all  nature,  he  of  whom  it  is  written  that  every  knee 
shall  bend,  in  heaven,  on  earth,  and  in  hell — this 
empire,  I  say,  shall  last  as  long  as  God  himself. 
In  both  these  senses  the  angel  saith  here:  Of  his 
kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end. 

( 4 )  Mary  felt  no  doubt,  but  wished  light  as  to 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  469 

know  not  man?1  The  angel  answering, 
said  to  her :  The  Holy  G-host  shall  come 
upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Most 
High  shall  overshadow  thee.  And,  there¬ 
fore,2  also  the  Holy  which  shall  be  born  of 
thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  G-od.  And 
behold  thy  cousin  Elizabeth,  she  hath  also 
conceived  a  son  in  her  old  age,  and  this  is 
the  sixth  month  with  her  that  is  called 
barren  :  because  no  word  shall  be  impos¬ 
sible  with  G-od.  And  Mary  said,  Behold 
the  handmaid  of  the  Lord  ;  be  it  done  to 
me  according  to  thy  word.  And  the  angel 
departed  from  her,”  and  Mary  found  she  was 
pregnant  of  the  man  God  whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  formed  in  her  sacred  womb  as  soon 
as  she  had  consented  to  this  great  mystery. 

Informed  by  the  angel  of  what  had  be¬ 
fallen  Elizabeth,  and  docile  to  the  inspira¬ 
tion  which  taught  her  what  duties  to  per¬ 
form,  “Mary  rising  up,  went  into  the  hill 
country  with  haste,  into  a  city  of  Juda : 
and  she  entered  into  the  house  of  Zachary, 
and  saluted  Elizabeth.  .  .  .  When  Eliza¬ 
beth  heard  the  salutation  of  Mary,  the 
infant  leaped  in  her  womb,3  and  Elizabeth 
was  filled  with  the  Holy  G-host :  and  she 
cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  Blessed  art 
thou  among  women,  and  blessed  is  the 
fruit  of  thy  womb.  And  whence  is  this  to 
me  that  the  mother  of  my  Lord  should 
come  tome?4  for  behold,  as  soon  as  the 
voice  of  thy  salutation  sounded  in  my 
ears,  the  infant  in  my  womb  leaped  for 

the  manner  in  which  the  angel’s  word  was  to  be 
fulfilled.  The  sequel  explains  the  reason. 

( 1 )  This  would  be  apposite  had  not  Mary  taken 
a  vow,  or  at  least  an  unchangeable  resolution  to 
remain  always  a  virgin.  She  was  too  sensible  not 
to  perceive  the  possible  answer:  That  what  hath 
not  been  shall  be,  and  then  thou  shalt  conceive  a 
son.  When  then  she  said:  I  know  not  man,  we 
must  construe :  I  know  not  and  I  never  shall  know 
man.  No  other  reasonable  explanation  can  be 
given  of  her  reply.  Hence  the  Fathers  used  it 
against  heretics  who  dared  assert  that  after  the 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  Mary  had  children  by  Joseph. 
What  motive  or  interest  could  be  great  enough  to 
induce  her  to  change  a  resolution  which  she  alleged 
as  an  obstacle  to  the  choice  which  God  had  made 
of  her  to  be  the  mother  of  the  Messias  ? 

( 3 )  It  did  not  necessarily  follow  from  the  fact 
of  a  virgin  conceiving  by  virtue  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
that  the  son  she  should  bear  must  be  truly  God. 
Adam  was  not  God,  although  he  was  the  immediate 
production  of  Almighty  power.  Hence,  to  under¬ 
stand  this  “  And  therefore,”  that  is,  to  know  the 
connection  between  this  proposition  :  “  The  Holy 
Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,”  etc.,  and  this  other: 
“The  Holy  Ghost  which  shall  be  born  of  thee 

shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God,”  observe  that  two 
things  are  foretold :  one  that  a  virgin  shall  con¬ 
ceive  without  losing  her  virginity;  the  other,  that 
the  son  she  is  to  bear  shall  be  truly  God.  We  can¬ 
not  presume  Mary,  enlightened  as  she  was,  to  have 
been  ignorant  of  the  prophecies  ;  but  had  she  been 
so,  this  “And  therefore ”  may  still  be  explained. 

The  words  of  the  angel  signify,  Thou  art  that 
Virgin  of  whom  it  is  foretold  that  she  shall  con¬ 
ceive  without  the  agency  of  man ;  “and  therefore,” 
the  child  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  is  he  of  whom 
it  is  foretold  that  he  shall  be  truly  God.  There¬ 
fore  the  Divinity  of  Christ  is  not  a  necessary 
sequel  of  his  birth  by  a  virgin,  though  it  is  an  in¬ 
fallible  sequel,  inasmuch  as  all  that  God  foretold 
must  happen. 

( 3 )  This  was  the  moment  of  the  sanctification 
of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  the  first  fruit  of  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Word.  Mary’s  voice  was  the 
instrument,  and,  as  it  were,  the  sensible  sign  of 
the  invisible  operation  of  grace.  It  is  a  great 
motive  of  confidence  in  Mary,  to  find  her  instru¬ 
mental  in  the  first  application  made  of  the  merits 
of  Jesus  Christ,  after  his  incarnation,  and  in  the 
sanctification  of  the  holiest  born  of  Avoman. 

( 4 )  Had  Saint  Joseph  made  this  journey,  and, 

470 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


joy.1  And  blessed  art  thou  that  hast  believ¬ 
ed,  because  those  things  shall  be  accomplish¬ 
ed  that  were  spoken  to  thee  by  the  Lord. 
And  Mary  said :  My  soul  doth  magnify 
the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in 
G-od,  my  Saviour,  because  he  hath  regarded 
the  humility  of  his  handmaid  ;  for  behold, 
from  henceforth  all  generations  shall  call 
me  blessed,  because  he  that  is  mighty  hath 
done  great  things  to  me,2  and  holy  is  his 
name.  And  his  mercy  is  from  generation 
unto  generation  to  them  that  fear  him.” 
Cease  to  be  surprised  at  beholding  such  a 
wonder.  “He  hath  shewed  might  in  his 
arm  ;  ”  and  in  exalting  my  lowliness  so  im¬ 
mensely,  he  hath  but  followed  his  wonted 
course.  He  ever  loveth  to  raise  the  lowly, 
to  humble  the  greatness  of  pride  we  know 
at  all  times.  “  He  hath  scattered  the  proud 
in  the  conceit  of  their  heart.  He  hath  put 
down  the  mighty  from  their  seat,  and  hath 
exalted  the  humble.  He  hath  filled  the 
hungry  with  good  things,  and  the  rich  he 
hath  sent  away  empty.” 

His  fidelity  and  goodness  are  no  less  dis- * (*) 

moreover,  been  present  at  this  interview,  be  would 
have  been  instructed  in  that  mystery,  his  ignorance 
of  subsequently  threw  him  into  such  great  per¬ 
plexity.  This  note  refers  to  artists,  whose  pictures 
of  the  Visitation,  seldom  fail  to  introduce  Saint 
Joseph. 

(  1 )  Joy  seems  to  suppose  knowledge.  Such 
knowledge,  it  is  generally  believed,  was  imparted 
to  Saint  John,  with  the  enlightened  sense  of  the 
Incarnate  Word’s  presence  and  of  the  miracle  of 
sanctification,  wrought  in  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whose  plenitude  he  then  received. 

( * )  By  this  canticle  we  see  that  Mary  viewed 
in  God  only  his  power  and  goodness — ih  herself 
only  her  lowliness  and  her  happiness.  Saint  Am¬ 
brose  calls  this  the  ecstacy  of  her  humility. 


played  than  his  power.  By  performing 
what  now  awakens  your  admiration.  “He 
hath  received  Israel  his  servant,  being  mind¬ 
ful  of  his  mercy  as  he  spoke  to  our  fathers, 
to  Abraham,  and  to  his  seed  for  ever.” 

“  And  Mary  abode  with  her  (Elizabeth) 
about  three  months,  and  she  returned  to 
her  own  house.8 

“Now  Elizabeth’s  full  time  of  being  de¬ 
livered  was  come,  and  she  brought  forth  a 
son.  And  her  neighbors  and  kinsfolk 
heard  that  the  Lord  had  shewed  his  great 
mercy  toward  her,  and  they  congratulated 

with  her . On  the  eighth  day  they 

came  to  circumcise  the  child,  and  they 
called  him  by  his  father’s  name,4  Zachary. 
And  his  mother  said  :  Not  so,  but  he  shall 
be  called  John.  And  they  said  to  her : 
There  is  none  of  thy  kindred  that  is  called 
by  this  name.  And  they  made  signs5  to 
his  father  how  he  would  have  him  called. 
And  demanding  a  writing-table,  he  wrote, 
saying :  John  is  his  name  ;  and  they  all 
wondered.  Immediately  his  mouth  was 
opened  and  his  tongue  loosed,  and  he  spoke, 

( ’ )  Without  waiting  Elizabeth’s  delivery,  some 
who  think  otherwise  discover  reasons  why  Mary 
must  have  been  present.  But  the  Evangelist’s  re¬ 
cital  naturally  inclines  us  to  believe  that  her  de¬ 
parture  preceded  it,  and  moreover  motives  of  deli¬ 
cacy  call  rather  for  the  absence  than  the  presence 
of  the  purest  of  virgins. 

( 4 )  The  name  was  not  given  until  the  eighth 
day,  and  after  the  circumcision,  for  only  by  cir¬ 
cumcision  was  the  child  incorporated  into  the  so¬ 
ciety  of  the  people  of  God.  Apparently  for  the 
same  reason  in  the  new  law,  the  name  is  given  to 
the  child  when  baptized. 

( ‘ )  This  shows  that  Zachary  was  also  struck 
deaf,  for  had  he  been  simply  dumb,  signs  would 
not  have  been  necessary. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  471 

blessing  God.  And  fear  came  upon  all 

the  prophet  of  the  Highest ;  for  thou  shalt 

their  neighbors  ;  and  all  these  things  were 

go  before  the  face  of  the  Lord,  to  prepare 

noised  abroad  over  all  the  hill  country  of 

his  ways,  to  give  knowledge  of  salvation  to 

Judea.  And  all  they  that  heard  them  laid 

his  people,  unto  the  remission  of  their  sins.” 

them  up  in  their  heart,  saying :  What  an 

So  great  a  favor  cannot  be  deserved  ; 

one,  think  ye,  shall  this  child  be  ?  for  the 

but  it  shall  come  to  us  ‘  ‘  through  the  bow- 

hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  him.”  This  was 

els  of  the  mercy  of  our  God  ;  in  which  the 

the  moment  which  God  had  chosen  to  accu- 

Orient  from  on  high  hath  visited  us,  to  en- 

mulate  his  choicest  blessings  on  this  happy 

lighten  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the 

family.  He  not  only  restores  to  Zachary 

shadow  of  death  :  to  direct  our  feet  in  the 

his  speech,  but  bestows  on  him  the  gift  of 

way  of  peace.”  The  Messias  as  here 

prophecy.  This  holy  old  man  was  filled 

shown  is  not  what  the  Jews  figured  to 

with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  he  poured  forth 

themselves — a  warrior  king  and  a  con- 

that  divine  Canticle  which  comprises  the 

queror  ;  he  is  a  Saviour,  who,  without  a 

entire  plan  of  the  Gospel,  aud  a  descrip- 

single  motive  but  his  mercy,  and  without  a 

tion  of  the  Chnrch  in  its  happiest  days. 

single  interest  but  our  salvation,  brings 

“  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  God  of  Israel, 

down  to  us  the  remission  of  our  sins. 

because  he  hath  visited  and  wrought  the 

Thenceforth  a  new  order  of  things  succeeds 

redemption  of  his  people  ;  and  hath  raised 

to  the  ancient  dispensation.  Fear  is  re- 

up  a  horn  of  salvation  to  us  in  the  house 

placed  by  love,  and  the  just  man  passes 

of  David  his  servant. 

his  days  in  holiness  and  innocence.  He 

“As  he  spoke  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy 

enjoys  the  peace  of  a  pure  and  tranquil 

prophets  who  are  from  the  beginning  :  sal- 

conscience — a  peace  superior  to  all  others, 

vation  from  our  enemies,  and  from  the 

and  which  leads  him  by  the  only  true  hap- 

hand  of  all  that  hate  us.  To  perform 

piness  we  can  relish  in  this  life  to  that  eter- 

mercy  to  our  fathers ;  and  to  remember 

nal  happiness  which  the  Messias  has  merited 

his  holy  testament — the  oath  which  he 

for  us,  and  which,  properly  speaking,  is  the 

swore  to  Abraham  our  father,  that  he 

conquest  he  has  made.  Such  is  the  picture 

would  grant  to  us  ;  that  being  delivered 

which  Zachary  has  drawn  of  the  Messias’ 

from  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  we  may 

reign.  The  apostles,  after  the  descent  of 

serve  him  without  fear  in  holiness  and  jus- 

the  Holy  Ghost,  had  not  a  more  just  idea 

tice  before  him,  all  our  days.” 

of  the  subject,  nor  one  more  free  from  vul- 

Zachary,  foreseeing  the  high  destinies  of 

gar  prejudices. 

his  son,  turns  to  him  then,  and  addresses 

“Meantime  the ” miraculous  “child grew 

to  him  these  sublime  words,  which  the 

up  and  was  strengthened  in  spirit,  and 

child  of  eight  days  old  heard  and  under- 

was  in  the  deserts,  where  he  remained  un- 

stood:  “And  thou,  child,  shalt  be  called 

til  the  day  of  his  manifestation  to  Israel,  ”* 

( 1 )  At  what  age  he  retired  into  the  desert  is  not 

known.  It  was  in  his  tender  years,  according  to 

472 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


(St.  Luke,  i.  26-80),  which  did  not  occur 
until  the  time  when  the  Messias  was  himself 
on  the  point  of  manifesting  his  presence. 
For  the  preaching  of  the  Precursor  was  to 


he  directly  followed  by  the  preaching  of 
the  Saviour,  as  his  birth  shortly  preceded 
the  birth  of  Christ.  “Now  the  birth  of 
Christ  was  thus.”  (St.  Matthew,  i.  18.) 


CHAPTER  III. 

DOUBT  OF  SAINT  JOSEPH. - BIRTH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. - HIS  CIRCUMCISION. - HIS  GENEALOGY. 


WHEN  his  Mother,  Mary,  was  es¬ 
poused  to  Joseph,  before  they 
came  together,  she  was  found,  as  we  have 
seen,  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Whereupon  Joseph,1  her  husband,  being  a 
just  man,2  and  not  willing  publicly  to  ex¬ 
pose  her,  was  minded  to  put  her  away 

the  general  belief  which  the  Ohnrch  seems  to 
adopt.  We  must  not  inquire  whether  he  had  suf¬ 
ficient  discretion  to  guide  himself,  he  to  whom 
God  had  granted  the  use  of  this  faculty  in  his 
mother’s  womb.  The  Holy  Ghost  who  led  him 
into  the  wilderness,  was  his  director  and  master. 
There  he  led  an  angelical  life ;  and  the  ancient 
solitaries  justly  regarded  him  as  their  leader,  and 
in  some  sort  the  founder  of  the  anchorite  life. 
Thus  he  prepared  for  the  sublime  ministry  to 
which  he  was  destined,  and  taught  those  who  were 
to  follow  him  that  apostolic  men  are  formed  in  the 
exercises  of  the  solitary  life. 

( 1 )  Mary  had  told  him  nothing.  There  are 
two  reasons  for  her  silence :  1st,  her  confidence 
in  God,  to  whom  she  trusted  entirely  for  her 
reputation;  2d,  her  prudence:  an  event  of  this 
nature  would  not  be  credited  on  her  statement : 
Heaven  must  speak  to  make  it  credible. 

( 8 )  Had  he  denounced  her,  he  would  not  appar¬ 
ently  have  been  unjust.  But  he  preferred  not  to  use 
the  right  given  him  by  appearances.  He  deemed 


privately.  But  while  he  thought  on  ttiese 
things,  behold  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  ap¬ 
peared  to  him  in  his  sleep,  saying  :  J oseph, 
son  of  David,  fear  not  to  take  unto  thee 
Mary,  thy  wife  ;  for  that  which  is  conceiv¬ 
ed  in  her  is  of 3  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  she 
shall  bring  forth  a  son  ;  and  thou  shalt  call * (*) 

a  mild  and  moderate  demeanor  preferable,  under 
these  circumstances,  to  rigorous  justice.  The  qual¬ 
ity  of  the  just  man  given  him  in  the  Gospel  does 
not  merely  signify  an  equitable  man ;  it  expresses 
the  assemblage  of  all  virtues  in  a  most  exalted  de¬ 
gree.  Another  cause,  which  is  more  than  likely, 
is  given  for  his  course.  The  virtue  of  his  incom¬ 
parable  wife  was  of  so  unequivocal  a  character, 
that  when  confronting  it,  if  we  may  venture  so  to 
speak,  with  what  he  perceived,  he  knew  not  what 
to  believe  or  what  to  disbelieve.  Wherefore  he  en¬ 
deavored  to  reconcile  both  things  by  separating 
from  her,  on  account  of  the  semblance  of  crime, 
and  by  saving  her  honor,  on  account  of  his  convic¬ 
tion  of  her  virtue,  which  counterbalanced  in  his 
mind  all  appearances. 

( * )  All  that  God  does  without  (ad  extra)  is 
common  to  the  three  divine  persons.  Nevertheless, 
the  Incarnation  is  attributed  to  the  Holy  Ghost, 
because  it  is  a  work  of  love  and  goodness.  Yet 
the  Holy  Ghost  ought  not  to  be  called  the  father 
of  Jesus  Christ,  because,  when  forming  his  body, 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  473 

his  name  Jesus  ;  for  he  shall  save  his 
people  from  their  sins.”  (St.  Matt.,  i. 
18-21.) 

This  supernatural  conception  had  been 
foretold.  However  little  versed  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  Joseph 
was,  he  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  it, 
and  such  knowledge  served  apparently  to 
facilitate  his  belief.  “Now  all  this  was 
done  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  the 
Lord  spoke  by  the  prophet,  saying  :  Be¬ 
hold,  a  virgin  shall  be  with  child,  and  shall 
bring  forth  a  son,  and  they  shall  call  his 
name  Emmanuel,  which,  being  interpreted, 
is  God  with  us.  And  Joseph  rising  up 
from  sleep,  did  as  the  angel  of  the  Lord  had 
commanded  him,  and  took  unto  him  his 
wife.  And  he  knew  her  not  till  she  brought 
forth  her  first-born  son,  and  he  called  his 
name  Jesus.”  (St.  Matt.,  i.  22—25.) 

It  was  at  Nazareth  that  Joseph  had 
these  perplexities,  and  the  vision  of  the 
angel  which  dissipated  them.  He  had 
then  undoubtedly  no  intention  of  leaving 
that  town  where  he  usually  resided.  But 
the  prophets  had  also  foretold  that  the 
Christ  should  be  born  at  Bethlehem  ;  and 

God,  who  doeth  all,  even  when  he  seems  to 
act  least,  obliged  Joseph  to  proceed  thither 
with  his  wife  precisely  at  the  time  when 

Mary  was  to  bring  forth  her  son.  The  oc¬ 
casion  of  this  journey  was  as  follows  : 

“In  those  days  there  went  out  a  decree 
from  Caesar  Augustus,  that  the  whole  world1 
should  be  enrolled.  This  enrolling  was 
first  made  by  Cyrinus,  the  governor  of 

Syria  •  and  all  went  to  be  enrolled,  every 
one  to  his  own  city.  And  Joseph  also 
went  up  from  Galilee,  out  of  the  city  of 
Nazareth,  into  Judea,  to  the  city  of  David, 

he  furnished  nothing  from  his  own  substance.  In 
this  work  there  was  no  fresh  creation.  The  en¬ 
tire  matter  served  to  form  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ 
was  extracted  from  the  blood  of  Mary.  On  this 
account  we  may  say  correctly,  that  she  contribut¬ 
ed  more  than  any  other  mother  to  the  formation 
of  the  body  of  her  son.  It  does  not  follow  from 
this  that  Mary,  who  certainly  was  Jesus  Christ’s 
mother,  should  be  called  his  father,  because  that 
particle  of  her  blood  from  which  the  body  of 
Jesus  Christ  was  formed  was  not  a  germ,  and  the 
same  particle  took  the  form  of  a  human  body  only 
by  the  supernatural  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

God  was  not  the  natural  father  of  Adam,  al¬ 
though  God  himself  immediately  produced  Adanq 
since  he  did  not  produce  him  from  his  own  sub¬ 
stance. 

Adam  was  not  the  father  of  Eve,  although  she 
was  produced  from  his  substance,  because  the 
rib  of  the  first  man,  out  of  which  the  first  woman 
was  formed,  was  not  a  human  germ.  Thus  Jesus 

60 

•  , 

Christ,  as  God,  has  a  father  and  not  a  mother :  as 
man,  has  a  mother  and  no  father.  As  God,  he 
was  begotten,  not  made  (genitum  non  factum) : 
and  as  man,  he  was  made,  and  not  begotten, 
properly  speaking. 

We  deem  it  right  to  add,  the  body  of  Jesus 

Christ  was  not  formed  successively  and  by  degrees, 
nor  animated  some  time  after  conception,  as  hap¬ 
pens  to  other  children.  Perfect  organization,  yet 
of  proportionate  size,  animation,  and  hypostatic 
union  of  body  and  soul  with  the  person  of  the 

Word,  were  all  the  work  of  one  and  the  same  in¬ 
stant,  and  the  instant  was,  as  has  been  said,  that 
of  Mary's  consent. 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  all  the  subjects  of  the  Roman 
empire.  The  Romans  called  themselves  masters  of 
the  world,  although  their  empire,  in  its  greatest 
extent,  never  equalled  any  thing  like  one-fourth 
of  the  habitable  world.  It  is  true,  that  the  part 
which  they  occupied  constituted  the  greatest  part 
of  what  was  then  known. 

474 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


which  is  called  Bethlehem,  because  he  was 
of  the  house  and  family  of  David,  to  be 
enrolled  with  Mary,  his  espoused  wife,  who 
was  with  child.  And  it  came  to  pass  that 
when  they  were  there,  her  days  were  ac¬ 
complished  that  she  should  be  delivered, 
and  she  brought  forth  her  first-born  son1 
and  wrapped  him  up  in  swaddling-clothes, 
and  laid  him  in  a  manger,  because  there 
was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn.  And 
there  were  in  the  same  country  shepherds 
watching  and  keeping  the  night-watches 
over  their  flock.2  And  behold  an  angel  of 
the  Lord  stood  by  them  and  the  brightness 
of  God  shone  round  about  them,  and  they 
feared  with  a  great  fear.  And  the  angel 
said  to  them  :  Fear  not,  for  I  bring  you 
good  tidings  of  great  joy,  that  shall  be  to 
all  the  people.  This  day  is  born  to  you  a 
Saviour,  who  is  Christ,  the  Lord,  in  the 
city  of  David.  And  this  shall  be  a  sign 
to  you  :  you  shall  find  the  infant  wrapped" 
in  swaddling-clothes,  and  laid  in  a  manger. 
And  suddenly  there  was  with  the  angel  a 
multitude  of  the  heavenly  host,  praising 

(  1 )  And  at  the  same  time  her  only  son.  To  en¬ 
able  him  to  be  called  first-born,  it  is  enough,  espe¬ 
cially  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  that  no  other 
preceded  him.  Thus  that  he  is  called  by  Saint 
John,  the  only  begotten  son  of  the  Father ;  and 
his  first-begotten,  by  Saint  Paul  (Heb.,  i.  6). 

( a)  Yet  it  was  the  25  th  of  December;  but  the 
winters  in  Palestine  are  much  less  rigorous  than 
those  of  France. 

( 3 )  No  one  is  ignorant  that  this  name  signifies 
Saviour  in  Hebrew.  We  shall  not  expatiate  upon 
the  properties  of  this  adorable  name,  which  maketh 
every  knee  bend  in  heaven,  on  earth,  and  in  hell. 
We  shall  only  remark,  that  by  being  the  proper 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  gave  ground  to  the  objec¬ 
tion  that  Jesus  Christ  was  not,  therefore,  called 


God,  and  saying  ;  Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  the  earth  peace  to  men  of 
good  will . 

“  After  the  angels  departed  from  them 
into  heaven,  the  shepherds  said  one  to 
another :  Let  us  go  over  to  Bethlehem, 
and  let  us  see  this  word  that  is  come  to 
pass,  which  the  Lord  hath  shewed  to  us. 
And  they  came  with  haste,  and  they  found 
Mary  and  Joseph,  and  the  infant  lying  in 
the  manger.  And  seeing,  they  understood 
the  word  that  had  been  spoken  to  them 
concerning  this  child  ;  and  all  that  heard 
wondered  ;  and  at  those  things  that  were 
told  them  by  the  shepherds.  But  Mary 
kept  all  these  words,  pondering  them  in 
her  heart.  And  the  shepherds  returned, 
glorifying  and  praising  God  for  all  the 
things  they  had  heard  and  seen,  as  it  was 
told  unto  them. 

“  And  after  eight  days  were  accomplish¬ 
ed  that  the  child  should  be  circumcised,  his 
name  was  called  Jesus,8  the  same  which 
was  called  by  the  angel  before  he  was  con¬ 
ceived  in  the  womb.”  (St.  Luke,  ii.  1-12.) 

Emmanuel,  as  the  Prophet  Isaias  had  foretold.  All 
the  enemies  of  religion — Jews,  Pagans,  and  an¬ 
cient  heretics — reproach  him  with  this  apparent 
contradiction ;  yet  nothing  is  more  easily  explained. 
The  name  Emmanuel  was  foretold,  not  as  the  proper 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  as  signifying  what  Christ 
was  to  be :  and  in  point  of  fact,  since  he  is  at  the 
same  time  both  God  and  man,  and  conversed  with 
men,  he  truly  was  “  God  with  us.”  Thus  the  same 
Isaias  said :  “  His  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful, 
Counsellor,  God  the  mighty,  Father  of  the  world 
to  come,  Prince  of  peace  (ix.  6).  Which  does  not 
mean  that  any  of  these  names  was  to  be  his  proper 
name,  but  that  he  should  be  all  that  is  signified  by 
these  names,  and  that  every  one  of  them  would 
apply  to  him. 


'  ;  _ 


i.i.l/l'T  iV  1 1  jj) ' 


VID  MOURNING  FOR.  ABSALOM 


ait 


jr,  s 


ill 

■ 

iiii 

iiiii 

OF  OUR  LORO 

JESUS  CHRIST.  475 

We  place  here  the  genealogy  of  our 

Roboam,  Roboam  begot  Abias,  Abias  be- 

Saviour,  as  Saint  Matthew  and  Saint  Luke 

got  Asa,  Asa  begot  Josaphat,  Josaphat 

give  it.  The  former,  whose  principal  oh- 

begot  Joram,  Joram  begot  Ozias,1  Ozias  be- 

ject  was  to  show  the  fulfillment  of  the 

got  Joatham,  Joatham  begot  Acbaz,  Achaz 

prophecies  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 

begot  Ezechias,  Ezechias  begot  Manasses, 

opens  by  calling  him  the  Son  of  David,  the 

Manasses  begot  Amon,  Amon  begot  Josias, 

Son  of  Abraham,  because  those  two  Patri- 

Josias  begot  Jechonias  and  his  brethren  in 

archs  had  a  special  promise  that  the 

the  transmigration  of  Babylon,  and  after 

Messias  should  be  born  of  their  blood. 

the  transmigration  of  Babylon  Jechonias 

Then  coming  down  step  by  step  he  says, 

begot  Salathiel,  Salathiel  begot  Zorobabel, 

“Abraham  begot  Isaac,  Isaac  begot  Jacob, 

Zorobabel  begot  Abiud,  Abiud  begot  Elia- 

Jacob  begot  Judas  and  his  brethren,  Judas 

cim,  Eliacim  begot  Azor,  Azor  begot  Sadoc, 

begot  Phares  and  Zara  of  Thamar,  Phares 

Sadoc  begot  Achim,  Achim  begot  Eliud, 

begot  Esron,  Esron  begot  Aram,  Aram  be- 

Eliud  begot  Eleazar,  Eleazar  begot  Mathan, 

got  Aminadab,  Aminadab  begot  Naason, 

Mathan  begot  Jacob,  Jacob  begot  Joseph2 

Kaason  begot  Salmon,  Salmon  begot  Booz 

the  husband  of  Mary,  of  whom  was  born 

of  Rahab,  Booz  begot  Obed  of  Ruth,  Obed 

Jesus,  who  is  called  Christ.  So  all  the 

begot  Jesse,  Jesse  begot  David  the  King, 

generations  from  Abraham  to  David  are 

David  the  King  begot  Solomon  of  her  that 

fourteen,  from  David  to  the  transmigration 

had  been  the  wife  of  Urias,  Solomon  begot 

of  Babylon  fourteen,  and  from  the  trans- 

(‘)  Three  are  omitted  —  Ochosias,  Joas,  and 

certain.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the 

Amasias,  on  account  of  the  mixture  of  the  blood 

point  was  fully  understood  at  the  time  where 

of  Achab  with  that  of  David.  God  had  declared 

the  evangelists  wrote.  The  just  must  have 

to  Achab  that,  in  punishment  of  his  crimes  and 

known  clearly  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  son  of 

impiety,  all  his  race  should  be  exterminated.  He 

David.  Therefore  the  knowledge  was  necessary, 

had  promised  David  that  his  race  should  always 

and  when  it  ceased  to  be,  it  was  lost.  We  must 

subsist,  and  reign  for  centuries.  Here  we  see  both 

not  be  surprised.  Nothing  is  useless  in  Scripture. 

promise  and  threat  fulfilled :  David’s  blood  is  per- 

“  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  teach  thee  profit- 

petuated,  and  continues  to  reign  in  Juda  ;  but 

able  things.” — Isaias,  xlviii.  Now  everything  is  not 

three  kings  of  Juda,  descended  from  Achab  by  his 

equally  useful  at  all  times.  It  is  enough  that  God 

daughter  Athalia,  wife  of  Joram,  are  suppressed  in 

confers  the  understanding  of  each  text  at  the  time 

the  list  of  Kings,  and  by  this  suppression  are,  as 

of  its  utility.  Thus  our  predecessors  had  informa- 

far  as  possible,  included  in  the  proscription  of  the 

tion  on  several  points  which  those  had  not  who 

impious  Achab. 

came  after  them  :  and  our  successors  will  under- 

(* )  As  Jesus  Christ  was  son  of  Mary,  and  not 

stand  many  points  unintelligible  to  those  who 

of  Joseph,  men  are  always  tempted  to  ask  why 

went  before  them.  Such  are  many  prophecies  of 

the  Evangelists  have  given  the  genealogy  of  Joseph 

the  Apocalypse  which  regard  the  later  times. 

and  not  that  of  Mary?  This  difficulty  may  be 

Eaith  believes  all  things :  but  the  reason  of  the 

deemed  the  knot  for  all  the  interpreters  that  en- 

faithful  rests  satisfied  with  knowing  what  God  has 

deavored  to  explain  it.  Some  saying  naught 
worthy  of  reason,  and  the  most  reasonable  nothing 

52 

m. 

placed  within  the  reach  of  our  information. 

476 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


migration  of  Babylon  to  Christ  fourteen.” 
(St.  Matthew,  i.  1-17.) 

The  genealogy  which  Saint  Luke  gives 
differs  from  this  in  many  points.  In  the 
first  place,  he  reverses  the  order  of  Saint 
Matthew  ;  and  whilst  the  latter  descends 
from  Abraham  to  Joseph  and  to  Jesus 
Christ,  Saint  Luke  ascends  from  J esus 
Christ  and  Joseph  not  only  to  Abraham, 
but  even  up  to  Adam.  A  second  difference 
is,  that  he  traces  the  descent  of  Joseph  not 
through  Solomon,  but  through  Nathan,  an¬ 
other  son  of  David.  The  third  is,  that  he 
makes  Joseph  not  the  son  of  Jacob,  as  Saint 
Matthew  does  ;  but  the  son  of  Heli,1  “who 
was  of  Mathat,  who  was  of  Levi,  who  was 
of  Melchi,  who  was  of  Janne,  who  was  of 
Joseph,  who  was  of  Mathathias,  who  was 
of  Amos,  who  was  of  Nahum,  who  was  of 
Hesli,  who  was  of  Nagge,  who  was  of  Ma- 
hath,  who  was  of  Mathathias,  who  was 


( 1 )  This  third  difference  is  the  most  embarrass¬ 
ing.  Still,  although  Joseph  truly  was  the  son  of 
Jacob,  he  might  he  called  son  of  Heli,  for  some 
one  of  the  following  reasons  :  1.  By  title  of  adop¬ 
tion.  2.  As  son  of  the  widow  of  Heli,  married  a 
second  time  by  Jacob,  according  to  the  disposition 
of  the  law  obliging  the  brother  or  nearest  relative 
to  marry  the  widow  of  the  brother  or  parent  who 
had  died  without  children;  and  the  offspring  of 
the  second  marriage  was  considered  as  belonging 
to  the  deceased.  3.  Joseph  might  be  called  son  of 
Heli,  because  he  was  his  son-in-law ;  for,  in  this 
case,  Heli  is  no  other  than  Joachim,  father  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  Of  these  three  explanations,  the 
first  is  the  least  followed ;  the  second  is  the  most 
ancient  and  the  best  authorized.  Saint  Augustine, 
who  originally  adopted  the  first,  and  to  whom  the 
third  was  by  no  means  objectionable,  finally  re¬ 
turned  to  this  view,  as  may  be  seen  in  his  Retrac¬ 
tations,  Book  viii.,  ch.  7.  The  third,  which  has 


of  Semei,  who  was  of  Joseph,  who  was 
of  Juda,  who  was  of  Joanna,  who  was  of 
Reza,  who  was  of  Zorobabel,  who  was  of 
Salathiel,  who  was  of  Neri,8  who  was  of 
Melchi,  who  was  of  Addi,  who  was  of  Co- 
san,  who  was  of  Elmadan,  who  was  of  Her, 
who  was  of  Jesus,  who  was  of  Eliezer,  who 
was  of  Jorim,  who  was  of  Mathat,  who  was 
of  Levi,  who  was  of  Simeon,  who  was  of 
Judas,  who  was  of  Joseph,  who  was  of 
Jona,  who  was  of  Eliakim,  who  was  of  Me- 
lea,  who  was  of  Menna,  who  was  of  Math- 
atha,  who  was  of  Nathan,  who  was  of 
David,  who  was  of  Jesse,  who  was  of 
Obed,  who  was  of  Booz,  who  was  of  Sal¬ 
mon,  who  was  of  Naason,  who  was  of  Ami- 
nadab,  who  was  of  Aram,  who  was  of  Esron, 
who  was  of  Phares,  who  was  of  Judas,  who 
was  of  Jacob,  who  was  of  Isaac,  who  was 
of  Abraham,  who  was  of  Thare,  who  was 
of  Nachor,  who  was  of  Sarug,  who  was  of 


been  relished  by  a  great  number  of  moderns,  has 
this  in  its  favor,  that  it  presents  the  genealogy  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  by  this  means  the  true 
genealogy  of  our  Saviour,  and  bis  descent  from 
David.  All  this,  nevertheless,  does  not  go  beyond 
conjecture,  and  each  individual  has  a  right  to  rely 
upon  the  explanation  which  seems  most  probable 
to  him.  What  we  are  bound  to  believe  is,  that  the 
evangelists  do  not  contradict  one  another,  and  in 
this  there  exists  no  difficulty.  For,  as  the  sundry 
suppositions  advanced  to  harmonize  them  are  all 
possible,  it  follows,  at  all  events,  that  no  contradic¬ 
tion  can  be  proved,  and  this  is  quite  assurance 
enough  for  our  faith. 

( a )  Saint  Matthew  says  Jechonias  was  father  of 
Salathiel.  Yet  the  latter  might  be  called  son  of 
Neri,  either  inasmuch  as  he  was  his  son-in-law,  or 
inasmuch  as  he  was  his  grandson  by  this  mother, 
the  daughter  of  Neri,  who  had  married  Jechonias, 
which  again  suffices  to  obviate  contradiction. 


- 

OF  OUR  LORD 

»  ' 

JESUS  CHRIST.  477 

Ragau,  who  was  of  Phaleg,  who  was  of 

who  was  not  of  the  blood  of  David.  What- 

Heber,  who  was  of  Sale,  who  was  of 

ever  difficulties  we  may  meet  in  them,  it  is 

Cainan,  who  was  of  Arphaxad,  who  was 

certain  that  Jesus  Christ’s  descent  from 

of  Sem,  who  was  of  Noe,  who  was  of 

David  was  never  questioned,  as  it  never 

Lamech,  who  was  of  Mathusale,  who  was 

could  be,  in  point  of  fact.  For  those  who 

of  Henoch,  who  was  of  Jared,  who  was  of 

deemed  him  simply  the  son  of  Joseph  could 

Malaleel,  who  was  of  Cainan,  who  was  of 

not  gainsay  it ;  while  those  who  believed 

Henos,  who  was  of  Seth,  who  was  of 

him  born  of  a  virgin  could  not  doubt  that 

Adam,  who  was  of  Hod.” 1  (St.  Luke, 

he  was  all  that  the  Prophets  announced 

iii.  23-38.) 

he  was  to  be,  all  that  the  Evangelists 

These  genealogies  were  mainly  for  the 

assure  us,  all  that  he  has  declared  of 

Jews,  who  could  not  recognize  a  Messias 

himself. 

CHAPTER  IY. 

ADORATION  OF  THE  WISE  MEN. - PURIFICATION. - FLIGHT  INTO  EGYPT. - MASSACRE  OF  THE 

INNOCENTS. - RETURN  TO  NAZARETH. - JESUS  LOST,  AND  FOUND  IN  THE  TEMPLE. 

A  NOTHER  sign,  just  as  plainly  foretold, 

mediately  produced  its  effect.  For,  “  When 

A  was  to  reveal  him  to  the  G-entiles ; 

Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Juda,  in 

and  this  sign,  whether  it  appeared  at  the 

the  days  of  King  Herod,  behold  there 

moment  of  his  birth,  or  a  little  before,  im- 

came  wise  men2  from  the  East 8  to  Jerusa- 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  who  had  God  for  the  imme- 

The  number  of  tbe  Magi  who  came  to  adore  tlie 

diate  author  of  his  existence.  We  may  remark 

Saviour  is  not  recorded.  The  traditionary  num- 

here,  that  Saint  Luke,  who  in  this  place  employs 

ber  of  three,  which  is  usually  fixed  upon,  seems  to 

the  term  of  son  in  a  sense  different  from  that 

be  grounded  upon  the  number  of  presents  which 

of  eternal  generation,  thereby  authorizes  the  dif- 

they  offered. 

ferent  meanings  we  have  given  to  this  term  in  the 

Their  royalty  is  not  acknowledged  by  some  inter- 

preceding  notes. 

preters.  It  is  the  common  idea  which  its  antiquity 

( 8 )  The  term  Magi  is  found  in  use  by  ancient 

entitles  to  respect.  Yet  it  is  not  understood  to 

authors  to  signify,  1.  Magicans  and  enchanters ; 

mean  great  and  powerful  monarchs.  We  know 

2  The  inhabitants  of  a  certain  district  of  Arabia 

that  there  are  still  several  countries  where  the  title 

which  Avas  called  Magodia ;  3.  Wise  men  and 

King  is  given  to  the  ruler  who  possesses  as  sover- 

philosophers  of  Persia,  who  perhaps  were  called 

eign  merely  two  or  three  villages. 

Magi  because  their  philosophy  included  much 

( 8 )  According  to  some  they  came  from  Persia, 

astronomy,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  ancients  re- 

which  is  directly  east  of  Palestine.  The  name  of 

garded  astronomy  as  magic. 

Magi  tends  to  support  this  view,  which  probably 

478 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


lem,  saying  :  Where  is  he  that  is  born  King 
of  the  Jews  ?  for  we  have  seen  his  star1  in 
the  East,  and  are  come  to  adore  him.  And 
King  Herod  hearing  this,  was  troubled,  and 
all  Jerusalem  with  him;  and  assembling 
together  all  the  chief  priests  and  the  scribes 
of  the  people,  he  inquired  of  them  where 
Christ  should  be  born.  They  said  to  him  : 
In  Bethlehem  of  Juda.  For  so  it  is  written 
by  the  prophet :  And  thou,  Bethlehem,  the 
land  of  Juda,  art  not  the  least  among  the 
princes  of  Juda  ;  for  out  of  thee  shall  come 
forth  the  captain  that  shall  rule  my  people 
Israel.  Then  Herod,  privately  calling  the 

would  have  prevailed,  if  the  distance  of  nearly 
fifteen  hundred  miles  from  Persia  to  Judea  did 
not  present  an  embarrassing  difficulty,  not  answer¬ 
ed  by  those  who  adopt  the  generally  received  idea 
that  the  Magi  arrived  at  Bethlehem  on  the  thir¬ 
teenth  day  after  our  Saviour’s  birth.  The  knowl¬ 
edge  of  stars  ascribed  to  them,  induce  others  to 
say  that  they  came  from  Chaldea,  a  country  fertile 
in  astronomers,  situate  northeast  of  J udea.  Finally, 
the  nature  of  the  presents  they  bore  has  given  rise 
to  the  opinion  that  they  came  from  Arabia,  which 
lies  not  far  to  the  southeast  of  Judea ;  and  this 
opinion  prevails. 

(  ' )  We  cau  only  but  conjecture  the  nature  of 
this  star,  the  part  of  the  heavens  it  moved  in,  and 
how  it  directed  their  course.  The  most  probable 
theory  is  that  it  was  not  a  real  star,  but  a  meteor 
more  brilliant  than  common  stars,  as  it  was  vis¬ 
ible  by  day.  They  saw  the  star  over  Judea;  for 
how  could  it  announce  the  birth  of  a  new  King  of 
the  Jews,  had  they  seen  it  over  their  own  country. 
And  the  prophecy :  “  A  star  shall  rise  out  of 
Jacob,”  would  not  apply  to  a  star  rising  over 
Arabia.  Over  Judea,  this  star,  by  its  mere  posi¬ 
tion,  furnished  them  a  guide ;  nor  was  its  motion 
necessary  to  direct  their  steps.  Arrived  at  Jeru¬ 
salem,  they  no  longer  saw  the  star.  If,  as  is  said, 
God  hid  the  star  to  test  their  faith,  his  main  in¬ 
tention  was  to  disclose  to  the  Jews,  by  means  of 


Wise  men,  learned  diligently  of  them  the 
time  of  the  star  which  appeared  to  them, 
and  sending  them  into  Bethlehem,  said  : 
Go,2  and  diligently  inquire  after  the  child, 
and  when  you  have  found  him,  bring  me 
word  again,  that  I  also  may  come  and  adore 
him.  Who  having  heard  the  king,  went 
their  way,”  (St.  Matt.,  ii.  1-9.)  without  dis¬ 
trust,  and  disposed  to  satisfy  him;  and 
“behold  the  star  which  they  had  seen  in 
the  East  went  before  them  until  it  came 
and  stood  over  where  the  child  was.  And 
seeing  the  star,  they  rejoiced  with  exceed¬ 
ing  great  joy,  and  entering  into  the  house,8 

the  Magi,  the  Messias’  birth,  and  to  the  Magi,  by 
means  of  the  Jews,  the  spot  where  the  Messias 
should  .be  born,  and  the  agreement  of  the 
prophecies  with  the  miraculous  sign  which  led 
them. 

( 2 )  Herod  reasoned  thus :  If  the  inquiry  be 
made  in  my  name  and  by  my  people,  distrust  will 
make  them  conceal  the  child,  whereas  they  will  be 
eager  to  find  the  child  for  these  good  Orientals 
whom  no  one  doubts.  He  reasoned  well  in  this, 
but  not  when  he  ordered  the  murder  of  the  inno¬ 
cents.  For  this  murder  was  useless  if  the  Messias 
was  not  born  ;  and  if  the  Messias  were  born,  God, 
who  had  promised  him  to  the  world,  could  not 
allow  him  to  fall  in  the  general  massacre.  When 
Herod  was  shrewd,  God  used  his  shrewdness  > 
when  he  was  irrational,  God  allowed  him  to  com¬ 
mit,  with  no  advantage  to  himself,  a  crime  which 
draws  down  on  him  the  execration  of  all  ages. 
Ye  wise  and  mighty  of  the  world,  how  mad,  how 
weak  are  ye  when  you  dare  to  cross  the  designs  of 
the  Almighty ! 

( 3 )  The  ancients  generally  say  that  it  was  in 
the  stable  of  Bethlehem ;  others  think  Mary  had 
left  so  wretched  a  shelter  and  obtained  other  lodg¬ 
ings.  The  truth  is  unknown ;  but  if  we  adhere  to 
the  text,  it  is  not  easy  to  credit  that  what  is 
called  simply  “the  house”  could  have  been  a 
stable. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


479 


they  found  the  child  with  Mary  his  mother,1 
and  falling  down,  they  adored 2  him.  And 
opening  their  treasures,  they  offered  him 
gifts,  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh,3  and 
having  received  an  answer  in  sleep  that 
they  should  not  return  to  Herod,  they 
went  back  another  way  into  their  country.” 
(St.  Matt.  ii.  9-12.) 

That  prince  awaited  their  return  ;  and 
as  he  depended  upon  them,  apparently  had 
made  no  further  investigation,  “  when, 
after  the  days  of  her  purification,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  law  of  Moses,4  were  accomplish¬ 
ed,  they  carried  Jesus  to  Jerusalem  to 
present  him  to  the  Lord,  as  it  is  written  in 

‘.he  law  of  the  Lord  :  Every  male  opening 

_ 

( 1 )  Joseph  is  not  named,  thus  raising  a  pre¬ 
sumption  of  his  absence ;  for  when  the  shepherds 
came  to  the  manger,  and  on  other  occasions  when 
Joseph  was  present,  the  Evangelists  mention  him. 
Those  who  seek  to  explain  everything,  say  that  G-od 
permitted  his  absence,  lest  the  Magi  should  imag¬ 
ine  him  the  father  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  idea, 
utterly  independent  of  his  presence  or  absence, 
must  have  been  entertained  by  the  Wise  men,  un¬ 
less  God  revealed  to  them  that  the  child  whom 
they  adored  was  the  son  of  a  virgin. 

( 3 )  Scripture  frequently  employs  this  term  to 
signify  the  homage  rendered  to  kings  or  person¬ 
ages  of  high  respect.  In  this  passage  the  term  is 
more  commonly  taken  in  the  sense  of  adoration 
properly  speaking,  because  there  is  very  little 
doubt  but  the  Magi  knew  by  a  supernatural  light 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 

( * )  These  presents  were  mysterious.  By  gold, 
they  recognized  the  royalty  of  Jesus  Christ;  by 
incense,  his  divinity;  and  by  myrrh,  which  was 
used  in  embalming  bodies,  his  humanity  in  suffer¬ 
ing  and  mortal  flesh.  We  shall  imitate  them,  said 
a  holy  father,  by  offering  God  the  gold  of  charity, 
the  incense  of  prayer,  and  the  myrrh  of  mortifica¬ 
tion.  They  were  our  first-fruits,  and  the  vocation 
£  of  the  Gentiles  began  with  them.  Hence  the  un¬ 


tile  womb  shall  be  called  holy  to  the  Lord  ; 
and  to  offer  a  sacrifice,  according  as  it  is 
written  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  a  pair  of 
turtle-doves,  or  two  young  pigeons.  And 
behold  there  was  a  man  in  Jerusalem 
named  Simeon.  This  man  was  just  and 
devout,  waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Is¬ 
rael, and  the  Holy  Ghost  was  in  him.  And 
he  had  received  an  answer  from  the  Holy 
Ghost  that  he  should  not  see  death  before 
he  had  seen  the  Christ  of  the  Lord.  And 
he  came  by  the  Spirit  into  the  temple. 
And  when  his  parents  brought  in  the  child 
Jesus,  to  do  for  him  according  to  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  the  law  ;5  he  also  took  him  into  his 
arms,  and  blessed  God,  and  said  :  Now 

usual  joy  with  which  we  celebrate  the  feast  of 
Epiphany. 

( 4 )  Here  we  should  notice  two  distinct  laws — 
one,  requiring  woman  after  childbirth  to  come  and 
be  purified  at  the  temple  after  a  certain  number  of 
days;  the  other,  requiring  the  offering  to  the 
Lord  of  every  first-born  male  of  his  mother.  It 
may  be  asked,  whether  both*these  laws  bound  Je¬ 
sus  Christ  and  Mary  ?  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  God, 
is  above  every  law.  Yet,  having  voluntarily  sub¬ 
mitted  to  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  law,  he 
could  not,  as  he  was  the  first-born,  neglect  to  ful¬ 
fil  this.  The  object  of  the  law  of  purification  was 
to  expiate  the  legal  impurity  which  women  con¬ 
tracted  in  child-bearing.  Mary,  whose  divine 
motherhood  had  been  purer  than  the  sunbeam,  did 
not  fall  within  this  law ;  still  her  perfect  purity 
was  an  unknown  mystery,  and  the  time  had  not 
yet  come  to  reveal  it.  Wherefore  she  could  not 
dispense  herself  from  the  common  obligation, 
without  being  regarded  as  a  prevaricator,  that 
is  to  say,  without  giving  scandal.  Hence  it  be¬ 
came  an  obligation  of  charity. 

( 6 )  That  is  to  say,  offer  him  to  the  Lord,  and  then 
ransom  him,  by  giving  five  sides  of  silver,  as  requir¬ 
ed  by  Numbers  xviii. ;  for  the  offering  of  the  lamb 
or  pigeons  was  only  for  the  mother’s  purification. 


- 

480  HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 

thou  dost  dismiss  thy  servant,  0  Lord,  ac- 

He  also  foretold  the  passion  of  the  Sa- 

cording  to  thy  word  in  peace  :  because  my 

viour.  God  wished  that  awful  futurity  to 

eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation,  which  thou 

be  ever  present  to  the  mind  of  Mary  dur- 

hast  prepared  before  the  face  of  all  peo- 

ing  the  entire  course  of  her  Son’s  life.  It 

pies  :  a  light  to  the  revelation  of  the  Gen- 

was  to  prepare  her  beforehand,  but  it  was 

tiles,  and  the  glory  of  thy  people  Israel.” 

also  to  temper  with  this  bitterness  the  joy 

(St.  Luke  ii.  22-32.) 

of  possessing  such  a  treasure.  Had  this 

Thus  was  literally  fulfilled  in  this  holy 

joy  been  pure,  she  would  not  have  acquired 

old  man  the  words  of  the  Psalmist:  “I 

sufficient  merit ;  her  consent  to  the  sacri- 

will  fill  him  with  length  of  days,  and  I  will 

fice  of  her  Son  would  only  have  had,  like 

show  him  my  salvation.”  (Ps.  xc.  16.)  But 

that  of  Abraham,  the  merit  of  one  day, 

the  favor  surpassed  the  promise  :  for  not 

if  the  foreknowledge  she  possessed  had  not 

content  with  showing  him  the  Saviour,  the 

given  her  an  occasion  to  make  that  sacri- 

Lord  permitted  him  to  hold  him  in  his 

fice  every  day,  and,  perhaps,  at  every  mo- 

arms  ;  and  besides  the  consolation  of  Israel 

ment  of  the  days  and  years  which  preceded 

which  he  expected,  he  learned  also  the  vo- 

it. 

cation  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the  salvation 

The  Lord  had  said  :  “In  the  last  days  I 

offered  to  all  nations — a  truth  recorded  in 

will  pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh, 

all  the  prophets,  but  then  scarcely  known, 

and  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall 

and  which  the  Apostles  themselves  did  not 

prophesy.”  (Acts  ii.  17.)  This  prediction, 

fully  understand  until  some  time  after  the 

fully  accomplished  after  the  descent  of  the 

descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Holy  Ghost,  began  this  day  to  be  verified. 

“  His  father  and  mother  were  wondering 

God  included  both  sexes  in  the  glorious 

at  those  things  which  were  spoken  concern- 

testimony  which  he  rendered  to  his  Son. 

ing  him.  And  Simeon  blessed  them”  both. 

With  the  holy  old  man  Simeon  he  associ- 

But  enlightened  as  he  was  on  the  distinction 

ated  “  Anna,  a  prophetess,  the  daughter  of 

to  be  made  between  her  who  was  really  the 

Phanuel,  of  the  tribe  of  Aser.  She  was 

mother,  and  him  who,  merely  in  public 

far  advanced  in  years,  and  had  lived  with 

opinion,  was  the  father,  he  said,  speaking 

her  husband  seven  years  from  her  virginity. 

only  “  to  Mary,  his  mother :  Behold,  this 

And  she  was  a  widow  until  fourscore  and 

child  is  set  for  the  fall  and  for  the  resurrec- 

four  years :  who  departed  not  from  the 

tion  of  many  in  Israel,  and  for  a  sign  which 

temple,  by  fastings  and  prayers  serving 

shall  be  contradicted.1  And  thy  own  soul,” 

night  and  day.  How  she  at  the  same  hour, 

he  adds  to  her,  “  a  sword  shall  pierce,  that 

coming  in  confessed  to  the  Lord,  and  spoke 

1 

out  of  many  hearts  thoughts  may  be  re- 

of  him  to  all  that  looked  for  the  redemp- 

1 

vealed.”  (St.  Luke  ii.  33-35.) 

tion  of  Israel.8  Finally,  when  Joseph  and 

( 1 )  Christ  has  always  had  true  and  false  disci- 

which  distinctly  separates  the  grain  from  the 

pies.  In  peaceful  times  it  is  hardly  possible  to 

chaff. 

distinguish  them,  it  is  the  flail  of  persecution 

( a )  In  a  city  so  large  and  so  populous  as  Jerusa- 

: :  ■  1 

— 

OF  OTJR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  4  81 

Mary  “  had  performed  all  things  according 

there  until  I  shall  tell  thee  :  for  it  will 

to  the  law  of  the  Lord,  they  returned  into 

come  to  pass  that  Herod  will  seek  the  child 

Gfalilee,  to  their  own  city  Nazareth.”  (St. 

to  destroy  him.”  Joseph  “  arose,  and  took 

Luke,  ii.  36-39.) 

the  child  and  his  mother  by  night,3  and  re- 

Scarcely  had  they  arrived  there,1  when 

tired  into  Egypt,  and4  he  was  there  until 

“an  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  sleep 

the  death  of  Herod  ;  that  it  might  be  ful- 

to  Joseph,2  saying  :  Arise,  take  the  child 

filled  which  the  Lord  spoke  by  the  prophet, 

and  his  mother,  and  fly  into  Egypt,  and  be 

saying  :  Out  of  Egypt 5  have  I  called  my 

lem,  at  a  period  when  those  who  maintained  order 

cure  his  son  from  the  fury  of  Herod,  God  had 

were  neither  as  intelligent  as  at  present  in  all  that 

countless  means  less  painful  for  the  child,  the 

concerns  government,  nor  apparently  as  exact  in 

mother,  and  himself.  His  obedience  was  prompt 

their  reports,  it  wras  possible,  or  rather  probable, 

and  without  delay :  warned  by  night,  he  did  await 

that  Herod  knew  nothing  of  what  took  place  at 

the  dawn  to  start.  It  was  generous  and  full  of  con- 

the  temple,  or  learned  it  only  after  the  Holy  Family 

fidence  in  Providence  :  he  set  out  without  prepara- 

had  departed  for  Nazareth,  whilst  he  thought  them 

tion  or  provisions.  He  was  poor  in  earthly  goods, 

returned  to  Bethlehem.  What  fortifies  this  con- 

yet,  possessing  Jesus  and  Mary,  how  rich  he  was ! 

jecture  is  the  fact  that  Herod  was  unaware  of 

( 4 )  The  exact  period  of  Christ’s  abode  in  Egypt 

our  Saviour’s  birth,  till  informed  by  the  Wise  men, 

is  unknown.  According  to  the  most  authorized 

although  it  had  acquired  such  notoriety  at  Beth- 

calculations,  he  must  have  dwelt  there  not  less 

lehem  and  all  the  surrounding  country.  This  re- 

than  four  nor  more  than  seven  years.  The  ac- 

mark  helps  to  show  how  the  Purification  could 

counts  of  miracles  wrought  there  by  him  are  to  be 

take  place  between  the  adoration  of  the  Wise  men 

regarded  as  apocryphal.  One  single  one  rests  on  a 

and  the  flight  into  Egypt,  and  supports  the  com- 

tradition  to  which  antiquity  gives  respect,  and  that 

mon  opinion,  which  should  not  be  rejected  unless 

is  the  fall  of  the  idols  in  Egypt  when  our  Saviour 

evident  reasons  compel  us. 

entered  the  land.  Yet  there  is  no  clear  evidence 

( 1 )  According  to  this  arrangement,  we  admit 

that  this  tradition  rests  on  any  historical  monu- 

that  the  angel  appeared  to  Joseph  at  Nazareth,  and 

ment;  and  it  may,  indeed,  have  no  foundation  but 

there  gave  him  the  order  to  fly  into  Egypt.  Yet 

the  prophecy  of  Isaias  which  many  interpreters 

Saint  Matthew  leads  us  naturally  to  believe  that 

apply  to  other  times  and  other  events :  “  The  Lord 

this  apparition  took  place  at  Bethlehem.  This 

will  ascend  upon  a  swift  cloud,  and  will  enter  into 

raises  a  considerable  difficulty,  but  not  greater  than 

Egypt,  and  the  idols  of  Egypt  shall  be  moved  at 

those  met  in  the  different  systems  imagined  by  in- 

his  presence.”  (Isaias,  xix.  1.) 

terpreters.  We  hazard  one,  which  appears  in  the 

( ‘ )  The  prophet  speaks  of  the  Departure  of  the 

note  on  the  return  of  Saint  Joseph  from  Egypt  to 

Israelites  from  Egypt,  when  God  broke  the  fetters 

Nazareth. 

of  his  people,  whom  he  here  calls  his  son,  to  mark 

( ’ )  The  revelation  was  made  to  Joseph.  Joseph 

how  much  dearer  they  were  to  him  than  all  other 

orders  and  directs  the  journey,  because  God  had 

nations.  The  name  of  son  is  so  inapplicable  to  this 

made  him  head  of  the  family :  authority  is  attached 

people  and  so  very  applicable  to  Jesus  Christ  that  it 

to  station,  not  to  knowledge  and  sanctity,  which 

is  easy  to  see  that  this  text  can  be  applied  to  Jesus 

were  far  superior  in  Jesus  and  Mary. 

Christ  alone,  in  its  natural  and  literal  meaning. 

( * )  The  conduct  of  Saint  Joseph  in  this  circum- 

The  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  is  figurative  of 

stance  has  always  been  regarded  the  model  of  a 

the  new.  What  was  greater  in  the  first  than  the 

perfect  obedience.  His  was  simple,  and  without 

captivity  of  the  people  of  God  in  Egypt,  and  their 

reasoning.  He  did  not  allege  that,  in  order  to  se- 

61 

miraculous  delivery  ?  What  apparently  more  un- 

482  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


son.  (Osee,  ii.  1.)  Then  Herod,  perceiv¬ 
ing  that  he  was  deluded  by  the  Wise  men, 
was  exceeding  angry  ;  and  sending,  killed 
all  the  men-children  that  were  in  Bethle¬ 
hem,  and  in  all  the  borders  thereof,  from 
two  years  old  and  under,  according  to  the 
time  which  he  had  diligently  inquired  of 
the  Wise  men.  Then  was  fulfilled  that 
which  was  spoken  by  Jeremias  the  prophet, 
saying :  A  voice  in  Rama  was  heard,  la¬ 
mentation,  and  great  mourning :  Rachel 
bewailing  her  children,  and  would  not  be 
comforted,  because  they  are  not.  And 
when  Herod  was  dead,  behold,  an  angel 
of  the  Lord  appeared  in  sleep  to  Joseph  in 

important  in  the  life  of  Christ  than  the  particular 
spot  to  which  he  fled  from  the  pursuit  of  Herod  ? 
Still  the  first  was  merely  a  figure  of  the  second. 
On  the  other  hand,  what  more  interesting  in  the 
life  of  Christ  than  his  passion,  and  all  connected 
with  it  ?  and  in  the  eating  of  the  Paschal  lamb, 
what  less  important  than  the  prohibition  of  break¬ 
ing  the  bones  ?  Yet  this  observance,  considered  in 
itself,  was  prophetic  and  figurative  of  one  of  the 
principal  circumstances  of  our  Saviour’s  passion. 

( 1 )  Should  not  Joseph,  of  his  own  accord,  and 
without  admonition  from  the  angel,  have  returned 
to  Nazareth,  supposing  he  had  left  that  city  to  go 
to  Egypt  ?  He  had  there  his  house,  his  furniture, 
with  all  the  implements  of  his  trade,  which  he 
might  expect  to  find  there.  Or  if  Joseph  were  to 
settle  elsewhere  than  at  Nazareth,  where  else  but 
at  Bethlehem,  whence  he  sprang,  and  where  he 
might  presume  that  God,  who  made  his  son  be 
born  there,  should  wish  him  also  to  be  brought  up; 
more  especially  as  the  birth  of  the  Messias  at 
Bethlehem,  which  would  be  better  known  if  he 
continued  to  dwell  there,  was  one  of  the  marks 
that  were  to  make  him  known.  This  observation 
leads  to  suggest  an  arrangement  differing  from 
that  just  seen.  After  the  Purification,  which  must 
be  placed  before  the  Epiphany,  Joseph  returns 
with  Mary  and  the  infant  to  Nazareth,  as  Saint 


Egypt,  saying :  Arise,  and  take  the  child 
and  his  mother,  and  go  into  the  land  of 
Israel,  for  they  are  dead  that  sought  the 
life  of  the  child.  Who  arose,  and  took  the 
child,  and  came  into  the  land  of  Israel. 
But,  hearing  that  Archelaus  reigned  in 
Judea,  in  the  room  of  Herod  his  father,  he 
was  afraid  to  go  thither ;  and  being  warned 
in  sleep,  retired  into  the  quarters  of  Gali¬ 
lee,  ”  and  “dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazar¬ 
eth:1  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which 
was  said  by  the  prophets:”  “He  shall 
be  called  a  Nazarite.”  (St.  Matt.,  ii. 
13-23.) 

“Meantime  the  child  grew  and  waxed 

Luke  says ;  but  only  to  settle  his  affairs,  and  re¬ 
move  his  property  to  Bethlehem,  where  he  was 
going  to  settle  with  his  family.  The  Wise  men  ar¬ 
rive,  and  find  the  infant  and  his  mother  at  Beth¬ 
lehem  ;  not  some  days,  but  several  months  after 
his  birth,  as  many  interpreters  have  thought,  who 
deemed  it  impossible  otherwise  to  explain  the  or¬ 
der  given  by  Herod,  to  kill  all  male  children  in 
Bethlehem  and  its  neighborhood,  “  from  two  years 
old  and  under,  according  to  the  time  which  he  had 
diligently  inquired  of  the  wise  men.”  In  this  way 
all  is  arranged,  and  harmonizes.  The  Purification 
took  place  after  the  forty  days  prescribed  by  the 
law  of  Moses ;  the  Holy  Family  immediately  re¬ 
turns  to  Nazareth,  conformably  to  Saint  Luke’s 
account,  and  at  Bethlehem,  as  Saint  Matthew 
states,  directly  after  the  departure  of  the  Wise 
men,  Joseph  receives  the  order  to  fly  into  Egypt. 
This  view  requires  merely  the  hypothesis  that  the 
Holy  Family  had  taken  up  their  abode  at  Bethle¬ 
hem — a  supposition  which  is  as  probable  as  it  is  to 
believe  that  Joseph,  on  his  return  from  Egypt, 
would  naturally,  and  of  his  own  accord,  return  to 
the  spot  where  he  was  settled  before  his  departure. 
Yet  as  all  this  is  based  on  conjecture  only,  I  have 
not  deemed  it  a  sufficient  reason  to  change  the 
common  arrangement. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  483 


strong,  full  of  wisdom,  and  the  grace  of 
God  was  in  him.  And  his  parents  went 
every  year  to  J erusalem  at  the  solemn  day 
of  the  Pasch.  And  when  he  was  twelve 
years  old,  they  going  up  unto  Jerusalem 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  feast,  having 
fulfilled  the  days,  when  they  returned,  the 
child  Jesus  remained  in  Jerusalem,  and  his 
parents  knew  it  not.  And  thinking  that  he 
was  in  the  company,  they  came  a  day’s 
journey,  and  sought  him  among  their  kins¬ 
folk  and  acquaintances  ;  and  not  finding 
him,  they  returned  into  Jerusalem  seeking 

him . After  three  days  they  found  him 

in  the  temple  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doc¬ 
tors,  hearing  them  and  asking  them  ques- 

( 1 )  The  will  of  the  Heavenly  Father  should  be 
preferred  to  all  human  considerations  and  all  hu¬ 
man  affections.  The  apparent  rigor  which  Jesus 
Christ  here  displays  might  be  designed  to  impress 
this  great  lesson  on  our  minds.  If  it  was  to  Mary 
a  subject  of  mortification,  she  was  well  indemni¬ 
fied  for  this  moment  by  thirty  years  of  the  most 
tender  and  submissive  respect. 

( 5 )  These  words  comprise  the  history  of  thirty 
years  of  the  most  precious  of  all  lives.  Eejoice, 
ye  humble  who  love  obscurity,  and  exult  in  your 
lowliness. 

( * )  Mary  did  not  at  first  understand  him,  but 
she  treasured  up  the  saying  in  her  memory.  It  is 


tions.  And  all  that  heard  him  were  aston¬ 
ished  at  his  wisdom  and  his  answers.  And 
seeing  him  they  wondered,  and  his  mother 
said  to  him  :  Son,  why  hast  thou  done  so 
to  us  ?  behold,  thy  father  and  I  have 
sought  thee  sorrowing.  And  he  said  to 
them  :  How  is  it  that  you  sought  me  ?  did 
you  not  know  that  I  must  be  about  my 
Father’s  business  ? 1  And  they  understood 
not  the  word  that  he  spoke  unto  them. 
And  then  he  went  down  with  them,  and 
came  to  Nazareth,  and  was  subject  to 
them.2  As  to  his  mother,  she  “kept  all  these 
words  in  her  heart.3  And  J esus  advanced 
in  wisdom  and  age  and  grace  with  God 
and  men.”4  (St.  Luke,  ii.  40-52.) 

written  elsewhere  that  she  kept  all  these  words  in 
her  heart ;  undoubtedly  she  by  meditation  at¬ 
tained  their  meaning.  She  was  led  to  knowledge 
by  meditation ;  by  what  other  path  can  servants 
expect  to  attain  it  ? 

( 4  )  “  All  the  treasures  ”  of  grace,  as  well  “  as 
those  of  wisdom  and  science,”  were  contained  in 
Jesus  Christ,  though  not  manifested.  As  he  ad¬ 
vanced  in  years  he  disclosed  them  in  a  way  pro¬ 
portioned  to  the  age  he  attained.  The  indications 
he  gave  at  twenty  were,  therefore,  as  different  from 
those  he  evinced  at  twelve,  as  the  difference  which 
exists  between  these  ages.  It  is  in  this  sense  that 
it  is  said :  “  he  advanced  in  wisdom  and  age.” 


484  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  V. 

MANIFESTATION  OF  SAINT  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  AND  HIS  PREACHING. - BAPTISM  OF  JESUS 

CHRIST. - FASTING  AND  TEMPTATION  OF  JESUS  IN  THE  DESERT. - TESTIMONY  OF  SAINT 

JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. - FIRST  CALL  OF  ANDREW  AND  PETER. - VOCATION  OF  PHILIP  AND 

NATHANIEL. 


ESUS  led  this  hidden  life  till  he  had 
nearly  reached  his  thirtieth  year. 
His  precursor  being  six  months  older  than 
he,  may  have  completed  that  term.  We 
have  seen  that  John,  from  childhood,  in¬ 
habited  the  desert,  whither  inspiration  had 
conducted  him.  Destined  to  the  most  sub¬ 
lime  ministry  to  which  mortal  man  had 
ever  yet  been  called,  God  prepared  him 
for  it  by  a  retired  and  austere  life.  “  He 
had  his  garment  of  camel’s  hair,  and  a 
leathern  girdle  about  his  loins,  and  his 
meat  was  locusts1  and  wild  honey.”  (St. 
Matt.  iii.  4.)  Thus  he  awaited,  and  no 
doubt  he  hastened  by  his  prayers  the  day 
of  his  manifestation,  which  was  to  be  like 
the  dawn  of  the  great  light  that  was  to 
enlighten  the  world.  This  longed  for  mo¬ 
ment  arrived,  and  while  heaven  and  earth * (*) 

( 1 )  Pliny  and  other  ancient  authors  speak  of  a 
species  of  locusts  which  the  lower  orders  among 
Eastern  nations  used  for  food. 

( * )  Annas  and  Caiphas  his  son-in-law  held  in 
turn  the  sovereign  pontificate,  each  for  one  year, 
by  an  agreement  approved  of  apparently  by  the 
Romans,  who  at  that  time  controlled  all  things  in 
J udea.  This  explanation  is  confirmed  by  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  Saint  John  when  speaking  of  Caiphas, 
“who  was  the  high-priest  of  that  year.”  (Ch.  xviii. 
ver.  13.) 

( ’ )  The  baptism  of  J ohn  was  a  religious  cere- 


were  in  expectation  of  the  wonders  which 
God  was  ready  to  display,  at  last,  “  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius 
Caesar,  Pontius  Pilate  being  governor  of 
Judea,  and  Herod  being  tetrarch  of  Gali¬ 
lee,  and  Philip  his  brother  tetrarch  of 
Iturea  and  the  country  of  Trachonitis,  and 
Lysanias  tetrarch  of  Abilina,  under  the 
high-priests  Annas  and  Caiphas,3  the  word 
of  the  Lord  was  made  unto  John,  the  son 
of  Zachary,  in  the  desert,”  (St.  Luke  iii. 
1,  2)  “  as  it  is  written  in  Isaias  the  proph¬ 
et  :  “  Behold  I  send  my  angel  before  thy 
face,  who  shall  prepare  the  way  before 
thee.”  (St.  Mark  i.  2-4.)  John  com¬ 
menced,  therefore,  in  the  desert  of  Judea, 
“  and  he  came  into  all  the  country  about 
the  Jordan  baptizing3  and  preaching  the 
baptism  of  penance  for  the  remission  of 

mony  by  which  men  professed  to  embrace  a  life  of 
penance.  It  did  not  confer  the  remission  of  sins; 
but  disposed  thereto  by  the  penance  which  was  to 
follow,  and  which  became  the  proximate  disposi¬ 
tion  for  the  baptism  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which 
alone  is  found  remission  of  sins.  John’s  baptism 
preceded  penance ;  that  of  Jesus  Christ  followed 
it.  “  Do  penance,  and  he  baptized  every  one  of 
you” — Peter,  Acts  ii.  38.  The  first,  properly 
speaking,  belonged  neither  to  the  old  law  nor 
the  new  law ;  it  was  a  medium  between  both ;  par¬ 
taking  of  both,  as  twilight  does  of  day  and  night. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  485 


sins,  (St.  Luke  iii.  3,) saying:  Do  penance  ; 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.1 
For  this  is  he  that  was  spoken  of  by  Isaias 
the  prophet,  saying :  A  voice  shall  be 
heard  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness : 
Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make 
straight  his  paths.2  (St.  Matt.  iii.  2,  3.)  Ev¬ 
ery  valley  shall  be  filled,  and  every  moun¬ 
tain  and  hill  shall  be  brought  low,  and  the 
crooked  shall  be  made  straight,  and  the 
rough  ways  plain  ;  and  all  flesh  shall  see 
the  salvation  of  God.”  (St.  Luke  iii.  5,  6.) 

When  this  first  preaching  was  noised 
about,  the  people  thronged  in  crowds; 
“  then  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem,  and  all 
Judea,  and  all  the  country  about  Jordan, 
and  were  baptized  by  him  in  the  Jordan, 
confessing  their  sins.  (St.  Matt.  iii.  5-10.) 
He  said  to  the  multitudes,  and  many  of  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  coming  to  his 
baptism  with  the  people  :  (St.  Matt.  iii.  7  ; 
St.  Luke  iii.  7)  “Ye  brood  of  vipers,  who 
hath  shewed  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come  ?  Bring  forth,  therefore,  fruit  wor¬ 
thy  of  penance,  and  think  not  to  say  with¬ 
in  yourselves  :  We  have  Abraham  for  our 
father ;  for,  I  tell  you,  that  God  is  able  of 
these  stones  to  raise  up  children  to  Abra- 

( 1 )  Heaven,  closed  until  this  day,  is  now  to  be 
thrown  open.  Saint  John  begins  by  disabusing 
the  Jews  of  the  prejudice  about  a  temporal  king¬ 
dom. 

( * )  A  metaphorical  expression,  taken  from  the 
custom  of  levelling  and  even  decorating  the  roads 
by  which  kings  were  to  pass. 

( * )  The  true  children  of  Abraham  are  the  imi¬ 
tators  and  heirs  of  his  faith.  These  God  could 
raise  up  outside  of  the  race  of  the  holy  patriarch. 
The  vocation  of  the  Gentiles  is  insinuated  by  these 
words. 


ham.3  For  now  the  axe  is  laid  to  the  root 
of  the  trees.  Every  tree,  therefore,  that 
doth  not  yield  good  fruit,  shall  be  cut  down 
and  cast  into  the  fire.  (St.  Matt.  iii.  7-10  ; 
St.  Luke  iii.  7-9.)  And  the  people  asked 
him :  What  then  shall  we  do  ?  And  he, 
answering,  said  to  them  :  Let  he  that  hath 
two  coats  give  to  him  that  hath  none,  and 
he  that  hath  meat,  let  him  do  in  like  man¬ 
ner.4  And  the  Publicans  also  came  to  be 
baptized,  and  said  to  him :  Master,  what 
shall  we  do?  But  he  said  to  them  :  Do 
nothing  more  than  that  which  is  appointed 
you.5  And  the  soldiers  also  asked  him: 
And  what  shall  we  do  ?  He  said  to  them  : 
Do  violence  to  no  man,  neither  calumniate 
any  man,  and  be  content  with  your  pay.” 

Yet  as  the  people  was  of  opinion,  and 
all  were  thinking  in  their  hearts  of  John, 
that  perhaps  he  might  be  the  Christ,  J ohn 
answered  saying  unto  all :  “  I  indeed  baptize 
you  in  water  unto  penance,6  but  he  that 
shall  come  after  me  is  mightier  than  I, 
whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear.”  (St. 
Matt.  iii.  11.)  No,  said  he,  impressed  with 
the  greatness  of  him  whose  arrival  he  an¬ 
nounced — no,  “  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes 
I  am  not  worthy  to  loose  ;  he  shall  baptize 

( 4 )  Each  profession  has  its  particular  duties ; 
almsgiving  is  a  universal  precept  obligatory  on 
all  who  can  fulfil  it. 

( ‘ )  He  does  not  mean  that  this  is  enough  for 
salvation ;  but  he  spoke  with  reference  to  the  pro¬ 
fession  of  those  who  asked  advice.  Moreover, 
Saint  John  might  think  they  would  easily  abstain 
from  other  sins,  if  they  abstained  from  the  one  to 
which  they  were  most  subject. 

( ° )  An  excessive  esteem  for  a  preacher  or  direc¬ 
tor  has  been  more  than  once  an  occasion  of  error 
and  heresy. 


486 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


you  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  in  fire.1  Whose 
fan  is  in  his  hand  ;  he  will  purge  his  floor, 
and  will  gather  the  wheat  into  his  barn, 
but  the  chaff  he  will  burn  with  unquench¬ 
able  fire.  And  many  other  things  exhort¬ 
ing  did  he  preach  to  the  people.”  (St.  Luke 
iii.  16-17  ;  St.  Mark  i.  7  ;  St.  Matt.  iii.  11,12.) 

“  Him  that  knew  no  sin,  for  us  he  hath 
made  sin”  (2  Cor.  v.  21) :  having  taken 
upon  himself  the  entire  debt,  Jesus  chose 
to  mingle  in  the  throng  of  sinners,  and 
enter  along  with  them  upon  the  career  of 
penance.  “He  came  in  those  days  from 
Nazareth  of  Galilee  (St.  Mark  i.  9)  unto 
John,  to  be  baptized  by  him  ”  (St.  Matt, 
iii.  13)  in  the  Jordan.  But  John  stayed 
him,  saying,  “I  ought  to  be  baptized  by 
thee,  and  comest  thou  to  me !  Jesus  an¬ 
swering  said  to  him :  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now, 
for  so  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  justice. 
Then  he  suffered  him,2  and  Jesus  being 
baptized  (St.  Matt.  iii.  14,  15)  by  John  in 
the  Jordan.  And  forthwith  coming  up  out 
of  the  water,  he  saw  the  heavens  opened, 
and  the  Spirit  as  a  dove  descending,  and 
remaining  on  him,  and  there  came  a  voice 
from  heaven  ”  which  said  :  “  Thou  art  my * (*) 

( 1 )  This  is  the  fire  which  descended  upon  the 
apostles  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  same  by  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  continues  to  purify  the  hearts  of 
the  true  faithful. 

( * )  True  humility  at  first  resists  God  himself, 
when  he  wishes  to  raise  it  to  honorable  ministries  ; 
yet  should  God  persist  in  wishing,  humility  obeys, 
because,  if  not  obedient,  it  would  no  longer  be  true 
humility. 

( 8 )  Thus  the  expression  is  reported  by  Saint 
Mark  and  Saint  Luke.  Saint  Matthew  makes  the 
voice  say:  This  is- my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am 
well  pleased.  The  latter  apparently  gave  the  sense, 
and  the  other  two  the  exact  words. 


beloved  Son,8  in  thee  I  am  well  pleased.” 
(St.  Mark  i.  10-12  ;  St.  Luke  iii.  21,  22  ; 
St.  Matt.  iii.  36.)  We  have  already  said 
that  “Jesus  was”  then  “beginning  about 
the  age  of  thirty  years,  being  (as  it  was 
supposed)  the  son  of  Joseph.”  (St.  Luke 
iii.  23.) 

The  baptism  which  Jesus  had  just  re¬ 
ceived  was  not  a  ceremony  with  no  results 
for  him  ;  it  was,  as  has  been  said,  a  pro¬ 
fession  of  penance.  He  wished  to  exercise 
its  rigors  upon  himself,  and  show  before¬ 
hand  to  his  Church  the  penance  which  she 
was  to  prescribe  for  her  children  in  all  fu¬ 
ture  ages.  “Full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he 
returned  from  the  Jordan,  and  was  led  by 
the  Spirit  into  the  desert,”  “  to  be  tempted 
by  the  devil.4  He  was  there  for  the  space 
of  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  during  which 
he  ate  nothing.  He  was  tempted  by  Sa¬ 
tan;5  he  lived  with  beasts.  When  those 
*  •  «: 

days  were  ended,  he  was  hungry.  Then 
the  tempter  coming,  said  to  him :  If  thou 
be  the  Son  of  God,  command  that  these 
stones  be  made  bread.  Jesus  answered 
and  said :  It  is  written :  (Deut.  viii.  3) : 
Not  in  bread  alone  doth  man  live,6  but  in 

( 4 )  He  who  was  strength  itself  might  advauce 
to  meet  the  enemy  :  those  who  are  weakness  itself 
cannot  do  better  than  avoid  them.  Jesus  is  here 
the  model  of  resistance,  only  when  the  combat  is 
inevitable. 

( “ )  The  expression  is  from  Saint  Mark.  It  is 
usually  taken  to  mean  temptations  which  Jesus 
Christ  endured  after  his  fast.  Some  understand 
this  to  mean  a  series  of  temptations  which  lasted 
during  forty  days,  of  which  the  three  reported 
constituted  the  last  and  most  vigorous  assault. 

( " )  God  does  not  require  bread  in  order  to  sup¬ 
port  man ;  he  can  do  so  with  any  thing,  since  by 
manna,  which  was  only  a  species  of  condensed 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


487 


every  word  that  proceedeth  from  the  mouth 
of  God.”  (St.  Luke  iv.  1,  2;  St.  Matthew 
iv.  1,  3,  4  ;  St.  Mark  i.  13.)  He  employs 
Scripture  to  repel  the  enemy,  and  the  text 
which  he  cites  expresses  the  confidence  in 
Providence  which  we  ought  to  entertain  in 
all  the  necessities  of  life.  Satan,  on  his 
side,  endeavored  to  turn  these  same  weap¬ 
ons  against  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  after  hav¬ 
ing  attacked  him  at  what  he  thought  to  be 
his  weak  point,  that  is  to  say,  the  hunger 
which  he  was  then  enduring,  he  attacked 
him  in  his  strong  point,  that  is  to  say,  his 
confidence  in  God,  and  by  Scripture.  Then 
the  devil  took  him  up  into  the  holy  city, 
and  set  him  upon  the  pinnacle  of  the  tem¬ 
ple,  and  said  to  him  :  If  thou  be  the  Son 
of  God,  cast  thyself  down  ;  for  it  is  writ¬ 
ten  :  “  That  he  hath  given  his  angels  charge 
over  thee,”  that  they  keep  thee,  “  and  in 
their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest 
thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone.”  (Ps. 
xc.)  Jesus  said  to  him :  It  is  written 
again  :  “  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord 


dew,  he  nourished  a  whole  nation,  for  forty  years- 
For  it  was  of  manna  that  it  is  said  in  Deuterono¬ 
my,  viii.  3  :  “  He  afflicted  thee  with  want,  and 
gave  thee  manna  for  thy  food,  which  neither  thou 
nor  thy  fathers  knew:  to  shew  thee  that  notin 
bread  alone  doth  man  live,  hut  in  every  word  that 
proceedeth  from  the  mouth  of  God.” 

( 1 )  This  expression  has  led  some  to  think  that 
Satan,  skilful  in  the  art  of  illusions,  displayed  as 
in  a  reduced  picture,  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  with  every  thing  in  them  most  capable  of  • 
dazzling  the  eyes  and  tempting  to  covetousness. 

( 3 )  This  feature  alone  was  enough  to  disclose 
the  father  of  lies.  In  his  perfidy,  he  promises 
every  thing,  yet  disposes  of  nothing.  And  did  he 
in  fact  dispose  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 


thy  God.”  (Deut.  vi. ;  St.  Matt.  iv.  5  ;  St. 
Luke  iv.  10.) 

After  this  reply  Satan  thought  he  should 
no  longer  hesitate  and  making  a  last  effort, 
he  resorted  to  the  most  violent  of  all  temp¬ 
tations,  or  rather  all  temptations  concen¬ 
trated  into  one.  He  took  Jesus  “up  into 
a  very  high  mountain,  and  shewed  him  in 
a  moment  of  time  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  and  the  glory  of  them,1  and  said  to 
him  :  “To  thee  will  I  give  all  these,  all 
this  power,  and  the  glory  of  them  ;  for  to 
me  they  are  delivered,  and  to  whom  I  will 
I  give  them  ;2  if  thou,  therefore,  wilt  adore 
before  me,  all  shall  be  thine.  Then  Jesus 
saith  to  him  :  Begone,  Satan,3  for  it  is  writ¬ 
ten  :  The  Lord  thy  God  thou  shalt  adore, 
and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve.  And  all 
the  temptation  being  ended,  the  devil  de¬ 
parted  from  him  for  a  time,4  and  behold 
angels  came  and  ministered  to  him.”6  (St. 
Matt.  iv.  8-11  ;  St.  Luke  iv.  5-8,  13.) 

On  leaving  the  desert  Jesus  apparently 
passed  the  Jordan,  which  John  had  also 


he  would  give  them  for  a  single  soul :  he  knows  its 
value  better  than  we  do. 

( 3 )  This  is  the  proper  tone  for  an  answer  to  the 
proposal  of  crime. 

( 4 )  Whether  it  be  that'  he  in  person  attacked 
Jesus  Christ  again,  or  whether  this  be  said  of  the 
persecutions  which  Jesus  Christ  had  to  suffer  from 
those  who,  as  we  have  said,  were  in  this  point  min¬ 
isters  of  Satan.  For  Satan  and  his  agents  are 
never  at  rest;  and  the  unrelenting  hostility  is, 
perhaps,  the  surest  mark  by  which  we  may  recog¬ 
nize  Satan  and  his  tools. 

( 6)  This  repast  is  the  image  of  the  feast  which 
God  prepares  for  the  soul  which  overcomes.  The 
moment  which  follows  victory  over  a  great  temp¬ 
tation  is  the  most  delicious  of  all. 


488 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


crossed  from  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
compelled  perhaps  by  the  persecutions 
which  he  endured  from  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  whom  he  had  not  spared  in  his 
preaching.  For  the  manner  in  which  Je¬ 
sus  Christ  speaks  of  him  on  more  than  one 
occasion  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  holy  pre¬ 
cursor  endured  much  ill-treatment,  which 
must  not  be  confounded  with  what  he  sub¬ 
sequently  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Herod. 
Still,  whether  they  had  changed  their  sen¬ 
timents  with  regard  to  him — whether  they 
wished  to  disabuse  the  people  already  pre¬ 
possessed  with  the  idea  that  John  might  be 
the  Messias— or  because  informed  of  the 
testimony  which  he  had  rendered  to 
another,  they  sought  to  get  the  better  of 
him  so  as  to  stop  his  preaching  and  bap¬ 
tism,  as  having  no  title  to  authorize  him  in 
his  functions ;  or  finally,  supposing  he 
should  declare  himself  the  Messias,  to 
make  the  declaration  a  crime  and  a  cause 
of  condemnation,  as  they  did  afterwards  in 
Jesus  Christ ;  whatever  was  their  motive, 
“  they  sent  from  Jerusalem  priests  and  Le- 
vites  to  him  to  ask  him  :  Who  art  thou  ? 
And  he  confessed,  and  did  not  deny,  and 
he  confessed  :  I  am  not  the  Christ.  And 
they  asked  him,  what  then  ?  Art  thou 

( 1 )  John  was  not  Elias  in  person,  but  he  was 
such  in  the  sense  of  having  his  spirit  and  virtue. 
He  was  not  a  prophet,  in  the  sense  that  he  foretells 
future  events ;  but  he  announced  and  he  showed 
the  Messias  actually  present,  whom  he  knew  by  the 
revelation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  this  sense  he 
was  a  prophet  and  more  than  a  prophet.  John 
says  he  is  not  Elias,  nor  a  prophet,  in  that  sense, 
in  which  he  is  ueither.  Jesus  Christ  says  that 
John  is  Elias,  and  is  a  prophet,  in  the  sense  in 
which  he  is  both  one  and  the  other.  In  saying  the 


Elias?1  And  he  said:  I  am  not.  Art 
thou  a  prophet  ?  And  he  answered  :  No. 
They  said,  therefore,  unto  him  :  Who  art 
thou,  that  we  may  give  an  answer  to  them 
that  sent  us  ?  what  sayest  thou  of  thyself  ? 
He  said  :  I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in 
the  wilderness  :  Make  straight  the  way  of 
the  Lord,  as  said  the  Prophet  Isaias.  They 
that  were  sent  of  the  sect  of  Pharisees. 
And  they  asked  him  another  question  : 
“  Wh}q  then,  dost  thou  baptize,  if  thou  be 
not  Christ,  nor  Elias,  nor  the  prophet  ? 
John  answered  them  :  I  baptize  with  wa¬ 
ter,  but  there  hath  stood  one  in  the  midst 
of  you  whom  you  know  not.  The  same  is 
he  that  shall  come  after  me,  who  is  prefer¬ 
red  before  me  ;  the  latchet  of  whose  shoe 
I  am  not  worthy  to  loose.  These  things 
were  done  in  Bethania,2  beyond  the  Jor¬ 
dan,  where  John  was  baptizing.”  (St.  John 
i.  19-51.) 

“  The  next  day  John  saw  Jesus  coming 
to  him,  and  he  saith :  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,3  behold  him  who  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world.  This  is  he  of  whom  I  said  : 
After  me  there  cometh  a  man  who  is  pre¬ 
ferred  before  me  because  he  was  before  me  ; 
and  I  knew  him  not,  but  that  he  may  be 
made  manifest  in  Israel,  therefore  am  I 

contrary  they  do  not  contradict  each  other ;  and 
we  are  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  how  to  speak  of  our 
neighbor;  by  John  how  to  speak  of  ourselves. 

( 3 )  Different  from  another  Bethania  a  short 
distance  from  Jerusalem,  where  Lazarus  resided 
with  his  two  sisters,  Mary  and  Martha. 

( 8 )  Lamb  by  his  meekness :  Lamb  of  God,  be¬ 
cause  the  victim  God  gives  to  us,  and  the  only  one 
he  will  accept  for  the  remission  or  the  expiation 
of  sins. 


OF  OUR  LORD 


come  baptizing  with  water,  And  John  gave 
testimony,  saying  :  I  saw  the  Spirit  coming 
down  as  a  dove  from  heaven,  and  he  re¬ 
mained  upon  him.  And  I  knew  him  not.” 
This  he  said  to  remove  any  idea  of  collu¬ 
sion.  “  But  he  who  sent  me  to  baptize  with 
water  said  to  me  :  He  upon  whom  thou  shalt 
see  the  Spirit  descending  and  remaining 
upon  him,  he  it  is  that  baptizeth  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.1  And  I  saw,  and  I  gave  tes¬ 
timony  that  this  is  the  Son  of  God. 

“The  next  day  again  John  stood  and’ 
two  of  his  disciples,  and  beholding  Jesus 
walking,  he  saith :  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God.  And  the  two  disciples  heard  him 
speak,  and  they  followed  Jesus:2  Jesus 
turning,  and  seeing  them  following  him, 
saith  to  them:  What  seek  you?8  Who 
said  to  him :  Babbi  (which  is  to  say,  being 
interpreted,  Master),  where  dwellest  thon? 
He  saith  to  them :  Come  and  see.  They 
came,  and  saw  where  he  abode.”4  “It 
was  about  the  tenth  hour,”  that  day  which 
corresponds  with  our  four  o’clock  in  the 

( 1 )  The  Holy  Ghost  did  not  descend  visibly 
upon  Jesus  Christ  until  after  he  had  received  bap¬ 
tism.  John,  who  refused,  through  humility,  to 
baptize  him,  therefore  knew  him  previously  by  re¬ 
velation;  yet  he  does  not  speak  of  this  revelation 
which  might  be  denied,  and  merely  alleges  the 
descent  of  the  dove,  which  was  the  sign  that  God 
had  given  to  himself,  that  thoroughly  assured  him 
of  the  truth  that  had  been  revealed  to  him ;  and 
the  visible  glory  of  which  had  as  many  witnesses 
as  there  were  men  actually  present,  who  had  come 
to  receive  his  baptism. 

( ’ )  Jesus  condescended  to  be  indebted  for  his 
first  disciples  to  his  precursor,  whose  testimony 
was,  as  it  were,  at  once  the  supplement  of  our 
Saviour’s  miracles.  This  was  to  honor  the  minis¬ 
try  of  John,  for  thenceforth  Jesus  Christ  no  longer 

62 


JESUS  CHRIST.  489 


afternoon.  “Andrew  the  brother  of  Simon 
Peter  was  one  of  the  two  who  had  heard 
of  John,  and  followed  Jesus.  He  findeth 
first  his  brother  Simon,  and  saith  to  him : 
W e  have  found  the  Messias  (which  is,  being 
interpreted,  the  Christ).  And  he  brought 
him  to  Jesus.  And  Jesus  looking  upon 
him,  said  :  Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jpna  ; 
thou  shalt  be  called  Cephas,  which  is  in¬ 
terpreted  Peter. 

“On  the  following  day  Jesus  would  go 
forth  into  Galilee  and  he  findeth  Philip, 
and  saith  to  him:  Follow  me.  Now 
Philip  was  of  Bethsaida,  the  city  of  An¬ 
drew  and  Peter  :  Philip  findeth  Nathanael, 
and  saith  to  them  :  We  have  found  him  of 
whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets 
did  write  :  Jesus  the  son  of  Joseph  of  Na¬ 
zareth.  And  Nathanael  said  to  him  :  Can 
anything  of  good  come  from  Nazareth?5 
Philip  saith  to  him :  Come  and  see.  Jesus 
saw  Nathanael  coming  to  him,  and  saith  of 
him  :  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom 
there  is  no  guile.  Nathanael  saith  to  him  : 

required  it,  and  he  made  this  understood,  when  at 
the  same  time  he  drew  Philip  to  his  person  by  the 
mere  words  “  Follow  me.” 

( 3 )  It  is  not  to  be  informed  as  to  something  he 
did  not  know  that  Jesus  asks  the  question  :  but  to 
accommodate  himself  to  our  manner  of  conversing, 
and  to  give  those  whom  he  interrogates  the  occa¬ 
sion  of  saying  what  was  seasonable  for  them  to  say. 
This  remark  applies  to  all  cases  like  the  present. 

( 4 )  Christ  had  a  retreat  in  the  neighborhood, 
but  had  no  house  which  was  his  own ;  he  could, 
therefore,  say  in  truth  :  “  The  Son  of  man  hath 
not  where  to  lay  his  head.” 

( 6 )  Not  merely  on  account  of  the  smallness  of 
the  place ;  but  also  on  account  of  the  bad  charac¬ 
ter  of  its  inhabitants,  which  sunk  to  brutality,  as 
appears  by  their  treatment  of  Our  Lord. 


490 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


Whence  knowest  thou  me?”  Perhaps  he 
knew  me  by  the  report  of  Philip,  was 
apparently  the  current  of  Nathanael’s 
thoughts  ;  for  “  Jesus  answered  and  said 
to  him :  Before  that  Philip  called  thee, 
when  thou  wast  under  the  fig-tree,  I  saw 
thee.  Nathanael  answered  him  :  Rabbi, 
thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  thou  art  the  King 


of  Israel.  Jesus  answered  and  said  to 
him  :  Because  I  said  unto  thee :  I  saw  thee 
under  the  fig-tree,  thou  believest :  Greater 
things  than  these  shalt  thou  see.”  And  he 
added:  “  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  you:  you 
shall  see  the  heaven  opened,  and  the  an¬ 
gels  of  God  ascending  and  descending1 
upon  the  Son  of  man.” 2 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MARRIAGE  IN  CANA.— STAY  AT  CAPHARNAUM.— SECOND  VOCATION  OF  PETER  AND  OF  ANDREW, 
FOLLOWED  BY  THAT  OF  JAMES  AND  JOHN.— JOURNEY  TO  JERUSALEM  FOR  THE  FEAST  OF 
THE  PASCH.— SELLERS  DRIVEN  FROM  THE  TEMPLE. 


“  npHE  third  day  after,  there  was  a 
1  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and 
the  mother  of  Jesus  was  there.”3  Jesus, 
who  had  spent  these  three  days  coming 
from  the  shores  of  the  Jordan,  “  was  also 
invited  and  his  disciples  to  the  marriage. 

( 1 )  It  is  not  easy  to  find  in  Scripture  the  ful¬ 
filment  of  this  magnificent  promise,  but  it  suffices 
to  know  that  all  is  not  written. 

( a  )  “  Son  of  man,”  meqns  properly  man,  or  the 
posterity  of  Adam.  This  expression  has  no  other 
meaning  in  all  the  texts  of  Scripture  where  it  is 
used,  and  it  would  be  useless  to  seek  any  other 
meaning  for  it  when  uttered  by  Jesus  Christ. 

( ’  )  Saint  Joseph  is  no  longer  mentioned.  The 
general  opinion  is,  that  he  died  before  Jesus  Christ 
commenced  his  gospel  life ;  and  it  has  been  very 
judiciously  remarked,  that  it  was  most  seasonable 
that  he  was  no  longer  in  this  world.  For,  as  Je¬ 
sus  Christ  would  frequently  have  to  allude  to  his 
father  as  a  living  person,  the  Jews  would  infallibly 
refer  to  Joseph  all  that  he  said  of  him,  and  to  sub- 


And  the  wine  failing,  the  mother  of  Jesus 
saith  to  him  :  They  have  no  wine.  Jesus 
saith  to  her :  Woman,  what  is  to  me 
and  to  thee  ?4  my  hour  is  not  yet  come.® 
His  mother  saith  to  the  waiters  :  Whatso¬ 
ever  he  shall  say  to  you,  do  ye.  Now 

stitute  him  in  the  place  of  the  eternal  Father — a 
perplexing  ambiguity,  which  would  pervade  all  the 
discourses  of  Jesus,  and  could  not  fail  to  confuse 
all  the  ideas  of  the  Jews. 

( 4 )  Christ  wishes  to  teach  that  he  was  not  to 
work  miracles,  from  considerations  of  flesh  and 
blood;  He  wishes  to  teach  this  truth,  I  say,  not  to 
Mary,  to  whom  it  was  not  unknown,  but  to  his 
disciples,  to  whom  he  was  one  day  to  communicate 
the  power  of  working  miracles,  and  "perhaps  also 
to  his  brethren,  that  is  to  say,  his  kindred,  who, 
seeing  such  power  in  the  hands  of  a  man  whom 
they  called  their  relative  and  their  brother,  might 
think  that  they  could  dispose  of  it  as  family  prop¬ 
erty. 

( ‘  )  The  time  when  he  had  resolved  to  work 


| 


« 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  49 i 

there  were  set  there  six  water-pots  of 
stone,  according  to  the  manner  of  the  puri¬ 
fying  of  the  Jews,  containing  two  or  three 
measures  apiece.  Jesus  saith  to  them  :  Fill 
the  water-pots  with  water  ;  and  they  filled 
them  up  to  the  brim”  and  Jesus  added 
“  Draw  out  now,  and  carry  to  the  chief  stew¬ 
ard  of  the  feast,  and  they  carried  it.  And 
when  the  chief  steward  had  tasted  the  water 
made  wine,  and  knew  not  whence  it  was, 
but  the  waiters  knew  who  had  drawn  the 
water,  the  chief  steward  calleth  the  bride¬ 
groom,  and  saith  to  him :  Every  man  at 
first  setteth  forth  good  wine  ;  and  when 
men  have  well  drunk,  then  that  which  is 
worse ;  but  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine 
until  now.  This  beginning  of  miracles  did 
Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  thus  mani¬ 
fested  his  glory,  and  his  disciples  believed 
in  him.1  After  this  he  went  down  to  Ca- 
pharnaum,  he  and  his  mother,  and  his 
brethren,  and  his  disciples  ;  and  they  re¬ 
mained  there  not  many  days.”  (St.  John 
ii.  1-12.) 

This  town  was  subsequently  his  usual 
dwelling-place,  and,  as  it  were,  the  centre 
of  his  missions.  Capharnaum  was  a  very 
rich  and  populous  city  situated  on  the  con¬ 
fines  of  the  tribes  of  Zabulon  and  Nephtha- 
lim,  where  the  Jordan  empties  into  the  sea 
of  Galilee  or  Tiberias.  The  abode  which 

Jesus  made  there  and  the  great  light  which 
he  there  diffused,  was  the  fulfillment  of 
the  prophecy  of  Isaias  :  (Isaias  ix.), 
“Land  of  Zabulon  and  land  of  Nephthalim, 
the  way  of  the  sea  beyond  the  Jor¬ 
dan,  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles,2  the  people 
that  sat  in  darkness  hath  seen  great 
light ;  and  to  them  that  sat  in  the  region 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  light  is  sprung 
up.”  (St.  Matt.  iv.  14-17.)  This  light  was 
announced  by  that  truth  which  must  ever 
be  first  presented  to  the  eyes  of  sinful 
men,  Die  necessity  of  penance,  which  J e- 
sus  began  to  preach  and  to  say,  like  his 
precursor :  “  The  time  is  accomplished 
and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand  :  re¬ 
pent,  and  believe  the  Gospel.”  (St.  Mark 
i.  15.)  This  is  the  discourse  which  an 
Evangelist  terms  preaching  “the  Gospel 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.”  Meantime  Je¬ 
sus,  who  was  never  more  to  cease  preach¬ 
ing  it  until  his  death,  sought  co-operators, 
and  soon  found  them.  His  disciples,  who 
had  not  yet  joined  him  in  such  a  way  as 
not  to  leave  him  at  all,  had  left  him,  to  re¬ 
turn  to  their  usual  work.  He  attached 
them  more  closely  to  his  person  in  the 
manner  we  are  now  going  to  state,  by 
blending,  on  account  of  the  similarity  of 
facts,  two  things  which  some  separate  and 
others  unite,  without  its  being  easy  to 

miracles.  Still  he  anticipated  the  time  out  of  con¬ 
sideration  for  Mary,  and  the  exception  confirms 
the  rule.  If  the  answer  seems  severe,  the  act  is 
obliging ;  perhaps,  too,  this  answer  was  made  with 
an  air  and  a  tone  which  considerably  softened  down 
what  appears  to  us  rather  stern.  Certain  it  is, 
that  Mary,  after  having  heard  this,  had  no  hesita¬ 
tion  in  believing  that  her  prayer  had  been  heard, 

N - - -  7 

since  she  said  directly  to  the  waiters :  Do  ye  what¬ 
soever  he  shall  say  to  you. 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  they  were  confirmed  in  the 
faith  they  had  in  him  :  for  they  must  have  already 
believed,  since  they  had  become  his  disciples. 

( a )  So  called  from  its  vicinity  to  the  Gentiles,  per¬ 
haps  also  on  account  of  the.  intermixture  of  these  peo¬ 
ple  with  the  tribes  of  Aser,  Zabulon,  and  Nephthalim. 

492 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


decide  whether  in  fact  they  were  two  differ¬ 
ent  vocations,  or  whether  there  was  but 
one  single  vocation,  recorded  by  the  sacred 
authors,  with  circumstances,  which  are  not 
found  in  the  two  other  Evangelists  who  re¬ 
late  it. 

“  Passing  by  the  sea  of  Galilee,  Jesus 
saw  Simon  and  Andrew  his  brother  casting 
nets  into  the  sea  (for  they  were  fishermen), 
and  he  said  to  them  :  Come  after  me,  and 
I  will  make  you  to  become  fishers  of  men. 
....  Going  on  from  thence  a  little  farther, 
he  saw  James  the  son  of  Zebedeg,  and 
John  his  brother,  who  were  also  mending 
their  nets  in  the  ship :  and  forthwith  he 
called  them.  (St.  Mark  i.  16,  IT,  19.)-  It 
came  to  pass  that  when  multitudes  pressed 
upon  him  to  hear  the  word  of  God,  he  stood 
by  the  lake  of  Genesareth.  And  he  saw 
two  ships  standing  by  the  lake  :  but  the 
fishermen  were  gone  out  of  them,  and  were 
washing  their  nets.”  (St.  Luke  v.  1,  2.) 
To  join  this  circumstance  with  the  preced¬ 
ing,  we  must  suppose  these  fishermen 
(whom  Jesus  had  just  called),  after  alight¬ 
ing  from  their  ships,  were  still  washing 


(  i )  “  The  Ship  of  the  Church  into  which  the 
Lord  ascends  is  no  other  than  that  one  of  which 
Peter  was  made  the  pilot,  when  the  Lord  said  to 
him :  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  shall 
build  my  Church.”— (St.  Ambrose,  Serm.  ii.) 

( ’ )  This  miraculous  draught  is  the  figure,  or 
rather  the  prophetic  history,  of  what  was  to  befal 
the  Church.  The  prophets  had  labored  almost 
without  fruit  under  the  Old  Law,  which  was  a 
state  of  shade  and  obscurity.  At  last  the  great 
day  of  grace  having  appeared,  Peter,  at  the  word 
of  Jesus  Christ,  casts  the  net  of  the  Gospel.  All 
nations  enter  there  in  throngs:  both  ships,  that  is 
to  say,  the  two  Churches  of  the  East  and  West, 


their  nets  either  from  habit  or  for  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  those  who  were  afterwards  to  use 
them.  “  And  going  up  into  one  of  the 
ships  that  was  Simon’s,  he  (Jesus)  desired 
him  to  draw  back  a  little  from  the  land  ; 
and  sitting,  he  taught  the  multitudes  out 
of  the  ship.1  Now  when  he  had  ceased  to 
speak,  he  said  to  Simon  :  Launch  out  into 
the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a 
draught.  And  Simon  answering  said  to 
him :  Master,  we  have  labored  all  the 
night,  and  have  taken  nothing  :  but  at  thy 
word  I  will  let  down  the  net.  And  when 
they  had  done  this,  they  enclosed  a  very 
great  multitude  of  fishes,  and  their  net 
broke.2  And  they  beckoned  to  their  part¬ 
ners,  that  were  in  the  other  ship,  that  they 
should  come  and  help  them.  And  they 
came,  and  filled  both  the  ships,  so  that 
they  were  almost  sinking  ;  which,  when 
Simon  Peter  saw,  he  fell  down  at  J esus’ 
knees,  saying:  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a 
sinful  man,  0  Lord.3  For  he  was  wholly 
astonished,  and  all  that  were  with  him,  at 
the  draught  of  the  fishes  which  they  had 
taken,  and  so  were  also  James  and  John 


are  filled.  This  abundance  causes  the  net  to 
break.  Its  integrity  marks  the  unity  of  the 
Church  ;  and  its  rupture  the  schisms  and  the  her¬ 
esies  by  which  she  loses  part  of  her  draught,  if  we 
can  term  it  a  loss,  what  frees  her  from  those  cruel 
children  who  reposed  in  her  bosom  only  to  tear  it. 

( 3 )  The  same  humility  that  makes  the  centu¬ 
rion  say :  “  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou 
shouldst  enter  under  my  roof,”  made  Peter  say 
here:  “Depart  from  me,  0  Lord.”  Other  mean¬ 
ings  have  been  proposed  for  the  expression ;  but 
the  reason  which  Peter  adds,  “  because  I  am  a  sin¬ 
ful  man,”  seems  to  exclude  them,  and  decides  it 
for  this. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  493 

the  sons  of  Zebedee,  who  were  Simon’s 
partners.  And  Jesus  saith  to  Simon:  Fear 
not,  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men ; 
and  having  brought  their  ships  to  land, 
leaving  all  things,  they  followed  him.  (St. 
Luke  v.  3-11.)  Simon  and  Andrew  left 
their  nets ;  James  and  John,”  not  only 
“  their  nets  they  were  mending,  but  their 
father,  Zebedee  (St.  Matt.  iy.  22),  in  the 
ship  with  his  hired  men.”  (St.  Mark  i.  20.) 

THE  FIRST  PASCH. 

We  have  said  that  this  first  stay  which 
Jesus  made  at  Capharnaum  was  but  for  a 
few  days.  “The  pasch  of  the  Jews  was  at 
hand,”  and  the  time  was  come  when  Jesus 
was  to  make  known  to  all  Israel  its  Messias 
and  its  King.  “He  went  up”  then  with 
his  new  disciples  “  to  Jerusalem,”  whither 
the  festival  had  gathered  together  Jews 
from  all  nations  under  the  sun.  He  distin¬ 
guished  himself  at  the  outset,  by  an  action 
which  attracted  all  eyes  to  him.  “  He 
found  in  the  temple  them  that  sold  oxen, 
and  sheep,  and  doves,  and  the  changers  of 

money,1  sitting.  And  when  be  bad  made, 
as  it  were,  a  scourge  of  little  cords, 2  be 
drove  them  all  out  of  tbe  temple,  tbe 
sbeep,  and  also  tbe  oxen  ;  and  tbe  money 
of  tbe  changers  be  poured  out,  and  tbe  ta¬ 
bles  be  overthrew.  And  to  them  that  sold 
doves  he  said  :  Take  these  things  hence,3 
and  make  not  the  bouse  of  my  Father4  a 
bouse  of  traffic.  And  bis  disciples  remem¬ 
bered  that  it  was  written  :  “  The  zeal  of 
thy  bouse  hath  eaten  me  up.  The  Jews 

. said  to  him  :  What  sign  dost  thou 

show  unto  us,  seeing  thou  dost  these  things  ? 5 
Jesus  answered  and  said  ;  Destroy  this 
temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up. 

The  Jews  then  said  :  Six-and-forty  years 
was  this  temple  in  building,  and  wilt  thou 
raise  it  up  in  three  days  ?  But  he  spoke 
of  the  temple  of  his  body.  When,  there¬ 
fore,  he  was  risen  again  from  the  dead,  his 
disciples  remembered  that  he  had  said  this, 
and  they  believed 6  the  Scripture,  and  the 
word  that  Jesus  had  said.  Now  when  he 
was  at  Jerusalem  at  the  Pasch,  upon  the 
festival  day,  many  believed  in  his  name, 

( ' )  The  money-changers  gave  small  money  in 
exchange  for  large  coin,  and  drew  a  profit  from 
this  sort  of  traffic. 

( 5 )  That  the  weakness  of  the  instrument  should 
evince  more  clearly  the  power  of  him  who  em¬ 
ployed  it.  This  miracle  seemed  to  Saint  Jerome 
the  most  surprising  of  all  that  Jesus  wrought. 

( ’ )  Had  he  acted  towards  these  as  with  the 
others,  the  pigeons  would  have  flown  olf,  and  been 
lost  to  the  owners.  Jesus,  who  wishes  to  alarm  all, 
would  wrong  none,  even  while  acting  under  ex¬ 
citement  ;  he  further  teaches  us  that  zeal  should 
ever  be  regulated  by  prudence  and  tempered  by 
charity. 

( 4 )  An  expression  till  then  unheard  of.  Who, 
then,  is  this  man  who  calls  the  house  of  God  the 

house  of  his  father,  and  who  appears  there  with  all 
the  authority  of  a  master  ? 

( 6 )  Christ  never  performed  miracles  when 
sought  either  by  curiosity  or  malignity. 

(6 )  They  then  saw  the  meaning  of  this  expres¬ 
sion,  which  they  had  not  at  first  understood  ;  they 
saw  how  it  agreed  with  those  passages  of  Scripture 
where  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  is  so  clearly 
figured,  and  they  were  confirmed  in  their  faith. 

What  Served  to  establish  the  faith  of  the  disci¬ 
ples  gave  the  Jews  new  motives  to  calumniate  the 
Saviour.  It  is  with  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
from  the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ ;  they  are  both  a 
bread  of  life  for  the  good,  and  a  mortal  poison  for 
the  wicked.  “  Mors  est  malis,  vita  bonis.” 

494 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


seeing  his  signs  which  he  did.  But  Jesus 
did  not  trust  himself  unto  them,  for  that  he 
knew  all  men,  and  because  he  needed  not 


that  any  should  give  testimony  of  man  ; 
for  he  knew  what  was  in  man.”  (St.  John 
ii.  13-25.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HIS  DISCOURSE  WITH  NICODEMUS. 


THIS  regards  those  who  at  first  believed 
in  him,  but  whose  inconstancy,  clearly 
known  by  him  before  whose  eyes  all  is 
naked  and  uncovered,  obliged  him  to  take 
precautions  with  them.  Others  had  already 
declared  violently  against  him,  and  his 
miracles  and  doctrine  had  even  then  pro¬ 
duced  the  double  effect  always  produced 
by  great  merit  when  signalized  by  great 
actions :  esteem  and  veneration  in  up¬ 
right  hearts  ;  and  in  perverse  hearts,  envy 
and  hatred.  These  two  passions,  which  are 
ever  persecuting,  and  which  finally  caused 
our  Lord’s  death,  were  inflamed  at  the 
sight  of  his  first  successes,  and  thenceforth 
menaced  those  who  ventured  to  declare  in 
his  favor.  This  appears  by  the  conduct 
“of  a  man  of  the  Pharisees,  named  Nico- 
demus,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews.”  “  This  man,” 
already  a  believer,  yet  timid,  anxious  for 
instruction,  but  fearful  of  persecution, 
“  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  said  to  him  : 
Rabbi,  we  know  that  thou  art  come  a 

( 1 )  This  water  is  that  of  baptism ;  for  it  is  not 
allowable  to  seek  here  for  another  meaning  after 
the  decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  Sess.  7,  Can. 
2 :  Should  any  one  say  that  very  and  natural  wa¬ 
ter  is  not  necessary  in  baptism,  and  consequently 


teacher  from  God,  for  no  man  can  do  these 
signs  which  thou  dost,  unless  God  be  with 
him.” 

This  introduction  expressed  the  object 
of  his  visit ;  he  came  to  be  instructed. 
Jesus  laid  before  him  in  a  few  words  the 
entire  plan  of  Christianity,  and  commenc¬ 
ing  by  regeneration,  which  is  the  ground¬ 
work,  answered  him  :  “  Amen,  amen,  I  say 
to  thee,  unless  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.”  This 
reply  surprised  Nicodemus,  who,  aware  of 
but  one  way  of  being  born,  could  imagine 
no  other.  “  How  can  a  man  be  born,”  saith 
he,  “when  he  is  old?  Can  he  enter  a 
second  time  into  his  mother’s  womb,  and 
be  born  again  ?  ”  He  asked  for  an  ex¬ 
planation,  which  Jesus  immediately  gave 
him.  “Jesus  answered:  Amen,  amen,  I 
say  to  thee,  unless  a  man  be  born  again  of 
water 1  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  cannot  en¬ 
ter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which 

if  he  gives  a  metaphorical  sense  to  those  words  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ :  Unless  a  man  be  born 
again  of  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  etc.,  let  him 
be  anathema. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  495 

is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit.  Wonder  not 
that  I  said  to  thee  :  Yon  must  be  born 
again.  The  spirit  breatheth  where  he 
will ; 1  and  thou  hearest  his  voice  ;  but 
thou  knowest  not  whence  he  cometh,  or 
whither  he  goeth  :  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit.”  Which  is  analogous  to 
the  known  maxim,  “Like  produces  like. 
The  production  of  the  spirit  is,  there¬ 
fore,  spiritual,  like  its  principal.  There¬ 
fore  it  falls  not  under  the  senses.  Yet 
it  has  effects  which  hinder  us  from  doubt¬ 
ing  its  reality,  as  the  air  or  wind,  which, 
though  not  perceptible  to  the  eyes  of  the 
body,  is  known  by  sound  or  other  effects 
peculiar  to  it. 

The  mystery  had  been  explained  as 
clearly  as  it  could  be:  still  “Nicodemus 
answered  :  How  can  these  things  be  done  ? 
Jesus  answered  and  said  to  him :  Art  thou 
a  master  in  Israel,  and  knowest  not  these 
things  ?  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  thee,  that 
we  speak  what  we  know,  and  we  testify 
what  we  have  seen,  and  you  receive  not 
our  testimony.  If  I  have  spoken  to  you 
earthly  things,  and  you  believe  not,  how 
will  you  believe  when  I  speak  to  you  hea- 

venly  things  ?  And  no  man  hath  ascended 
into  heaven  but  he  that  descended  from 
heaven,  the  Son  of  man  who  is  in  hea¬ 
ven.”  8  (St.  John,  iii.  1-13.) 

These  words,  all  full  of  depth,  signify, 

1st,  That  faith  in  mysteries  does  not  rest 
on  the  evidence  of  the  object,  but  on  the 
authority  of  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ, 
which  Nicodemus  could  not  gainsay,  as  he 
had  just  recognized  the  divinity  of  a  mis¬ 
sion  proved  manifestly  by  miracles;  2d, 
that  the  explanation  which  Jesus  had  just 
given  to  him  was  the  best  fitted  to  make 
him  comprehend  the  mystery  which  obliged 
him  to  believe  ;  I  say,  to  make  him  com¬ 
prehend  it  in  such  sort  as  it  can  be  com¬ 
prehended,  at  least  in  this  life,  since  to 
bring  it  within  his  grasp,  he  had  clothed  it 
in  sensible  and  corporal  images,  such  as 
birth,  the  wind,  and  its  effects.  Hence 
our  Saviour  concluded  that,  if  he  did  not 
place  faith  in  him  when  speaking  such 
language  as  he  calls  earthly,  because  it  is 
proportioned  to  the  human  intellect  which 
always  savors  of  that  earth  to  which  it  is 
bound,  much  less  would  he  believe  had  he 
employed  expressions  as  sublime  as  the 

( 1 )  This  expression  signifies  here  properly 
either  the  breath  or  the  wind.  This  does  not 
prevent  the  expression  being  appropriately  applied 
to  the  free  and  independent  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  our  souls. 

( 5 )  Still  the  humanity  of  our  Saviour  had  not 
descended  from  heaven,  and  it  ascended  there  only 
on  the  day  of  the  Ascension.  This  is  explained  by 
the  personal  union  of  the  Word  with  human  na¬ 
ture.  By  this  ineffable  union,  the  Sovereign  God 
who  reigns  in  the  highest  heavens  is  truly  the  Son 
of  man;  in  this  sense  he  could  say  that  the  Son 
of  man  had  ascended  into  heaven,  since  he  who  is 

in  heaven  became  the  Son  of  man,  which  he  was 
not  previously.  He  might  also  say  that  he  de¬ 
scended  from  heaven,  because  this  Son  of  man, 
who  conversed  on  earth  with  men,  was  the  same 
person  with  the  Sovereign  God  who  reigns  in  the 
highest  heaven.  He  could  also  add  that  he  was 
still  in  heaven  because  his  immensity  renders  him 
present  everywhere,  and  his  persevering  union  with 
humanity  makes  him  who  is  everywhere  present, 
everywhere  and  always  present  with  the  character 
of  Son  of  man,  although  his  humanity  is  not 
everywhere  present,  as  the  Lutherans  say,  by  an 
error  equally  absurd  and  impious. 

496  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


things  themselves  which  he  proposed,  that 
is  to  say :  expressions  such  as  no  mortal 
man  could  understand,  and  such  apparently 
as  human  language  could  not  furnish.  What 
Jesus  Christ  adds,  “No  man  hath  ascended 
unto  heaven  but  he  that  descended  from 
heaven,  ”  relates  to  two  parts  of  his  answer, 
and  signifies  that,  both  as  to  mysteries  and 
the  manner  of  proposing  them,  we  must  re¬ 
fer  alone  to  him  who,  having  descended 
from  that  heaven  which  he  always  con¬ 
tinues  to  inhabit,  is  the  only  one  who  has 
seen  them  in  their  origin,  the  only  one  con¬ 
sequently  who  knows  them,  and  is  in  a 
position  to  speak  of  them :  which  is 
equally  expressed  in  these  words  of  the 
first  chapter  of  Saint  John  :  “No  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time :  the  only 
begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  he  hath  declared  him.”  (St.  John, 
i.  18.) 

Nicodemus,  thus  disposed,  must  listen 
with  docility  to  the  other  truths  in  which 
Jesus  Christ  was  still  to  instruct  him ;  our 
Saviour  continued  in  these  terms  :  “  As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  desert, 


( 1  )  Here  faith  alone  is  spoken  of :  Doth  faith, 
then,  suffice,  without  works?  No  more  than 
works  can  suffice  without  faith ;  although  in  many 
places  of  Scripture  salvation  is  attributed  to  works, 
without  any  mention  of  faith.  So  in  these  texts, 
and  in  their  union  you  will  find  the  Catholic  truth ; 
separate  them,  or  merely  consider  them  in  their 
apparent  opposition,  and  you  evidently  come  in 
collision  with  one  of  these  two  stumbling-blocks: 
You  will  think  that  works  suffice  without  faith, 
which  annihilates  all  religion ;  or  with  Protestants, 
that  faith  suffices  without  works,  which  opens  the 
road  to  every  crime. 

1 * )  A  Jew  might  think  that  God  had  given  his 


so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him* 1  may  not 
perish,  but  may  have  life  everlasting.  Foi 
God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  only 
begotten  Son,2  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  may  not  perish,  but  may  have  life 
everlasting :  for  God  sent  not  his  Son  into 
the  world,  to  judge  the  world,  but  that  the 
world  may  be  saved  by  him.  He  that  be¬ 
lieveth  in  him  is  not  judged  ;  but  he  that 
doth  not  believe  is  already  judged,  because 
he  believeth  not  in  the  name  of  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  God.  And  this  is  the 
judgment ;  because  the  light  is  come  into 
the  world,  and  men  have  loved  darkness 
rather  than  the  light,  for  their  works  were 
evil :  for  every  one  that  doth  evil  hateth 
the  light,  and  cometh  not  to  the  light,  that 
his  works  may  not  be  reproved  ;  but  he  that 
doth  truth 3  cometh  to  the  light,  that  his 
works  may  be  made  manifest,  because  they 
are  done  in  God.”  -  (St.  John,  iii.  14-21.) 

Such  is  the  discourse  which  our  Saviour 
made  to  this  learned  man  of  the  syna¬ 
gogue.  It  comprises,  as  I  have  said,  the 
entire  plan  of  Christianity,  and  its  princi- 


Son  for  the  salvation  of  Jews  only.  Jesus  Christ 
antieipates  this  errror,  by  declaring  that  the  Sou 
was  given  for  the  salvation  of  the  world,  and  of 
“  every  man,”  saith  elsewhere  the  beloved  disciple, 

1  John,  22. 

( 3 )  It  may  be,  as  some  have  thought,  that  the 
original  believers  in  Jesus  Christ  were  the  best 
class  among  the  Jews,  although  this  was  not  with¬ 
out  exception ;  or  it  may  be  that  the  expression 
“  he  tath  doth  truth”  or  “  to  do  truth,”  signifies 

in  sinners  the  knowledge  and  detestation  of  sin, 
according  to  this  idea  of  Saint  Augustine:  the 
confession  of  crime  is  the  beginning  of  virtue. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


497 


pal  mysteries  are  here  clearly  proposed. 
We  see  here  the  three  persons  of  the  ador¬ 
able  Trinity,  and  the  part  which  each  of 
them  vouchsafed  to  take  upon  himself  in 
the  redemption.  The  Father  gives  his 
only  Son  ;  the  Son  consents  to  be  immo¬ 
lated  ;  and  the  regenerating  Spirit,  unit¬ 
ing  with  the  water  of  baptism  his  al¬ 
mighty  action,  transforms  the  old  man  into 
a  new  creature,  gives  brothers  to  the  Son, 
and  adopted  children  to  the  Father.  The 
motive  of  so  great  a  benefit  is,  on  the  part 
of  the  Father,  immense,  we  may  say,  ex¬ 
cessive  love,  inducing  him  to  deliver  up  his 
only  Son,  the  object  of  all  his  complacency, 
for  the  salvation  of  an  impious  and  per¬ 
verse  world  ;  in  the  Son  there  is  a  volun¬ 
tary  immolation  upon  the  tree  of  the  cross  ; 
and  in  regenerated  man  a  lively  faith  full 
of  confidence  in  him  whose  charity  was  so 
extreme  as  to  suffer  for  him  torment  and 
death.  The  brazen  serpent  is  given  here 
as  a  figure  of  the  Old  Testament,  repre¬ 
senting  in  the  most  natural  manner  to  the 
life  many  of  its  miracles.  It  resembles  the 
serpent,  though  without  its  venom,  thus 
shadowing  him  forth  who,  himself,  assumed 
the  semblance  of  sin  without  its  stain  ;  its 
lifting  up  in  the  desert  is  the  figure  of  the 
cross  raised  up,  and  exposed  to  all  eyes. 
Faith  in  Him  crucified,  whjch  may  be 
called  the  look  of  the  soul,  produces  an 
effect  in  souls  similar  to  that  produced  in 
bodies  by  looking  with  the  eyes  of  the  body 
on  the  brazen  serpent.  Yet,  as  the  brazen 
serpent,  salutary  to  many,  and  injurious  to 
none,  did  not  save  from  destruction  those 
who,  when  mortally  wounded  by  the  fiery 
serpents,  refused  to  seek  their  cure  by  so 


easy  a  remedy,  so  those  who  are  to  be 
saved  shall  be  saved  by  him  alone  whom 
the  serpent  prefigured,  and  those  who  are 
condemned  shall  be  solely  through  their 
own  fault.  Our  Saviour  goes  so  far  as  to 
declare  that  these  last  are  already  con¬ 
demned,  inasmuch  as,  in  the  sin  of  their 
first  father  and  their  own  personal  iniqui¬ 
ties,  they  carry  with  them  the  manifest 
cause  of  their  condemnation  ;  as  the  Isra¬ 
elites  stung  by  the  serpents  carried,  in  the 
venom  which  they  had  received,  the  im¬ 
pending  cause  of  inevitable  death.  Those 
who  perish  then,  perish  merely  because 
they  choose  to  do  so  ;  and  from  themselves 
alone  originates  the  judgment  which  con¬ 
demns  them,  as  the  Messias’  first  coming 
had  for  its  object  the  salvation,  not  the  con¬ 
demnation  of  the*  world.  But  this  fearful 
and  eternal  condemnation  only  comes  upon 
them  for  having  shunned  another  transient 
and  salutary  condemnation,  that  which  they 
themselves  should  have  passed  upon  their 
own  crimes,  had  they  chosen  to  open  their 
eyes  to  the  dazzling  light  which  came  to 
expose  to  them  their  enormity.  Still  the 
same  fund  of  corruption  which  made  them 
love  their  vices,  made  them  love  the  dark¬ 
ness  which  concealed  their  shame,  and  hate 
the  light  which  would  have  revealed  it  to 
them  ;  a  light  earnestly  sought  and  joyfully 
beheld  by  those  who  are  pure  in  heart  and 
virtuous  in  life,  because  rectitude  always 
loves  light  which  illumines  it,  and  virtue 
can  but  rejoice  at  the  favorable  testimony 
of  such  witness.  The  grace  with  which 
our  Saviour  accompanied  the  instruction  he 
imparted  to  Nicodemusmade  that  proselyte 
a  faithful  disciple.  If  at  first  he  acted  cau- 


63 


498  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


tiously  he  never  betrayed  his  conscience. 
And  although  he  did  yet  openly  declare 
for  Jesns  Christ,  Mcodemus,  far  from  be¬ 
ing  implicated  in  the  unjust  plots  of  his 
enemies,  succeeded  on  the  proper  occasion 
in  making  them  feel  the  whole  extent  of 
their  injustice.  Cured  of  his  timidity  after 
he  had  beheld  the  mysterious  serpent  ele¬ 
vated  upon  the  mountain,  while  the  apos¬ 


tles  fled,  this  prince  of  the  synagogue 
joined  Joseph  of  Arimathea  to  render  to 
his  divine  Master  the  rites  of  burial ;  he 
lavished  spices  upon  him  with  a  liberality 
worthy  of  his  opulence  and  his  piety.  He 
persevered  till  death  in  the  confession  of 
the  faith,  and  in  the  practice  of  every  Chris¬ 
tian  virtue  ;  and  the  Church  has  ‘‘placed 
him  among  the  saints  whom  she  invokes. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

CHRIST  PREACHES  AND  BAPTIZES.— NEW  TESTIMONY  OF  SAINT  JOHN.— THE  HOLY  PRECUR¬ 
SOR’S  IMPRISONMENT.— THE  RETURN  OF  JESUS  TO  GALILEE  THROUGH  SAMARIA. 


JESUS,”  after  having  made  this  con¬ 
quest,  “came  into  the  land  of  Ju¬ 
dea  ;  ”  that  is  to  say,  he  quitted  the  capital 
to  travel  over  the  country  “  with  his  disci¬ 
ples.”  “  There  he  abode  with  them,  and 
baptized”  (though  Jesus  himself  did  not 
baptize,  but  his  disciples.”  (St.  John  iii. 
22  ;  iv.  2.)  A  remarkable  difference 
between  him  and  John.  The  former 
baptized  by  himself  alone,  because,  being 
merely  the  minister  of  his  baptism,  he 
could  not  substitute  for  other  ministers  in 
his  stead  ;  whereas  Jesus,  author  of  his 
own  baptism,  caused  it  to  be  administered 
by  whom  he  chose,  and  retained  its  entire 
virtue,  no  matter  by  what  hand  it  was  ad¬ 
ministered.  Yet  John’s  baptism «was  not 
immediately  abolished,  after  the  appear¬ 
ance  of  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  Every  thing 
is  gradually  shaded  in  the  works  of  Glod  ; 


and  until  the  precursor’s  imprisonment,  the 
baptism  of  water  subsisted  at  the  same 
time,  with  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Grhost 
and  of  fire,  as  the  Jewish  practices  sub¬ 
sisted  side  by  side  with  the  commencement 
of  Christianity,  until  the  destruction  of  Je¬ 
rusalem.  While,  therefore,  Jesus  was  con¬ 
ferring  baptism  by  the  hands  of*his  disci¬ 
ples,  accustoming  the  world  from  thence¬ 
forth  “to  account  them  his  ministers,  and 
the  dispensers  of  the  mysteries  of  Grod,”  (1 
Cor.  iv.  1,)  John  also  was  baptizing  in 
Ennon,  near  Salim,  because  there  was  much 
water  there,  and  they  came,  and  were  bap¬ 
tized  ;  for  John  was  not  yet  cast  into 
prison.  And  there  arose  a  question  between 
some  of  John’s  disciples  and  the  Jews1 


(’)  Most  of  John’s  disciples  were  apparently 
Galileans,  while  those  who  had  just  received  the 


Ili  ii 


JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  PREACHING. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


499 


concerning  purification,”1  which  here  must 
be  understood  to  mean  baptism.  The 
Jews  who  had  declared  themselves  in 
favor  of  Jesus  Christ,  maintained  that 
their  new  Master  being  much  superior  to 
John  (Aug.  tract.  13  in  Joan.),  his  baptism 
should  be  preferred  to  the  precursor’s. 
Whereupon  John’s  disciples  “  came  to  him, 
and  said  :  Eabbi,  he  that  was  with  thee 
beyond  the  Jordan,  to  whom  thou  gavest 
testimony,  behold,  he  baptizeth,  and  all 
men  come  to  him.” 

The  disciples  disputed  ;  but  the  masters 
were  of  the  same  mind.  “  John,”  who 
never  had  attributed  to  himself  aught  but 
his  nothingness,  and  who-  always  rendered 
to  Jesus  the  glory  due  to  him,  “  answered 
and  said :  A  man  cannot  receive  any 
thing  unless  it  be  given  him  from  heaven. 

baptism  of  Jesus  Christ  were  from  Judea,  properly 
speaking.  Hence  the  latter  are  called  J ews  in  this 
passage ;  although,  in  a  more  comprehensive  sense, 
the  name  also  belongs  to  the  disciples  of  J ohn. 

( 1 )  Baptism  might  be  called  by  the  name  of  pu¬ 
rification,  as  purifications  elsewhere  go  under  the 
name  of  baptism. 

( ’ )  The  hride  is  the  Church,  composed  of  the  as¬ 
semblage  of  those  who  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  It 
had  begun  to  form,  and  the  disciples  of  John  so  in¬ 
formed  him.  Thus,  while  seeking  to  excite  his 
jealousy,  they  filled  him  with  joy. 

( ’ )  Comparisons  hold  good  only  to  a  certain 
point.  John  did  not  actually  see  Jesus  Christ,  nor 
hear  his  voice ;  but  he  knew  him  to  be  present,  and 
preaching,  and  he  heard  the  rumor  of  his  first  suc¬ 
cesses.  This  fills  him  with  joy  comparable  to  that 
caused  by  the  voice  of  the  person  we  love  most, 
which  is  said  to  be  the  sweetest  of  all  music. 

( 4 )  In  public  estimation.  For,  in  reality,  there 
neither  was  increase  in  Jesus  Christ  nor  diminu¬ 
tion  in  Saint  John. 

( * )  When  he  speaks  from  himself.  For,  by  in- 


You  yourselves  do  bear  me  witness,  that  I 
said  :  I  am  not  Christ,  but  that  I  am  sent 
before  him.  He  that  hath  the  bride  is  the 
bridegroom  ;2  but  the  friend  of  the  bride¬ 
groom  who  standeth,  and  heareth  him,  re- 
joiceth  with  joy,  because  of  the  bride¬ 
groom’s  voice  ;  this  my  joy,  therefore,  is 
fulfilled.3  He  must  increase,  but  I  must 
decrease.”4  The  difference  of  origin  is  the 
reason  which  John  assigns  for  this  extreme 
difference  between  Jesus  Christ  and  him¬ 
self.  “  He,”  said  John,  “  that  cometh  from 
above  is  above  all.  He  that  is  of  the  earth, 
of  the  earth  he  is,  and  of  the  earth  he 
speaketh.5  He  that  cometh  from  heaven  is 
above  all,  and  what  he  hath  seen  and 
heard6  that  he  testifieth,  and  no  man  re- 
ceiveth  his  testimony.7  He  that  hath  re¬ 
ceived  his  testimony8  hath  set  to  his  seal 

gpiration,  he  can  know  and  utter  heavenly  things, 
and  John  himself  is  proof  of  this.  But  those  heav¬ 
enly  things  which  the  Son  uttered  had  been  taught 
him  by  no  one  ;  he  spoke  them  from  his  own  will. 
Others  consider  Saint  John  to  term  earthly  those 
things  which  he  said  himself,  in  opposition  to  the 
more  sublime  truths  which  Jesus  came  to  reveal  to 
the  world. 

( 6 )  These  words,  and  those  which  close  the  dis¬ 
course,  are  sufficiently  explained  in  the  preceding 
discourse  of  our  Lord  with  Nicodemus. 

(T)  Passion  always  exaggerates.  Envy  made 
John’s  disciples  say :  “  all  men  come  to  him,”  be¬ 
cause  several  went ;  and  an  affectionate  zeal  for 
the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  makes  John  say:  ‘‘no 
man  receiveth  his- 1 estimdny,”  because  all  men  did 
not  receive  it. 

( ' )  To  believe  the  word  of  him  who  is  sent  by 
God,  is  to  believe  the  word  of  God ;  and  to  believe 
the  word  of  God  is  to  declare  formally  that  God  is 
incapable  of  a  lie,  and  that  he  always  speaks  the 
truth.  Faith  is  wholly  and  entirely  comprised  in 
these  few  words.  God  has  sent  his  Son ;  the  Son 


500 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


that  God  is  true  :  For  he  whom  God  hath 
sent  speak  eth  the  words  of  God  ;  for  God 
doth  not  give  the  Spirit  by  measure.  The 
Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  he  hath  given 
all  things  into  his  hand.  He  that  believ- 
eth  in  the  Son  hath  life  everlasting :  but 
he  that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not  see 
life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.” 
(St.  John  iii.  23-36.) 

The  imprisonment  of  the  holy  precursor 
followed  close  upon  this  glorious  testimony 
which  he  had  just  borne  to  Jesus  Christ. 
The  country  which  he  then  inhabited,  if  not 
actually  within  the  division  allotted  to 
Herod  the  tetrarch,  at  least  touched  upon 

has  sent  his  apostles.  These,  by  his  order,  have 
communicated  their  mission  to  their  successors, 
who  have  transmitted  it,  and  who  will  transmit  it 
from  age  to  age,  until  the  end  of  the  world.  To 
believe  these,  therefore,  is  to  believe  the  apostles, 
who  have  transmitted  the  mission  to  them ;  the 
Son,  who  hath  sent  the  apostles ;  and  God,  who 
hath  sent  the  Son.  The  simple-minded  enter  with¬ 
out  trouble  and  without  misgiving  on  the  road, 
that  lies  open  before  them,  which  is  straight,  level, 
spacious,  trodden  by  the  hosts  of  Christians,  and 
in  which  they  see  their  guides  at  their  head. 
Those  who  combine  great  abilities  with  superior 
judgment,  seeing  the  natural  inability  of  the 
masses  to  conduct  themselves,  agree  that  they 
could  not  he  conducted  by  another  course ;  that 
there  must  however  be  a  course  marked  out  for 
them,  since  they  are  not  excluded  from  salvation ; 
that  it  was  natural  that  this  road,  which  suffices  I 


his  states.  John  had  had  occasion  to  see 
and  to  speak  to  him.  Herod  “was  re¬ 
proved  by  him  for  Herodias,  his  brother's 
wife,  and  for  all  the  evils  which  Herod  had 
done.  He  added  this  also,  above  all,  and 
shut  up  John  in  prison.”  (S4.  Luke  iii.  19, 
20.)  “When  Jesus  had  heard  that  John 
was  delivered  up,”  (St.  Matt.  iv.  12,)  and 
“  understood  that  the  Pharisees  had  heard 
that  he  maketh  more  disciples,  and  baptiz- 
eth  more  than  John,  he  left  Judea,  (St.  John 
iv.  1-3,)  “and  returned,  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit,  into  Galilee,”  (St.  Luke  iv.  14,) 
“  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.”  (St.  Mark  i.  14.) 

for  all,  should  be  the  same  for  all :  the  more  so,  as 
when  they  recollect  the  great  vagaries  in  which 
great  minds  frequently  fall,  this  road  is  in  their 
estimation  at  least  as  necessary  for  those  who  rea¬ 
son  too  much  as  for  those  who  reason  too  little. 
Still  there  exist  subtle  minds,  which  cannot  sym¬ 
pathize  with  what  is  simple:  enquiring  minds, 
which  disdain  every  thing  ancient  for  the  mere 
reason  that  it  is  not  new;  singular  minds,  ever 
seeking  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the  crowd; 
presumptuous  minds,  that  wish  to  lead  themselves, 
and  show  the  way  to  their  very  guides ;  wrangling 
dispositions,  who  cannot  live  when  they  find  noth¬ 
ing  to  contradict.  These  leave  the  high-road,  form 
bands  apart,  seek  crooked  by-ways,  plunge  into 
them,  and  lose  their  way — that  is  to  say,  become 
heretics,  for  the  same  reasons  which  fill  the  world 
with  madcaps,  originals,  headstrong,  false  reason- 
ers,  incorrect  arguers,  and  bad  lawyers. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  501 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  SAMARITAN  WOMAN. 


“  T  T  E  was  of  necessity  to  pass  through 

A  A  Samaria.  He  cometh,  therefore, 
to  a  city  of  Samaria  which  is  called 
Sichar,1  near  the  land  which  Jacob  gave 
to  his  son  Joseph.  Now  Jacob’s  well 
was  there.  Jesus,  therefore,  being  wearied 
with  his  journey,  sat  thus  on  the  well. 
It  was  about  the  sixth  hour.2  There 
cometh  a  woman  of  Samaria3  to  draw 
water.  Jesus  saitli  to  her  :  Give  me  to 
drink  (for  his  disciples  were  gone  into 
the  city  to  buy  meats).  Then  that  Sa¬ 
maritan  woman  saith  to  him:  How  dost * (*) 

( 1 )  The  same  which  is  called  Sichem  in  Scrip¬ 
ture.  It  was  situated  near  the  Mount  Garizim. 

( 3 )  Noon. 

( * )  These  Samaritans  were  originally  a  Chal¬ 
dean  colony,  sent  by  Salmanasar  to  inhabit  the 
country,  which  had  been  left  a  desert  by  the  re¬ 
moval  of  the  ten  tribes  into  the  states  of  this 
prince.  These  Chaldeans  carried  with  them  their 
idolatrous  worship.  God  sent  lions,  which  com¬ 
mitted  fearful  ravages  in  the  land.  To  be  delivered 
from  this  scourge,  they  summoned  from  Assyria  a 
priest  of  the  race  of  Aaron,  to  instruct  them 
in  the  l'eligion  of  the  God  of  the  country; 
as  they  first  styled  him.  They  acknowledged 
revelation ;  but  received  only  the  five  books 
of  Moses,  and  even  altered  them  in  several 
passages.  But  what  most  of  all  induced  the  Jews 
to  regard  them  as  schismatics,  was  the  temple, 
which  Sanabelleth,  one  of  their  governors,  erected 
on  Mount  Garizim.  They  constantly  preferred  it 
to  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  only  place  on  earth 
where  it  was  then  permitted  to  offer  sacrifice  to  God. 
I  his  hatred  still  exists  between  the  Jews  and  Sama- 


tbou,  being  a  Jew,  ask  of  me  to  drink, 
who  am  a  Samaritan  woman?  for  the  Jews 
do  not  communicate  with  the  Samaritans.” 
To  this  reply,  which  perhaps  savored  more 
of  a  jest  than  of  a  refusal,  “Jesus  an¬ 
swered  :  If  thou  didst  know  the  gift  of 
God,  and  who  is  he  that  saith  to  thee  : 
Give  me  to  drink,  thou  perhaps 4  wouldst 
have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have 
given  thee  living  water.” 5 

If  these  words  did  not  yet  make  this 
woman  a  believer,  it  made  her  at  least 
respectful.  “Sir,  she  saith  to  him,  thou 

ritans,  although  the  lattter  are  reduced  to  a  mere 
nothing,  and  are  in  the  most  profound  ignorance. 

( 4 )  Christ  was  not  ignorant  what  she  would  do 
if  possessed  of  this  knowledge.  This  “perhaps” 
must  then  be  understood,  according  to  the  inter¬ 
preters,  of  the  power  she  would  still  have  retained 
to  ask  or  not  ask.  The  glory  of  grace,  and  what 
most  strikingly  evinces  its  power,  is  this  triutnph 
over  hearts,  leaving  them  at  the  same  time  the 
actual  power  of  resistance.  If  it  were  necessary 
to  deprive  hearts  of  it,  grace  would  no  longer  be 
almighty,  since,  unable  to  triumph  over  hearts  ac¬ 
tually  vested  with  this  power,  there  would  be  a 
something  that  grace  could  not  do. 

( 6 )  This  gift  of  God  and  this  living  water  are 
nothing  but  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  extinguishes  in 
souls  the  thirst  for  sensual  pleasures  and  perishable 
goods,  who  deadens  the  fire  of  concupiscence,  who 
waters  the  aridity  of  the  heart  by  sentiments  of 
piety,  and  who  renders  the  soul  fertile  in  good 
works :  truly  living  water  both  in  itself  and  in  its 
effects,  inasmuch  as  the  Holy  Ghost,  being  life, 
gives  life  to  those  souls  who  receive  him. 


502 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


hast  nothing  wherein  to  draw,  and  the  well 
is  deep :  from  whence,  than,  hast  thou  liv¬ 
ing  water?  Art  thou  greater  than  our 
father  Jacob,1  who  gave  us  the  well,  and 
drank  thereof  himself,  and  his  children, 
and  his  cattle  ?  J esus  answered  and  said 
to  her  :  Whosoever  drinketh  of  this  water 
shall  thirst  again  ■  but  he  that  shall  drink 
of  the  water  that  I  will  give  him  shall  not 
thirst  for  ever :  but  the  water  that  I  will 
give  him,  shall  become  in  him  a  fountain 
of  water  springing  up  into  life  everlasting.” 

She  seemed  then  to  credit  him ;  but  not 
yet  understanding  the  nature  of  this  won¬ 
derful  water,  “  the  woman  saith  to  him  :  Sir, 
give  me  this  water,  that  I  may  not  thirst, 
nor -come  hither  to  draw.  Jesus  saith  to  her, 
Go,  call  thy  husband,  and  come  hither. 
The  woman  answered  and  said,  I  have 
no  husband,”  either  wishing  to  speak  sin¬ 
cerely,  or  in  the  ardor  of  her  desire  reject¬ 
ing  everything  that  might  retard  its  gratifi¬ 
cation.  “Jesus  saith  to  her:  Thou  hast 
said  well,  I  have  no  husband :  for  thou 
hast  had  five,  and  he  whom  thou  now  hast 
is  not  thy  husband.  This  thou  hast  said 
truly.”  If  this  woman  was  not  naturally 
good,  she  must  have  become  so  already 

C)  The  Samaritans  were  not  descendants  of 
Jacob.  Yet  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  ns  from 
believing  that  there  were  in  the  country  families  of 
Israelites,  who  had  either  remained  there  during  the 
transmigration,  or  came  and  settled  there  with  the 
Chaldeans,  joining  in  their  worship.  Such  families 
would,  when  speaking  of  Jacob  and  the  patriarchs, 
call  them  their  fathers.  Chaldeans  might  also 
descend  from  him  by  alliances  with  Israelitish 
women;  and  if  none  of  these  reasons  existed, 
the  mere  habit  of  hearing  the  Jews  speak  of 
“Our  Father  Jacob,”  might  have  introduced 


during  the  interview  she  had  with  Jesus 
Christ ;  for,  instead  of  giving  him  the  lie, 
as  many  others  would  have  done,  and  with 
all  the  more  assurance  if  the  reproach  was 
well  founded,  “she  saith  to  him,”  with  re¬ 
spect  blended  with  shame,  “Sir,  I  perceive 
that  thou  art  a  prophet :  ”  an  expression 
which  comprises  the  twofold  confession 
which  she  made  of  the  prophetic  office  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  of  sinfulness  in  herself. 
But  this  last  avowal  was  so  humiliating  to 
her  self  love  that  she  could  not  dwell  upon 
it :  she,  accordingly,  took  advantage  of  the 
other  to  turn  the  conversation  upon  the 
controversy  which  divided  the  two  nations 
who  inhabited  Palestine.  “  Our  fathers,” 3 
added  she,  “adored3  on  this  mountain,  and 
you  say,  that  at  Jerusalem  is  the  place 
where  men  must  adore.” 

This  question  has  more  than  once  led 
men  to  regard  the  Samaritan  woman  as  an 
inquisitive  person  eager  to  enter  on  discus¬ 
sions  beyond  her  reach.  Yet  it  seems 
that  having  had  the  happiness  to  meet  a 
prophet,  she  acted  wisely  in  asking  from 
him  light  upon  a  point  of  religion  which 
was  deemed  essential.  Let  us  not,  then, 
blame  what  Christ  himself  did  not  blame  : 

that  fashion  of  speech  into  the  Samaritan 
tongue. 

( J )  Our  ancestors,  unless  we  prefer  to  say  that 
the  Samaritans  were  under  the  impression  that  the 
patriarchs  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  had  offered 
sacrifice  on  Mount  Garizim,  which  left  the  question 
at  issue  still  undecided :  for  the  place  where  sacri¬ 
fice  must  be  offered  was  not  the  place  where  the 
patriarchs  had  sacrificed,  but  that  which  God  had 
chosen,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others. 

( ’ )  To  adore  signifies  here  to  sacrifice.  Simple 
adoration  was  never  forbidden  in  any  place. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


503 


what  perhaps  he  himself  inspired  this  wo¬ 
man,  that  he  might  thence  take  occasion  to 
instruct  her  as  to  that  perfect  worship 
which  he  came  to  establish  upon  the  ruins 
of  all  the  ancient  worships,  not  even  ex¬ 
cepting  that  which,  though  true  in  itself, 
was  merely  preparatory  to  his.  There¬ 
fore  he  spoke  to  her  thus  :  “  Woman,  be¬ 
lieve  me,  that  the  hour  cometh  when  you 
shall  neither  on  this  mountain  nor  in  Jeru¬ 
salem  adore  the  Father.1  You  adore  that 
which  you  know  not ; 2  we  adore  that  which 
we  know  :  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews.3 
But  the  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the 
true  adorers  shall  adore  the  Father  in 
spirit  and  in  truth;4  for  the  Father  also 
seeketh  such  to  adore  him.  God  is  a  spirit, 
and  they  that  adore  him  must  adore  him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The  woman  saith  to 
him  :  I  know  that  the  Messias  cometh  who 
is  called  Christ.  Therefore  when  he  is 
come5  he  will  tell  us  all  things.”  In  the 
meantime  it  was  her  duty,  on  the  word  of 
him  whom  she  recognized  as  a  prophet,  to 
acknowledge  the  superiority  of  the  Jewish 
worship  over  the  Samaritan,  which  she 

( 1 )  My  father,  or  he  who,. by  adopting  yon,  is 
going  to  become  yours,  or  better  still,  both  to¬ 
gether,  that  is  to-  say,  my  father  and  yours.  The 
two  meanings  are  true,  both  suit  the  text;  and 
Scripture,  according  to  the  remark  of  St.  Augus¬ 
tine,  frequently  comprises  more  than  one  sense  in 
a  single  word. 

( 8 )  Whether  the  Samaritans  had  blended  with 
the  idea  of  God  some  gross  error,  or  whether  these 
words  signify  that  they  could  not  tell  upon  what 
grounds  the  peculiar  worship  they  rendered  God 
rested,  which  had  in  fact  no  divine  institution. 

(  )  It  was  proper  that  God  should  more  highly 
instruct  that  people,  from  whom  salvation,  or  the 
Saviour,  was  to  issue. 


seems  inclined  to  elude.  As  to  the  new 
worship  which  the  Messias  alone  could  es¬ 
tablish,  she  very  properly  said  they  should 
wait  for  the  Messias.  J esus  saith  to  her, 
“I  am  he,  who  am  speaking  with  thee. 
And  immediately  his  disciples  came,  and 
they  wondered  that,”  contrary  to  his  cus¬ 
tom,  “  he  talked  with  the  woman.  Yet  no 
man  said  :  What  seekest  thou  ?  or,  Why 
talkest  thou  with  her  ?  The  woman,  there¬ 
fore,  left  her  water-pot,  and  went  her  way 
into  the  city,  and  saith  to  the  men  there  : 
Come  and  see  a  man  who  has  told  me  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  done  ;  is  not  he 
the  Christ?”  (St.  John  iv.  4-30.)  Such 
was,  in  regard  of  this  woman,  the  conduct 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  such  was  its  success. 
Few  examples  can  be  found  of  so  prompt 
a  conversion,  or  more  distinctly  marked  in 
its  several  degrees.  We  see  her  pass  suc¬ 
cessively  from  respect  for  the  virtuous 
man  who  addresses  her,  to  the  desire  of 
obtaining  that  which  he  promises,  although 
still  ignorant  of  its  nature.  Next  she  re¬ 
cognizes  him  as  a  prophet,  and  in  this  very 
avowal  which  she  makes  admits  herself  to 

( 4 )  Truth  is  about  to  succeed  shadows,  and  the 
spiritual  succeed  the  sensual.  The  two  worships 
are  opposed  in  what  forms  their  leading  quality ; 
for  the  new  worship  is  in  some  things  addressed  to 
the  senses,  while  the  old  must  have  contained 
much  that  was  spiritual. 

(6 )  Loth  as  the  Jews  were  to  admit  it,  all  the 
world,  even  the  Samaritans,  expected  the  Messias, 
and  expected  him  soon.  For  to  refer  the  decision 
of  an  essential  point  of  religion  to  a  Messias  who 
was  only  to  come  at  some  distant  and  indefinite 
epoch,  would  have  been  as  senseless  as  to  postpone  a 
similar  decision  in  our  days  to  the  coming  of 
Elias. 


504 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


be  a  sinful  woman.  She  wisely  profits  by 
the  occasion  to  obtain  instruction  ;  she  lis¬ 
tens  with  docility,  and,  when  enlightened, 
she  burns  with  the  desire  of  communicat¬ 
ing  to  her  fellow-citizens  the  light  which 
has  just  risen  before  her  eyes.  She  leaves 
her  pitcher,  as  the  apostles  left  their  nets  : 
she  runs  to  the  city,  which  she  immediately 
fills  with  the  rumor  of  the  wonderful  dis¬ 
cover}^  she  had  just  made.  Her  zeal  for 
the  glory  of  him  whom  she  announces 
prompts  her  to  sacrifice  even  her  own 
glory,  by  adducing,  to  prove  that  he  was  a 
prophet,  her  own  misdeeds,  which  he  could 
have  known  only  by  a  supernatural  light. 
She  invites  all  the  inhabitants  to  come  and 
satisfy  themselves  as  to  the  truth  of  what 
she  relates,  and,  with  a  success  which  we 
may  compare  to  that  of  the  first  preaching 
of  St.  Peter,  she  succeeded  in  as  short  a 
time  in  gaining  over  to  him  an  entire  peo¬ 
ple.  Incomprehensible  effect  of  grace ! 
which  in  a  moment  makes  of  a  sinful  wo¬ 
man  a  penitent,  and  of  a  penitent  an  apos¬ 
tle.  But  whilst  no  better  illustration  can 
be  given  of  the  efficacy  of  divine  grace, 
where  else  can  we  find  a  more  affecting 
picture  of  its  gentle  operation,  or  where  is 
more  clearly  displayed  that  admirable  art 
which  shrouds  God’s  designs,  and  the  most 
maturely  reflected  projects  of  his  mercy 
with  the  veil  of  chance  ?  Jesus  returns 
from  Jerusalem  to  Galilee  •,  he  traverses 
Samaria,  which  happens  to  be  upon  his 
route  ;  he  halts  at  noontide,  while  his  dis¬ 
ciples  were  gone  to  purchase  provisions  in 
a  neighboring  city  :  he  is  weary  and  sits 
down  by  a  well.  A  woman  comes  there  to 
draw  water ;  he  is  thirsty,  and  asks  for  a 


drink  ;  she  refuses,  or  seems  to  refuse  it, 
under  the  pretext  of  the  division  which 
exists  between  the  two  nations.  What  in 
all  this  does  not  appear  the  effect  of  pure 
chance?  Yet  all  this  is  nothing  else  but 
the  execution  of  the  decrees  of  the  Al¬ 
mighty.  God,  from  all  eternity,  had  deter¬ 
mined  to  inspire  the  woman  with  a  wish  to 
come  to  this  spot  on  the  day  and  at  the 
hour  when  she  actually  came  there.  She 
came  there  of  her  own  free  will ;  but  there 
she  must  have  come  inevitably.  Heaven 
and  earth  must  have  perished  rather  than 
that  she  should  fail.  The  discourse  which 
Jesus  Christ  held  with  her,  and  which 
seemed  entirely  occasioned  by  the  good  or 
bad  things  which  she  said — that  discourse 
was  also  preconcerted  in  the  councils  of 
the  Most  High  ;  and  that  portion  of  light 
which  was  to  be  communicated  to  her  had 
been  weighed  in  the  eternal  scale.  Before 
she  came  into  the  world,  even  before  the 
world  existed,  it  was  determined  that  Je¬ 
sus  Christ  should  give  her  the  idea  of,  and 
the  thirst  for,  a  water  which  should  forever 
quench  thirst,  and  whose  inexhaustible 
fountain  springing  up  into  life  everlasting. 
Also,  that  in  order  to  give  her  at  the  same 
time  both  faith  and  penance,  he  should  dis¬ 
close  to  her  both  what  he  was,  and  what 
she  herself  was,  that  he  should  enlighten 
her  on  the  falsity  of  Samaritan  worship 
and  the  imperfection  of  the  Jewish  ;  that 
thereupon  he  should  raise  her  up  to  the 
knowledge  of  a  universal  and  eternal  wor¬ 
ship,  which  should  extend  itself  over  all 
times  and  all  nations,  which  should  make 
truth  succeed  to  figures,  spirit  to  the  letter, 
and  the  homage  of  the  heart  to  legal  cere- 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


505 


monies.  That  this  interior  and  spiritual 
worship,  alone  capable  of  worthily  honor¬ 
ing  G-od  who  is  a  spirit,  was  going  to  be 
established ;  that  it  actually  was  estab¬ 
lished,  inasmuch  as  he  who  was  to  be  its 
author  and  its  object — this  Messias  whose 
coming  she  expected — was  he  himself  who 
now  spoke  to  her,  and  whose  voice  she 
heard.  All  these  great  truths,  I  say,  it 
was  predetermined  that  Jesus  Christ  should 
declare  to  her,  and  declare  them  independ¬ 
ently  of  what  she  said  of  herself,  although 
he  said  nothing  to  her  that  did  not  seem 
to  flow  naturally  from  her  own  words. 
There  is  no  chance  in  the  eye  of  God. 
Nothing  happens  in  the  universe  not  only 
that  he  has  not  foreseen,  but  that  he  has 
not  wished,  and  that  has  not  its  first  cause 
in  his  decrees  ever  free,  yet  eternal  and 
eternally  immutable.  I  except  sin,  which, 
like  all  the  rest,  he  has  foreseen,  but  which 
he  can  only  permit,  and  which  he  makes 
subservient  to  the  execution  of  his  designs. 

I  return  to  what  immediately  followed  the 
discourse  that  gave  rise  to  these  reflections. 

The  following  is  the  instruction  which 
Christ  gave  to  his  disciples.  As  they  found 
him  exhausted  with  fatigue  and  hunger, 
“They  prayed  him,  saying:  Rabbi,  eat.” 
Every  thing  afforded  Jesus  an  occasion  of 
instructing  and  edifying :  such  was  water 
for  the  Samaritan  woman  ;  here  food  was 
for  those  who  offered  it.  “I  have  meat  to 
eat,  he  said  to  them,  which  you  know  not. 
The  disciples  therefore  said  one  to  another : 
Hath  any  man  brought  him  to  eat  ?  Jesus 

(  ' )  It  was  then  between  the  Pasch  and  Pente¬ 
cost,  aud  it  is  well  known  that  Pentecost  is  the 
time  when  harvest  is  gathered  in  Palestine.  This 

64 


saith  to  them  :  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will 
of  him  that  sent  me,  that  I  may  perfect  his 
work.”  Then  he  added,  in  order  to  teach 
them  in  what  work  they  were  soon  to  be¬ 
come  his  co-operators:  “Do  not  you  say 
there  are  yet  four  months,  and  then  the 
harvest  cometh  ? 1  Behold,  I  say  to  you  : 
Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  see  the  countries, 
for  they  are  white  already  to  harvest.” 
The  apostles  did  not  say  what  Jesus  seems 
to  make  them  say.  These  words,  “  There 
are  yet  four  months,  and  then  the  harvest 
cometh,”  was  a  proverbial  way  of  saying 
that  there  was  no  hurry,  but  that  there  was 
still  time  for  rest.  The  disciples  felt  in 
this  way  with  reference  to  their  ministry. 
Jesus  undeceives  them  by  showing  them 
the  fields  all  yellowing,  a  figure  of  the 
nations  that  were  ready  to  receive  the  Gos¬ 
pel,  and  especially  of  the  Samaritans,  who, 
at  the  moment  he  was  speaking,  came  out 
to  him  in  crowds.  But,  as  the  apostles 
might  have  said  that  harvest  comes  not  till 
after  seed-time,  Jesus  Christ  explains  that 
the  seed  has  been  already  sowed  by  the 
prophets,  their  predecessors,  whose  toil, 
which  at  first  seemed  unproductive,  is  now 
about  to  yield  a  harvest  that  will  gladden 
both  those  who  sowed  and  those  who  shall 
have  reaped :  this  is  what  the  Saviour  means 
by  the  following  words:  “He  that  reapeth 
receiveth  wages,  and  gathereth  fruit  unto 
life  everlasting,  that  both  he  that  soweth 
and  he  that  reapeth  may  rejoice  together. 
For  in  this  is  the  saying  true  :  that  it  is 
one  man  that  soweth,  and  it  is  another  that 

proves  what  is  stated  subsequently,  that  this  was  a 
proverb  of  the  country,  and  not  a  saying  of  the 
apostles. 


506  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

reapeth.1  I  have  sent  you  to  reap  that  in 
which  you  did  not  labor :  others  have  la¬ 
bored,  and  you  have  entered  into  their 
labors.”2 

“Now,  of  that  city,  many  of  the  Samari¬ 
tans  believed  in  him  for  the  word  of  the 
woman  giving  testimony  : 3  He  told  me  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  done.  So  when 
the  Samaritans  were  come  to  him,  they  de¬ 
sired  that  he  would  tarry  there,  and  he 
abode  there  two  days  ;  and  many  more  be¬ 
lieved  in  him,  because  of  his  own  word. 

And  they  said  to  the  woman:4  We  now 
believe,  not  for  thy  saying,  for  we  ourselves 
have  heard  him,  and  know  that  this  is  in¬ 
deed  the  Saviour  of  the  world.”5 

After  the  two  days  which  Jesus  had 
granted  to  the  entreaties  of  the  Samaritans, 

“he  departed  thence,  and  went  into  Gali¬ 
lee.  For  Jesus  himself  gave  testimony 
that  a  prophet 6  hath  no  honor  in  his  own 
country.  And  when  he  was  come  into 

Galilee,  the  Galileans  received  him,  having 
seen  all  the  things  he  had  done  at  Jerusa- 

( 1 )  This  proverb,  in  the  circumstances  in  which 
used  by  Jesus  Christ,  has  only  half  its  application. 

It  means,  in  ordinary  usage,  that  one  has  all  the 
trouble,  another  all  the  profit.  Christ  means  only 
that  the  reaper  is  different  from  the  sower,  al¬ 
though  both  were  to  share  equally  in  the  harvest. 

( 2 )  Have  not  the  apostles  then  labored  as  much 
as  the  prophets  and  more  ?  Yes,  but  when  toiling 
they  had  the  consolation  of  reaping  the  fruit  of 
their  labors.  Theirs  was  the  toil  of  the  harvest, 
where  pain  is  mingled  with  joy,  and  the  joy  ex¬ 
ceeds  the  pain. 

Sow  always,  ye  laborers  in  the  field  of  the  Lord  ! 
the  seed  will  be  productive  at  the  time  when  you 
least  expect ;  or,  if  it  produce  nothing,  your  re¬ 
ward  is  not  the  less  assured  with  a  Master  who 
recompenses  the  toil,  and  not  the  success. 

( 3 )  It  is  strange  to  see  them  crediting  so  easily 
the  testimony  of  a  woman  of  evil  life.  This  has 
induced  some  to  believe  that  she  had  contrived  to 
save  appearances,  and  maintain  the  reputation  of  a 
decent  widow.  Be  this  conjecture  as  it  may,  grace 
might  give  sufficient  power  to  the  word  of  an  out¬ 
cast  woman  to  make  her  find  credence  in  people’s 
minds,  so  that  this  trust  in  her  would  he  neither 
precipitate  nor  imprudent. 

( 4 )  This  woman,  according  to  Origen,  repre¬ 
sents  the  Church.  We  believe  now  on  her  testi- 
mony ;  but  when  we  shall  have  the  happiness  to 
see  Jesus  Christ  face  to  face,  we  shall  say  with  the 
Samaritans:  “We  believe  now  not  for  thy  saying, 

for  we  ourselves  have  heard  him,  and  know  that 
this  is  indeed  the  Saviour  of  the  world.” 

( * )  This  was  the  first  people  who  recognized  in 

Jesus  Christ  the  love-inspiring  character  of  Saviour 
of  the  world.  There  is  no  doubt  but  Jesus  Christ 
declared  unto  them  that  he  was  so,  and  we  see 
here  what  faith  they  reposed  in  his  words;  but, 
moreover,  they  who  were  not  Jews,  and  who  ex¬ 
pected  the  Messias,  could  not  be  fettered  by  the 
prejudice  of  those  who  regarded  him  only  as  the 

Saviour  of  the  Jews ;  wherefore  they  could  only 
expect  him  as  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  this, 
therefore,  was  one  obstacle  less  to  their  belief  in 
this  article  of  Christian  faith. 

(“)  We  shall  explain  elsewhere  this  sentence, 
which  seemingly  Jesus  Christ  did  not  advance,  but 

Saint  John  gives  as  the  motive  of  the  journey  he 
made  into  Galilee.  This  forms  a  very  embarrass¬ 
ing  difficulty.  For  the  scant  welcome  that  a 
prophet  receives  in  his  own  country  was  a  reason 
why  Jesus  should  remain  in  Samaria,  where  he 
was  so  well  received,  and  not  leave  it  and  return  to 

Galilee,  which  to  him  was  that  ungrateful  coun- 
try,  whose  disgraceful  proceedings  made  him  say 
that  a  prophet  enjoys  no  consideration  in  his  coun¬ 
try  and  among  his  kindred.  This  is  explained  by 
saying  that  what  Avas  called  the  Saviour’s  country 
is  not  Galilee  as  a  whole  but  solely  the  city  of  Naz¬ 
areth,  to  which  he. did  not  wish  to  return,  for  the 
reason  assigned  by  the  Evangelist,  choosing  rather 
to  dwell  at  Capharnaum  or  in  other  parts  of  Gali- 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  50*7 

lem  on  the  festival  day  ;  for  they  also  went 
to  the  festival  day.”  (St.  John  iv.  31-45.) 
“And  the  fame  of  him  went  out  through  the 

whole  country.  And  lie  taught  in  the  syn¬ 
agogues,  and  was  magnified  by  all.”  (St. 
Luke  iv.  14,  15.) 

CHAPT 

A  RULER’S  SON  HEALED.— CURE  OF  A  DEMONIA 

MEN  RE 

“  T  ESUS  came  again,  therefore,  into 
J  Cana  of  Galilee,  where  he  made  the 
water  wine.  And  there  was  a  certain 
ruler,  whose  son  was  sick  at  Capharnaum. 
He  having  heard  that  Jesus  was  come  from 
Judea  into  Galilee,  went  to  him,  and 
prayed  him  to  come  down  and  heal  his  son, 
for  he  was  at  the  point  of  death.”  Since 
he  thus  had  recourse  to  Jesus  Christ,  he 
may  have  some  time  previously  already  had 
an  incipient  faith  ;  but  it  was  as  yet  prop¬ 
erly  speaking  merely  a  doubt  which  to  be¬ 
come  a  real  faith,  waited  to  see  a  test 
itself  of  the  truth  of  those  things  which  he 
had  heard  concerning  the  Saviour.  Jesus, 
aware  of  his  disposition,  reproached  him 

'ER  X. 

C  AND  OF  ST.  PETER’S  MOTHER-IN-LAW.— THREE 

PROVED. 

for  it  in  these  words:  “Unless  you  see 
signs  and  wonders,  you  believe  not.”  The 
father,  alive  only  to  his  son’s  danger,  1  ‘  saith 
to  Jesus  :  Lord,  come  down,  before  that 
my  son  die.  Jesus  saith  to  him,  Go  thy 
way;  thy  son  liveth.”  This  word  of  pow¬ 
er  acted  simultaneously  upon  the  son’s 
body  and  the  father’s  soul.  “  The  man 
believed  the  word  which  Jesus  said  to  him, 
and  went  his  way.”  The  next  day,  “  as  he 
was  going  down,  his  servants  met  him,  and 
they  brought  him  word  that  his  son  lived. 

He  asked  therefore  of  them  the  hour  where- 
in^he  grew  better,  and  they  said  to  him : 
Yesterday  at  the  seventh  hour  the  fever 
left  him.1  The  father  therefore  knew  that 

lee.  This  explanation,  which  appeared,  to  me  the 
most  satisfactory  of  the  five  or  six  others  given  by 
commentators,  is  still  far  from  being  completely  so. 
Those  whom  it  does  not  content,  may  consider  this 
passage  as  not  explained :  what  difficulty  can  re¬ 
sult  from  this  ?  There  are  matters  enough  clear 
in  Scripture  to  support  faith  and  nourish  piety. 
Those  who  wish  to  understand  every  thing  are  not 
aware  that  intelligence  of  every  thing  is  not  grant¬ 
ed  to  all ;  what  you  cannot  understand,  another 
does,  and  the  latter  in  his  turn  does  not  under¬ 
stand  what  you  do.  Moreover,  explanations  not 

♦ 

satisfactory  to  me  are  so  to  others,  and  there  is  no 
decision  whether  they  or  I  judge  the  best.  What¬ 
ever  be  the  case,  let  us  seek  and  ask  for  light ;  yet 
let  us  respect  the  obscurity  which  should  not  at  all 
weaken  the  faith  and  veneration  due  to  the  divine 
Scriptures,  because,  as  I  have  said,  there  remains 
enough  so  clear  as  to  give  a  solid  assurance  to 
both  faith  and  veneration.  And  reason  alone 
teaches  us  that  we  are  to  judge,  not  what  is  clear 
by  what  is  obscure,  but  what  is  obscure  by  that 
which  is  clear. 

(  1 )  One  hour  after  noon. 

508  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

it  was  at  the  same  hour  that  Jesus  said  to 
him  :  Thy  son  liveth  ;  and  himself  believed, 
and  his  whole  house.  This  is  again  the 
second  miracle1  that  Jesus  did,  when  he 
was  come  out  of  Judea  into  Galilee.”  (St. 
John  iv.  46-54.) 

It  has  been  said  already  that  “Jesus, 
leaving  the  city  of  Nazareth,  came  and 
dwelt  in  Capharnaum  on  the  sea-coast,  in 
the  borders  of  Zabulon  and  of  Naphtha¬ 
line”  (St.  Matt.  iv.  13.)  He  had  removed 
thither  after  the  miracle  at  the  marriage- 
feast  of  Cana,  “  he  and  his  mother,  and  his 
brethren  and  his  disciples.”  But  as  “  the 
pasch  of  the  Jews  was  at  hand,  they  re- 

mained  there  not  many  days,”  (St.  John  ii. 

12,  13,)  during  which  they  scarcely  had 
time  to  do  more  than  prepare  their  place 
of  abode.  Jesus  returned  thither  again 
from  Cana,  “  and  forthwith,”  when  he  had 
arrived  there,  “  upon  the  Sabbath-day,  go¬ 
ing  into  the  synagogue,  he  taught  them. 

And  they  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine  ; 
for  he  was  teaching  them  as  one2  having 
power,  and  not  as  the  Scribes.  And  there 
was  in  their  synagogue  a  man  with  an  un¬ 
clean  spirit,  and  he  cried  out,  saying : 

What  have  we  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  ?  art  thou  come  to  destroy  us  ? 

I  know  who  thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of 

( 1 )  The  second  which  he  wrought  in  this  jour¬ 
ney  from  Judea  to  Galilee ;  or  the  second  wrought 
in  Galilee,  counting  as  the  first  the  miracle  at  the 
marriage-feast  of  Cana,  which  he  performed  in  like 
manner  after  arriving  from  Judea ;  or  perhaps  the 
Evangelist  considers  merely  those  which  Jesus 
wrought  on  the  very  occasion  of  his  return,  be¬ 
cause  they  marked  his  arrival  in  the  country,  and 
disposed  the  people  to  receive  and  hear  him.  Com¬ 
mentators  are  divided  upon  these  different  expla¬ 
nations,  among  which  each  is  free  to  choose  which¬ 
ever  he  likes  best,  without  fear  of  falling  into  any 
hurtful  error. 

( 2 )  J esus  spoke  as  a  lawgiver,  and  the  Scribes 
merely  as  interpreters  of  the  law.  He  had  the 
power  of  working  miracles,  and  they  had  not.  In 
these  two  respects  he  had  an  advantage  which 
they  could  neither  deny  him  nor  assume  to  them¬ 
selves.  But  there  were  others  in  which  they 
might  have  imitated,  if  not  equalled  him ;  and  the 
want  of  which  deprived  their  ministry  of  dignity, 
and  their  word  of  efficacy.  Jesus  Christ  practised 
what  he  taught,  while  the  acts  of  the  Scribes  noto¬ 
riously  belied  their  doctrines.  Jesus  Christ  had 
in  view  only  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  the  sal¬ 
vation  of  men,  while  the  Scribes  sought  nothing 
but  their  own  glory  and  the  spoils  of  the  widow, 

- - - 

whose  houses  they  devoured,”  after  having,  by 
hypocrisy,  craftily  won  their  esteem  and  confidence. 

The  zeal  of  Christ  was  then  a  zeal  authorized  by 
example,  and  ennobled  by  that  perfect  disinterest¬ 
edness  which,  forgetful  of  self,  seeks  only  the  sal¬ 
vation  of  those  for  whom  it  is  exercised.  What 
tone  may  not  such  zeal  assume  ? — or  who  can  re¬ 
sist  the  sway  which  both  reason  and  nature  exert 
over  all  minds  ?  That  of  the  Scribes  being,  on 
the  contrary,  inspired  by  pride  and  interest,  could 
possess  neither  a  natural  air,  for  a  false  one,  nor 
dignity ;  since  to  attain  its  ends  it  must  have  been 
changeful  as  the  chameleon — passing  incessantly 
from  severity  to  indulgence,  from  censure  to  adu¬ 
lation.  Nor  could  it  have  authority,  because  in 
spite  of  its  grimaces,  and  in  fact  by  them,  it  re¬ 
vealed,  at  one  time  the  artifices  of  vanity,  and  at 
another  the  suppleness  of  interest,  as  the  only 
springs  determining  and  guiding  its  action. 

He  who  talks  but  acts  not  is  a  man  of  words. 

He  who  speaks  for  the  glory  of  talking  well  is  a 
declaimer.  He  who  speaks  only  for  vile  profit, 
which  redounds  to  him,  might  be  called  a  buffoon, 
if  his  abuse  of  the  divine  word,  by  employing  it 
for  so  base  a  purpose,  did  not  add  the  idea  of  sac¬ 
rilege  to  that  of  the  most  contemptible  and  con¬ 
temned  of  all  employments. 

• 

1  - — — 

— - - - - - - — II 

1  • 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


509 


God/’  (St.  Mark  i.  21-24.)  We  know  not 
what  motive  made  him  speak  thus  ;  but, 
whether  he  hoped  to  soften  Jesns  Christ 
by  flattery,  or  whether  his  design  was  to 
annoy  him  in  some  manner  by  divulging 
his  divinity,  which  the  Saviour  wished  to 
make  known  by  degrees  only,  still  it  is 
quite  certain  that  his  intention  was  bad. 
Hence  J esus  Christ,  who  did  not  wish  to 
owe  anything  to  such  a  witness,  silenced 
him,1  “and  threatened  him,  saying  :  Speak 
no  more,  and  go  out  of  the  man.  (St.  Mark 
i.  25.)  And  the  unclean  spirit  tearing 
him,  had  thrown  him  into  the  midst,  and, 
crying  out  with  a  loud  voice,  went  out  of 
him,  and  hurt  him  not  at  all.”  (St.  Mark  i. 
26  ;  St.  Luke  iv.  35.)  This  impotent  rage 
was,  for  those  who  might  have  doubted  the 
fact,  proof  of  the  possession,  and  of  the  di¬ 
vine  power  of  him  before  whom  all  the  pow¬ 
ers  of  hell  are  but  weakness.  “  And  there 
came  fear  upon  all  ”  present,  at  this  prod¬ 
igy,  and  all  “  were  amazed,2  insomuch  that 
they  questioned  among  themselves  :  What 
thing  is  this  ?  What  is  this  new  doctrine  ?3 
For  with  authority  he  commandeth  even 
the  unclean  spirits,  and  they  obey  him. 

( 1 )  The  disciples  have  imitated  their  Master  in 
this  point.  When  the  demon  said  by  the  mouth 
of  the  girl  having  a  pythonical  spirit:  “These 
men  are  the  servants  of  the  most  high  God,  who 
preach  unto  you  the  way  of  salvation,”  “Paul, 
being  grieved,  turned  and  said  to  the  spirit:  I 
command  thee,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  go 
out  from  her.”  (Acts  xvi.  17,  18.)  Coming  from 
the  father  of  lies,  every  thing,  even  truth,  should 
be  suspected.  When  he  speaks  truth,  he  does  so  to 
make  it  serve  falsehood. 

Like  father,  like  sons.  Luther  zealously  defend¬ 
ed  the  dogma  of  the  real  presence  against  the  Sac- 


And  the  fame  of  him  was  spread  forthwith 
into  all  the  country  of  Galilee.”  (St.  Mark 
iv.  27,  28  ;  St.  Luke  iv.  36.) 

After  this  miracle  Jesus  might  have  cho¬ 
sen  a  residence  in  one  of  the  principal  houses 
in  the  city  ;  for  it  would  have  been  consid¬ 
ered  a  high  honor  to  receive  and  entertain 
him  splendidly.  He  gave  the  preference 
to  that  whither  friendship  called  him,  and 
to  which  poverty,  far  from  repulsing,  at¬ 
tracted  him.  “  And  immediately  rising  up 
out  of  the  synagogue  they  came,  Jesus 
with  James  and  John,  into  the  house  of 
Simon  and  Andrew.”  The  opportunity 
which  Jesus  there  found  for  exercising  his 
charity  was  a  further  reason  that  induced 
him  to  visit  it.  “  Simon’s  wife’s  mother  lay 
in  a  fit  of  fever.  Forthwith  they  tell  him 
of  her,  and  they  besought  him  for  her.” 
(St.  Mark  i.  29,  30 ;  St.  Luke  iv.  38.) 
“And  coming  to  her,  he  lifted  her  up,  tak¬ 
ing  her  by  the  hand  :  and  immediately  the 
fever  left  her,  and  she  ministered  unto 
them.”  (St.  Mark  i.  31  ;  St.  Luke  iv.  39.) 
Many  other  sick  persons  desired  and  hoped 
for  the  same  favor.  But  these  had  to  be 
brought  to  him,  and  the  repose  of  the  Sab- 

ramentarian  s.  This  seeming  zeal  imposed  upon 
the  simple,  and,  by  opposing  the  Zuinglians,  he 
made  Lutherans. 

( 3 )  What  caused  this  great  astonishment  was, 
that  this  demoniac  is  the  first  whom  Jesus  Christ 
delivered.  He  soon  familiarized  the  Jews  with  this 
prodigy,  one  which  he  worked  most  frequently; 
and  his  disciples  subsequently  accustomed  the  uni¬ 
verse  to  it.  This  power  has  remained  in  the  Church, 
which  employs  it  with  efficacy  in  incontestable  cases 
of  possession,  although  these  have  become  rare. 

( 3 )  Who  is  this  new  teacher  who  speaks  such 
new  and  such  wonderful  things  ? 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


510 


bath,  which  it  is  well  known  was  scrupu¬ 
lously  observed  by  the  Jews,  had  pre¬ 
vented  any  one  from  rendering  this  char¬ 
itable  service.  This  Sabbath  rest  ended 
with  the  light  of  day,  according  to  that  law 
of  Leviticus  : *“  It  is  a  Sabbath  of  rest,  and 
you  shall  afflict  your  souls  beginning  on 
the  ninth  day  of  the  month  :  from  evening 
until  evening  you  shall  celebrate  your  Sab¬ 
baths.”  (Levit.  xxiii.  32.)  “It was,”  there¬ 
fore,  only  “when  it  was  evening,  after  sun¬ 
set,  they  brought  to  Jesus  all  that  were  ill 
and  that  were  possessed  with  devils.  And 
all  the  city  was  gathered  together  at  the 
door.  (St.  Mark  i.  32,  33.)  Jesus,  laying 
his  hands  on  every  one  of  them,  healed 
many1  (St.  Luke  iv.  40)  that  were  troubled 
with  divers  diseases  :  and  he  cast  out  many 
devils  (St.  Mark  i.  34)  with  his  word,  and 
all  that  were  sick  he  healed,  that  it  might 
be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken,”  of  the  evils 
of  the  body  as  well  as  those  of  the  soul, 
“by  Isaias  the  prophet  saying  :  He  took 
our  infirmities  and  bore  our  diseases.”  (St. 
Matt.  viii.  16,  17.)  The  “devils  went  out 
of  many  crying  out  and  saying :  Thou  art 
the  Son  of  God.  And  rebuking  them,  he 
suffered  them  not  to  speak,  for  they  knew 
that  he  was  Christ.”  (St.  Luke  iv.  41.) 

But  he  was  not  to  confine  his  instruc¬ 
tions  or  benefits  to  a  single  city,  and 
he  foresaw  the  efforts  that  would  be  made 
to  arrest  him  in  this  place.  On  which  ac- 

( 1 )  All  were  healed,  as  subsequently  stated,  and 
the  word  “  many  ”  is  employed  here  to  signify  that 
they  were  a  great  number. 

( a )  Epileptics  and  insane  persons  with  lucid  in¬ 
tervals  are  thus  styled.  Their  fits  were  anciently 
attributed  to  lunar  influence  ;  and  from  this  they 


count,  “rising  very  early,  going  out,  he 
went  into  a  desert  place,  and  there  he 
prayed.”  This  was  apparently  the  spot 
agreed  upon,  whither  “Simon  and  they 
that  were  with  him  followed  after  Jesus. 
And  when  they  had  found  him,  they  said 
to  him :  All  seek  for  thee.  He  said  to 
them :  Let  us  go  into  the  neighboring 
towns  and  cities,  that  I  may  preach  there 
also ;  for  to  this  purpose  I  am  come.”  (St. 
Mark  i.  35-38.)  In  the  meantime,  the 
inhabitants,  who  had  become  aware  of  his 
departure,  flocked  out  of  the  city,  “and 
the  multitudes  sought  him,  and  came  unto 
him  ;  and  they  stayed  him  that  he  should 
not  depart  from  them.  To  whom  he  said,” 
as  before  to  his  disciples  :  “To  other  cities 
also  I  must  preach  the  kingdom  of  God  ; 
for  therefore  am  I  sent.”  (St.  Luke  iv, 
42,  43.)  After  this  reply,  which,  whilst  it 
informed  them  of  the  resolution  of  Jesus 
to  leave  them  for  a  time,  did  not  deprive 
them  of  all  hope  of  seeing  him  again,  they 
insisted  no  more.  “  And  Jesus  went  about 
all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their  synagogues, 
and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  healing  all  manner  of  sickness  and 
every  infirmity  among  the  people.  And 
his  fame  went  throughout  all  Syria,  and 
they  presented  to  him  all  sick  people  that 
were  taken  with  divers  diseases  and  tor¬ 
ments,  such  as  were  possessed  by  devils, 
and  lunatics,2  and  those  that  had  the  palsy, 


derived  their  name.  In  later  times  the  error  was 
exposed,  but  the  name  remains;  and  because  the 
name  remains,  the  error  has  been  maintained  in 
the  minds  of  the  multitude,  who  believe,  as  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  course,  that  things  are  always  what  they  are 
called. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


511 


and  lie  cured  them :  and  much  people  fol¬ 
lowed  him  from  Galilee,  from  Decapolis,1 
and  from  Jerusalem,  and  from  Judea,  and 
from  beyond  the  Jordan.”  (St.  Matt.  iv. 
23-25.) 

“  And  Jesus  seeing  great  multitudes 
about  him,  gave  orders  to  pass  over  the 
water.”  (St.  Matt.  viii.  18.)  After  he  had 
reached  the  opposite  side,  “as  they  walked 
in  the  way,  a  certain  Scribe  came  and  said 
to  him :  Master,  I  will  follow  thee  whither¬ 
soever  thou  shalt  go.  Jesus,”  to  teach 
him  by  what  sacrifices  he  should  merit  the 
honor  of  being  his  follower,  “  saith  to  him : 
The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the 
air  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  his  head.”  3  (St.  Luke  ix. 
57  ;  St.  Matthew  viii.  19,  20.)  This  doc¬ 
tor  could  have  no  difficulty  in  concluding 
that  the  disciple  must  not  expect  to  fare 
better  than  his  master,  and  he  must  have 
found  himself  far  indeed  from  his  expecta¬ 
tions,  if  it  be  true,  as  is  generally  thought, 
that  when  tendering  himself  to  J esus  Christ 
with  such  apparent  generosity  of  purpose, 
he  had  in  view  only  his  own  fortune,  which 
he  thought  to  make  by  attaching  himself  to 
this  Messias,  of  whom  he  had  not  a  more 
elevated  idea  than  the  bulk  of  his  nation. 

( 1 )  This  word  signifies  the  country  of  ten 
cities.  It  was  situated  north  and  west  of  the  sea 
of  Tiberias,  among  the  tribes  of  Zabulon  and 
Nephtali.  Writers  do  not  now  agree  perfectly  as 
to  the  limits,  nor  as  to  the  names  of  several  of  its 
ten  cities. 

( 1 )  Poverty  has  many  degrees  among  men. 
That  of  animals,  generally  speaking,  surpasses  that 
of  even  those  men  whom  we  reckon  poorest. 
Among  animals,  those  which  men  take  no  care  of, 
and  which,  abandoned  to  themselves,  have  neither 


Another  truth,  of  which  he  seems  to  have 
been  ignorant,  is,  that  Jesus  Christ,  who 
was  not  always  followed  by  those  whom  he 
called  to  follow  him,  never  was,  and  never 
could  be  followed,  except  by  those  whom 
he  first  called.  “  Jesus  ”  taught  him  this 
by  saying  “ to  another”  in  the  throng: 
“Follow  me.”  This  latter  was  already 
one  of  his  disciples,  but  yet  not  so  as  to  be 
inseparably  attached  to  him.  Having  now 
received  such  a  special  call  by  this  second 
vocation,  “  he  said  ”  to  him :  “  Lord,  suffer 
me  first  to  go  and  to  bury  my  father.” 
(St.  Luke  ix.  59,  60  ;  St.  Matt.  viii.  21.) 
He  meant  by  this  to  assist  his  father  in  his 
extreme  age,  and  not  to  leave  him  until  he 
had  closed  his  eyes.  For  if,  as  some  have 
thought,  he  had  just  received  tidings  that 
his  father  was  dead  or  dying,  it  is  natural 
to  suppose  that  this  man,  who  had  not  as 
yet  made  final  engagements  with  Jesus 
Christ,  would  have  hurried  off  on  the  spot, 
and,  even  supposing  he  had  asked  our 
Lord’s  permission,  he  would  not  have 
waited  calmly  until  he  issued  the  unex¬ 
pected  order  to  follow  him  before  doing  so. 
“  Jesus  said  to  him  :  Follow  me  :  Let  the 
dead  bury  their  dead.”3  That  is  to  say, 
let  the  children  of  the  world  take  care  of 

park  whither  they  may  retire,  nor  stable  wheiein 
to  shelter,  may  be  deemed  poorest  of  all.  Yet  still 
these  have,  some  of  them  their  nests,  others  their 
dens;  and  in  that  respect  they  have  more  than 
Jesus  Christ.  Such  is  the  poverty  to  which  the 
Son  of  man  has  reduced  himself  for  us ;  he  who, 
at  the  same  time,  is  the  only  Son  of  the  Most 
High.  If  this  comparison  were  not  his  own, 
should  we  dare  to  make  it  ? 

( 8 )  Let  the  dead  in  soul  take  care  to  bury  those 
dead  both  in  soul  and  body.  The  world  is  full  of 


512 


HISTOKY  OF  THE  LIFE 


the  things  of  the  world.1  “But  go 
thou,”  he  added  to  him,  “and  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God.”  (St.  Matt.  viii. 
22.) 

To  these  two  incidents,  which  are  re¬ 
ported  in  the  same  way  by  Saint  Matthew 
and  Saint  Luke,  the  latter  adds  a  third, 
supposed  not  to  have  taken  place  upon  this 
same  day,  but  which  the  Evangelist  thought 
proper  to  place  here,  on  account  of  its  re¬ 
semblance  to  the  two  preceding.  “  Ano¬ 
ther  ”  man  also  “  said  :  I  will  follow  thee, 
Lord,  but  let  me  first  take  my  leave  of 
them  that  are  at  my  house.”  (St.  Luke  ix. 
60,  61.)  His  request  does  not  seem  to  differ 
from  that  which  subsequently  Christ  him¬ 
self  recommended  to  the  young  man  to 
whom  he  said :  “  Go,  sell  what  thou  hast ; 
give  to  the  poor ;  .  .  .  .  and  come,  follow 
me.”  (St.  Matt.  xix.  21.)  But  apparently 


dead,  and  those  who  are  mourned  for  are  not  more 
to  be  pitied  than  the  others,  except  because  death 
of  the  body,  which  is  the  only  subject  of  tears, 
puts  the  last  seal  to  the  death  of  the  soul,  which 
no  one  thinks  to  bewail,  although  it  is  only  by  the 
death  of  the  soul  that  the  death  of  the  body  is 
really  deplorable. 

( 1 )  These  words  of  our  Saviour  still  serve  to 
strengthen  the  constancy  of  those  whom  God  calls 
to  a  perfect  state  against  the  efforts  which  the 
world  makes  to  retain  them.  The  world  even 
adopts  it  in  worldly  concerns,  and  would  be  the 
first  to  treat  as  a  rebel  or  a  coward  the  man  who 
would  make  the  most  urgent  claims  of  nature  a 
pretext  for  refusing  to  march  in  his  sovereign’s 
service.  Yet  the  world  chafes  with  indignation 
when  hearing  it  applied  to  the  service  of  God ; 
and  cruelty  is  the  mildest  term  then  given  to  piety. 
Is  the  world  then  self-contradictory?  No;  for  it 
thinks,  and  will  tell  you,  if  you  press  it,  that  a 
prince  is  more  than  God,  the  earth  is  more  than 


tbe  renunciation  he  was  projecting  was  one 
requiring  along  deliberation,  for  “Jesus 
said  to  him  :  No  man  putting  his  hand  to 
the  plow,  and  looking  back,  is  fit  for  the 
kingdom  of  God  ”  (St.  Luke  ix.  62)  ;  inti¬ 
mating  by  these  words,  that  if  there  are  in 
the  world  certain  professions,  requiring 
from  those  who  pursue  them  continuous 
and  uninterrupted  attention,  such  as  that 
of  the  plowman  who  never  could  run  a  fur¬ 
row  straight,  if  he  amused  himself  looking 
behind,  and  let  the  horses  stray  right  and 
left ;  such  for  much  stronger  reasons  is  the 
apostleship,  the  most  laborious,  as  well  as 
the  most  sublime  of  all  ministries,  and  one 
that  requires  absolutely  the  whole  man. 
This  is  tantamount  to  the  expression  of 
Saint  Paul  :2  “No man,  being  a  soldier  to 
God,  entangleth  himself  with  secular  busi¬ 
ness.”3  (2  Tim.  ii.  4.) 


heaven,  and  that  care  of  the  body  is  preferable  to 
the  salvation  of  sonls. 

( 2 )  Christ  perhaps  merely  wished  to  warn  this 
man  to  weigh  maturely  the  step  he  was  desirous  of 
taking,  and  thus  to  anticipate  the  regret  which 
might  be  caused  by  the  recollection  of  those  goods 
he  had  too  lightly  renounced.  This  would  be 
doubly  mischievous,  since,  when  stripped  of  every 
thing  by  a  sacrifice  he  might  repent,  his  repenting 
would  render  him  unworthy  of  the  perfect  state 
for  which  he  had  sacrificed  every  thing.  The  ex¬ 
planation  inserted  in  the  text  is  that  of  most  com¬ 
mentators.  This,  less  followed  by  the  learned, 
seems  to  be  the  popular  interpretation.  For  when 
it  is  said,  that  after  putting  hand  to  the  plow  no 
man  should  look  back  again,  the  common  meaning 
is,  that  when  once  a  first  step  has  been  taken,  we 
must  support  it  with  constancy,  and  not  retrace 
our  steps. 

( * )  Of  these  three  men,  it  is  thought  that  only 
the  second  followed  Christ.  The  conclusion  is 


JESUS  STILLING  THE  TEMPEST, 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  ’  513 


....  .  ,  ;  .  . .  .  -i  ,  /  Vj  .  ..  .  :  * 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  TEMPEST  STILLED.— TWO  DEMONIACS  CURED.— SWINE  PRECIPITATED  INTO  THE  SEA.— A 


PARALYTIC  CURED.— THE  VOCATION  OF  ST. 
PUTE  AS  TO  FASTING. 

ON  that  same  day  “  when  evening  was 
come,  Jesus  saith  to  his  disciples  : 
Let  us  pass  over  to  the  other  side.  And, 
sending  away  the  multitude,”  “he  went 
into  a  little  ship”  with  them.  “They 
launched  forth,”  “  and  there  were  other 
ships  with  him.”  “And  when  they  were 
sailing,  Jesus  slept.”  “And  behold,  a 
great  tempest  arose  in  the  sea:”  “there 
came  down  a  storm  of  wind  upon  the 
lake,”  “  and  the  waves  beat  into  the  ship, 
so  that  it  was  covered.”  “The  ship  was 
filled,  and  they  were  in  danger.”  (St.  Mark 
iv.  35  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  22,  23  ;  St.  Matt.  viii. 
24.)  “  Jesus  was  in  the  hinder  part  of  the 

ship,  sleeping  upon  a  pillow.”1  “  And  his 
disciples  came  to  him  and  awaked  him, 
saying,  Lord,  save  us,  we  perish.”  “Doth 
it  not  concern  thee  that  we  perish  ?  Je¬ 
sus,”  who  chose  to  see  in  this  reproach 

probable  enough,  from  the  fact  of  his  being  the 
only  one  to  whom  Christ  said,  and  that  twice: 
“  Follow  me.”  He  therefore  had  a  vocation,  which 
the  two  others,  who  came  to  offer  themselves,  had 
not.  Moreover,  the  difficulty  which  he  raised  at 
the  moment  sprang  from  a  good  principle,  and  ap¬ 
parently  from  his  conviction,  that  the  assistance 
he  wished  to  give  his  father  was  a  duty  which 
he  could  not  disregard  without  crime.  And,  in 
fact,  before  the  great  maxims  of  the  Gospel  had 
appeared  to  the  world,  what  could  any  one  imagine 
as  higher  than  such  a  duty  ? 

65 


MATTHEW.— JESUS  EATS  WITH  SINNERS.— DIS- 

only  the  effect  of  their  terror,  merely 
“saith  to  them”  the  following  words: 
“Why  are  you  fearful,  0  ye  of  little  faith? 
Then,  rising  up,  he”  “rebuked  the  wind, 
and  said  to  the  sea  :  Peace,  be  still.  And 
the  wind  ceased,  and  there  was  made  a 
great  calm ;  and  he  said  to  them  ”  (St.  Matt, 
viii.  25,  26  ;  St.  Mark  iv.  38-40)  a  second 
time,  but  in  a  milder  tone  than  at  first, 
when  it  required  a  firm  tone  to  reassure 
them :  “  Why  are  you  fearful  ?  Have  you 
not  faith  yet?  And  they  feared  exceed¬ 
ingly  ;  ”  but  their  fear  was  now  of  a  very 
different  sort  ;  ‘  ‘  and  they  said  one  to 
another:  Who  is  this,  thinkest  thou,  that 
he  commandeth  both  the  winds  and  the 
sea  ;  and  both  wind  and  sea  obey  him  ?  ” 
(St.  Mark  iv.  40  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  35.) 

It  has  been  thought  that  the  demons  had 
excited  the  frightful  tempest  we  just  de- 

( 1 )  This  sleep  was  not  feigned,  as  some  have 
unreasonably  contended.  Jesus  Christ  truly  slept, 
and  had  assumed  this  weakness  of  our  nature  with 
all  the  others.  Yet  there  was  this  difference,  that 
sleep  which  suspended  the  use  of  the  senses  in  the 
rest  of  mankind,  never  deprived  him  of  knowledge. 
His  mind  actually  knew,  and  thought  of  every 
thing ;  but  he  saw  nothing,  and  he  heard  nothing, 
with  the  eyes  or  ears  of  the  body.  He  might  say 
of  himself,  literally :  I  sleep ;  and  my  heart  (and 
mind)  watcheth.  (Cant.  v.  2.) 


514 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


scrj&ed.  The  following  narrative,  by  in¬ 
forming  us  what  interest  they  had  in 
thwarting  this  journey,  rather  supports  the 
conjecture  : — When  the  calm  returned, 
they  continued  to  sail  onward,  ‘  ‘  and  they 
came  over  the  strait  of  the  sea,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water,  to  the  country  of  the 
Gerasens,”  “  which  is  over  against  Gali¬ 
lee.”  “  And  as  Jesus  went  out  of  the  ship, 
immediately  there  met  him  two  that  were 
possessed  with  devils,  coining  out  of  the 
sepulchres,  exceeding  fierce,  so  that  none 
could  pass  by  that  way.”  (St.  Mark  v.  1  ; 
St.  Luke  viii.  26,  27  ;  St.  Matthew  viii.  28.) 
One  of  the  two,  apparently  the  best  known, 
and,  for  this  reason,  the  only  one  men¬ 
tioned  by  two  of  the  three  Evangelists  who 
recount  this  fact,  “had  a  devil  now  a  very 
long  time,”  and  that  in  a  very  violent  man¬ 
ner.  “  He  wore  no  clothes  ;  neither  did 
he  abide  in  a  house,  but  in  the  sepulchres.” 
“No  man  now  could  bind  him,  even  with 
chains.  For  having  been  often  bound  with 
fetters  and  chains,  he  had  burst  the  chains 
and  broken  the  fetters  in  pieces,  and  no 
one  could  tame  him.  He  was  always  day 
and  night  in  the  monuments,1  and  in  the 
mountains,  crying,  and  cutting  himself  with 
stones.  (St.  Luke  viii.  27  ;  St.  Mark  v. * (*) 

( 1 )  The  tombs  of  the  Jews  were  outside  the 
towns.  They  were  vaults  built  of  stone  and  brick, 
like  our  cellars,  or  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  as  Christ’s 
was ;  which  shows  that  they  were  spacious  enough 
for  a  living  man  to  dwell  in.  We  also  read,  that 
Peter  and  John  entered  the  Sepulchre  of  our  Lord, 
as  well  as  the  holy  women  who  came  to  embalm 
the  body  of  our  Lord. 

( * )  This  expression  led  several  ancient  commen¬ 
tators  of  no  mean  authority  to  believe  that  the  de¬ 
mons  were  not  as  yet  tormented,  and  would  not  be 


3-6.)  “  And  seeing  Jesus  afar  off,  he  ran, 

and  adored  him  ;  and  they  both  cried  out,” 
at  the  same  time,  or  rather  the  demons,  by 
their  organs  t  “  What  have  we  to  do  with 
thee,  Jesus,  Son  of  the  Most  High  God? 
Art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before 
the  time  ? 2  I  adjure  thee  by  God  that  thou 
torment  me  not,  ”  added  the  devil  who  pos¬ 
sessed  the  unfortunate  man  we  have  just 
mentioned.  “For  Jesus  commanded  the 
unclean  spirit  to  go  out  of  the  man,  and 
said  unto  him :  Go  out  of  the  man,  thou 
unclean  spirit.”  (St.  Matthew  viii.  29  ;  St. 
Mark  v.  7  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  29  ;  St.  Mark  v. 
8.)  When  the  unclean  spirit  still  lingered, 
“  Jesus,”  who  desired  to  make  manifest  the 
splendor  of  his  victory  over  the  powers  of 
hell,  “asked  him:  What  is  thy  name? 
My  name  is  Legion,  he  said,  for  we  are 
many.  Because  ”  in  reality  “  many  devils 
were  entered  into  him.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  30, 
31,  32  ;  St.  Mark  v.  9,  10.)  “  The  demons,” 
forced  by  the  word  of  Jesus  to  depart  thence, 
“besought  him  much  that  he  would  not 
drive  them  out  of  the  country,”  “and  that 
he  would  not  command  them  to  go  into  the 
abyss.  And  there  was  there  a  herd  of 
many  swine  feeding  on  the  mountain.” 
“  And  the  devils  besought  him,  saying  :  If 

until  after  the  last  judgment.  This  opinion  is  now 
abandoned,  and  the  prevailing  one  in  the  Church 
is,  that  the  demons  suffer  now ;  and  that,  wherever 
they  go,  they  carry  their  hell  with  them.  Yet 
they  retain  a  relic  of  liberty,  and  the  pleasure  of 
doing  injury.  Now,  they  will  lose  both  one  and 
the  other  when,  after  the  last  judgment,  they  shall 
be  closed  up  in  the  abyss,  whence  they  shall  never 
be  permitted  to  emerge.  They  feared  that  Jesus 
Christ,  who  waged  against  them  so  terrible  a  war, 
might  precipitate  them  before  that  time.  Hence 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


515 


thou  cast  us  out  hence,  send  us  into  the 
swine,”  “that  we  may  enter  into  them.1 
Jesus  immediately  gave  them  leave ;  and 
the  unclean  spirits  going  out,  entered  into 
the  swine.”  “  The  herd,”  being  about  two 
thousand,  “  ran  violently  down  a  steep 
place  into  the  sea,  and  they  perished  in  the 
waters.”2  (St.  Matt.  viii.  31  ;  St.  Murk  v. 
12,  13.)  “Which  when  they  that  fed  them 
saw  done,  they  fled,  and  told  in  the  city 
and  in  the  villages,”  “everything;  and 
concerning  them  that  had  been  possessed 
by  the  devils.”  “And  behold  the  whole 
city  went  out  to  meet  Jesus,”  “  to  see  what 

their  wailing  and  their  entreaty  not  to  command 
them  to  go  into  the  abyss. 

( 1 )  Among  the  many  motives  suggested  for  this 
request  on  their  part,  the  most  likely  is,  that,  un¬ 
able  any  longer  to  torment  men  in  their  bodies 
and  souls,  they  desired  to  be  allowed  to  damage 
them  in  their  goods. 

( 3 )  To  say  the  least,  it  would  be  very  improper 
to  imagine  that,  in  giving  this  permission,  Christ 
wronged  the  owners  of  the  flock.  “  The  earth  is  the 
Lord’s  and  the  fulness  thereof.”— (Psalm  xiii.  1.) 
He  can  take  from  us  when  he  pleases  those  goods 
which  we  hold  from  his  pure  liberality ;  and  the  re¬ 
ligious  man  says  then  with  the  holy  man  Job :  “  The 
Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away  j  •  •  •  • 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.” — (Job  i.  21.) 
Yet  still  we  are  surprised  that  Christ,  the  meekest 
of  all  men,  whose  every  step  was  marked  by  so 
many  benefits,  should  have  caused,  or  at  least  per¬ 
mitted,  on  this  single  occasion,  a  species  of  dam¬ 
age.  The  answer  is: — 1st.  That  in  transferring 
to  the  swine  the  power  which  the  demons  exercised 
previously  over  men,  he  performed  a  much  greater 
good  than  the  evil  which  he  permitted  ;  for,  what¬ 
ever  certain  modern  philosophers  may  think,  two 
men,  or  even  one  man,  is  worth  more  than  two 
thousand  swine.  2d.  Christ  punished  the  Gera- 
sens.  If  Jews,  they  deserved  this ;  for  keeping 
as  they  did,  such  a  great  quantity  of  these  animals, 

57 


was  done.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  34  ;  St.  Mat¬ 
thew  viii.  33,  34.)  “They  came  to  Jesus, 
and  found  the  man  out  of  whom  the  devils 
were  departed,  sitting  at  his  feet,  clothed, 
and  in  his  right  mind,  and  they  were 
afraid.”  “They  also  that  had  seen  told 
them ”  “in  what  manner  he  had  been  dealt 
with  who  had  the  devil,  and  concerning 
the  swine.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  35,  36  ;  St. 
Mark  v.  15,  16.)  Then  “  all  the  multi¬ 
tude  of  the  country  of  the  Gerasens  be¬ 
sought  him  to  depart  from  them,  for  they 
were  taken  with  great  fear.”3  Jesus  pun¬ 
ished  this  prayer,  by  granting  it he, 

the  use  of  which  was  forbidden  by  the  law, 
furnished  an  immediate  occasion  of  prevarication 
to  all  the  people  of  the  surrounding  district.  But 
some  have  thought  the  inhabitants  of  Gerasa  were 
Greeks,  and  a  portion  of  the  colony  of  Gadara,  an 
adjacent  city,  where  the  emperors  had  authorized 
Greeks  to  settle.  In  this  case,  they,  too,  deserved 
to  be  punished,  on  account  of  their  excessive  at¬ 
tachment  to  these  vile  animals,  which  they  pre¬ 
ferred  to  the  word  of  God,  that  Jesus  Christ  came 
to  announce  to  them.  This  is  apparent  by  the 
prayer  they  made  Christ,  to  retire  from  them,  not 
venturing  to  endeavor  to  force  him.  Now,  not  to 
prefer  God  to  those  goods  which  he  has  given  to 
us,  deserves  that  he  should  take  them  from  us.  May 
we  not  add,  that  he  then  really  takes  them  away  or 
leaves  them  only  for  the  misfortune  of  those  who, 
by  this  unworthy  preference,  deserve  no  favor  on 
his  part,  or  only  merit  those  goods,  the  possession 
of  which  is  of  greater  mischief  than  their  loss  ? 

The  permission  to  enter  into  the  swine,  asked  by 
demons,  and  granted  by  Christ,  further  teaches  us, 
that  the  demon  can  do  nothing,  in  the  whole  com¬ 
pass  of  nature,  except  what  God  allows  him.  Let 
us  fear  then,  neither  the  demon,  nor  all  the  powers 
of  hell,  of  earth,  and  of  heaven;  but  Him  by 
whom  alone  all  the  powers  of  heaven,  earth,  and 
hell  become  fearful. 

( 3 )  This  prayer  was  prompted  as  much  by  in* 


51G  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

going  up  into  the  ship,  returned  back 

“  bis  own  city,”  on  account  of  its  being  his 

again.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  37,  40.)  “When 

usual  residence.  “  It  was  beard  that  be 

he  went  up  into  the  ship,  he  that  had  been 

was  in  tbe  house.”  We  may  presume  that 

so  highly  troubled  with  the  devil  began  to 

•  this  was  still  the  bouse  of  Peter  and  An- 

beseech  him  that  he  might  be  with  him.” 

drew.  “  Many  came  together,  so  that 

It  is  not  mentioned  whether  gratitude  for 

there  was  no  room  ;  no,  not  even  at  tbe 

such  a  great  blessing,  or  the  dread  of  a 

door.  And  Jesus  spoke  to  them  tbe  word.” 

second  possession  inspired  this  prayer.  It 

(St.  Matthew  ix.  1  ;  St.  Mark  ii.  1,  2.) 

may  have  been  both.  But,  whatever  was 

“As  be  sat  teaching,  there  were  also” 

the  motive,  Jesus,  who  had  other  designs 

present  “  Pharisees  and  doctors  of  the  law 

upon  him,  “admitted  him  not ;”  and  sub- 

sitting  by,  that  were  come  out  of  every 

stituting  another  sort  of  apostleship  for 

town  of  Galilee,  and  Judea,  and  Jerusa- 

that  to  which  he  refused  him  admission, 

lem  ;  and  the  power  of  the  Lord  was  to 

“saith  to  him:  Go  into  thy  house,  to  thy 

heal  them.”  (St.  Luke  v.  17.)  And  be- 

friends,  and  tell  them  how  great  things  the 

hold,  men  came  to  him,  bringing  one  sick 

Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  hath  had 

of  the  palsy,  who  was  carried  by  four,  and 

mercy  on  thee.  And  he  went  his  way,  and 

they  sought  means  to  bring  him  in,  and  to 

began  to  publish  in  Decapolis  how  great 

lay  him  before  Jesus.  And  when  they 

things  Jesus  had  done  for  him,  and  all  men 

could  not  find  by  what  way  they  might 

wondered. 

bring  him  in,  because  of  the  multitude, 

“  And  when  Jesus  had  passed  again  in 

they  went  up  upon  the  roof,  uncovered  the 

the  ship  over  the  strait,  a  great  multitude 

roof  where  he  was,  and,  opening  it,  let 

assembled  together  unto  him  :  ”  (St.  Mark 

him  down  through  the  tiles,  with  his  bed,” 

v.  18-21)  “for  they  were  all  waiting  for 

and  laid  him  “  in  the  midst  ”  of  the  assem- 

him.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  40.)  He  did  not  re- 

bly  “before  Jesus.”  (St.  Mark  ii.  3;  St. 

main  long  among  them  ;  and  “  again,  after” 

Luke  v.  18, 19.)  “  And  Jesus  seeing  their 

an  absence  of  “  some  days,  he  entered 

faith,  said  to  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy  :* 

into  Capharnaum,”  which  here  is  called 

Be  of  good  heart,  Son,  thy  sins  are  for- 

terest  as  by  fear,  unless,  indeed,  their  fear  was  pro- 

to  him :  “  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee.”  This  raises 

duced  solely  by  interest.  Thus,  under  all  the 

a  difficulty,  which  we  must  resolve.  The  faith  of 

circumstances  of  the  case,  these  subtile  Gerasens 

the  paralytic,  which  here  is  not  spoken  of,  is  not. 

concluded  that  the  fat  of  swine  was  much  more 

nevertheless,  excluded.  We  must  then  believe  that 

useful  to  the  State  than  was  Jesus  Christ  and  his 

he  had  it,  and  with  it  contrition,  without  which  no 

doctrine.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  find  their 

adult  has  ever  obtained,  or  shall  ever  obtain,  the 

apology  in  the  writings  of  some  of  our  good  patriots. 

remission  of  his  sins.  If,  then,  this  remission  is 

( 1 )  The  cure  of  the  body  can  be  obtained  by 

here  attributed  to  the  faith  of  the  bearers,  this  can 

the  faith  of  another,  but  not  the  remission  of  sins. 

only  be,  because  Christ,  touched  by  this  faith,  had 

Yet  here  there  is  only  mention  made  of  the  faith 

given  to  the  paralytic  faith,  and  all  the  other  dis>- 

of  those  parties  who  had  carried  the  paralytic;  and 

positions  necessary  to  justification.  There  is  still 

it  is  when  seeing  their  faith,  that  Jesus  Christ  said 

• 

another  truth  insinuated  in  these  words  of  Jesus 

. 


. 


• 

.  V’  - 

• 

'  V 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  517 


given  thee.”  “  And  there  were,”  as  we 
have  said,  “sitting  there  some  of  the 
Scribes,”  or  doctors  of  the  law.  These 
Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  thought  and  said 
within  themselves :  “  Why  doth  this  man 
speak  thus  ?  He  blasphemeth.  Who  can 
forgive  sins  but  God  only?”1  (St.  Mark  ii. 
5,  7  ;  St.  Matt.  ix.  2.)  Jesus  presently 
knowing  in  his  spirit 2  that  they  so  thought 
within  themselves,  saith  to  them  :”  “  Why 
do  you  think  evil  in  your  hearts  ? 3  Which 
is  easier,  to  say”  “  to  the  sick  of  the  pal¬ 
sy,”  “Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee?  or  to 
say,  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk  ? 4 
But  that  you  may  know  that  the  Son  of 
man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins, 

Christ,  it  is  that  sin  is  often  the  cause  of  bodily  in¬ 
firmities,  and  that  the  cure  is  one  of  the  effects  of 
conversion. 

( 1 )  Now,  Jesus  Christ  is  God:  wherefore  he  had 
this  power,  and,  in  fact,  exercised  it  at  this  mo¬ 
ment.  Still,  let  us  remark  that  he  did  not  say  to 
the  paralytic  that  he  remitted  him  his  sins,  but 
that  his  sins  were  remitted;  which  is  very  differ¬ 
ent.  For,  supposing  that  Jesus  Christ  had  only 
been  a  prophet,  he  might  have  known  by  revela¬ 
tion  that  God  had  remitted  the  sins  of  this  man ; 
and  his  declaring  this  to  the  man,  as  he  did,  was 
not  arrogating  to  himself  the  divine  right  of  re¬ 
mitting  them.  Hence,  no  one  could  conclude 
from  these  words  that  he  had  arrogated  this  right 
to  himself,  and  this  was  the  very  point  they  should 
have  observed,  since  they  wished  to  censure  him ; 
but  malignity  does  not  examine  so  closely. 

(*  * )  The  Spirit  of  God  alone  can  “  sound  the 
reins,”  and  penetrate  into  the  most  secret  folds  of 
the  heart;  and  he  is  God,  whose  own  spirit  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  styled. 

(’).The  answer  was  easy  to  every  one  else  but 
themselves.  They  were  Pharisees ;  and  it  is  not 
more  natural  for  birds  to  fly,  and  for  fishes  to 
swim,  than  it  is  for  Pharisees  to  misinterpret  what- 


then  said  he  to  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy  : 
I  say  to  thee  :  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and 
go  into  thy  house.  Immediately  the  man 
arose,  in  the  sight  of  all,  and,  taking  up 
his  bed,  went  away  into  his  house,  glory¬ 
ing  God.”  (St.  Mark  ii.  8-12  ;  St.  Matt.  ix. 
4-7  ;  St.  Luke  v.  22-25.)  The  multitudes, 
seeing  it,  feared,  and  glorified  God  that 
gave  such  power  to  men.”5  And  they 
manifested  their  wonder,  some  by  saying, 
“We  never  saw  the  like;”  others,  “We 
have  seen  wonderful  things  to-day.”  (St. 
Matthew  ix.  8  ;  St.  Mark  ii.  12 ;  St.  Luke 
v.  26.) 

“Jesus  after  these  things  went  forth 
again  to  the  sea-side.  All  the  multitude 

ever  is  susceptible  in  the  slightest  degree  of  a  bad 
interpretation,  were  there  a  hundred  more  degrees 
of  probability  for  a  good  one. 

•  ( 4 )  It  is  not  more  difficult,  it  is  even  easier  to 
cure  a  paralytic,  than  to  remit  sins.  Yet  is  it 
much  more  difficult  to  deceive  in  regard  as  to  the 
cure  of  a  paralytic  than  as  to  the  remission- of  sins, 
for  we  see  the  first  and  we  do  not  see  the  second. 
But  what  we  see  is  a  proof  of  what  we  do  not  see. 
Therefore,  if  Jesus  Christ  does  not  impose,  when 
he  said  to  the  paralytic :  “  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed, 
and  go,”  it  follows  that  he  did  not,  when  he  said: 
“Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee.”  The  second  is  as 
possible  to  him  as  the  first,  and  what  is  equally 
possible  is  equally  easy  to  him.  All  this  bears 
upon  the  fundamental  principle  of  all  revealed  re¬ 
ligion  :  “  He  incontestably  speaks  the  truth,  who, 
in  order  to  prove  the  truth  of  what  he  says,  works 
incontestable  miracles.” 

( 6 )  The  power  of  remitting  sins,  much  more 
than  the  power  of  curing  maladies.  This  was  the 
end  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  ob¬ 
ject  of  his  labors,  the  fruit  of  his  sufferings,  and 
the  most  necessary,  as  well  as  the  most  precious, 
of  all  the  favors  that  he  was  to  bestow  on  human 
nature.  Thence  the  surprise,  the  admiration,  and 


gig  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

came  to  him,  and  he  taught  them,”  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  custom.  “And  when  Jesus 
passed  on  from  thence,  he  saw  a  man 
named  Matthew,  otherwise  Levi,  the  son  of 
Alpheus,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom, 
in  the  custom-house,  and  saith  to  him  :  Fol¬ 
low  me.  And  leaving  all  things,  he  rose 
up,  and  followed  him.”  Still  he  wished  to 
acknowledge  beforehand  his  gratitude,  as  a 
converted  publican,  and  in  order  to  do  so, 

“  he  made  him  a  great  feast  in  his  own 
house.”  “It  came  to  pass,  as  Jesus  was 
sitting  at  table  in  the  house  of  Levi,” 
“there  was  a  great  company  of  publicans 
and  sinners,  who  sat  down  with  him  and 
his  disciples,  for  they  were  many,  who  also 
followed  him.”  And  we  must  here  remark, 
a  fact  which  will  often  appear  in  this  his¬ 
tory,  that  Jesus  was  constantly  beloved  by 
sinners  and  hated  by  rigorists.  These, 
therefore,  that  is  to  say,  “  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  seeing  that  he  ate  with  publi- 

cans  and  sinners,  said  to  his  disciples : 

Why  doth  your  Master  eat  and  drink  with 
publicans  and  sinners  ?  ” 

They  addressed  the  disciples,  undoubt¬ 
edly,  because  they  deemed  them  less  capa¬ 
ble  of  answering  than  their  Master.  Per¬ 
haps  they  still  hoped  that,  by  giving  them 
a  bad  impression  of  J esus,  they  could  de¬ 
tach  them  from  him.  But  “  Jesus  hearing 
it,  saith  to  them  :  They  that  are  in  health 
need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are 
ill.”1  (St.  Luke  v.  28,  29  ;  St.  Mark  ii. 
15-17  ;  St.  Matthew  ix.  2-12.)  A  saying 
which  should  have  made  them  understand 
that  there  was  no  more  sense  in  the  re¬ 
proach  which  they  made  him,  than  there 
would  have  been  in  finding  fault  at  a  phy¬ 
sician’s  visiting  the  sick  or  plague-stricken. 

He  then  added,  blending  as  usual  instruc¬ 
tion  with  his  own  justification :  “Go,  then, 
and  learn  what  this  meanetli  :  I  will  have 
mercy,  and  not  sacrifice.2  For  I  am  not 

the  joy  of  mankind.  0,  ye  nations,  be  glad  and 
rejoice ;  cease  not  to  praise  the  God  of  Mercy,  who 
has  vouchsafed  to  communicate  to  men  this  divine 
power,  which  of  all  his  powers  seems  the  most  in¬ 
communicable. 

( 1 )  For  those  who  can  render  no  service,  it  is 
temerity,  to  visit  persons  afflicted  with  contagious 
diseases ;  it  is  charity  in  the  physician,  who  still  is 
not  exempt  from  rashness,  if  he  visit  them  without 
precautions  and  preventives.  One  man  alone  was 
exempted  from  this  rule ;  that  was  the  Man-God. 

( 5 )  A  Hebrew  expression  meaning  “  I  love  mer¬ 
cy  better  than  sacrifice,”  which  far  from  being 
prohibited,  was  commanded ;  but  mercy  was  pre¬ 
ferred  to  it.  But  if  mercy  excels  sacrifice,  there  is 
then  nothing  in  religion  over  which  it  should  not 
take  precedence.  The  entire  morality  of  the  Gos¬ 
pel  hinges  on  this  maxim,  which  is  not  so  peculiar 
to  Christianity  as  not  to  have  also  belonged  to  the 

Old  Law,  since  this  text  to  which  Jesus  Christ 
here  refers  the  Pharisees  is  from  the  Prophet  Osee. 

These  men,  on  the  contrary,  preferred  all  the  rest 
of  religion  to  charity,  which  was,  accurately  speak¬ 
ing,  turning  religion  upside  down,  by  placing  last 
of  all  what  should  occupy  the  first  place. 

It  is  no  neglect  of  divine  worship  to  leave  the 
sacrifice  to  exercise  charity  towards  man.  This  is 
rendering  to  God  the  worship  most  pleasing  to 
him.  God  has  no  need  of  our  sacrifice,  and  he 
loves  men  :  these  two  truths  heighten  this  worship 
into  a  very  excellent  religion.  By  this  we  recog¬ 
nize  the  perfect  independence  and  infinite  goodness 
of  God,  those  two  attributes  which  entitle  him  the 
most  to  the  homage  of  our  mind  and  of  our  heart. 

It  is  an  abuse  of  this  maxim  to  restrict  religion 
to  doing  good  towards  men.  It  is  only  in  the  con¬ 
flict  of  the  two  duties  and  when  one  interferes 
with  the  other,  that  we  should  prefer  the  service  of 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  519 

come  to  call  the  just,  but  sinners  ” 1  (St. 
Matthew  ix.  13.)  Whence  it  followed  that 
the  more  sinful  they  were,  the  better  he 
worked  out  his  mission  by  seeking  them 
out,  and  living  familiarly  with  them. 

The  Pharisees,  confounded  at  this  point, 
still  persisted  ;  but  to  give  greater  weight 
to  the  fresh  reproach  which  they  were 
framing  against  Jesus  Christ,  they  took  the 
precaution  to  strengthen  themselves  with 
the  disciples  of  John.  The  latter,  as  well 
as  the  Pharisees,  were  accustomed  to  prac¬ 
tise  extraordinary  fasts,  to  which  Jesus 
Christ  had  not  subjected  those  who  pro¬ 
fessed  to  follow  him.  These  fasts  were  not 
prescribed  by  law  ;  they  might,  therefore, 
be  observed  or  omitted  at  pleasure.  But 
although  practices  of  devotion  are  free, 
each  individual  is  always  prepossessed  in 
favor  of  his  own  ;  and  this  prejudice  rarely 
refrains  from  condemning  those  who  do  not 
adopt  them.  It  was  apparently  this  weak- 

ness  which,  drew  the  disciples  of  John  into 
the  plotting  of  the  Pharisees.  “  They 
came  and  said  to  Jesus  :  Why  do  the  dis-  . 
ciples  of  John  and  of  the  Pharisees  fast 
often  and  make  prayers  ;  but  thine  eat  and 
drink,”  “and  do  not  fast?  He  said  to 
them :  Can  the  children  of  the  bridegroom 2 
mourn,  and  can  you  make  them  fast  whilst 
the  bridegroom  is  with  them  ?  But  the 
days  will  come  when  the  bridegroom  shall 
be  taken  away  from  them,  and  then  they 
shall  fast.” 3  (St.  Matthew  ix.  14,  15  :  St. 
Mark  ii.  18,  19  ;  St.  Luke  v.  33-35.) 

Therefore,  Jesus  did  not  dispense  his 
disciples  from  fasting  ;  he  merely  disposed 
them  to  do  so  at  a  more  convenient  time  ; 
and  in  order  to  show  more  clearly  that  in 
acting  thus  he  did  not  mean  to  flatter  their 
passions,  but  to  accommodate  himself  to 
their  weakness,  “he  spoke  a  similitude  to 
them.  No  man  putteth  a  piece  from  a  new 
garment  upon  an  old  garment,  otherwise 

our  neighbor  to  the  worship  of  God ;  and  then  we 
should  do  so  solely  because  God  wills  it.  To  pre-  _ 
fer,  therefore,  the  external  duties  of  religion  to 
charity  towards  our  neighbor  is  pharisaical ;  and 
to  comprise  all  religion  in  the  love  and  service  of 
our  neighbor,  is  to  acknowledge  our  fellow-citizens, 
and  disown  our  King,  embrace  our  brethren,  and 
deny  our  Father ;  it  is  impiety,  it  is  declared  re¬ 
bellion  against  the  greatest  and  best  of  all  kings 
and  of  all  fathers. 

( 1  )  This  is  not  to  hinder  us  from  believing  that 
Christ  came  to  save  all  men ;  for  all  have  sinned, 
saith  Saint  Paul,  “  and  are  in  want  of  the  glory  of 
God,”  that  is  to  say,  of  the  grace  of  the  Kedeemer. 
An  ironical  meaning  is  also  given  to  these  words, 
in  reference  to  the  Pharisees :  You  are  scandalized  at 
seeing  me  prefer  the  company  of  sinners  to  yours ; 
know  you  not,  then,  that  “  I  am  come  to  call  sin¬ 
ners,  and  not  the  just,”  such  as  you  pretend  to  be. 

64 

(a)  We  may  recollect  that  John,  in  one  of  the 
testimonies  he  rendered  to  Jesus  Christ,  had  desig¬ 
nated  him  by  the  title  of  bridegroom.  The  disci¬ 
ples  of  John  could  not  have  forgotten  this ;  and 

Jesus  Christ,  in  making  use  of  the  same  expression, 
gives  ground  for  believing  that  they  were  the 
spokesmen  on  this  occasion. 

(  8 )  We  are  almost  tempted  to  smile  at  the  ex¬ 
travagance  of  heretics.  Calvinists  rejected  the 
fast  of  Lent,  because  Jesus  Christ  said  that  his 
disciples  should  not  fast  while  he  was  with  them, 
although  he  added  that  they  should  fast  after  he 
was  taken  away.  And  because  he  said  that  they 
should  fast  when  he  was  taken  away,  that  is  to  say, 
if  you  will,  immediately  after  his  death,  Montanus 
and  Priscilla,  according  to  the  report  of  Saint 
Jerome,  placed  Lent  between  Easter  and  Pen¬ 
tecost. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


520 


he  both  rendeth  the  new,  and  the  piece 
taken  from  the  new  agreeth  not  with  the 
'  old.”  It  occurs  also  that  “  the  new  piec¬ 
ing  taketh  away  from  the  old,  and  there  is 
made  a  greater  rent.”  “  And  no  man  put- 
teth  new  wine  into  old  bottles  ;  otherwise 
the  new  wine  will  break  the  bottles,  and  it 
will  be  spilled,  and  the  bottles  will  be  lost. 
But  new  wine  must  be  put  into  new  bottles, 
and  both  are  preserved.  And  no  man 
drinking  old  hath  presently  a  mind  to  new ; 
for  he  saith  :  The  old  is  better.”  (St.  Luke 
v.  36-39  ;  St.  Mark  ii.  21,  22.)  That  is  to 
say  that,  generally  speaking,  the  more  ex¬ 
cellent  things  are  in  themselves,  the  less 


likely  are  they  to  be  good  for  beginners. 
Proportion  to  their  weakness  must  be  ob¬ 
served.  Perfection  should  be  presented  to 
them  only  at  a  distance,  as  an  object  for 
their  admiration  rather  than  for  their  ef¬ 
forts  ;  they  should  be  at  most  invited,  and 
not  seemingly  forced  to  it,  lest,  by  endeav¬ 
oring  too  hastily  to  make  perfect  men  of 
those  but  recently  become  just,  we  make 
only  relapsing  sinners.  Thus  Jesus  in¬ 
structed  his  Church  ;  and  while  he  seemed 
merely  answering  an  ill-founded  reproach, 
he  gave  all  his  ministers  present  and  future 
these  admirable  lessons  of  mildness  and  of 
condescension. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  WOMAN  HEALED  OF  AN  ISSUE  OF  BLOOD.— THE  DAUGHTER  OF  JAIRUS  RAISED  TO  LIFE.— 

THE  BLIND  SEE.— A  POSSESSED  PERSON  DELIVERED. 


AS  he  was  speaking  these  things  unto 
them  nigh  unto  the  sea,  a  ruler  of 
the  synagogue 1  named  Jairus  came  up,  and 
seeing  Jesus,  falleth  down  at  his  feet, 
adored  him,  beseeching  him  that  he  would 
come  into  his  house,  for  he  had  an  only 
daughter,  about  twelve  years  old,  and  she 
was  dying.”  (St.  Matthew  ix.  18  ;  St.  Mark 

( 1 )  The  one  who  presided  at  the  religious  meet¬ 
ings  held  on  the  sabbath-day.  The  place  where 
they  were  held  was  called  Synagogue,  a  Greek 
word  meaning  “assembly.”  The  Holy  Scripture 
was  read,  exhortations  given,  and  psalms  sung,  the 
only  exercises  of  religion  allowed  the  Jews  outside 


v.  21,  22  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  41.)  Perhaps  he 
thought  that  Jesus,  who  had  power  to  cure 
the  sick,  had  not  that  of  raising  the  dead  ; 
and  he  may  also  have  been  one  of  those 
who  considered  the  Saviour’s  presence  ne¬ 
cessary  for  a  miracle.  Hence  “  he  besought 
him  much,  saying  :  My  daughter  is  at  the 
point  of  death  ;  come  lay  thy  hand  upon 

the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  Some  authors  confi¬ 
dently  assert  that  before  the  destruction  of  this 
great  city,  it  had  no  less  than  four  hundred  and 
eighty  of  these  synagogues.  Every  one  knows 
that  the  Jews  still  have  them  in  several  cities  of 
Europe  where  they  are  tolerated. 


* 


* 


* 


RAISING  UP  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  JAIRUS. 


OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


521 


her,  that  she  may  be  safe,  and  may  live.” 
“  And  Jesus  rising  np,  went  with  him,”  and 
“followed  him,  with  his  disciples.”  (St. 
Mark  v.  23,  24  ;  St.  Matthew  ix.  19.) 

“  And  it  happened  as  he  went  that  he 
was  thronged  by  the  ,  multitudes.  And 
there  was  a  certain  woman  there  who  was 
troubled  with  an  issue  of  blood  twelve 
years,  and  had  suffered  many  things  from 
many  physicians,  and  had  spent  all  that  she 
had,  and  was  nothing  the  better,  but  rather 
worse.”  This  woman  then,  “  when  she  had 
heard  of  Jesus,  came  in  the  crowd  behind 
him”  (St.  Luke  viii.  42  ;  St.  Markv.  25-27  ; 
St.  Matthew  ix.  20,  21),  and  touched  the 
hem  of  his  garment,  for  she  said  to  herself : 
If  I  shall  touch  only  his  garment,  I  shall 
be  healed.  Forthwith  the  fountain  of  her 
blood  was  dried  up,  and  she  felt  in  her  body 
she  was  healed  of  the  evil.1  And  immedi¬ 
ately  Jesus,  knowing  in  himself  “the  virtue 
which  had  proceeded  from  him,  turning  to 
the  multitude,  said  :  Who  hath  touched  my 
garment?”  “  And  all  denying,  Peter  and 
they  that  were  with  him  said  :  Master,  the 
multitudes  throng  and  press  thee,  and  dost 
thou  say,  Who  touched  me  ?  And  Jesus 
said  :  Somebody  hath  touched  me,  for  I 
know  that  virtue  is  gone  out  from  me.” 

“  And  he  looked  about  to  see  her  who  had 
done  this  ”  (St.  Mark  v.  29,  30  ;  St.  Luke 
viii.  45,  46  ;  St.  Mark  v.  32) :  not  that  he 
did  not  know  her,  but  he  thus  conformed 

(  1 )  The  garment  worn  by  Christ,  therefore, 
wrought  a  miracle.  Calvin,  who  justly  feared  that 
this  example  would  be  invoked  in  favor  of  relics, 
discovers  in  this  woman’s  conduct  indiscreet  zeal 
and  a  dash  of  superstition.  Jesus  Christ  sees  in  it 
faith :  he  openly  praises  this  faith  ;  and  it  is  to  the 


to  our  method  of  acting ;  and  because  he 
wished  the  miracle  just  wrought  to  be 
known,  he  thus  prepared  the  way  for  its 
manifestation,  by  obliging  her  to  speak 
whose  deposition  alone  could  disclose  and 
prove  the  fact.  For  “  the  woman  knowing 
what  was  done  in  her,  seeing  that  she  was 
not  hid,  fearing  and  trembling,  came  and 
fell  down  before  his  feet,  and  told  him  all 
the  truth,  and  declared  before  all  the  peo¬ 
ple  for  what  cause  she  had  touched  him, 
and  how  she  was  immediately  healed.  (St. 
Mark  v.  33  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  47.)  Jesus 
turning,  and  seeing  her,  said  to  her :  Be  of 
good  heart,  daughter  ;  thy  faith  hath  made 
thee  whole.”  “  Go  in  peace,  and  be  thou 
whole,  of  thy  disease.  And  the  woman 
was  made  whole  from  that  hour  ”  (St.  Mat¬ 
thew  ix.  22  ;  St.  Mark  v.  34),  perfectly 
and  without  any  relapse. 

As  “Jesus  was  yet  speaking,  there  com- 
eth  one  to  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  say¬ 
ing  to  him :  Thy  daughter  is  dead,  trouble 
him  not  ”  uselessly.  (St.  Luke  viii.  49.) 
J airus,  whose  faith  had  received  a  new  im¬ 
pulse  from  the  miracle  of  which  he  had  just 
been  a  witness,  did  not  despair  even  then. 
“Lord,”  said  he,  “my  daughter  is  even 
now  dead  ;  but  come  lay  thy  hand  upon 
her,  and  she  shall  live.”  (St.  Matt.  ix.  18.) 
For  thus  one  of  the  evangelists  makes  him 
speak ;  and  they  are  all  made  to  harmo¬ 
nize  by  placing  here  these  words  of  his,  a 

merit  of  this  faith  that  he  grants  a  cure ;  and  this 
faith,  by  the  report  of  the  three  evangelists,  is  the 
same  which  made  this  woman  say:  “If  I  shall 
touch  only  his  garment,  I  shall  be  healed.”  Whom 
are  we  to  believe  in  this  matter  ? 


522  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

distinct  remark  from  that  given  by  the 

them  all  out,  taketh  the  father  and  the 

other  evangelists,  who  make  him  speak 

mother  of  the  damsel,  and  them  that  were 

only  of  the  dying  condition  of  his  daugh- 

with  them,  and  entereth  in  where  the  dam- 

ter.  “Jesus  hearing  this  word,  answered 

sel  was  lying.”  (St.  Matthew  ix.  24  ;  St. 

the  father  of  the  maid :  Fear  not,  believe 

Luke  viii.  53  ;  St.  Mark  v.40.)  “  And  tak- 

only,  and  she  shall  be  safe.  And  when  he 

ing  her  by  the  hand,  he  cried  out  to  her  : 

was  come  to  the  house,  he  suffered  not  any 

Talitha  cumi,  which  is,  being  interpreted  : 

man  to  go  in  with  him  but  Peter,  and 

Damsel,  I  say  to  thee  arise.  (St.  Luke  viii. 

James,  and  John,  and  the  father  and 

54  ;  St.  Mark  v.  41.)  Her  spirit  returned, 

mother  of  the  maiden.”  “  He  saw  the 

and  she  arose  immediately,  and  walked. 

minstrels1  and  the  multitude  making  a 

She  was  twelve  years  old.  Jesus  com- 

rout,  weeping  and  wailing  much ;  all 

manded  that  something  should  be  given 

mourned  for  her.”  “  And  going  in  he  saith 

her  to  eat.  And  her  parents  were  aston- 

to  them,  Why  make  you  this  ado  and 

ished.  And  he  charged  them  strictly  to 

weep  ?  ”  (St.  Luke  viii.  50,  51  ;  St.  Matthew 

tell  no  man  what  was  done.”3  Yet  “the 

ix.  23  j  St.  Mark  v.  38.)  “  Grive  place, 

fame  hereof  went  abroad  into  all  that 

for  the  girl  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth;”2 

country.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  55,  56  ;  St.  Mark 

“  And  they  laughed  him  to  scorn,  knowing 

v.  42,  43  ;  St.  Matt.  ix.  26.) 

that  she  was  dead.”  *  “  But  he  having  put 

“  As  Jesus  passed  from  thence  ”  into  the 

(  1 )  It  was  a  custom  common  to  both  Jews  and 

the  only  one  which  has  any  probability  is,  that  be 

Gentiles  to  hire  flute-players,  who  accompanied 

wished  to  teach  his  disciples,  and  all  those  to  whom 

with  mournful  airs  the  lamentations  made  at  fu- 

he  was  to  communicate  the  gift  of  miracles,  to 

nerals.  Although  we  know  not  of  the  origin  of 

conceal  them  as  much  as  in  their  power,  and  thus 

this  usage,  the  Jews  most  probably  borrowed  it 

escape  the  applause  of  men.  Many  saints  have 

from  the  Gentiles.  To  conclude  from  thence,  as  some 

profited  by  this  lesson,  and  we  know  the  precau- 

writer  has  done,  that  the  flute-players  in  question 

tions  they  have  taken  to  withdraw  from  the  eyes 

here  were  Gentiles,  is  like  maintaining  that  all  our 

of  the  world  the  wonders  which  God  operated  by 

painters  are  Italians,  as  painting  comes  from  Italy? 

their  means.  This  explains  why  Jesus  Christ 

( 2 )  A  death  which  so  speedy  a  resurrection  was 

wished  some  of  his  miracles  to  be  kept  secret,  but 

to  leave  scarcely  the  duration  of  a  short  slumber, 

not  why  he  pursued  this  course  in  regard  of  such 

should  be  called  sleep  rather  than  death. 

and  such  a  miracle  more  than  any  other.  Those 

( 3 )  There  were  too  many  witnesses  of  the  death 

who  undertake  to  explain  every  thing,  adduce 

to  make  the  resurrection  a  mystery,  and  the  secre- 

many  reasons  but  none  that  are  satisfactory.  Let 

cy  enjoined  by  Christ  upon  this  occasion  can 

us  be  content  to  know  that  he  had  reasons  highly 

merely  apply  to  the  mode  in  which  he  wrought  the 

worthy  of  his  wisdom,  drawn  from  the  circum- 

miracle.  Jesus  Christ  exacted  the  like  secrecy  for 

stances  of  time,  place,  and  person.  Secrecy  was 

the  ensuing  miracle,  and  in  some  other  transac- 

not  always  kept  by  those  upon  whom  it  was  en- 

tions.  We  may  be  asked  what  reason  had  he  for 

joined.  Whatever  the  rigid  Calvin  may  think, 

thus  acting,  he  who  wrought  publicly  so  gi'eat  a 

Catholic  divines  do  not  make  it  criminal.  Grati- 

number  of  miracles,  and  who,  far  from  desiring  to 

tude,  which  made  them  speak,  excused  this  want 

make  a  mystery  of  them,  frequently  gave  orders  to 

of  submission  to  orders  which  they  attribuiad 

publish  them.  Of  the  several  reasons  assigned, 

solely  to  their  benefactor’s  modesty. 

\ 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  .  523 

house  where  he  dwelt,  “  there  followed 

to  utter  it  in  his  hearing  •  that  is  to  say  in 

him  two  blind  men,  cryiug  out  and  saying  : 

such  way,  that  they  became  his  irreconcil- 

Have  mercy  on  us,  0,  son  of  David.”  It 

able  enemies.  For  not  to  be  in  the  wrong 

was  undoubtedly  in  order  to  try  their  faith 

is  in  the  eye  of  envy  the  least  pardonable 

that  Jesus,  who  heard  them,  declined  stop- 

of  all  offences. 

ping.  “  When  he  was  come  to  the  house, 
the  blind  men,”  who  had  still  kept  following 

SECOND  PASCH. 

him,  “  came  to  him,  and  he  saith  to  them  : 

Jesus  left  the  Pharisees  of  Galilee  for  a 

Do  you  believe  that  I  can  do  this  unto  you  ? 

time,  to  meet  those  of  the  capital.  If  the 

They  say  to  him:  Yea,  Lord..  Then  he 

latter  were  not  more  malignant,  they  were 

touched  their  eyes,  saying :  According  to 

more  formidable  by  their  number,  by  that 

your  faith  be  it  done  unto  you.  And  their 

of  their  proselytes,  and  the  facility  afforded 

eyes  were  opened ;  and  Jesus  strictly 

by  large  cities  for  caballing  and  exciting 

charged  them,  saying :  See  that  no  man 

popular  outbreaks.  But  it  was  not  for  the 

know  this.  But  they  going  out,  spread  his 

purpose  of  warring  with  them  that  the 

fame  abroad  in  all  that  country.” 

mildest  of  men  came  to  meet  them  ;  he 

“  When  they  were  gone  out,  they 

sought  only  to  enlighten  and  convert  them. 

brought  him  a  dumb  man  possessed  with 

It  was  a  religious  motive  that  induced  him 

a  devil.”  One  evangelist  says  of  the  devil 

to  make  this  journey.  It  was  the  feast  of 

himself  that  he  was  dumb,  because  he  pre- 

the  Jews,  which  we  believe,  with  many  in- 

vented  the  possessed  man  from  speaking, 

terpreters,  to  have  been  that  of  the  Pasch, 

thus  informing  us  that  this  hindrance  did 

especially  for  the  reason  that  it  is  here 

not  come  upon  the  man  from  any  natural 

called  simply  “  the  Feast.”  All  know  that 

cause,  but  from  the  demon  tying  his  tongue. 

this  was  the  greatest  of  the  three  feasts  on 

This  construction  seems  obvious,  from  the 

which  the  law  required  every  Jew  to  repair 

manner  in  which  the  cure  is  recounted  ; 

to  Jerusalem.  Jesus,  the  author  of  the 

for,  “  after  the  devil  was  cast  out,  the  dumb 

law,  had  voluntarily  made  himself  a  sub- 

man  spoke.  The  multitudes  wondered,  say- 

ject  of  the  law,  and  he  always  observed  it 

ing :  Never  was  the  like  seen  in  Israel. 

with  the  most  perfect  punctuality.  He 

But  the  Pharisees  said  :  By  the  prince  of 

came,  therefore,  to  the  feast  with  his  dis- 

devils  he  casteth  out  devils.”  (St.  Matt. 

ciples,  and  a  miraculous  cure,  by  which  he 

ix.  27-34.) 

signalized  his  arrival,  gave  the  Pharisees 

Jesus  did  not  then  condemn  this  bias- 

an  occasion  to  calumniate  him  ;  and  gave 

phemy,  which  perhaps  had  not  been  uttered 

him  an  opportunity  to  instruct  while  refut- 

in  his  presence.  W e  shall  see,  upon  another 

ting  them  by  an  admirable  discourse,  which 

occasion,  that  he  answered  it  in  a  manner 

he  delivered  on  occasion  of  it.  The  events 

which  covered  with  shame  those  who  dared 

occurred  thus. 

524 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XIH. 

PROBATICA.—  A  MAN  INFIRM  THIRTY-EIGHT  YEARS  HEALED.— DISCOURSE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  TO 

THE  JEWS. 


THERE  “  was  ” 1  “  at  J erusalem  a  pond 
called  Probatica,2  which  in  Hebrew 
is  named  Bethsaida,  having  five  porches. 
In  these  lay  a  great  multitude  of  sick,  of 
blind,  of  lame,  of  withered,  waiting  for 
the  moving  of  the  water.  And  an  angel 

( 1 )  We  read  in  the  text:  There  is  at  Jerusalem 
a  pond  ....  which  has  five  porches.  This  form 
of  expression  seems  to  show  clearly  that  Jerusalem 
still  existed  when  Saint  John  wrote.  Still  the 
opinion  of  the  most  ancient  doctors,  and  of  those 
whose  authority  ranks  highest,  is,  that  Saint  John 
did  not  compose  his  Gospel  until  several  years 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  While  sub¬ 
mitting  to  their  authority,  I  own  I  would  have 
desired  to  find  an  answer  to  this  difficulty,  which 
they  seem  not  even  to  have  thought  of. 

Two  things  are  possible,  each  of  which,  if  true, 
would  suffice  to  reconcile  Saint  John’s  form  of  ex¬ 
pression  with  the  date  which  all  antiquity  assigns 
to  his  Gospel :  1st.  After  the  capture  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Emperor  Titus,  the  city  was  not  so  utterly 
destroyed  as  not  to  leave  some  edifices  standing, 
and  some  Jews  occupying  them.  It  is  even  main¬ 
tained  that  they  still  retained  some  synagogues 
there  until  the  time  of  the  final  destruction  and 
their  utter  and  irrevocable  expulsion,  which  was 
under  the  Emperor  Adrian.  The  pond  and  the 
porticoes  might  then  still  exist,  and  Saint  John 
could  speak  of  them  as  of  things  actually  existing. 
2d.  Saint  John,  who  according  to  constant  tradi¬ 
tion  did  not  publish  his  Gospel  until  after  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem,  might  very  well  have 
written  previously  some  portions,  subsequently 
incorporated  in  the  body  of  the  work.  We  have 
now  only  to  suppose  that  the  cure  of  the  paralytic 


of  the  Lord  descended  at  certain  times 
into  the  pond  :  and  the  water  was  moved. 
He  that  wpnt  down  first  into  the  pond  after 
the  motion  of  the  water  was  made  whole, 
of  whatsoever  infirmity  he  lay  under. 
And  there  was  a  certain  man  there,  that 

was  one  of  these  portions  written  before  the  cap¬ 
ture  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  difficulty  will  be  re¬ 
solved,  at  least  for  those  who  are  content  with 
these  suppositions. 

( 3 )  This  Greek  word  Probatica  signifies  sheep- 
pond.  This  name  was  given  either  because  it  lay 
near  the  gate  by  which  the  sheep  entered  into  the 
city,  or  because  this  pond  was  in  the  market  where 
they  were  exposed  for  sale,  or  because  they  were 
washed  there  before  being  sacrificed,  or  perhaps 
because  the  waters  which  had  been  made  use  of  in 
washing  the  immolated  victims  were  brought 
thither  by  subterraneous  channels.  This  last  con¬ 
jecture  has  induced  several  to  think  that  it  was  for 
this  reason  God  had  communicated  to  these  waters 
the  miraculous  virtue  which  is  about  to  be  related, 
and  which  made  them  regarded  as  a  figure  of  the 
waters  of  baptism.  These  waters  extract  from  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  immolated  for  the  sins  of  the 
world,  the  quickening  virtue  which  communicates 
to  souls  the  supernatural  life  of  grace,  by  a  mira¬ 
cle  far  superior  to  all  cures  and  all  bodily  resur¬ 
rections. 

The  Anabaptists  regard  as  fabulous  this  mirac¬ 
ulous  sheep-pond  spoken  of  by  Saint  John,  because 
Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  does  not  speak  of 
it.  If  Saint  John  did  not  speak  of  it,  and  Josephus 
did,  apparently  they  would  believe  it.  Men  believe 
whom  they  will  when  they  believe  only  what  they 
will. 


OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  525 

had  been  eight-and- thirty  years  under  his 
infirmity.  Him  when  Jesns  had  seen  lying, 
and  knew  he  had  been  now  a  long  time,  he 
saith  to  him  :  Wilt  thou  be  made  whole? 
The  infirm  man  answered  him  :  Sir,  I  have 
no  man,  when  the  water  is  troubled,  to  put 
me  into  the  pond  ;  for  whilst  I  am  coming, 
another  goeth  down  before  me.  Jesus  saith 
to  him  :  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk. 
Immediately  the  man  was  made  whole,  and 
he  took  up  his  bed,  and  walked.  And  it 
was  the  sabbath  that  day.  The  Jews 
therefore  said  to  him  that  was  healed  :  It 
is  the  sabbath ;  it  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to 
take  up  thy  bed.  He  answered  them  :  He 
that  made  me  whole,  he  said  to  me :  Take 
up  thy  bed  and  walk.” 

To  give  as  authority  for  what  he  did  the 
command  of  him  who  had  cured  him,  was  a 
sufficient  justification  ■  whilst  the  author  of 
that  order  was  justified  at  the  same  time 
by  the  miracle  which  had  led  to  it.  The 
Jews,  who  merely  sought  to  criticise, 
seemed  to  pay  no  attention  to  what  this 
man  stated  about  his  cure,  and  they  asked 
him  not :  who  is  that  man  who  cured  thee  ? 
but  only,  “Who  is  that  man  who  said  to 
thee  :  Take  up  thy  bed  and  walk  ?  But  he 
who  was  healed  knew  not  who  he  was  ;  for 
Jesus  went  aside  from  the  multitude  stand¬ 
ing  in  the  place.  Afterwards,  Jesus  find- 
eth  him  in  the  temple,  and  saith  to  him : 
Behold  thou  art  made  whole  :  sin  no  more, 

lest  some  worse  thing  happen  thee.  The 
man  went  his  way,  and  told  the  Jews  that 
it  was  Jesus  who  had  made  him  whole,” 
and  not  that  it  was  J esus  who  had  given 
him  the  order  to  take  away  his  bed.  This 
shows  that  gratitude  prompted  him  to 
speak,  and  that  his  intention  was  not  to 
denounce  Jesus  as  a  violator  of  the  sab¬ 
bath,  but  to  make  him  known  as  author  of 
the  miracle. 

Yet  “  the  Jews,”  who  were  only  willing 
to  see  in  him  the  first  of  these  two  char¬ 
acters,  “therefore  did  persecute  Jesus, 
because  he  did  these  things  on  the  sab¬ 
bath  :  ”  for  here  began  that  charge,  which 
the^  renewed  whenever  an  opportunity  of¬ 
fered  itself,  although  the  reproaches  which 
they  cast  upon  Jesus  on  this  account  were 
always  turned  to  their  own  confusion,  by 
the  replies  he  made,  and  which  they  never 
could  answer.  Still,  once  that  hatred  had 
induced  them  to  say:  “He  breaks  the 
sabbath,”  they  never  ceased  repeating  it ; 
and  passion,  which  blindfolded  them,  so  as 
to  hinder  them  from  seeing  the  absurdity 
of  this  accusation,  hardened  their  very 
countenances  so  as  no  longer  to  feel  the 
shame  which  recoiled  back  upon  them¬ 
selves  every  time  they  renewed  the  charge. 

The  answer  which  Jesus  then  made  was 
this:  “My  Father  worketh  until  now;1 
and  I  work.”  Sublime  expression !  signi¬ 
fying  that  the  action  which  Jesus  Christ 

( 1 )  “  My  Father  worketh  until  now,”  that  is  to 
say,  there  is  no  time  or  no  day  during  ‘which  my 
Father  doth  not  act,  not  excepting  the  sabbath- 
day.  This  is  the  seventh  day,  upon  which  day 
God  rested,  after  employing  six  days  in  the  crea¬ 
tion  of  the  world.  He  ordained  that  in  memory 

of  this  rest  the  seventh  day  should  be  consecrated 
to  him  by  a  religious  repose.  Yet  God  only  rested 
inasmuch  as  he  ceased  to  create  new  species ;  for 
he  never  ceases  working  to  preserve  and  reproduce 
them.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Son,  whose  action 
is  not  distinguished  from  that  of  the  Father. 

526  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

had  just  performed  was  above  all  criticism, 
because  it  was  as  much  the  action  of  his 
Father  as  his  own.  Whence  it  followed, 
that  as  there  was  existing  between  him  and 
his  Father  unity  of  action,  there  must  also 
have  been  unity  of  nature  :  and  that  when 
he  called  God  his  father,  he  did  not  do  so 
»  in  the  sense  of  adoption,  which  was  not 
unknown  to  the  Jews,  and  would  not, 
therefore,  have  scandalized  them,  but  in 
the  sense  of  generation,  by  virtue  of  which 
he  attributed  to  himself  the  divine  nature, 
and  perfect  equality  with  God.  I  say  that 
this  was  a  manifest  consequence,  for  so  the 
Jews  understood  it ;  and  as  their  envy  re¬ 
doubled  in  proportion  to  the  great  things 
which  Jesus  disclosed  to  them  in  reference 
to  himself,  “  they  sought  the  more  to  kill 
him,  because  he  did  not  only  break  the 
sabbath,  but  also  said  God  was  his  father, 
making  himself  equal  to  God.”1  To  which 
Jesus  replied  by  the  following  discourse, 
in  which  we  observe,  as  it  were,  two  dis¬ 
tinct  parts.  The  former  is  the  further  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  expression  we  have  just 
noted,  and  the  direct  justification  of  his 
own  conduct  on  the  present  occasion.  The 
latter  established  the  divinity  of  his  mission, 
by  all  the  proofs  that  can  render  it  incon¬ 
testable.  He  resumed,  therefore,  in  these 
terms:  “Amen,  amen,  Isay  to  you,  the 

Son  cannot  do  anything  of  himself,  but 
what  he  seeth  the  Father  doing  ;  for  what 
things  soever  he  doth,  these  the  Son  also 
doth  in  like  manner  :  for  the  Father  loveth 
the  Son,  and  showeth  him  all  things  which 
himself  doth,  and  greater  works  than  these 
will  he  show  him,  that  you  may  wonder.” 

Unity  of  operation  and  of  nature,  and 
perfect  equality  between  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  are  found  explained  in  this  pas¬ 
sage.  Still,  it  is  well  to  observe  that  here 
it  is  said,  the  Son  cannot  do  anything  of 
himself,  but  only  what  he  seeth  the  Father 
doing :  not  as  the  Arians  understood  it, 
that  he  borrows  from  the  Father  any  knowl¬ 
edge  which  he  had  not  in  himself,  or  any 
power  in  which  he  was  deficient ;  but,  be¬ 
cause  the  Son  acts  solely  through  the 
knowledge  and  power  which  he  receives 
from  the  Father  through  the  eternal  gen¬ 
eration.  This,  very  far  from  limiting  the 
one  or  the  other,  proves  the  infinitude  of 
both  ;  for  what  the  Father  possesses  from 
all  eternity  the  same  doth  he  communicate 
in  all  its  plenitude  to  his  Son,  without  losing 
anything  of  what  he  gives,  or  ceasing  to 
possess  what  he  never  ceases  to  communi¬ 
cate.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  Son  cannot 
do  anything  without  the  Father.  But  it  is 
no  less  true,  as  the  fathers  of  the  Church  said 
to  the  Arians,  that  the  Father  cannot  do 

( 1 )  If  Jesus  Christ  is  not  equal  to  his  Father, 
it  was  an  imperative  duty  to  disabuse  the  Jews, 
when  they  thought  they  found  this  equality  im¬ 
plied  by  his  words.  Yet  he  did  not  do  so,  and  we 
soon  hear  him  express  himself  upon  the  point 
in  terms  much  stronger  than  those  he  had  already 
employed.  Hence  there  is  no  middle  course :  either 
he  possesses  divine  nature,  or  he  wishes  to  usurp  its 

honors ;  and,  if  not  God,  he  is  an  impostor.  How, 
he  is  not  an  impostor,  according  to  the  avowal  of 
the  Arians  and  Socinians,  who,  when  combating 
his  divinity,  nevertheless  acknowledge  him  as  the 
envoy  of  God,  and  subscribe  to  the  truth  of  all  his 
words.  This  reasoning  must  ever  be  a  rock  against 
which  their  hollow  subtilities  shall  dash  to 
pieces. 

OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRI3T. 


527 


anything  without  the  Son,  since  the  divine 
nature,  which  is  common  to  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  cannot  divide  itself,  nor,  whilst  it 
acts  in  the  Son,  cease  to  act  in  the  Father. 

Yet,  as  the  cure  of  this  man  languishing 
under  paralysis  was  but  a  slight  exertion 
of  the  infinite  power  which  the  Father  has 
communicated  to  the  Son,  Jesus  Christ  pre¬ 
pares  the  Jews  to  see  effects  more  extended, 
and  better  calculated  to  excite  their  admi¬ 
ration.  “For,”  said  he  to  them,  “as  the 
Father  raiseth  up  the  dead,  and  giveth 
life,  so  the  Son  also  giveth  life  to 
whom  he  will.”  Therefore  the  power  of 
giving  life,  or  of  raising  the  dead,  is  no 
more  restricted  in  the  Father  than  in  the 


( 1 )  The  last  judgment  will  be  the  judgment  of 
God,  and,  considered  as  a  divine  act,  will  be  com¬ 
mon  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
because  the  three  persons  of  the  adorable  Trinity 
concur  equally  in  all  the  actions  which  God  pro¬ 
duces  beyond  himself.  By  the  sacred  humanity 
of  the  Man-God,  which  shall  serve  as  their  instru¬ 
ment  on  this  occasion,  will  the  three  persons  exer¬ 
cise  this  judgment ;  and  so  far  we  see  no  difference 
between  them.  But  this  humanity?  which  alone 
shall  appear  in  this  great  action,  is  properly  the 
Son’s,  who  has  united  himself  with  it,  and  not  the 
Father’s  or  the  Holy  Ghost’s,  who  have  not  con¬ 
tracted  with  it  a  similar  union.  In  this  respect 
judgment  belongs  more  to  the  Son  than  to  the 
Father  or  the  Holy  Ghost,  because,  when  judging 
by  his  humanity,  the  Son  judges  by  an  instrument 
united  to  himself,  whereas  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  judge  by  an  instrument  separated 
from  them  respectively.  Thus  the  theologians  ex¬ 
press  themselves ;  and  this  may  be  better  under¬ 
stood  by  saying  that  when  judging  by  the  human¬ 
ity,  the  Son  judges  by  himself,  whereas  the  Father, 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
judges  by  another  person  than  himself,  but  who 
at  the  same  time  is  another  self ;  a  fashion  of 


Son  ;  for,  to  say  that  the  Son  giveth  life  to 
“  whom  he  will,”  is  saying  very  plainly 
that  his  power  in  this  respect  is  unlimited. 
And  as  that  great  miracle  of  the  Resurrec¬ 
tion  of  all  men,  in  which  the  Son  will  act 
conjointly  with  the  Father,  is  to  be  followed 
immediately  by  the  universal  judgment, 
Jesus  Christ  takes  thence  an  opportunity  to 
declare  to  the  Jews,  that,  besides  the  power 
of  resuscitating,  he  has  received  from  his 
Father  authority  to  judge,  which,  in  one 
sense,  is  peculiarly  his  own.  “  For,”  he 
says,  further,  “neither  doth  the  Father 
judge  any  man,  but  hath  given  all  judg¬ 
ment  to  the  Son,  that  all  men  may  honor 
the  Son  as  they  honor  the  Father.”1  This 

speech  which  can  only  have  a  literal  signification 
when  speaking  with  reference  to  the  three  persons 
of  the  adorable  Trinity. 

The  Fathers  adduce  several  reasons  why  God 
wished  that  judgment  should  be  exercised  by  the 
sacred  humanity  of  the  Saviour.  1st.  To  indem¬ 
nify  him  for  the  profound  humiliation  to  which  he 
voluntarily  reduced  himself,  conformably  to  those 
words  of  Saint  Paul:  He  “emptied  himself,  taking 

the  form  of  a  servant . He  humbled  himself, 

becoming  obedient  unto  death,  even  to  the  death 
of  the  cross.  For  which  cause  God  also  hath  ex¬ 
alted  him,  and  hath  given  him  a  name  which  is 
above  all  names,  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bow  of  those  that  are  in  heaven,  on 
earth,  and  under  the  earth.”  (Phil.  ii.  7-10.)  2d.  To 
confer  on  Jesus  Christ  the  special  glory  of  judg¬ 
ing  those  by  whom  he  has  been  judged,  and  of 
justly  condemning  those  by  whom  he  has  been 
unjustly  condemned.  The  latter  shall  see  with 
unutterable  dread  the  scars  of  the  wounds  which 
their  brutal  fury  imprinted  on  his  innocent  flesh, 
according  to  these  words :  They  shall  look  on  him 
whom  they  pierced  (St.  John  xix.  37.)  3d.  That 

men  may  have  a  judge  to  whom  they  cannot  ob¬ 
ject.  He  is  man  like  themselves,  bone  of  their 


528  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

is  done  here  below  by  those  who  believe  in 
the  Son,  and  consequently  who  render  him 
the  honors  due  to  the  only  Son  of  the 
Father,  and  its  accomplishment  shall  be 
seen  in  a  much  more  dazzling  manner  at 
the  Day  of  Judgment,  when  Jesns  Christ 
shall  be  recognized  and  honored  by  all 
men,  not  even  excepting  those  who  shall 
have  refused  to  believe  in  him,  but  who 
can  then  no  longer  pretend  not  to  know 
him,  when  they  see  him  come  on  a  light 
cloud,  full  of  majesty  and  glory,  armed 
with  empire  and  power,  and  by  the  prodi¬ 
gies  of  his  right  arm  announcing  to  all  na¬ 
ture  its  Lord  and  its  King.  Then,  con¬ 
vinced  by  the  evidence  of  their  own  eyes, 
they  shall  at  least  recognize  him  by  their 
involuntary  tremor  and  forced  adoration, 
and  they  shall  have  nothing  to  plead  in  re¬ 
ply  to  the  sentence  by  which  they  shall  be 
declared  attainted  and  convicted  of  the 
crime  of  high  treason  against  the  Divine 
Majesty,  for  having  refused  him  during  life 
the  faith  and  homage  which  were  due  to 
him  ;  whereby  they  have  as  grossly  in¬ 
sulted  the  Father  as  himself :  ‘  ‘  For  he  who 
honoreth  not  the  Son,  honoreth  not  the 
Father,  who  hath  sent  him.”  And  he  that 
would  simply  honor  him  as  an  envoy  of  the 

Father,  could  not  escape  a  similar  condem¬ 
nation  ;  because,  not  to  honor  him  as  the 

Son,  in  which  quality  he  has  been  sent,  is 
equally  to  despise  both  Father  and  Son. 

Happy  those  for  whom  this  resurrection 
shall  be  the  commencement  of  a  life  eter¬ 
nally  happy !  But  to  this  end  they  must 
have  had  share  in  the  first  resurrection, 
which  is  from  the  death  of  sin  to  the  life 
of  grace.  In  this  resurrection  the  Son 
doth  noteless  operate  than  in  the  other  ; 
but  here  is  one  thing  which  belongs  not  to 
the  other  resurrection,  this  requires  the  co¬ 
operation  of  man.  All  shall  have  part  in 
the  second,  because  no  one  can  resist. 
Many  shall  resist  the  first,  and  by  their  re¬ 
sistance  exclude  themselves  from  it  alto¬ 
gether.  Hence  Christ  promises  the  first  to 
“him  who  heareth  his  word  ;  ”  whereas  of 
the  second,  he  states  absolutely  and  with¬ 
out  any  condition:  “All  that  are  in  the 
graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
God,”  “and  shall  come  forth.”  Here  are 
his  words,  continuing  his  address:  “Amen, 
amen,  I  say  to  you,  that  he  who  heareth 
my  word,  and  believeth  him  that  sent  me, 
hath  life  everlasting1  and  cometh  not  into 
judgment ;  but  is  passed  from  death  to  life. 
Amen,  amen,  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  hour 

bone  and  flesh  of  their  flesh.  Will  they  object  to 
him  who  has  only  become  their  judge  because  he 
condescended  to  become  their  brother  ?  He  is 
their  Saviour,  who  only  acquired  this  qualification 
at  the  expense  of  his  repose,  his  glory,  his  blood, 
and  his  life.  Can  any  one  desire  the  perdition  of 
those  for  whom  he  has  made  such  sacrifices  ?  And 
is  not  a  person  a  thousand  times  more  culpable  for 
having  neglected  a  salvation  which  had  cost  so  great 
a  price  ?  “  Destruction  is  thy  own,  0  Israel.” 
Osee  xiii.  9.  Accuse  not,  then,  thy  judge.  His 

past  mercies  cannot  but  authorize  present  severity, 
and  in  dying  for  thee  he  has  justified  in  advance 
the  sentence  of  death  which  he  shall  pronounce 
against  thee. 

( 1 )  There  is  the  principle  of  this  in  sanctifying 
grace,  which  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  a  life  which,  by 
its  nature,  is  to  last  always,  and  which  will  procure 
for  the  body  immortal  life,  if  the  possessor  of  this 
life  does  not  voluntarily  lose  it  by  sinning  again, 
and  by  thus  inflicting  death  a  second  time  on  the 
soul. 

- 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


529 


come  h,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead  shall 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  and 
thej  that  hear  shall  live.  For,  as  the 
Fat  ter  hath  life  in  himself,  so  he  hath  given 
to  i  he  Son  also  to  have  life  in  himself,  and 
he  hath  given  him  power  to  do  judgment 
because  he  is  the  Son  of  man.2  Wonder 
net  at  this.  For  the  hour  cometh,  wherein 
all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  they  that 
have  done  good  things  shall  come  forth 
unto  the  resurrection  of  life  ;  but  they  that 
have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of 
judgment.”  Jesus  Christ  adds,  what  is,  in 
two  words,  an  apology  for  all  his  acts 
and  judgments,  that  the  former  are  pro¬ 
duced  by  the  power  imparted  to  him  by 
his  Father,  whose  judgments  and  wishes 
are  equally  the  rule  of  his  wishes  and  his 
judgments :  this  he  expresses  by  these 


( 1 )  This  is  understood  of  the  particular  resur¬ 
rections  which  Jesus  Christ  had  wrought  or  was 
still  to  work.  They  are  proof  by  anticipation,  and, 
as  it  were,  the  earnest  of  the  general  resurrection. 

(*  *  )  In  a  book  so  precise  and  so  profound  as 
Scripture,  all  terms  must  be  weighed.  What  occa¬ 
sions  this  reflection  is,  that  it  is  written  that  the 
dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
that  the  Son  is  entitled  to  judge,  because  he  is  Son 
of  man.  Still  it  is  the  same  person,  and  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  saying,  the  Son  of  man  shall  resus¬ 
citate  the  dead,  and  the  Son  of  God  shall  judge 
them  ;  but  here  is  attributed  to  each  of  the  two 
natures  the  act  which  it  shall  produce  immediately 
by  itself.  To  the  divine  nature  is  attributed  re¬ 
surrection,  because  nothing  but  an  almighty  nature 
can  effect  this  by  its  own  proper  virtue:  to  human 
nature  is  attributed  judgment,  because  the  sitting 
of  the  judge,  the  pronouncing  of  judgment,  and 
every  thing  of  a  sensible  character  in  judgment, 
can  be  the  immediate  effect  of  a  limited  nature. 

G7 


words  :  “  I  cannot  of  myself  do  any  thing. 
As  I  hear,  so  I  judge,  and  my  judgment  is 
just :  because  I  seek  not  my  own  will,  but 
the  will  of  him  that  sent  me.” 

He  has  just  announced  great  things  :  he 
is  now  going  to  support  their  truth  by 
great  testimony.  The  first  is  that  of  John  ; 
for  whatever  authority  the  purity  of  his 
morals  and  his  ever  irreproachable  conduct 
gave  to  the  statement  of  Jesus,  he  does  not 
expect  to  be  believed  upon  his  own  simple 
assertion.  “  If  I  bear  witness  of  myself, 
my  witness  is  not  lawful.3  There  is  another 
that  beareth  witness  of  me,  and  I  know  that 
the  witness  which  he  witnesseth  of  me  is 
true.”  You  yourselves  have  recognized 
the  legitimacy  of  his  testimony  ;  for  “you 
sent  to  John,  and  he  gave  testimony  to  the 
truth.  But  I  receive  not  testimony  from 
man,”  which  is  by  no  means  necessary  to 


Yet  the  right  of  sovereign  judgment  over  the  uni¬ 
verse  belongs  to  God  alone.  And  so  the  Son  en¬ 
joys  it  only,  because  he  is  at  the  same  time  Sou  of 
God,  and,  inasmuch  as  by  the  personal  union  of 
the  Word  with  human  nature,  humanity  has  been 
associated  with  all  the  rights  of  the  divinity,  who 
imparts  to  it  the  power  of  doing  immediately,  and 
by  itself,  every  thing  which  is  not  beyond  the 
sphere  of  created  nature. 

( * )  If  we  servilely  adhere  to  the  letter,  we  must 
translate,  My  testimony  is  not  true;  and  Jesus 
Christ  would  contradict  himself,  for  he  says  in  an¬ 
other  place:  “  Although  I  give  testimony  of  myself, 
my  testimony  is  true.”  (John  viii.  14.)  No  doubt  it 
was  true ;  but  if  it  were  single  testimony  it  proved 
nothing,  and  the  hearers  had  a  right  to  decline  be¬ 
lieving  upon  the  maxim  that  no  one  can  be  judge 
or  witness  in  his  own  cause.  Hence  what  he  ac¬ 
quires  by  extrinsic  testimony  is  not  truth,  but  a 
legitimate  character  which  renders  truth  available, 
and  compels  it  to  be  received. 


53C  •  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

me.  Wherefore  it  is  not  for  myself,  “but 

j  ing  me ;  “  and  you  have  not  his  word 

I  say  these  things  that  you  may  be  saved.” 

abiding  in  you,  for  whom  he  hath  sent,  him 

Besides,  this  testimony  you  have  chosen  is 

you  believe  not.” 

void  of  all  reproach,  and  I  do  not  reproach 

Meantime  you  deem  yourselves  the  faith- 

you  for  applying  to  him.  “John  was  a 

ful  depositories  and  close  searchers  of  this 

burning  and  a  shining  light.  You  were 

divine  word.  You  “search  the  Scriptures, 

willing  for  a  time  to  rejoice  in  his  light,”1 

for  you  think  in  them  to  have  life  everlast- 

yet  you  turned  away  your  eyes  from  this 

ing.  The  same  are  they  that  give  testimony 

light,  which  seemed  at  first  so  welcome. 

of  me,  and  you  will  not  come  to  me  that 

But  although  he  was  worthy  of  all  belief, 

you  may  have  life,” 2  which  they  only  prom- 

“  I  have  a  greater  testimony  than  that  of 

ise  you  through  me,  and  which  you  depart 

John;”  even  that  of  my  Father.  “For 

from,  whilst  you  seem  to  seek  it,  because 

the  ”  miraculous  “  works  which  the  Father 

you  withdraw  from  the  only  road  that  con- 

hath  given  me  to  perfect,  the  works  them- 

ducts  to  it.  If  I  seek  to  attract  you  to 

selves  which  I  do,  give  testimony  of  me, 

me,  I  do  so  with  a  view  to  your  interest. 

that  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  and  the 

and  not  my  own.  “I  receive  not  glory 

Father  himself  who  hath  sent  me  hath 

from  men.  But  ”  you,  who  wish  to  justify 

given  testimony  of  me.  Neither  have  you 

by  the  motive  of  the  love  of  God  your  un- 

heard  his  voice  at  any  time,  nor  seen  his 

willingness  to  hear  me,  “I  know  that  you 

shape  ;  ”  for  God,  who  is  a  pure  spirit, 

have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you,”  and  the 

comes  not  under  the  observation  of  the 

conduct  you  pursue  towards  me  is  proof  of 

senses  ;  but  by  the  works  which  he  has 

this  ;  for  “  I  am  come  in  the  name  of  my 

i  * 

given  me  to  perform,  and  which  are,  as  it 

Father,  and  you  receive  me  not.  If  another 

! 

were,  his  voice,  he  has  made  sensible  the 

shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  you  will 

j 

testimony  which  he  has  rendered  concern- 

receive.”3  Yet  your  incredulity  should 

j 

(')  Since  they  sent  a  deputation  to  him,  with 

of  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  wished  for  the 

the  disposition,  in  most,  to  recognize  him  as  the 

end  like  ourselves :  like  them,  we  do  not  wish  for 

Messias,  supposing  he  had  declared  himself  such. 

the  means.  They  perished  with  such  a  wish ; 

We  say  in  most,  for  the  people  proceeded  in  the 

and  what  can  we  expect  but  to  perish  like  them,  if 

matter  in  good  faith,  and  the  perverse  intentions 

we  do  not  pass  from  this  wish,  which  I  know  not 

spoken  of  elsewhere  are  attributed  to  the  Scribes 

:  whether  to  call  chimerical  or  hypocritical,  to  a 

and  Pharisees  only.  John  referred  this  honor  to 

sincere,  absolute,  and  efficacious  wish,  tending  to 

him  to  whom  it  belonged.  Yet  the  Jews  did  not 

the  end  by  the  means,  and  embracing  everything 

believe  him,  although  much  more  deserving  of 

without  exception  and  without  reserve? 

credit  when  rendering  this  testimony  to  another 

( 3  j  This  is  not  merely  a  threat,  it  is  prophetic  of 

than  if  he  had  rendered  it  to  himself. 

what  was  going  to  happen  immediately  after  the 

( “ )  Who  is  there  who  would  not  have  life,  and 

death  of  Jesus  Christ.  Whoever  chose  to  assume 

above  all  others,  eternal  life  ?  The  Jews  wished 

the  title  of  Messias  found  followers  amongst  them, 

it.  And  we  also  wish  it.  But  the  Jews  did  not 

and  the  prodigy  of  their  credulity  in  this  regard 

wish  to  have  it  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ;  and 

equals  that  of  their  incredulity.  Terrible,  yet  just 

we  do  not  wish  to  have  it  through  the  observance 

chastisement  of  that  voluntary  blindness  which 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  -  531 


not  excite  surprise.  There  is  nothing  in 
faith  that  datters  human  pride  ;  being  little 
esteemed  among  men,  faith  attracts  the 
complacency  of  God  alone.  “  How  can 
you  believe,  who  receive  glory  one  from 
another,  and  the  glory  which  is  from  God 
alone  you  do  not  seek  ?  Think  not  that  I 
will  accuse  you  to  my  Father.”  He  who 

after  having  closed  their  eyes  to  the  truth,  rendered 
them  the  dupes,  and  at  last  the  victims  of  the 
grossest  illusions  and  the  most  absurd  falsehoods  ! 
Let  us  dread  this,  since  it  is  daily  renewed  before 
our  eyes.  When  men  will  no  longer  hear  the  voice 
of  those  whom  God  has  established  as  interpreters 
of  his  oracles,  they  listen  to  others,  for  after  all  the 
masses  cannot  frame  for  themselves  a  system  of 
religion,  and  error,  like  “faith  cometh”  to  them 
“  by  bearing.”  (Rom.  x.  17.)  They  must  of  necessity 
hearken  to  other  masters;  and  to  what  masters  do 
they  hearken  ?  First  of  all,  to  men  without  title, 
without  credentials,  without  mission,  “who  bear 
witness  of  themselves,”  who  must  be  credited  on 
their  word,  when,  with  a  boldness  as  ridiculous  as 
insolent,  they  come  and  tell  you,  I  alone  am  more 
enlightened  in  matters  of  religion,  I  understand 
Scripture  better  than  all  the  doctors  and  all  the 
pastors  of  the  Church.  But  this  is  merely  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  illusion.  After  rejecting  the  real 
envoys  of  God,  the  people  receive  as  from  God 
every  one  who  presents  himself  before  them.  By 
plentiful  effrontery  and  some  strokes  of  jugglery, 
a  man  fitted  at  most  to  figure  as  a  charlatan,  sets 
up  as  a  prophet,  and  a  thousand  voices  repeat :  He 
is  a  prophet.  Others  come  to  join  him,  and  as  all 
have  an  equal  right,  there  is  soon  formed  a  body  of 
prophets  and  prophetesses,  composed  of  the  coarsest 
and  craftiest  of  the  lowest  populace.  In  language 
worthy  of  those  who  use  it,  they  retail  the  most 
monstrous  conceits,  such  ravings  as  the  excitement 
of  fever  could  scarcely  engender  in  the  brain  of  a 
sick  man.  Whatever  is  intelligible  is  palpable 
impiety;  but  in  general  they  do  not  understand 
themselves.  Whether  understood  or  not,  still  they 
are  oracles,  listened  to  with  religious  attention, 


yon  are  constantly  citing  against  me,  and 
whose  most  zealous  defenders  you  claim  to 
be,  this  “Moses,  in  whom  you  trust,  is” 
already  “one  that  accuseth  you.  For  if 
you  did  believe  Moses,  you  would  perhaps 1 
believe  me  also  ;  for  he  wrote  of  me.8  But 
if  you  do  not  believe  his  writings,  how  will 
you  believe  my  words  ?  ”  (St.  John  v.  2-47.) 

who  are  entertained,  whose  sayings  are  reported 
and  treasured  up  like  a  second  Scripture,  more 
respected  than  the  first,  which  now  is  merely  made 
use  of  to  clothe  their  extravagant  whims  in  sacred 
expressions.  The  mind  once  fascinated  and  carried 
away,  the  flesh  has  no  longer  any  bridle :  the  filth 
of  impurity  mingles  with  the  visions  of  fanaticism, 
and  becomes  incorporated  with  its  fearful  mys¬ 
teries.  And  well  would  it  be  if  they  did  not  soon 
pass  from  lust  to  cruelty,  from  folly  to  phrensy;  if 
they  did  not  advance  with  torch  and  steel  in  hand 
to  accomplish  the  sanguinary  predictions  of  those 
prophets,  who  never  cease  announcing  the  impend¬ 
ing  and  utter  ruin  of  their  adversaries  !  To  such 
a  pitch  does  this  reason  degrade  and  vilify  itself, 
when  too  proud  to  bend  under  the  salutary  yoke  of 
divine  authority.  Such  is  in  brief  the  history  of  the 
Gnostics,  Montanists,  Priscillianists,  Donatists, 
Albigenses,  Hussites,  Anabaptists,  fanatics  of  Ce- 
vennes,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  and  in  fine,  of  all  those  who, 
walking  in  the  same  paths,  must  ever  reach  the 
same  wanderings,  and  shall  verify  in  themselves 
the  expression  of  the  Saviour :  “  I  am  come  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  you  receive  me  not :  if 
another  shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  you  will 
receive.”  (St.  John  v.  43.) 

( 1  )  See  note  4,  page  501,  where  this  “  perhaps  ” 
is  explained. 

( 3 )  In  Deuteronomy  xviii.  15,  18,  19,  we  read 
these  words :  “  The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up  to 
thee  a  prophet  of  thy  nation,  and  of  thy  brethren, 

like  unto  me . I  will  put  my  words  in  his 

mouth,  and  he  shall  speak  all  that  I  shall  command 
him.  And  he  that  will  not  hear  his  words,  which 
he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  1  will  be  the  revenger.” 

This  prophecy  has  always  been  applied  to  Jesus 


532  *  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  SINFUL  WOMAN  AT  THE  FEET  OF  JESUS.— THE  EARS  OF  GRAIN  PLUCKED. 


WE  here  insert  an  incident  which 
others  place  somewhat  later  :  they 
think  it  occurred  at  Naim,  and  we  think  at 
Bethany,  which  was  a  town  not  far  distant 
from  Jerusalem.  It  follows,  from  the  view 
we  take,  that  the  sinner  whose  conversion 
we  are  going  to  relate  is  no  other  than 
Mary,  sister  of  Lazarus  and  of  Martha. 
Neither  shall  we  distinguish  her  from  Mary 
Magdalen,  so  well  known  by  her  tender 
and  inviolable  attachment  to  the  sacred 
person  of  the  Saviour.  Many  think  that 
these  are  two,  or  even  three  different  per¬ 
sons.  They  should  not  be  censured  for 
following  on  this  point  the  opinion  which 
appeared  to  them  most  probable  ;  but  it  is 
well  to  know  that  their  proofs  are  very  far 
from  a  demonstration.  After  having  ex¬ 
amined  their  reasons,  we  think  we  may  aver 
that  they  merely  oppose  conjecture  to  con¬ 
jecture,  a  new  opinion  to  an  old  one.  Now, 
where  opinions  are  equally  probable,  we  have 
no  hesitation  in  saying  that  we  side  more 
willingly  with  those  which  are  ancient  and 
common  than  those  which  are  new  and 
singular.  After  this  short  digression,  we 

Christ,  and  undoubtedly  Jesus  Christ  here  alludes 
to  it.  These  words,  “like  unto  me,”  signify,  1st. 
A  man  “  like  unto  me,”  to  allay  the  apprehensions 
of  the  people,  who  through  fear  of  dying,  had  en¬ 
treated  the  Lord  not  to  speak  personally  any  more 
by  himself,  as  he  had  done  upon  Mount  Sinai. 
2d.  They  also  signify  a  legislator  “like  unto  me,” 


shall  proceed  to  recount  the  narrative 
which  occasioned  it. 

Despite  the  violence  of  the  Pharisees 
against  Jesus  Christ,  one  of  them  ventured 
to  show  him  marks  of  attachment  and  re¬ 
spect.  His  name  was  Simon,  and  it  is 
thought  very  probable  that  he  is  no  other 
than  Simon  the  leper,  who  is  also  mentioned 
under  circumstances  very  like  the  present. 
Either  from  esteem  for  Christ,  or  from  that 
species  of  vanity  which  induces  the  wealthy 
to  invite  extraordinary  characters  to  their 
tables,  Simon  “desired  Jesus  to  eat  with 
him.”  Jesus  consented,  and  thereby  show¬ 
ed  that  what  he  hated  in  the  Pharisees  was 
their  vices,  and  not  themselves.  “He 
went  therefore  into  his  house,  and  sat  down 
to  meat.  And  behold,  a  woman  that  was 
in  the  city,  a  sinner,  when  she  knew  that 
he  sat  at  meat  in  the  Pharisee’s  house, 
brought  an  alabaster  box  of  ointment :  and 
standing  behind  at  his  feet,1  she  began  to 
wash  his  feet  with  tears,  and  wiped  them  with 
the  hairs  of  her  hhad,  and  kissed  them,  and 
anointed  them  with  the  ointment.  The  Pha¬ 
risee,  who  had  invited  him,  seeing  it,  spoke 

.to  distinguish  Jesus  Christ  from  the  other  pro¬ 
phets,  and  to  prepare  their  minds  for  receiving  the 
new  law  which  was  to  abrogate  the  old. 

( 1 )  The  posture  then  observed  at  table  made 
this  the  more  easy  for  her.  They  reclined  on 
couches,  the  head  being  turned  towards  the  table 
and  the  feet  outwards. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  533 

within  himself,  saying :  This  man,  if  he 
were  a  prophet,  would  know  surely  who 
and  what  manner  of  woman  this  is  that 
toucheth  him,1  that  she  is  a  sinner.”  He, 
before  whose  eyes  all  things  are  laid  bare, 
knew  well  what  the  Pharisee  dared  to  think, 
though  he  durst  not  utter,  and  by  showing 
him  that  he  knew  it,  he  would  guarantee  to 
his  mind  the  title  of  prophet  which  he  de¬ 
nied  him.  But  as  he  wished  to  spare  the 
feelings  of  a  man  who  had  invited  him  to 
his  table,  he  not  only  did  not  address  him 
until  after  he  had  in  some  manner  asked 
his  permission,  but  also  he  employed  a 
parable,  which,  without  too  deeply  wound¬ 
ing  his  self-love,  yet  convinced  him  of  his 
error,  by  showing  him  how  blind  he  was  in 
the  judgment  he  passed  upon  J esus  Christ, 
unjust  in  his  strictures  on  the  sinful  woman, 
and  presumptuous  in  the  estimate  he  formed 
of  himself.  “He  said  to  him  then,  an¬ 
swering,”  not  his  words,  but  his  thoughts  : 
“Simon,  I  have  somewhat  to  say  to  thee. 
But  he  said  :  Master,  say  it.  A  certain 
creditor  had  two  debtors  :  the  one  owed  five 

hundred  pence,  and  the  other  fifty.  And 
whereas  they  had  not  wherewith  to  pay, 
he  forgave  them  both.  Which,  therefore, 
of  the  two  loveth  him  most?  Simon  an¬ 
swering,  said :  I  suppose  that  he  to  whom 
he  forgave  most.  Jesus  said  to  him  :  Thou 
hast  judged  rightly.”  And  turning  to  the 
woman,  he  justified  his  apparent  disregard 
of  what  she  was  doing,  by  showing  that  he 
had  remarked  everything,  that  he  gave  her 
credit  for  all,  and  that  the  tears  of  this  sin¬ 
ful  woman  had  been  a  more  delicious  food 
for  him  than  all  that  which  the  Pharisee 
had  served  up  before  him.  “Dost  thou 
see  this  woman?  I  entered  into  thy  house, 
thou  gavest  me  no  water  for  my  feet :  but 
she  with  tears  hath  washed  my  feet,  and 
with  her  hairs  hath  wiped  them.  Thou 
gavest  me  no  kiss,  but  she,  since  she  came 
in,  hath  not  ceased  to  kiss  my  feet.  My 
head  with  oil  thou  didst  not  anoint,  but  she 
with  ointment  hath  anointed  my  feet. 
Wherefore,  I  say  to  thee,  many  sins  are 
forgiven  her,  because  she  hath  loved  much.2 

But  to  whom  less  is  forgiven,  he  loveth 

( 1  )  To  be  a  prophet,  it  is  not  necessary  to  know 
all  things  by  divine  revelation ;  it  is  enough  to 
know  several.  Eliseus  was  not  the  less  a  prophet, 
although  he  was  ignorant  of  the  death  of  the  Su- 
namitess’  son,  which  the  Lord,  he  said,  had  con¬ 
cealed  from  him.  Thus  Christ  might,  as  man,  be 
ignorant  of  the  woman’s  character,  and  yet  be  a 
prophet.  The  Pharisee  was  then  in  error  on  this 
point.  We  shall  see  that  he  also  deceived  himself 
on  several  others.  Innumerable  are  the  blunders 
of  malice,  which,  withal,  thinks  itself  so  subtle 
and  penetrating. 

(’ )  The  great  love  of  this  sinful  woman  is  here 
assigned  as  the  cause  of  the  great  remission  ac¬ 
corded  to  her.  In  the  parable  remission  is  granted 

to  her  on  account  of  this  great  love.  If  you  seek 
for  the  justice  of  the  application,  I  am  free  to  avow 
that  it  is  hard  to  find.  Yet  that  it  does  not  appear 
impossible,  you  may  form  your  own  judgment  by 
what  we  are  going  to  say.  That  there  would  ap¬ 
parently  be  no  further  difficulty  if  we  admitted  a  love 
which  was  at  the  same  time  the  cause  and  the  effect 
of  the  remission,  that  is  to  say,  a  love  that  pre¬ 
ceded  the  remission,  and  which  had  at  the  same 
time  the  remission  for  its  motive.  This  is,  in  fact, 
the  love  of  that  penitent.  According  to  the  para¬ 
ble  she  loved  much,  because  many  sins  were  re¬ 
mitted  her;  and  following  the  application,  many 
sins  are. remitted  her,  because  she  loved  much. 

Now,  here  is  the  way  in  which  all  this  can  be  ex- 

534 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


less.  And  lie  said  to  her :  Thy  sins  are 
forgiven  thee.”  (St.  Luke  vii.  36-48.) 

This  was  solely  what  she  desired ;  and 
what  constituted  the  glory  of  this  illustrious 
penitent  is,  that  she  was  the  first  who  ap¬ 
plied  to  Jesus  Christ  to  obtain  from  him, 
not,  like  others,  deliverance  from  some  cor¬ 
poreal  infirmity,  but  the  healing  of  those 
mortal  wounds  which  sin  had  made  in  her 
soul.  In  this,  her  faith  extolled  by  Christ 
seems  perfectly  enlightened,  since  she  re¬ 
cognized  him  as  her  Saviour  in  the  true 
sense,  in  the  sense  that  he  was  “to  save 
the  people  from  their  sins.”  (St.  Matt.  i. 
21.)  Now  this  is  what  was  less  understood 
than  anything  else  even  by  those  Jews  who 
recognized  him  as  a  prophet.  Far  from 

plained  and  reconciled.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  these 
words  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  when  it  treats  of 
the  dispositions  for  justification  :  “  They  (the  sin¬ 
ners)  must  begin  to  love  God  as  the  source  of  all 
justice,”  that  is  to  say,  as  author  of  the  justification 
of  sinners.  This  justification  is  evidently  the  ef¬ 
fect  of  the  merciful  bounty  by  which  God  remits 
sins,  and  this  mercy  is  the  attribute  under  which 
God  is  here  proposed  to  the  love  of  the  sinner.  It 
is  therefore  enjoined  on  him  to  love  God,  because 
God  is  so  good  as  to  render  him  j  ust,  after  being  a 
sinner,  by  mercifully  according  to  him  the  pardon 
of  all  his  crimes.  Now,  the  heavier  he  is  loaded 
with  crimes,  the  greater  is  this  bounty  with  respect 
to  him,  and  the  more  amiable  should  it  appear  to 
him ;  and  I  conceive  that  if  I  love  God,  because  I 
know  that  he  is  sufficiently  good  to  grant  to  my 
repentance  the  pardon  of  all  my  crimes,  I  ought 
to  love  him  a  thousand  times  more,  being  a 
thousand  times  more  culpable,  than  I  should 
love  him  if  I  were  a  thousand  times  less 
guilty.  I  have  said  that  such  was  the  love  of  this 
sinful  woman ;  and  thus  it  is  that  at  the  same  time 
that  she  was  the  woman  to  whom  many  sins  were 
remitted,  because  she  loved  much,  she  is  also  the 


thinking  that  he  was  soon  to  confer  upon 
sinful  men  the  power  of  remitting  sin,  they 
were  amazed  to  see  that  he  claimed  this 
power  himself.  Whence  it  followed  that 
“they  that  sat  at  meat  with  him  began 
to  say  within  themselves,”  surprised  and 
scandalized  :  “  Who  is  this  that  forgiveth 
sins  also  ?  ”  But  without  stopping  to  reply 
to  them,  “Jesus  said  to  the  woman:  Thy 
faith  hath  made  thee  safe  ;  go  in  peace.”1 
(St.  Luke  vii.  49-50.)  This  faith  was  evi¬ 
dently  that  by  which  she  had  believed  that 
J esus  Christ  had  the  power  and  the  will  to 
remit  her  sins  ;  and  Jesus,  by  telling  her 
so,  taught  these  murmurers  that  only  by 
similar  faith  could  they  merit  and  obtain  a 
like  favor. 


debtor,  who  loves  the  creditor  not  for  remitting 
again,  but  because  the  debtor  believes  firmly  him 
that  is  sufficiently  generous  to  remit  him  even  a 
heavier  debt.  In  a  word,  this  is  gratitude  by  an¬ 
ticipation,  for  a  grace  which  is  sure  to  be  obtained 
from  the  pure  bounty  of  Him  who  can,  and  we 
know  will  accord  it.  Let  us  say,  however,  that 
there  never  is  any  certainty  of  having  obtained 
this  grace.  Yet  this  uncertainty  should  be  no 
obstacle  to  the  love  of  which  I  speak;  because  this 
does  not  depend  on  God,  but  on  ourselves,  that  is 
to  say,  on  our  own  dispositions,  for  the  validity  of 
which  we  never  can  answer.  For  could  I  be  infal¬ 
libly  assured  that  they  are  such  as  they  ought  to 
be,  I  should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  doubt  of 
my  pardon  ;  it  would  be  to  me  an  article  of  faith, 
as  it  was  for  this  sinful  woman,  after  Jesus  Christ 
had  said  to  her :  “  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee.” 

(  1 )  The  wrongful  use  which  Protestants  have 
made  of  these  words  to  uphold  their  justifying 
faith,  compels  us  to  remember  here  that  Jesus 
Christ  had  said  previously :  “  Many  sins  are  for¬ 
given  her,  because  she  hath  loved  much.”  It  is 
not,  therefore,  faith  alone  which  justifies,  but 
“faith  that  worketh  by  charity.”  (Gal.  v.) 


OF  OUR  LORD 


When  the  feast  was  over,  Jesus,  whom 
nothing  obliged  to  prolong  his  sojourn  at 
Jerusalem,  set  out  again  for  Galilee.  He 
arrived  there,  and  was  engaged,  as  usual, 
in  his  gospel  journeys.  “And  it  came  to 
pass  on  the  second-first1  sabbath,  that  as 
he  went  through  the  corn-fields,  his  disci¬ 
ples  being  hungry,  began  to  pluck  the  ears, 
and  rubbing  them  in  their  hands,  did  eat.” 
(St.  Luke  vi.  1  ;  St.  Matthew  xii.  1.)  The 
law  allowed  this  in  express  terms  (Deut. 
xxiii.  24),  and  the  thing,  considered  in  it¬ 
self,  could  not  draw  on  them  the  slightest 
reproach  from  men  who  piqued  themselves 
on  being  scrupulous  observers  of  the  law. 
Hence  it  was  that  the  circumstance  of  the 
particular  day  enabled  the  Pharisees  who 
were  among  the  crowd  that  followed  Jesus 
to  cavil.  “Why,”  said  they  to  the  disci- 


( 1 )  First-second,  that  is  to  say,  the  first  sabbath 
after  the  second  day  of  the  feast  of  the  Azymes. 
In  Leviticus  xxiii.  we  read  the  following  de¬ 
cree  :  “You  shall  count,  therefore,  from  the  mor¬ 
row  after  the  sabbath,  wherein  you  offered  the 
share  of  first-fruits,  seven  full  weeks,  even  unto 
the  morrow  after  the  seventh  week  be  expired,  that 
is  to  say,  fifty  days.”  This  day  after  the  seventh 
week  was  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Now  it  has  been 
very  happily  conjectured  that  all  the  sabbath  days 
between  the  feast  of  the  Pasch  and  that  of  Pente¬ 
cost  were  named  from  this  second  day  of  the  Pasch, 
so  that  the  first  Saturday  following  'was  termed  the 
first  sabbath  after  the  second  day,  and,  by  abbrevi¬ 
ation,  the  first-second,  the  second-second,  the  third- 
second,  etc.,  that  is  to  say,  second  sabbath  after  the 
second  day,  third  sabbath  after  the  second  day. 
Note  that  the  ripe  ears  of  wheat  leave  no  ground 
for  doubting  that  it  was  then  between  the  Passover 
and  Pentecost. 

( ’ )  In  the  first  court  of  the  tabernacle,  where 
laymen  were  allowed  to  enter.  This  occurred  at 


JESUS  CHRIST.  535 


pies,  “do  you  that  which  is  not  lawful  on 
the  sabbath  days?”  (St.  Luke  vi.  2)  ;  and 
as  their  animosity  was  directed  chiefly 
against  the  Master,  “  Behold,”  said  they  to 
him,  with  that  bitter  zeal  which  betrays 
rather  than  disguises  passion,  “  behold,  thy 
disciples  do  that  which  is  not  lawful  to  do 
on  the  sabbath  days.”  “Have  you  not 
read,”  said  Jesus,  answering  them,  “what 
David  did  when  he  Was  hungry,  and  they 
that  were  with  him  ?  How  he  entered  into 
the  house  of  God2  under  Abiathar,3  the 
high  priest ;  and  took  and  eat  the  bread  of 
proposition,4  which  it  was  not  lawful  for 
him  to  eat,  nor  for  them  that  were  with 
him,5  but  for  the  priests  only  ?  Or  have 
ye  not  read  in  the  law,  that  on  the  sabbath 
days  the  priests  in  the  temple  break  the 
sabbath,  and  are  without  blame?  But  I 


Nobe,  a  sacerdotal  town,  whither  the  tabernacle  was 
transported  from  Silo. 

( 8 )  It  is  written  in  1  Kings,  chap,  xxi.,  that  the 
high-priest  from  whom  David  asked  the  bread  was 
Achimelech,  the  father  of  Abiathar.  Several  an¬ 
swers  have  been  given  to  this  difficulty.  The  most 
decisive  is,  that  it  is  settled  by  the  2  Kings,  viii., 
and  by  the  1  Paralipomenon,  xviii.,  that  the  father 
and  the  son  had  each  of  them  the  two  names  of 
Achimelech  and  Abiathar. 

( 4 )  So  called  because  the  bread  was  proposed,  or 
set,  before  the  face  of  the  Lord  upon  a  table  called, 
for  this  reason,  the  table  of  the  bread  of  proposi¬ 
tion.  They  were  piled  up,  six  on  each  side.  The 
twelve  represented  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  who 
protested  by  this  offering  that  they  held  from  the 
Lord  all  their  subsistence.  They  were  renewed 
every  sabbath  day,  and  those  which  were  taken 
away  could  be  eaten  only  by  the  priests,  and  that 
within  the  enclosure  of  the  tabernacle. 

( 6)  David  was  alone;  but  his  men  were  near,  as 
we  also  see  in  1  Kings  xxi. 


OF  THE  LIFE 


536  HISTORY 


tell  you  that  there  is  here  a  greater  than 
the  temple.”  (St.  Matthew  xii.  2-6  ;  St. 
Mark  ii.  26  ;  St.  Luke  vi.  4.) 

He  spoke  of  himself,  and  this  was  one 
of  those  expressions  which,  as  it  were,  es¬ 
caped  him,  whereby  he  discovered  his 
divinity  to  those  who  hearkened  attentively 
to  his  words,  and  endeavored  to  under¬ 
stand  them  ;  for  who  is  greater  than  the 
temple,  if  not  the  Lord  of  the  temple  ? 
Then,  he  added,  to  show  them  that  the  re¬ 
proach  they  made  him  was  far  from  being 
inspired  by  that  pretended  zeal  which  they 
paraded:  “If  you  knew  what  this  mean- 
eth,  I  will  have  mercy,1  and  not  sacrifice, 
you  would  never  have  condemned  the  in¬ 
nocent.”  Jesus  Christ  had  already  quoted 
this  maxim  against  them  in  a  case  similar 
to  this,  and  thus  we  see  how  earnestly  he 
desired  that  this  truth  should  be  deeply  en¬ 
graven  on  every  mind.  Finally,  to  close 
his  reply  and  the  lesson  which  it  had  occa¬ 
sioned  his  giving,  “  he  said  to  them  :  The 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath.  Therefore,  the  Son  of 
man  is  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  also.”  (St. 
Mark  ii.  27.) 

The  one  follows  evidently  from  the  other, 
since  the  Son  of  man,  being  the  king  and 
master  of  all  men’  controls  all  connected 
with  men,  and  whatever  is  made  for  them, 
as  the  Sabbath  was.  He  has  then  a  right 
to  dispense  with  them,  and  he  did  so  in  the 
present  circumstance.  For  it  is  acknow¬ 
ledged  by  all,  that  the  disciples  then  re¬ 
quired  a  dispensation,  not,  as  we  have 
already  said,  for  taking  the  ears  in  another’s (*) 

(*)  See  note  2 ,  of  the  11th  chap.,  page  518. 


field,  nor  even  for  rubbing  them  in  their 
hands,  which  was  equivalent  to  breaking 
bread  into  pieces  before  eating,  an  action 
which  could  never  have  been  forbidden  : 
but  a  dispensation  was  requisite  to  enable 
them  to  gather  these  ears  of  corn  on  the 
sabbath-day,  which  was  expressly  forbid¬ 
den,  and  from  this  Christ  dispensed  them. 
Undoubtedly  he  had  a  right  to  do  so  :  and 
no  one  had  the  right  to  call  him  to  account 
for  the  reasons  upon  which  he  grounded  the 
dispensation.  Yet  he  condescended  to 
give  them,  and,  on  close  examination,  we 
find  in  them  the  foundation  of  a  complete 
apology :  1st.  By  declaring  himself  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath,  he  established  his  sover¬ 
eign  right  to  dispense  with  it.  2d.  The 
law  was,  by  its  nature,  susceptible  of  dis¬ 
pensation  ;  inasmuch  as,  being  made  for 
man,  it  was  natural  it  should  yield  to  his 
real  and  pressing  necessities.  3d.  The 
motive  which  induced  Grod  to  use  this  in¬ 
dulgence  is  his  goodness.  He  prefers  that 
men  should  break  the  rest  which  he  com¬ 
manded  them,  than  allow  themselves  to  be 
pressed  by  hunger,  so  as  to  run  the  risk  of 
fainting.  Such  is  the  direct  meaning  of 
this  expression,  “  I  will  have  mercy,  and 
not  sacrifice,”  without  prejudice  to  the 
moral  sense  which  we  have  given  it,  and 
which  it  likewise  had  when  uttered  by  Je¬ 
sus  Christ.  4th.  The  disciples  were  in  a 
position  requiring  dispensation  for  two  rea¬ 
sons.  Necessity  was  the  first.  It  had 
authorized  David  in  an  action  which,  un¬ 
der  any  other  circumstances,  would  have 
been  deemed  a  sort  of  sacrilege ;  with 
much  better  reason  would  it  authorize  the 
disciples  in  the  seeming  violation  of  a  less 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  537 

important  law.  The  second  reason  is,  the 

having  become  his  fellow-laborers,  are  en- 

sanctity  of  the  functions  in  which  they 

gaged  in  ministrations  much  more  holy 

were  employed.  This  justifies,  or  rather 

than  all  those  of  the  ancient  priesthood! 

sanctifies,  the  working  of  the  priests  in  the 

It  has  been  remarked  that  Jesus  Christ 

temple,  for  the  preparation  and  immolation 

justifies  his  disciples  by  the  example  of 

of  victims,  whence  came  the  Jewish  prov- 

holy  and  religious  men,  but  that,  when  his 

erb  :  There  is  no  sabbath  in  the  temple. 

object  was  to  justify  himself  personally,  he 

How  much  the  more  ought  it  to  justify  and 

alleges  only  the  example  of  his  Father, 

sanctify  the  actions  of  those  who,  being  at- 

comparing  thus  man  to  man,  and  a  God  to 

tached  to  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 

a  God. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  WITHERED  HAND  HEALED  ON  THE  SABBATH  DAY.— MEEKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  FORE- 

TOLD.— VOCATION  OF  THE  TWELVE  APOSTLES. 

'"T^HIS  complaint  was  soon  revived. 

on  the  sabbath-day.  “  But  Jesus  knew  their 

J_  Shortly  after  what  we  have  just  re- 

thoughts,”  and  disconcerted  them  in  a  way 

lated,  “It  came  to  pass  also  on  another 

which,  while  it  covered  them  with  shame, 

sabbath-day,  that  Jesus  entered  into  the 

only  imbittered  their  hatred,  and  made 

synagogue,  and  taught.  There  was  a  man 

their  resentment  more  implacable.  “He 

whose  right  hand  was  withered,  and  the 

said  to  the  man  who  had  the  withered 

Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  watched  if  he 

hand  :  Arise,  and  stand  forth  in  the  midst. 

would  heal  on  the  sabbath,”  and  they  asked 

And,  rising,  he  stood  forth.”  Then,  ad- 

Jesus  :  Is  it  lawful  to  heal  on  the  sabbath- 

dressing  himself  to  the  Pharisees,  “  Jesus 

days?”  They  spoke  thus,  “that  they 

said  to  them  :  I  ask  you,  if  it  be  lawful  on 

might  find  an  accusation  against  him”  (St. 

the  sabbath-days  to  do  good  or  to  do  evil — 

Luke  vi.  6,  7  ;  St.  Matt.  xii.  10),  either  ol 

to  save  life  or  to  destroy  ?  ” 1  (St.  Luke  vi. 

self-contradiction,  if  he  varied  at  all  in  his 

8) — that  is  to  say,  not  to  save  life  when  we 

reply,  or  of  gross  prevarication,  if  he  ad- 

have  the  power  ;  for  between  the  two  ex- 

vanned  what,  in  their  eyes,  was  a  most 

treines  of  saving  and  depriving  of  life  by 

scandalous  maxim,  It  is  lawful  to  heal 

a  positive  act,  there  is  a  medium,  which 

( 1 )  Not  to  save  the  life  of  tlie  soul  or  that  of 

at  this  sentence  ?  But  who  can  excuse  those  whom 

the  body,  when  in  our  power  so  to  do,  is  taking 

God  has  charged  with  the  care  of  souls,  or  to  whom 

av'ay  one  or  the  other.  Who  will  not  be  alarmed 

he  has  given  means  of  relieving  bodily  wants? 

• 

538 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


consists  in  inaction,  and  doing  neither  good 
nor  evil.  But  the  proof  that  Jesus  used 
this  expression  in  the  sense  which  we  as¬ 
cribe  to  it,  is  this,  that  whereas  they  might 
have  replied  to  him,  “  they  held  their 
peace.”  (St.  Mark  iii.  4.)  They  admitted 
then  by  their  silence,  that  doing  good  to 
our  neighbor  on  the  sabbath-day,  when 
this  good  admits  of  no  delay,  is  not  evil ; 
or  rather  that  we  should  be  doing  evil  to 
our  neighbor,  equal  to  this  very  good,  if 
we  omitted  to  do  it  then  when  in  our 
power.  But  to  make  them  feel  the  utter 
inhumanity  of  their  false  zeal,  Jesus  added 
this  comparison,  drawn  from  their  own 
conduct  (St.  Matt.  xii.  11,  12  ;  St.  Mark  iii. 
4  ;  St.  Matt.  xii.  13) :  “  What  man,  he  said  to 
them,  shall  there  be  among  you,  that  hath  one 
sheep,  and  if  the  same  fall  into  a  pit  on  the 
sabbath-day,  will  he  not  take  hold  on  it 
and  lift  it  up  ?1  How  much  better  is  a  man 
than  a  sheep !  Therefore,  it  is  lawful  to 
do  a  good  deed  on  the  sabbath-days  ”  (St. 
Matt.  xii.  11,  12),  continues  he,  in  conclu¬ 
sion. 

He  seemed  to  pause  for  any  answer 
they  might  have  to  make  ;  “  but  they  held 

( 1 )  What  was  then  permitted  is  expressly  for¬ 
bidden  by  the  canon  law  of  the  Jews,  and  the 
rabbis  have  become  more  scrupulous  on  this  point 
than  the  Pharisees  were  in  the  time  of  Christ. 
They  say,  notwithstanding,  that  when  an  animal 
falls  into  a  pit  on  a  sabbath-day,  a  person  in  that 
case  can  go  down  into  the  pit,  place  something  un¬ 
der  the  animal  to  raise  it,  and  that,  if  it  then 
escapes,  the  sabbath  is  not  violated.  Wretched 
subtlety,  which  Avould  not  hinder  the  sabbath  from 
being  violated,  in  fact,  if  the  law  forbid  acting  in 
a  circumstance  like  the  present;  because  to  act  it 
evidently  is,  to  descend  into  a  pit,  carrying  thither 
a  stone  or  piece  of  wood,  and  place  it  under  an  an- 


tlieir  peace,”  confounded  with  shame  and 
vexation.  “  Jesus,  looking  round  about  on 
them  with  anger,  being  grieved  for  the 
blindness  of  their  hearts,2  saith  to  the  man  : 
Stretch  forth  thy  hand.  And  he  stretched 
it  forth,”  “  and  his  hand  was  restored  to 
health,  even  as  the  other.”  (St.  Mark  iii 
5  ;  St.  Matt.  xii.  13.) 

At  the  sight  of  this  miracle,  the  Phari¬ 
sees  “  were  filled  with  madness,”  and  as¬ 
suredly  there  were  grounds  to  cause  it. 
Jesus  Christ  had  clearly  shown  them  that 
it  was  allowable  to  cure  this  man  upon  the 
sabbath-day,  in  whatever  point  of  view 
they  regarded  it.  Still,  had  he  applied  his 
hand,  their  malignity  might  have  found 
room  to  cavil ;  but  what  could  they  say 
since  he  employed  only  his  word  t.  Was  it 
forbidden  to  speak  on  the  sabbath-day? 
— or,  were  words  that  wrought  miracles 
to  be  excluded  from  those  that  were  law¬ 
ful  ?  It  would  be  too  absurd  to  say  this, 
and,  forced  to  hold  their  peace,  they  no 
longer  heark^  d  except  to  the  dictates  of 
exasperated  and  furious  passion.  “  Going 
out,  they  immediately  made  a  consultation 
with  the  Herodians3  against  him,  how  they 

imal  which  requires  this  aid  to  get  out  of  difficulty. 
It  is  well  to  remark,  that  with  all  their  scruples, 
this  sort  of  people  do  not  wish,  withal,  to  lose  their 
sheep. 

(2)  Sin  is  injurious  to  God,  whom  it  offends, 
and  wretched  for  man,  who  commits  it.  As  an 
offence  towards  God,  it  excites  the  indignation  of 
Christ,  and  the  evil  it  does  men  causes  him  grief. 
This  is  because  Jesus  Christ  loves  both  God  and 
man.  True  zeal  is  that  which  has  its  origin  in 
these  two  loves. 

( 3  )  We  are  ignorant  who  these  Herodians  were. 
They  may  have  constituted  a  religious  sect,  or  a  po¬ 
litical  party,  perhaps  both  together.  It  is  very 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


might  destroy  him”  whom  they  could  not 
confound.  (St.  Mark  iii.  6.) 

“Knowing  it” — Jesus,  whose  omnipo¬ 
tence  could  crush  the  efforts  of  his  enemies 
with  the  same  ease  that  his  wisdom  had 
disconcerted  the  vain  subtleties  of  their 
words,  wished  on  this  occasion  to  give  his 
disciples  the  example  of  the  conduct  they 
should  pursue  in  the  persecutions  they  were 
to  undergo.  He  appeared  to  yield  to  the 
storm  (St.  Mark  iii.  7),  “  and  retired  with  his 
disciples  to  the  sea  :  and  a  great  multitude 
followed  him  from  Galilee  and  Judea,  and 
from  Jerusalem,  and  from  Idumea,  and  from 
beyond  the  Jordan  :  and  they  about  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  a  great  multitude,  hearing  the 
things  which* he  did,  came  to  him.”  Jesus 
“  spoke  to  his  disciples,  that  a  small  ship 
should  wait  on  him,  because  of  the  multi¬ 
tude,  lest  they  should  throng  him  :  for  he 
healed  many,  so  that  they  pressed  upon 
him  for  to  touch  him,  as  many  as  had  evils.” 
(St  Matt.  xii.  15  ;  St.  Mark  iii.  7-9.)  “He 
healed  them  all,  and  he  charged  them  that 
they  should  not  make  him  known.”  (St. 
Matt.  xii.  15,  16.)  “The  unclean  spirits” 


probable  that  they  derived  the  name  of  Herodians 
from  their  declared  attachment  to  the  person  of 
Herod  Antipas,  then  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  or  in  gen¬ 
eral  for  the  family  of  the  Herods. 

( 1 )  See  note  1,  page  509. 

( a  )  To  connect  this  prophecy  with  what  pre¬ 
cedes,  it  is  said  that  Christ’s  intention,  in  forbid¬ 
ding  the  publication  of  his  divinity  and  his  mira¬ 
cles,  was  to  avoid  irritating  the  Pharisees,  who 
were  already  but  too  bitter  against  him.  This 
motive  was  worthy  of  the  meekness  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  constitutes  the  object  of  this  prophecy.  Envy 
should  not  be  so  humored  as  to  make  us  abstain 
from  works  of  zeal  and  charity,  at  which  it  is  so 


— that  is,  the  possessed,  who  were  their 
instruments — “  when  they  saw  him,  fell 
down  before  him,  and  they  cried,  saying  : 
Thou  art  the  Son  of  God.  And  he*  strictly 
charged  them,  that  they  should  not  make 
him  known1  (St.  Mark  iii.  11,  12)  ;  “  that 
it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by 
Isaias  the  prophet,  saying:2  Behold  my 
servant,  whom  I  have  chosen  ;  my  beloved, 
in  whom  my  soul  hath  been  well  pleased. 
I  will  put  my  Spirit  upon  him,  and  he  shall 
show  judgment  to  the  Gentiles.  He  shall 
not  contend,  nor  cry  out  ;  neither  shall  any 
man  hear  his  voice  in  the  streets.  The 
bruised  reed  he  shall  riot  break,  and  smok¬ 
ing  flax  he  shall  not  extinguish,  till  he 
send  forth  judgment  unto  victory  :  and  in 
his  name  the  Gentiles  shall  hope.”  (St. 
Matt.  xii.  17-21.) 

Meekness,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  features 
which  designate  the  Messias,  and  he  was 
to  be  recognized  by  this  amiable  character. 
Were  the  Jews,  then,  mistaken  when  they 
figured  to  themselves  a  conquering  Mes¬ 
sias  ?  No  :  mistaken  they  were  not,  ex¬ 
cepting  in  the  mode  of  his  conquests  ;  for 


unjust  as  to  take  offence  ;  but  we  must  hide  them 
as  much  as  possible,  in  order  not  to  increase  its 
pain  or  augment  its  torment.  There  is  malignity 
in  insulting  its  grief,  and  in  flourishing  before  its 
eye  the  light  which  it  hates  and  which  consumes  it. 
If  envy  is  unworthy  of  this  caution,  such  caution 
is  due  to  charity,  which  never  allows  us  to  take 
pleasure  in  another’s  pain ;  it  is  due  also  to  our 
own  safety.  Envy,  when  irritated,  is  capable  of 
anything;  and  how  often  has  its  uncautiously 
roused  fury  overthrown  the  victor  in  his  tri¬ 
umphal  chariot,  and  changed  into  funereal  pomp 
the  triumph  indiscreetly  paraded ! 


540 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


he  was  to  be  one  in  fact.  The  justice  here 
alluded  to  is  the  evangelical  law,  to  which 
he  is  to  subject  all  nations  ;  but  it  will  not 
be  by  force  or  terror.  The  means  which 
he  is  to  employ  shall  be  a  tone  of  voice  so 
moderate,  that  no  one  shall  ever  remark  in 
it  either  the  bitterness  of  contention  or  the 
clash  of  dispute.  It  will  not  be  by  over¬ 
throwing  and  crushing  all  he  meets  in  his 
passage  ;  his  step  shall  be  so  soft,  his  tread 
so  measured,  that  he  might  put  his  foot 
upon  a  bruised  reed  without  breaking  it, 
and  on  smoking  flax  without  extinguishing 
the  fire  :  terms  of  expression  which,  in  the 
hallowed  language,  signify  a  meekness  not 
only  unalterable,  but  also  infinitely  cau¬ 
tious  not  to  shock  the  weak,  and  to  soothe 
the  infirm.  By  these  weapons  is  he  to  tri¬ 
umph  over  all  hearts,  and,  victorious  over 
all  nations,  he  shall  first  of  all  accomplish 
in  his  person  that  magnificent  promise 
which  he  is  just  going  to  make  to  all  the 
imitators  of  his  incomparable  meekness  : 
“  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  pos¬ 
sess  the  land  !  ”  (St.  Matt.  v.  4.) 

Alone  he  was  more  than  sufficient  for 
the  execution  of  this  great  project.  Yet, 
for  the  honor  of  human  nature,  with  which 
he  had  not  disdained  to  unite  himself,  he 
wished  that  men  should  be  his  co-operators. 
Already  he  had  disciples  ;  still  up  to  then 
they  were  all  nearly  equal,  and  his  will 
was  that  some  of  them  should  hold  the  first 
rank  amongst  their  companions,  and  be¬ 
come  the  fathers  and  chiefs  of  the  new 


(  ‘ )  J esus  chose  J udas  because  he  sincerely 
wished  him  to  be  an  apostle.  J  udas  rendered  this 
choice  a  woeful  one  by  his  treachery.  This  did  not 


nation  whom  he  was  about  creating  on  the 
earth.  The  moment  was  come  when  he 
was  to  make  this  choice,  the  most  important 
to  the  universe,  of  all  ever  made,  and  the 
most  glorious  to  those  who  had  the  hap¬ 
piness  to  be  included.  Before  he  proceeded 
to  this  step,  “he  went  out  into  a  mountain 
to  pray.”  We  know  that  such  preparations 
were  not  requisite  for  him  ;  but  it  was  fit¬ 
ting  that  he  should  give  the  example  to  his 
Church,  which  has  made  it  a  law  to  imitate 
him  in  this  point,  as  we  see  by  the  fasts 
and  the  prayers  by  which  she  always  pre¬ 
cedes  the  choice  and  consecration  of  her 
ministers.  “When  day  was  come,  he 
called  unto  him  his  disciples,”  “and  they 
came  to  him.”  “  He  chose  twelve  of  them,” 
“  that  they  should  be  with  him,  and  that 
he  might  send  them  to  preach.”  “Whom 
also  he  named  apostles  ”  [which  signifies 
sent],  “and  he  gave  them  power  to  heal 
sicknesses  and  to  cast  out  devils.”  (St. 
Luke  vi.  12,  13  •  St.  Mark  iii.  13,  14.) 
The  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  are 

these:  “Simon,  whom  he  surnamed  Peter, 

» 

the  first ;  then  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee, 
and  John,  the  brother  of  James  ;  and  he 
named  them  Boanerges,  which  is,  ‘The 
sons  of  thunder  ;  ’  Andrew,  Philip,  Bar¬ 
tholomew,  Matthew,  the  publican  ;  Thomas, 
James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and  Jude,  his 
brother,  named  Thaddeus ;  Simon,  the 
Cananean,”  “who  is  called  Zelotes,”  and 
“Judas  Iscariot,*  who  was  the  traitor.”1 
(St.  Matthew  x.  2  ;  St.  Luke  vi.  14-16  ;  St. 


hinder  the  Saviour  from  choosing  him,  because  it 
was  to  serve  to  teach  us  that  the  most  excellent 
gifts  from  God  always  leave  the  man  who  has  been 


\ 

OF  OUR  LORD 

— — — 

JESUS  CHRIST.  541 

Mark  iii.  17,  18.)  This  is  the  reason 

consanguinity,  which  furnishes  no  ground 

why  he  is  always  placed  the  last  among 

for  elevating  kinsmen  to  ecclesiastical  dig- 

the  apostles.  Peter  is  always  named 

nities,  is  on  the  other  hand  no  reason  for 

the  first,  as  he  was  appointed  head  of 

excluding  them.  Besides,  to  be  cfilled  to 

the  Apostolic  College,  and  first  pastor. 

the  apostleslrip  was  then  to  be  destined  to 

James,  son  of  Zebedee,  is  the  same  whom 

toils,  persecutions,  and  martyrdom.  If 

we  call  James  the  Greater.  It  is  not  in 

those  who  dispose  of  church  patronage 

the  sense  in  which  they  themselves  seem  to 

employed  their  relatives  only  in  such  min- 

have  originally  understood  the  expression, 

istries,  they  would  rather  be  liable  to  the 

that  he  and  his  brother  were  termed  Sons 

reproach  of  having  sacrificed  than  of  hav- 

of  Thunder  ;  this  name  was  given  them  only 

ing  honored  or  enriched  their  family. 

to  signify  the  brilliancy  and  energy  of  their 

Jesus  wished  to  make  this  choice  in  some 

preaching.  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,  is 

place  remote  from  the  multitude,  and  for 

known  by  the  name  of  James  the  Less. 

that  purpose  had  retired  to  the  mountain. 

He  also  is  called  in  Scripture  the  “brother 

When  this  reason  no  longer  detained  him, 

of  the  Lord,”  whose  near  relative  he  was 

he  jdelded  to  the  desires  and  wants  of  the 

as  well  as  his  brother  Jude,  or  Thaddeus. 

people  who  were  expecting  him.  “  Coming 

Each  of  J,hem  is  the  author  of  a  canonical 

down  with  them,  he  stood  in  a  plain  place  ; 

Epistle,  bearing  his  name.  Matthew,  who, 

and  the  company  of  his  disciples,  and  a 

out  of  humility,  gives  himself  here  the 

very  great  multitude  of  people  from  all 

title  of  Publican,  is  the  same  as  Levi,  the 

Judea  and  Jerusalem,  and  the  sea-coast 

son  of  another  Alpheus,  elsewhere  men- 

both  of  TjU’e  and  Sidon,  who  were  come  to 

tioned.  Some  think  Bartholomew  not  dif- 

hear  him,  and  to  be  healed  of  their  diseases. 

ferent  from  Nathaniel,  one  of  the  first  dis- 

And  they  that  were  troubled  with  unclean 

ciples  in  the  order  of  vocation.  If  we  find 

spirits  were  cured.  And  all  the  multitude 

some  relations  of  the  Saviour  among  his, 

sought  to  touch  him,  for  virtue  went  out 

apostles,  w7e  must  not  think  that  he  chose 

from  him,  and  healed  all.”  (St.  Luke  vi. 

them  from  motives  of  flesh  and  blood. 

17-19.) 

endowed  with  them  the  power  of  using  or  abusing 

therefore,  ever  respect  in  pastors  the  divine  mis- 

them  at  his  option.  Called  by  the  divine  vocation 

sion,  which  they  do  not  lose  by  their  personal 

to  the  holiest  of  states,  man  may  still  be  lost  there; 

unworthiness;  and,  lastly,  we  must  know  how  to 

and  must  there  work  out  his  salvation  with  fear 

distinguish,  on  occasion,  the  individual  from  the 

and  with  trembling.  Further,  that  as  Judas,  when 

body,  and  the  minister  from  the  ministry,  if  wc  do 

he  preached  by  virtue  of  the  mission  he  had  re- 

not  wish  to  be  reduced  to  say  that  the  apostles 

ceived  from  Jesus  Christ,  should  not  have  been 

were  a  society  of  traitors,  and  the  apostleship  a 

less  listened  to  than  Saint  Peter,  so  we  must, 

school  of  treachery. 

I  s  ■ - 

542  mSTORT  OF  THE  life 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT. 


AFTER  having  cured  bodily  evils,  he 
thought  this  was  a  fitting  time  to  labor 
for  the  salvation  and  perfection  of  souls. 
“Jesus  seeing”  then  “the  multitudes,” 
who  were  come  to  hear  him,  and  who  were 
disposed  by  his  benefits  to  listen  to  him, 
and  to  hear  him  with  fruit,  “  went  up  [the 
second  time]  into  the  mountain  to  an  emi¬ 
nence,”  from  which  he  could  be  seen  and 
heard  in  the  plain  ;  “and  when  he  was  set 
down,  his  disciples  came  unto  him.”  Then 
“lifting  up  his  eyes  on  his  disciples,”  he 
said,  “and  taught  them”  (St.  Matthew  v. 
1,  2 ;  St.  Luke  vi.  20),  by  the  ensuing  dis¬ 
course,  which  he  seems  to  have  addressed, 
at  least  in  part,  to  them  alone,  but  which 
he  pronounced  in  a  tone  of  voice  sufficiently 
elevated  to  be  heard  byr  all  the  people,  as 
we  may  easily  judge  by  the  admiration 
which  this  heavenly  doctrine  caused  among 
the  multitude. 

He  begins  by  laying  down  the  foundation 
of  true  happiness,  and  he  annihilates  at  one 
stroke  all  the  ideas  that  had  been  formed 
on  this  point,  not  only  by  the  passions,  but 
by  philosophy,  which  was  merely  the  art 
of  gratifying  them  methodically  after  cover- (*) 

( * )  Whole  Volumes  would  scarcely  suffice  to 
develop  the  morality  comprised  in  these  eight 
beatitudes.  We  shall  confine  ourselves  here  to 
pointing  out  the  sense  which  appears  to  us  the 
most  literal.  The  poor  in  spirit  are  in  the  highest 
degree  those  who  have  voluntarily  stripped  them¬ 


ing  them  with  a  false  gloss  of  reason,  and 
by  Judaism  itself,  which,  taking  it  all  in 
all,  for  the  exceptions  might  be  counted, 
imagined  no  other  happiness  than  what  is 
found  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  goods,  the 
honors,  and  pleasures  of  earth.  “  Blessed,” 
said  he,  “  are  the  poor  in  spirit ;  for  theirs 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  the 
meek ;  for  they  shall  possess  the  land. 
Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  ;  for  they 
shall  be  comforted.  Blessed  are  they  that 
hunger  and  thirst  after  justice ;  for  they 
shall  have  their  fill.  Blessed  are  the  mer¬ 
ciful  ;  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy.  Bless¬ 
ed  are  the  clean  of  heart ;  for  they  shall 
see  God.  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers  ; 
for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God. 
Blessed  are  they  that  suffer  persecution  for 
justice  sabe  ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Blessed  are  ye,  when  they  shall 
revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  speak 
all  that  is  evil  against  you,  untruly,  for  my 
sake.  Be  glad,  and  rejoice,  for  your  re¬ 
ward  is  very  great  in  heaven  ;  for  so  they 
persecuted  the  prophets  that  were  before 
you.”1  (St.  Matthew  v.  3-12.) 

Since  it  is  finally  decided  that  what  men 

selves  of  all  their  goods  to  follow  Jesus.  Those, 
therefore,  whose  hearts  are  detached  from  worldly 
goods,  whether  they  possess  them  or  possess  them 
not,  participate  also  in  this  beatitude,  but  in  an 
inferior  degree,  and  proportionably  to  their  merit. 
.We  shall  make  use  of  the  term  “long  suffering,” 


OF  OUK  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


543 


regarded  as  evils  are  the  only  true  goods, 
it  is  easy  to  conclude,  that  what  they  called 
goods  are  the  evils  most  to  be  dreaded  and 
the  greatest.  Yet  lest  this  sequel  should 
escape  inattention,  or  be  evaded  by 
subtlety,  Jesus  draws  the  conclusion  for¬ 
mally,  and  after  having  beatified  the  first, 
he  hurls  this  tremendous  anathema  against 
the  second:  “Wo  to  you  that  are  rich: 
for  yon  have  your  consolation”  in  this 
world.  “  Wo  to  you  that  are  filled  ;  for  you 
shall  hunger.  Wo  to  you  that  now  laugh  ; 
for  you  shall  mourn  and  weep.  Wo  to  you 
when  men  shall  bless  you  ;  for  according 
to  these  things  did  their  fathers  to  the  false 
prophets.”  (St.  Luke  vi.  24—26.) 

because  our  language  has  not  a  more  proper  term, 
to  express  who  those  “meek”  are  to  whom  is 
promised  the  true  land  of  the  living.  Those  who 
mourn  and  who  shall  be  comforted  are  they  who 
suffer  with  resignation  the  afflictions  which  God 
sends  them.  The  impassioned  love  of  virtue  is 
expressed  by  the  hunger  and  thirst  after  justice. 
To  this  noble  passion  is  promised  perfect  satiety, 
whioh  can  never  be  found  in  fleeting  goods,  that 
only  sharpen  the  hunger  and  irritate  the  thirst  of 
their  unhappy  votaries.  The  .word  “merciful” 
extends  here  to  every  species  of  mercy,  both  spirit¬ 
ual  and  corporal.  We  do  not  see  God  with  the 
eyes  of  the  body,  says  Saint  Augustine,  but  with 
the  eyes  of  the  heart:  hence  those  who  have  pure 
eyes  have  nothing  to  hinder  them  from  seeing  his 
ineffable  beauties  unveiled.  Those  are  called  peace¬ 
makers  who  strive  to  restore  and  preserve  peace 
amongst  men.  This  great  feature  of  resemblance 
to  the  God  of  Peace  will  merit  for  them,  in  a  most 
excellent  manner,  the  title  of  children  of  God. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven,  adjudged  in  the  first 
place  to  the  voluntary  poor,  is  also  to  those  who 
suffer  persecution  for  justice :  to  the  former  by 
right  of  exchange,  to  the  latter  by  right  of  con¬ 
quest.  The  former  are  those  prudent  traders,  who 


These  prophets,  true  and  false,  being 
cited  at  the  close  of  the  blessings  and  male¬ 
dictions,  are  a  proof  that  Jesns  addressed 
his  words  directly  to  his  apostles.  What 
follows  shows  it  no  less  clearly  ;  for  al¬ 
though  applicable  to  a  certain  point  to  all 
Christians,  still  it  does  not  bear  its  full 
meaning,  except  with  reference  to  the 
apostles  and  their  successors  in  the  function 
of  the  apostleship.  “You  are,”  saith  he 
to  them,  “the  salt  of  the  earth.  But  if 
the  salt  lose  its  savour,  wherewith  shall  it 
be  salted  ? 1  It  is  good  for  nothing  any  more, 
but  to  be  cast  out  and  to  be  trodden  on 
by  men.2  You  are  the  light  of  the  world  ; 
destined  to  enlighten  it ;  you  cannot  escape 

sell  all  to  purchase  it:  the  latter  are  those  violent 
invaders,  who  grasp  it  by  force,  and  carry  it  at  the 
point  of  the  sword.  It  is  not  the  less  assured  to 
all  the  others.  For  the  recompense  proposed  to 
them  is  always  the  kingdom  of  God,  under  diffei- 
ent  names,  which  correspond  with  the  different 
merits  to  which  it  is  promised.  These  expres¬ 
sions  are  also  understood  to  refer  to  the  temporal 
rewards  of  virtue,  and  this  sense  should  not  be 
excluded;  but  it  must  only  be  admitted  as 
secondary.  To  advance  it  as  the  first  and  most 
literal,  would  be  putting  too  visibly  the  accessory 
in  place  of  the  principal. 

( 1 )  Salt  does  not  lose  its  savor ;  but  if  it 
should,  with  what  can  we  salt,  or  what  is-  there 
in  nature  which  can  be  as  salt  to  salt  itself? 
This  is  what  Christ  here  means.  Thus  the  doc¬ 
tor,  if  he  deceives  himself,  cannot  be  set  right  by 
another  doctor ;  the  pastor,  if  he  wanders,  cannot 
be  brought  back  by  another  pastor  ;  and  the  apos¬ 
tle,  if  he  becomes  perverted,  cannot  be  converted 
by  another  apostle.  Not  that  the  thing  is  ab¬ 
solutely  impossible;  but  it  occurs  so  rarely,  that 
we  reckon  it  an  exception,  which  does  not  hinder 
the  truth  of  the  general  proposition. 

( > )  “To  be  trodden  on  by  men,”  an  expression 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


541 


its  observation.  “  A  city  seated  on  a  moun¬ 
tain  cannot  be  bid :  neither  do  men  light  a 
candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel,  but  upon 
a  candlestick,  that  it  may  shine  to  all  that 
are  in  the  house.  So  let  your  light  shine 
before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good 
works,  and  glorify  your  Father  who  is  in 
heaven.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  13-16.) 

But  in  order  that  they  may  be  this  mys¬ 
terious  salt,  which  imparts  to  the  earth, 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  men  who  inhabit  it, 
the  relish  of  virtue,  and  which  after  having 
imparted  preserves  this  relish ;  that  they 
may  become  the  light  of  the  world,  and 
that  city  built  on  a  mountain,  which  rivets 
the  traveller’s  eye,  and  prevents  him  from 
wandering  from  his  path  ;  that  they  may 
be  the  light  put  upon  the  candlestick,  that  it 
may  shine  to  all  those  who  compose  the 
house  of  the  great  father  of  the  family  ;  in 
short,  that  they  may  be,  by  the  lustre  of 

of  the  lowest  contempt,  but  which  is  not  too 
strong  to  express  that  into  which  those  ministers 
of  the  altar  inevitably  fall  who  dishonor  their 
ministry  by  a  publicly  licentious  life. 

(  1 )  The  Jews  have  reproached  the  Christians 
with  this  saying  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  a  falsehood  in 
the  mouth  of  him  who  said  that  he  was  sent  to 
establish  a  new  law  on  the  ruins  of  the  old. 
Never  was  there  a  reproach  more  false  or  an  ac¬ 
cusation  more  groundless.  In  the  first  place 
Jesus  Christ  kept  the  law,  if  we  consider  it  under 
the  aspect  of  the  moral  and  ceremonial  precepts. 
As  regards  the  former,  he  was  always  perfectly 
irreprehensible;  and  in  order  to  confound  his  ene¬ 
mies,  he  had  only  to  defy  them  to  reproach  him 
with  a  single  sin.  As  to  the  ceremonial  precepts, 
although  in  no  way  bound  to.  observe  them,  he, 
nevertheless,  disdained  not  to  fulfil  them.  He 
chose  to  be  circumcised  ;  for,  although  he  was  cir¬ 
cumcised  in  his  mere  infancy,  he  was  the  only 
child  of  whom  it  was  true  to  say  that  he  was 


their  preaching,  and  the  example  of  their 
holiness,  the  reformers  of  the  world,  and 
worthy  ministers  of  the  heavenly  Father, 
to  whom  those  who  witness  their  virtues 
and  success  shall  refer  all  the  glory  thereof ; 
they  must  teach  all  salutary  truths,  and  be 
faithful  to  all  duties,  without  distinction  of 
little  or  great,  of  what  is  important  or  what 
seems  less  so.  But  that  they  may  have  in 
his  person  the  most  perfect  model  of  such 
rare  perfection,  Jesus  thus  proceeds:  “Do 
not  think  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the 
law  or  the  prophets.  I  am  not  come  to 
destroy,  but  to  fulfil.1  For,  amen,  I  say 
unto  you  :  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one 
jot  or  one  tittle  shall  not  pass  of  the  law, 
till  all  be  fulfilled.  He,  therefore,  that 
shall  break  one  of  these  least  command¬ 
ments,  and  shall  so  teach  men,  shall  be 
called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;3 
but  he  that  shall  do,  and  teach,  he  shall  be 

only  circumcised  because  he  wished  to  be  so.  I  say 
the  same  of  his  presentation  in  the  temple.  Arrived 
at  a  mature  age,  he  went  to  Jerusalem  at  the  great 
festivals;  he  celebrated  the  Pasch ;  and  as  to  the 
sabbath,  concerning  which  he  was  so  loudly 
reproached,  he  never  gainsaid  its  obligation,  but 
only  the  false  or  minute  additions  of  the  Pharisees. 
In  the  second  place,  if  we  consider  the  ancient  law 
as  the  sketch  of  the  new,  not  only  did  Jesus  Christ 
accomplish  it  by  realizing  the  things  it  shadowed 
forth,  and  verifying  its  prophecies,  but  it  could  re¬ 
ceive  its  accomplishment  from  him  alone  :  without 
him  it  would  have  eternally  remained  imperfeot; 
and,  if  we  wish  to  speak  exactly,  we  should  say 
that  he  rather  perfected  than  abrogated  it,  as  the 
colors  which  cover  the  lines  of  a  drawing  do  not 
efface  the  design,  but  perfect  it,  by  imparting  the 
requisite  animation  to  the  figures  of  the  requisite 
body  and  life. 

(3 )  According  to  the  common  interpretation, 
these  words  signify  that  he  shall  be  excluded  from 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


545 


called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
For  I  tell  you,  that  unless  your  justice 
abound  more  than  that  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  you  shall  not  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  17-20.) 

This  conclusion  shows  clearly  enough 
that  these  commandments  which  Jesus 
Christ  denominates  “least,”  were  not  so  in 
themselves,  but  only  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Scribes  'and  Pharisees.  These  men 
were  never  accused  of  despising  wrhat  are 
termed  “little”  things:  we  know,  on  the 
contrary,  that  they  relinquished  important 
duties  to  cling  scrupulously  to  minute  ob¬ 
servances.  This  drew  upon  them  from 
Jesus  Christ  this  grave  rebuke,  that  the 
latter  should  not  be  omitted,  but  that  we 
must  commence  by  fulfilling  the  former. 
The  error,  or  rather  the  depravity,  which 
here  seems  to  be  the  cause  of  the  reproach 
cast  upon  them,  is,  their  regarding  as  a 
trifling  matter  the  inward  accomplishment 
of  great  commandments  or  precepts,  and 
treating  as  a  prevarication  only  the  out- 

the  kingdom  of  heaven.  According  to  some,  they 
mean  that  he  shall  have  the  last  place.  What  fol¬ 
lows  is  in  favor  of  the  first  interpretation.  Those 
who  prefer  the  second,  ground  themselves  on  the 
fact,  that  small  precepts  alone  are  spoken  of,  that 
is  to  say,  according  to  them,  such  as  do  not  oblige 
to  the  extent  of  mortal  sin.  We  shall  see  whether 
or  not  they  are  mistaken  in  this.  But  supposing 
that  in  fact  they  are  not  mistaken,  if  then  it  be 
true  that  we  may  violate  these  small  precepts  with¬ 
out  being  therefor  excluded  from  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  can  any  one  venture  to  say  that  we  should 
not  be  excluded  therefrom  if  we  taught  others  to 
violate  them,  above  all,  if  invested  with  the  charac¬ 
ter  to  teach  ?  Teaching  people  to  contemn  the  will 
of  God,  which  is  not  the  less  declared,  and,  in  one 
sense,  is  not  the  less  entitled  to  respect  in  small 

69 


ward  and  accomplished  act.  Provided  they 
abstained  from  this,  they  deemed  them¬ 
selves  just,  and  reckoned  as  naught  a 
thousand  criminal  desires,  to  which  they 
abandoned  themselves  without  scruple. 
Insufficient  justice !  which  at  most  was 
merely  a  mask,  since  it  did  not  dwell  in 
the  heart,  which  is  the  only  seat  of  true 
justice,  man  being  never  innocent  when 
his  heart  is  guilty,  as  he  never  can  be 
guilty  when  his  heart  is  innocent.  What 
gives  this  explanation  a  still  greater  de¬ 
gree  of  probability,  is  the  following  words 
of  the  Saviour,  which  will  disclose  to  us 
the  malice  of  murder  in  a  word  uttered 
from  the  lips,  and  the  iniquity  of  adultery 
even  in  a  desire  of  the  heart. 

“  You  have  heard  that  it  was  said  of 
old :  Thou  shalt  not  kill ;  and  whosoever 
shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judg¬ 
ment.  But  I  say  to  you,  that  whosoever 
is  angry  with  his  brother  shall  be  in  dan¬ 
ger  of  judgment:1  And  whosoever  shall 
say  to  his  brother,  Eaca,  shall  be  in  clan- 

thiugs  as  in  great ;  encouraging  men  to  emancipate, 
themselves  from  their  primary  duties,  by  affording 
them  facility  in  so  doing  in  those  which  are  re¬ 
garded  as  of  less  importance ;  depriving  virtue  of 
all  her  defences,  and,  like  a  stronghold  whose  out¬ 
works  are  all  demolished,  exposing  it  to  be  can  ied 
by  the  first  assault  of  vice ;  could  the  pastor,  the 
preacher,  the  director,  who  should  have  caused  so 
great  an  evil,  have  thill  a  right  to  claim  even  the 
last  place  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven? 

( 1  )  There  were  two  different  tribunals  among 
the  Jews,  that  bore  the  name  of  judgment:  one 
Was  composed  of  three  judges  only,  and  the  other 
of  twenty-three.  The  council  spoken  of  here  was 
the  Sanhedrim,  the  great  senate  of  the  nation, 
composed  of  seventy-two  judges.  Causes  were 
brought  before  these  different  tribunals,  according 


ger  of  the  council.  And  whoever  shall 
say  :  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  hell 
fire.” 

Still  there  is  a  means  of  avoiding  this 
chastisement.  But  this  means,  to  which  it 
hath  pleased  God  to  attach  the  pardon  of 
the  sinner,  is  of  indispensable  obligation 
and  a  necessity  so  urgent,  that  there  is  no 
duty,  no  matter  of  what  nature,  but  should 
yield  to  this.  “If,  therefore,  thou  offer 
thy  gift  at  the  altar,  and  there  thou  remem¬ 
ber  that  thy  brother  hath  anything  against 
thee,  leave  there  thy  offering  before  the 
altar,  and  go  first  to  be  reconciled  to  thy 
brother,  and  then  coming,  thou  shalt  offer 
thy  gift.  Be  at  agreement  with  thy  adver¬ 
sary  betimes,  whilst  thou  art  in  the  way 
with  him  :  lest  perhaps  the  adversary  de¬ 
liver  thee  to  the  judge,  and  the  judge  de¬ 


to  the  importance  of  the  matter  or  the  quality  of 
the  crime.  The  Jews  had  also  three  capital  pun¬ 
ishments,  the  sword,  stoning,  and  fire,  the  most 
rigorous  of  all.  The  words  of  the  Saviour  allude 
to  all  these  things  without  prejudice  to  the  literal 
sense  of  the  pain  of  fire,  which  should  be  under¬ 
stood  with  reference  to  the  fire  of  the  other  life. 

Since  it  is  with  reference  to  murder  that  Jesus 
Christ  speaks  in  this  way,  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
that,  in  order  to  deserve  these  severe  judgments, 
anger  must  be  accompanied  by  ill-will ;  that  the 
word  Raca,  also,  which,  according  to  most,  is 
merely  a  vague  expression  of  contempt,  or  which 
signifies  at  most  a  giddy  persofl,  according  to  those 
who  give  it  a  definite  meaning,  that  this  word,  I 
say,  must  be  pronounced  in  a  tone  and  in  circum¬ 
stances  which  make  it  an  insult ;  and  the  tone  and 
circumstances  must  also  make  the  word  “fool,”  or 
any  other  equivalent  thereto,  an  outrage.  This  is 
not  always  the  case,  and,  therefore,  these  faults  are' 
not  always  mortal  sins ;  but  the  fact  occurs  often 
enough  to  furnish  just  grounds  of  terror  to  those 


liver  thee  to  the  officer,  and  thou  be  cast 
into  prison.  Amen,  I  say  to  thee,  thou 
shalt  not  go  out  from  thence,  till  thou  re¬ 
pay  the  last  farthing.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  21-26.) 

This  sort  of  parable  is  not  very  difficult 
to  explain.  The  adversary  is  the  person 
offended.  The  agreement  referred  to  is 
the  just  reparation  of  the  offence  ;  the  way 
is  the  life  time  ;  God  is  the  judge  ;  the 
officers  are  the  spirits  executing  his  ven¬ 
geance  ;  and  hell  or  purgatory  is  the  prison 
wherein,  according  to  the  quality  of  the 
debt,  the  debtor  shall  be  inclosed,  never  to 
come  forth  from  the  former,  where  the  pri¬ 
soner  remains  always  insolvent,  the  crime 
which  made  him  fall  therein  being  always 
mortal  :  or,  if  the  guilt  be  only  venial,  not 
to  come  forth  from  the  second  until  after 
he  has  paid,  according  to  the  very  rigor  of 


who,  when  in  anger,  do  not  know  how  to  moderate 
their  resentment  or  temper  their  speech.  We  ought 
not  to  except  certain  phlegmatic  sallies  of  anger, 
less  violent  in  appearance  and  less  outrageous  in 
language.  Here  the  language  is  nothing,  all  de¬ 
pends  on  the  thing  they  signify ;  and,  in  despite 
of  his  affected  moderation  and  his  smooth  expres¬ 
sions,  the  polished  man  who  gives  any  one  to  un¬ 
derstand  that  he  regards  him  as  a  fool  and  a  block¬ 
head,  shall  be  condemned  to  the  punishment  of  fire. 

If  you  object  that  there  will,  therefore,  be  many 
men  condemned  to  the  punishment  of  fire,  con¬ 
sidering  the  great  number  of  those  with  whom  such 
modes  of  speaking  are  habitual  and  ordinary,  it  is 
easily  answered,  that  in  the  judgment  of  God  the 
multitude  will  not  save  the  guilty  ;  that  the  habit, 
very  far  from  justifying  the  sinner,  renders  him 
more  criminal,  and  that  the  same  rule  applies  to 
this  case  as  to  that  of  judging  our  neighbor ;  that 
lastly,  since  the  oracle  hath  spoken,  there  is  no 
further  question  of  discussing  the  matter,  but  of 
amending  our  life. 


546 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


OF  OPR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


justice,  all  the  penalty  he  had  deserved  to 
undergo.  For  it  doth  not  suffice,  when  we 
have  offended  our  brother,  to  ask  God’s 
pardon  for  the  offence  ;  we  must  also  sat¬ 
isfy  the  injured  party.  Without  this  pre¬ 
liminary  there  can  be  no  remission.  If 
this  obligation  was  unknown  to  the  Jews, 
it  seems  to  be  forgotten  by  Christians  ; 
but,  forgotten  or  unknown,  it  is  not  the 
less  real,  and  the  law  which  prescribed  it  is 
too  plain  to  leave  the  smallest  doubt  on  the 
point.  Whoever  refuses  to  submit  to  it 
must  expect  to  undergo  one  of  those  terri¬ 
ble  judgments  which  have  just  been  pro¬ 
nounced  ;  and,  even  in  this  life,  he  should 
regard  himself  as  excluded  from  the  altar, 
and,  in  some  measure,  excommunicated  by 
this  sentence,  coming  from  the  mouth  of 
the  God  of  Justice  and  of  Peace,  who  still 
repeats  to  him  from  the  recess  of  the  tab¬ 
ernacle  wherein  he  invisibly  resides  :  “  Go 
first  to  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother.” 

The  new  legislator  goes  on  to  speak  of 
adultery  very  nearly  in  the  same  way  that 
he  did  of  murder,  that  is  to  say,  he  reveals 
it  where  men  had  not  even  suspected  it  to 
be.  “You  have  heard,”  saith  he  also  to 

them,  “that  it  was  said  of  old  :  Thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery  ;  but  I  say  to  you, 
that  whosoever  shall  look  on  a  woman  to 
lust  after  her,  hath  already  committed 
adultery  in  his  heart.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  27,  28.) 

Desire  follows  so  close  after  sight,  and 
sight  appears  so  inevitable  to  any  one 
having  eyes,  that  we  are  tempted  to  ask, 

then,  whether  they  are  to  be  plucked  out? 
Yes,  said  the  Saviour,  who,  very  far  from 
endeavoring  to  elude,  is  the  first  to  draw 
this  consequence  :  “If  thy  right  eye  scan¬ 


547 


dalize  thee,  pluck  it  out  and  cast  it  from 
thee  ;  for  it  is  expedient  for  thee  that  one 
of  thy  members  should  perish,  rather  than 
thy  whole  body  be  cast  into  hell  ;  and  if 
thy  right  hand  scandalize  thee,  cut  it  off, 
and  cast  it  from  thee  ;  for  it  is  expedient 
for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should 
perish,  rather  than  that  thy  whole  body 
go  into  hell.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  29,  30.) 

The  surgeon  does  so  every  day,  that  is 
to  say,  sacrifices  a  mortifying  member  for 
the  preservation  of  the  whole  body,  and 
these  figures  of  speech  are  obviously  drawn 
from  the  medical  art.  Yet  we  must  not 
take  them  exactly  to  the  letter.  True,  it 
is  better  to  lose  the  eye  and  the  hand,  than 
the  whole  body  and  soul,  and  that  if  sal¬ 
vation  depended  on  such  a  separation,  we 
should  endure  it  coming  from  the  violence 
of  another  ;  but  it  is  not  allowable  to  per¬ 
form  it  on  ourselves,  and  the  Church  has 
ever  condemned  those  who,  deceived  by 
the  literal  sense,  have  made  attempts 
against  their  own  lives,  or  the  members  of 
their  bodies.  Reduced  to  their  true  mean¬ 
ing,  these  words  signify  that  we  are  obliged 
to  withdraw  ourselves  from  every  thing 
that  is  a  near  occasion  of  sin  to  us,  were  it 
a  thing  so  dear  and  so  precious  as  the  right 
eye  and  the  right  hand,  and  were  the  sepa¬ 
ration  equally  as  painful.  Here  all  tam¬ 
pering  is  mortal.  Flight  or  hell,  separation 
or  hell.  Between  these  two  things  Jesus 
Christ  places  no  medium.  At  the  sight  of 
this  fearful  alternative,  let  every  attach¬ 
ment  be  broken,  every  repugnance  sur¬ 
mounted,  every  interest  sacrificed  ;  let  all 
the  sophistry  of  the  passions  disappear  be¬ 
fore  the  flash  of  this  lightning,  and  be  silent 


548  niSTORY  OF  THE  life 

at  the  peal  of  this  thunder.  Yet,  Jesus 

soever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  let  him  give 

does  not  stop  here  ;  and,  after  having  de- 

her  a  bill  of  divorce.1  But  I  say  to  you, 

nounced  adultery  in  a  desire,  he  shows  it 

that  whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife, 

again  in  a  sort  of  union  tolerated  up  to  that 

excepting  for  the  cause  of  fornication',2 

period  :  it  was  that  formed  after  a  marriage 

maketh  her  to  commit  adultery,  and  he 

broken,  not  by  the  death  of  one  of  the 

that  shall  marry  her  that  is  put  away,”  for 

married  couple,  but  by  the  divorce  permit- 

whatever  cause  it  may  be,  “  committeth 

ted  by  the  old  law,  which  was  finally  and 

adultery.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  31,  32.)  Un- 

irrevocably  abolished  by  the  author  of  the 

doubtedly  the  man  who  marries  again,  after 

gospel  law,  who  thus  brought  back  mar- 

having  put  away  his  wife,  also  commits 

riage  to  its  original  purity.  He  thus  ex- 

adultery,  and  the  woman  who  consents  to 

presses  himself:  “It  hath  been  said,  who- 

marry  him  sins  in  like  manner  ;  for  what 

( 1 )  We  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  discuss 

conformably  to  the  constitution  of  Moses  and  of 

the  law  of  divorce.  We  shall  only  here  remark  the 

the  people  of  Israel. 

tenor  of  the  act,  and  its  formalities  as  observed  by 

(2)  Several  other  reasons  might  authorize  mar- 

the  Jew's.  1st.  It  could  not  be  granted,  except 

ried  people  to  separate ;  but  Jesus  Christ  mentions 

with  the  permission  of  the  husband.  2d.  The  lius- 

only  adultery.  1st.  Because  he  treats  here  directly 

band  was  to  hand  the  bill  to  the  woman  with  his 

only  of  the  dismissal  of  the  woman  by  the  hus- 

own  hand.  3d.  There  could  not  be  less  than  two 

band,  and  other  legitimate  reasons  rarely  arose  on 

witnesses,  and  all  the  witnesses  were  to  seal  it. 

the  woman’s  side.  2d.  Because  the  other  causes 

4th.  It  set  forth  three  generations  on  the  man’s 

of  separation  do  not  proceed  from  the  very  nature 

side  and  three  on  the  woman’s.  5th.  The  paper 

of  marriage,  like  that  of  adultery,  which  openly 

on  which  it  was  engrossed  was  to  be  of  a  greater 

violates  the  contract.  We  are  not  unaware  that 

length  than  breadth,  the  letters  round,  and  sepa- 

violence  carried  to  a  certain  excess,  that  danger  of 

rate;  there  should  be  no  erasure,;  and,  if  a  drop 

apparently  inevitable  perversion  authorize  married 

of  ink  fell  upon  the  paper,  it  made  it  void.  In 

people  to  separate ;  but  this  is  only  by  virtue  of 

these  minutiae  we  seethe  scruples  of  the  Jews,  who 

the  natural  right  which  all  have  to  provide  by 

often  made  no  scruple  in  repudiating  a  woman 

flight  or  separation  for  their  life’s  safety,  or  the 

from  fancy  or  for  trifles.  The  husband  said  to  the 

salvation  of  their  soul.  3d.  The  separation  caused 

woman,  when  giving  the  bill :  “Receive  the  bill  of 

by  adultery  is  perpetual  in  its  nature,  while  those 

divorce  :  be  separated  from  me,  and  let  it  be  lawful 

for  other  causes  are  not.  In  the  latter  cases,  when 

for  any  one  to  marry  thee.”  This  bill  was  in  these 

the  culpable  party  acknowledges,  and  amends,  they 

terms : — I,  Rabbi  N.,  son  of  Rabbi  N.,  son  of  Rabbi 

are  bound  to  come  and  live  together;  but  no  one 

JSi.,  such  a  day  of  such  a  month  of  such  a  year 

is  bound  to  do  so  in  the  case  of  adultery.  Even  if 

from  the  creation  of  the  world,  being  in  such  a 

repentant  and  converted,  pardon  may  be  granted  or 

place,  of  my  own  full  and  free  determination,  and 

refused ;  the  parties  may  reunite,  or  remain  irrev- 

without  being  constrained  thereto,  have  repudiated 

ocably  separated.  In  Christianity  this  right  does 

N.,  daughter  of  Rabbi  N.,  son  of  Rabbi  N.,  son  of 

not  the  less  belong  to  the  woman  than  to  the  man  : 

Rabbi  N.,  and  have  placed  in  her  hands  the  bill  of 

I  say  in  Christianity,  which,  of  all  religions,  is  the 

divorce,  the  schedule  of  rupture,  and  the  testimony 

most  Aworable  to  women,  and  that  only  by  re-es- 

ol  division,  that  she  may  be  separated  from  me, 

tablishing  them  in  their  legitimate  rights,  else- 

and  that  she  may  go  wheresoever  it  pleaseth  her, 

where  overlooked  through  the  injustice,  or  usurped 

without  any  one  having  the  right  to  gainsay  her. 

by  the  violence  of  men. 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  549 

is  said  of  one  is  equally  understood  of  the 

the  Jews.  “  Again,  you  have  heard,” 

other,  although  not  formally  announced. 

added  he,  “  that  it  was  said  to  them  of 

So,  too,  when  Jesus  Christ  said  that  the 

old  :  Thou  shalt  not  forswear  thyself :  but 

man  who  looks  at  a  woman  with  eyes  of 

thou  shalt  perform  thy  oaths  to  the  Lord.1 

concupiscence  hath  committed  adultery  in 

But  I  say  to  you,  not  to  swear  at  all ; 2 

his  heart,  we  must  understand  that  a  wo- 

neither  by  heaven,  for  it  is  the  throne  of 

man  by  casting  on  a  man  similar  glances, 

God  ;  nor  by  the  earth,  for  it  is  his  foot- 

renders  herself  guilty  of  the  same  crime. 

stool  ;  nor  by  J erusalem,  for  it  is  the  city 

Man’s  depravity  obliged  him  to  place 

of  the  great  King.  Neither  shalt  thou 

first  in  the  order  of  reform  these  two  pre- 

swear  by  thy  head,  because  thou  canst  not 

cepts,  which  form  the  fifth  and  sixth  of  the 

make  one  hair  white  or  black  ;  but  let  your 

Decalogue.  Having  brought  them  to  such 

speech  be  yea,  yea  ;  no,  no ;  and  that 

high  perfection,  our  Lord  comes  to  that 

which  is  over  and  above  these  is  of  evil.” 

which,  in  the  order  of  the  commandments, 

(St.  Matt.  v.  3B-36.) 

is  second.  He  relieves  this  likewise  from 

All  the  preceding  is  of  strict  obligation  ; 

the  false  glosses  of  the  Pharisees,  and  he 

what  follows  is  not  equally  so.  Among  the 

makes  additions  to  it  hitherto  unknown  to 

precepts  there  are  to  be  found  counsels 

( 1 )  This  regards  more  especially  the  vow,  which 

tlie  second  precept,  it  is,  at  least,  the  explanation 

is  only  a  species  of  oath  ;  but  taking  occasion  from 

of  a  second  sense,  which  the  Jews  did  not  perceive 

this,  Jesus  Christ  gives  precepts  for  all  oaths, 

in  these  words:  Thou  shalt  not  swear  “in  vain.” 

what  nature  soever. 

They  only  understood  it  solely  of  the  prohibition  of 

( 2 )  That  is,  “  in  no  manner.”  It  does  not  mean 

swearing  contrary  to  truth;  Jesus  Christ  explains 

under  no  circumstances,  whatever  the  followers  of 

to  them  its  application  to  swearing  without  cause. 

Wickliffe  and  the  Anabaptists  may  have  thought,  fol- 

Another  addition  to  this  precept  is  the  prohibi- 

lowing  the  example  of  some  ancient  obscure  heretics, 

tion,  which  Christ  subjoins,  of  not  swearing  by  any- 

who  concluded,  from  these  words,  that  it  is  never  law- 

thing  whatsoever.  The  Jews  imagined  themselves 

ful  to  swear.  The  sequel  shows  clearly  enough  that 

irreprehensible  when  they  swore  by  anything  else 

Christ  had  in  view  only  to  proscribe  the  multitude 

than  by  the  name  of  God.  Christ  teaches  them. 

of  oaths  of  all  sorts  that  the  Jews  had  constantly  in 

that  to  swear  by  creatures  is  swearing  by  the  Crea- 

their  mouths.  It  has,  then,  been  always  permitted 

tor,  and  that  to  swear  by  one’s  self  or  by  one’s  head 

to  call  God  to  witness  a  thing  that  is  true,  when 

(a  species  of  oath  much  in  use  among  the  Greeks 

necessity  or  great  utility  obliges,  and  that  it  is  done 

and  Romans,  whence,  apparently,  it  had  passed  to 

respectfully,  and  in  suitable  circumstances.  Such 

the  Jews),  was  also  sinful,  but  for  a  different  rea- 

has  been,  at  all  times,  the  practice  of  tire  Church, 

son.  To  swear  by  the  head,  is  to  doom  it,  suppos- 

authorized  by  the  great  examples  of  Saint  Paul, 

ing  a  person  swears  falsely,  and  to  doom  it  is  dis- 

who  calls  God  to  witness  what  he  writes ;  and  of 

posing  of  what  properly  belongs  to  God  as  if  it 

the  Angel  of  the  Apocalypse,  who,  after  lifting  up 

were'our  own  property.  For  can  a  person  be  the 

his  hand,  swore  by  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and 

owner  of  his  head,  if  he  cannot  change  the  color 

ever.  But,  beyond  these  cases  which  we  have  just 

of  a  single  hair?  Every  oath  beyond  those  which 

excepted,  all  swearing  is  forbidden,  and  we  should 

we  have  excepted,  is  always  a  sin;  this  follows  evi- 

confine  ourselves  simply  to  affirmation  or  negation. 

dently  from  the  prohibition  of  Christ,  and  the  rea- 

If  this  is  not  an  addition  which  Christ  makes  to 

sons  upon  which  he  grounds  it. 

1 

550  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

which  are  not  rigorously  binding,  at  least 

with  thee  in  judgment,  and  take  away  thy 

as  to  external  practice  ;  for,  as  regards  the 

coat,  let  go  thy  cloak  also  unto  him  ;  and 

interior  disposition,  there  is  no  person  who 

whosoever  will  force  thee  one  mile,2  go 

is  not,  to  a  certain  extent,  bound,  and  who- 

with  him  other  two.”  (St.  Matt.  v.  38-41.) 

ever  should  refuse  to  adopt  their  spirit,  has 

Behold  the  new  law  of  retaliation,  which 

not  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Such  is  what 

the  Lamb  of  God  substitutes  for  the  old 

Christ  here  opposes  to  the  ancient  lex  tali- 

one.  The  retaliation  of  the  law  rendered 

onis,  which  he  abolishes,  as  incompatible 

wrong  by  wrong,  that  of  the  Gospel  suf- 

with  the  meekness  of  the  new  law.  “  You 

ferecl  it  twice  over  rather  than  once  avenge. 

have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  :  An  eye 

Such  is  the  disposition  of  heart  to  which 

for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.1  But  I 

these  words  of  our  Saviour  oblige  us,  and 

say  to  you,  not  to  resist  evil :  but  if  one 

not  to  present  the  left  cheek  to  him  who 

strike  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him 

strikes  the  right.  Those  who  insist  that 

•  also  the  other  :  And  if  a  man  will  contend 

there  are  cases  wherein  we  are  bound  by 

( 1 )  We  find  this  law  in  Exodus  xxi.  It  did  not 

ther,  when  there  exists  another  reason  for  seeking 

give  individuals  the  right  of  taking  justice  into 

it,  to  make  this  reason  yield  to  charity,  to  prefer 

their  own  hands;  it  merely  prescribed  to  judges 

that  injury  should  remain  unpunished,  rather  than 

the  measure  of  punishment  which  they  should  dis- 

see  it  punished  by  the  penalty  of  the  guilty,  even 

pense  to  those  who  used  violence.  The  Jews  were 

although  this  impunity  exposes  him  to  fresh  inju- 

not  allowed  to  seek  this  punishment  through  a 

ries.  We  are  not  always  rigorously  hound  to  this ; 

spirit  of  vengeance,  as  appears  by  the  passage  of 

hut  we  are  bound  to  mingle  no  resentment  with 

Leviticus,  six.  18  :  “  Seek  not  revenge,  nor  be 

the  reason  which  makes  us  seek  reparation.  It  is 

mindful  of  the  injury  of  thy  citizens.”  In  Chris- 

so  difficult  to  attain  this  precision,  that  timorous 

tianity,  it  is  not  forbidden  to  denounce  the  guilty, 

souls,  who  despair  of  reaching  it,  rather  prefer  to 

and  to  seek  by  lawsuit  the  reparation  of  the  inju- 

relinquish  the  attempt,  than  to  encounter  the  risk 

ry,  provided  it  be  done  through  some  other  motive 

of  so  hazardous  a  pursuit,  and  of  a  victory  which, 

than  that  of  resentment  and  vengeance.  Here, 

perhaps,  would  only  save  their  honor  at  the  ex- 

then,  we  see  no  difference  between  the  two  laws ; 

pense  of  their  conscience.  For  what  man  is  suffi- 

and  there  remains  still  to  be  known  what  Jesus 

ciently  master  of  his  heart  to  answer  for  his  not 

Christ  can  have  in  view,  as  he  evidently  appears  to 

relishing  with  delight  the  always  criminal  pleasure 

abrogate  something  ancient  and  substitutes  some- 

of  seeing  at  his  feet  an  enemy  humbled  and  con- 

thing  new.  In  two  words,  he  reforms  the  abuse 

founded  ? 

of  the  ancient  law,  and  he  establishes  the  perfec- 

( 2 )  In  the  Latin,  “  angariaverit.”  This  word 

tion  of  the  new.  The  abuse  of  the  ancient  law 

comes  from  the  Persian  “  angar,”  which  passed 

consisted  in  doing,  through  a  spirit  of  vengeance. 

into  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues,  and  even  into 

what  was  allowed  to  be  done  solely  through  some 

the  French,  in  which  tongue  it  is  used  in  the  fa- 

other  innocent  motive.  I  say  that  this  was  done 

miliar  style.  It  meant  originally  a  public  courier. 

without  any  scruple,  and,  far  from  viewing  this 

These  couriers  were  entitled  to  dismount  all  whom 

vengeance  as  criminal,  we  have  grounds  for  sus- 

they  met,  and  oblige  them  to  accompany  them  to 

pecting  that  the  Pharisees  made  it  a  duty  and  an 

the  next  stage.  The  species  of  violence  which 

obligation.  The  perfection  of  the  new  law  con- 

they  used  is  expressed  by  the  verb  angariare.  This 

sists  not  merely  in  not  seeking  for  reparation 

usage  still  exists  amongst  most  Eastern  nations. 

through  a  motive  of  vengeance ;  it  requires,  fur- 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  551 


the  letter,  are  reduced  to  fancy  some  which 
we  may  almost  call  chimerical.  Some 
saints  have  done  so  to  the  edification  of  the 
whole  Church  ;  but  it  was  not  through  ob¬ 
ligation,  since,  in  like  circumstances,  Saint 
Paul,  and  even  Jesus  Christ,  did  not  do  so. 
We  may  add,  that  it  is  more  proper  not  to 
act  thus,  when  we  foresee  that  by  so  doing 
we  should  merely  redouble  the  audacity  of 
aggression  and  encourage  a  new  crime. 
We  must  reason  in  the  same  way  in  regard 
to  a  man  who  would  rob  us  unjustly  or  ex¬ 
act  painful  services  from  us  to  which  he  is 
not  entitled.  By  yielding  to  him  what  he 
would  deprive  us  of,  or  by  acquiescing  in 
his  exactions,  we  are  not  bound  to  offer 
him  double  value  ;  but  we  should  do  so,  if 
necessary,  rather  than  oppose  violence  to 
violence.  It  is  then  this  meekness,  which 
resisteth  nothing,  it  is  this  unalterable  pa¬ 
tience,  ever  superior  to  all  injuries  and  all 
injustice,  which  is  here  enjoined  upon  us  by 
Jesus  Christ.  To  a  morality  so  sublime, 
this  God  of  charity  and  peace  joins  these 
short  maxims,  the.  practice  of  which,  if 
they  were  observed,  would  banish  from 

( 1 )  Should  any  one  say,  that  if  this  counsel 
were  followed,  the  world  would  be  full  of  plunderers 
of  others’  property,  it  is  easy  to  answer,  that  each 
of  us  is  only  responsible  for  himself  alone,  and  not 
for  the  rest  of  the  world.  Be  meek  and  patient, 
without  being  apprehensive  of  ever  exceeding  in 
these  virtues ;  and,  supposing  that  any  inconve¬ 
nience  result  therefrom,  let  us  leave  it  to  God  and 
the  civil  authorities  under  him  to  regulate  all. 

( a )  In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (xx.  35),  Saint 
Paul  says :  “You  ought  ...  to  remember  the 
word  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  he  said  :  It  is  a  more 
blessed  thing  to  give  rather  than  to  receive.”  This 
saying  is  not  in  any  of  the  four  evangelists.  Saint 
Paul  had  learned  it  from  the  apostles,  or  from  one 


society  many  crimes  and  many  miseries  : 
“Give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee;  and 
from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn 
not  away”  (St.  Matt.  v.  42)  ;  “  of  him  that 
taketh  away  thy  goods  ask  them  not  again” 
(St.  Luke  vi.  30)  ;  “  forgive,  and  you  shall 
be  forgiven  ;  give,  and  it  shall  be  given  to 
you.1  Good  measure,  pressed  down,  and 
shaken  together,  and  running  over,  shall 
they  give  into  your  bosom.”  (St.  Luke  vi. 
37,  38.)  “  It  is  a  more  blessed  thing  to  give 
rather  than  to  receive.”2  (Acts  xx.  35.) 
“  And  as  you  would  that  men  should  do  to 
you,  do  you  also  to  them  in  like  manner.” 
(St.  Luke  vi.  31  ;  St.  Matt.  vii.  1 2.) 

Mature  knew  nothing  so  pure,  and  phi¬ 
losophy  had  never  dreamed  of  aught  so 
noble  as  these  doctrines.  But  it  is  useless 
to  know  them  unless  we  put  them  in  prac¬ 
tice  ;  and  to  do  this,  we  must  have  the  prin¬ 
ciple  in  our  hearts.  This  principle  is,  the 
love  of  all  men,  without  excepting  those 
whom  reason,  when  left  to  its  own  light, 
portrays  to  us  as  the  most  detestable,  that 
is  to  say,  without  excepting  our  most  cruel 
enemies.  Whosoever  loves  these  may  as- 

of  the  disciples  who  had  seen  the  Lord.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  these  preserved  the  recollection  of 
many  other  sayings  of  their  divine  Master,  which 
are  not  written.  As  this  is  written,  we  deemed  it 
our  duty  to  take  and  put  it  in  this  place  where  the 
Saviour  makes  such  magnificent  promises  to  lib¬ 
erality,  which  serve  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  max¬ 
im  in  the  sense  that  it  is  more  advantageous  to 
give  than  to  receive.  It  is  also  true  in  the  sense 
that  there  is  greater  pleasure  in  giving  than  in  re¬ 
ceiving.  Generous  souls  find  no  difficulty  in  sub¬ 
scribing  to  this  truth,  which  they  feel.  The 
selfish,  who  do  not  feel  it,  cannot  comprehend  it; 
the  latter  should  believe  it  as  they  believe  mys¬ 
teries. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


552 


sure  himself  that  he  accomplishes  the  great 
precept  of  universal  charity ;  but  he  who 
hates  them  abides  in  death,  because  charity 
is  incompatible  with  the  hatred  of  a  single 
man,  were  he  the  most  odious  and  wicked 
of  all  men :  a  truth  heretofore  openly  re¬ 
sisted  by  the  human  heart,  which,  after  an 
offence,  found  nothing  so  reasonable  as 
hatred,  or  so  just  as  vengeance.  New  lights 
are  about  to  produce  new  feelings.  The 
odious  man  can,  and  should  be  loved. 
Here  is  the  precept  uttered  from  His  lips 
who  can  teach  naught  unreasonable,  since 
he  is  the  sovereign  and  eternal  reason ; 
and  he  would  no  longer  be  justice  and  good- 

(*  1 )  In  Leviticus  xix.  18,  we  read  these  words : 
“Thou  shalt  love  thy  friend  as  thyself.”  These 
words,  “Thou  shalt  hate  thy  enemy,”  are  not  in 
any  part  of  Scripture,  unless  we  chose  to  find  this 
meaning  in  the  order  God  issued  to  his  people,  to 
exterminate  the  heathen  nations,  whose  country  his 
people  were  to  occupy;  but  even  this  construction 
would  not  be  just.  The  order  to  exterminate  does 
not  command  hatred;  and  that  which  is  given  to 
soldiers,  to  kill  the  enemies  of  the  State,  is  not  an 
order  to  hate  them.  Yet  had  it  been  so,  Christ  re¬ 
voked  it,  as  he  came  to  do  away  with  the  distinction 
between  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  to  unite  all  nations 
in  the  bonds  of  the  same  faith  and  same  charity. 
But  this  is  not  the  interpretation  which  our 
Saviour  here  refutes.  From  these  words,  “  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  friend,”  the  Jews  had  apparently 
concluded  by  the  rule  of  contraries  that  they  were, 
if  not  obliged,  at  least  authorized  to  hate  their 
enemies.  They  understood  the  word  “  enemy  ”  in 
the  sense  opposed  to  “  friend  ” — that  is  to  say,  in 
the  sense  of  private  enemy.  The  description  which 
Christ  gives  of  it  leaves  no  doubt  on  the  point. 
According  to  him,  it  is  the  enemy  who  hates  us, 
who  persecutes  us,  who  curses  us,  and  calumniates 
us,  all  of  which  things  are  understood  more  natu¬ 
rally  with  reference  to  a  private  enemy  than  to  the 
public  enemy. 


ness  itself,  if  be  were  capable  of  command¬ 
ing  impossibilities. 

“You  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  : 
Thou  shalt  love  th}^  neighbor  and  hate  thy 
enemy.1  But  I  say  to  you :  Love  your 
enemies  ; 2  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you  ;  ” 
“bless  them  that  curse  you  ;  ”  “pray  for 
them  that  persecute  and  calumniate  you  ; 
that  you  may  be  the  children  of  your 
Father  who  is  in  heaven,3  who  maketh  his 
sun  to  rise  upon  the  good  and  bad,  and  rain- 
eth  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust.  For  if 
you  love  them  that  love  you,  what  reward 
shall  you  have  ? 4  Do  not  even  the  pub¬ 
licans  these  things  ?  And  if  you  salute 

( 2 )  The  heart  of  man  is  impenetrable  to  him¬ 
self,  and  it  is  very  difficult,  especially  in  the  strug¬ 
gles  of  resentment  against  charity,  to  discover  its 
depth,  and  to  decide  what  is  its  predominant  dis¬ 
position.  “  Love,”  says  Jesus  Christ ;  but  how  can 

I  assure  myself  that  I  love  him  whom  I  am  tempt¬ 

ed  a  thousand  times  a  day  to  hate  mortally? 
Listen  to  what  our  Saviour  adds  :  Do  good  to  him, 
pray  for  him,  bless  him,  that  is  to  say,  speak  well 
of  him.  Then  you  have  the  greatest  assurance  that 
a  Christian  heart  can  have,  that  you  have  main¬ 
tained  charity.  On  the  contrary,  if  you  speak  ill 
of  him,  if  you  seek  to  injure  or  thwart  him — if 
you  refuse  to  salute  him,  that  is  to  say,  if  you 
refuse  what  you  owe  to  his  rank  and  the  different 
relations  which  you  may  have  with  him,  as  citizen, 
neighbor,  relative,  your  position  is  decided;  you 
do  not  love,  or  rather  there  is  proof  that  you 
hate :  and  if  still  you  say,  “As  a  Christian,”  I  love 
him,  the  expression  is  well  understood,  and,  in 
modern  acceptation,  signifies  something  worse  than 
indifference. 

( 3 )  That,  by  this  great  feature  of  resemblance, 
you  may  be  recognized  for  the  children  of  your 
heavenly  Father.  When  you  see  a  man  who  loves 
his  enemy,  say  boldly:  Here  is  a  child  of  God.  No 
one  can  be  mistaken  here. 

( * )  There  may  be  merit  in  loving  our  friend 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  553 

your  brethren  only,  what  do  you  more? 

regard  to  our  enemy,  whom  we  are  sure  to 

Do  not  also  the  heathen  this?”  “If  ye  do 

hate  from  resentment,  if  we  do  not  love 

good  to  them  who  do  good  to  you,  what 

him  from  religion. 

thanks  are  to  you  ?  for  sinners  also  do  this. 

But,  after  having  taught  us  to  do  good, 

And  if  you  lend  to  them  of  whom  you  hope 

J esus  goes  on  to  teach  us  how  to  do  it  well. 

to  receive,  what  thanks  are  to  you?  for 

Prayer,  alms,  and  fasting  are  works  so  ex- 

sinners  also  lend  to  sinners  for  to  receive 

cellent,  that  all  virtues  are  comprised  in 

as  much.  Bat  love  ye  your  enemies  ;  do 

them,  or  refer  to  them.  Yet  nothing  is 

good  ;  and  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  there- 

sound  for  a  diseased  heart'.  Such  was  that 

by  ;  and  your  reward  shall  be  great.  And 

of  the  Pharisees,  with  whom  every  virtue 

you  shall  be  the  sons  of  the  Highest,  for  he 

was  turned  into  vice,  because  of  the  motive 

is  kind  to  the  unthankful  and  the  evil.  Be 

that  made  them  practise  these  virtues  ex- 

ye,  therefore,  ‘  merciful  ’  and  ‘  perfect,’  as 

teriorly.  They  forgot  God,  and  thought 

also  your  ‘  heavenly  ’  Father  is  perfect.” 

wholly  of  pleasing  men.  To  shun  the  eye 

(St.  Matt.  v.  43  ;  St.  Luke  vi.  28,  32-35.) 

of  man,  and  to  think  wholly  of  pleasing 

Such  is  the  perfection  to  which  we  are 

God,  is  the  great  maxim  which  our  Saviour 

called  ;  not  that  we  may  equal  it,  for  who  is 

opposes  to  their  hypocrisy,  and,  at  the 

as  perfect  as  God  ?  but  that  we  may  labor 

same  time,  the  salutary  instruction  which 

to  acquire  it,  and  give  it  unceasingly  new 

he  gives  to  his  true  disciples  in  the  follow- 

increase,  for  the  very  reason  that  we  never 

ing  words  : 

can  equal  this  perfection.  In  short,  we 

“Take  heed  that  you  do  not  your  justice 

must  either  resemble  our  heavenly  Father, 

before  men,  to  be  seen  by  them  ; 1  other- 

or  else  we  shall  resemble  publicans  and 

wise  you  shall  not  have  a  reward  of  your 

- 

Pagans.  There  is  no  middle  ground,  be- 

Father  who  is  heaven.  Therefore,  when 

cause  there  is  none  between  love  and 

thou  dost  an  alms-deed,  sound  not  a  trumpet 

hatred.  We  can  never  be  indifferent  with 

before  thee,2  as  the  hypocrites  do  in  the 

when  at  the  same  time  we  love  our  enemy ;  but 

it  solely  to  the  end  that  God  may  be  thereby  glori- 

when  we  do  not  love  our  enemy,  there  is  no  longer 

fied  is  always  a  virtue,  and,  as  we  have  said,  some- 

any  merit  in  loving  our  friend.  In  such  a  case  the 

times  an  obligation.  In  general,  we  must  make 

latter  is  loved  only  through  taste  or  interest.  For 

public  what  is  of  duty,  and  keep  secret  what  is 

had  charity  any  part  in  it,  she  would  make  ns  love 

a  matter  of  supererogation.  Neither  of  the  two 

our  enemy  also. 

rules,  however,  is  without  exception.  When  we 

( 1 )  This  maxim  does  not  abrogate  that  which 

are  in  doubt  whether  the  good  work  should  be 

we  read  at  the  commencement  of  our  Saviour’s 

shown  or  concealed,  the  latter  course  is  always 

discourse :  “  So  let  your  light  shine  before  men, 

the  surest;  it  is  so  easy  to  be  lost  through  vanity, 

that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and  glorify 

and  so  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  sin 

your  Father  who  is  in  heaven.”  It  is  not  always 

through  humility. 

a  crime,  it  is  sometimes  even  a  duty  to  do  good 

Humility  and  charity  sometimes  exceed  bounds, 

in  the  eyes  of  men,  even  with  a  design  to  their 

or  seem  to  exceed  ;  but  they  never  sin. 

seeing  it.  All  depends  upon  the  intention.  To 

( J )  This  is,  perhaps,  a  figurative  expression,  to 

wish  to  be  seen  when  doing  good,  I  say,  to  wish 

70 

signify  the  ostentation  with  which  the  Pharisees 

554  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  that  they 

other  error  on  prayer,  that  of  making  the 

may  be  honored  by  men.  Amen,  I  say  to 

merit  thereof  consist  in  the  multitude,  and, 

you,  they  have  received  their  reward.1  But 

perhaps,  in  the  elegance,  of  the  words. 

when  thou  dost  alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand 

This  is  to  treat  God  as  we  would  men,  who 

know  what  thy  right  hand  doth,2  that  thy 

suffer  themselves  to  be  dazzled  by  the 

alms  may  be  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father, 

pomp  of  diction,  and  persuaded  by  the 

who  seetli  in  secret,  will  repay  thee.  And 

power  of  eloquence.  The  Jews,  perhaps, 

when  ye  pray,  you  shall  not  be  as  the 

were  not  exempt  from  this  defect.  Yet 

hypocrites,3  that  ‘love  to  stand  and-  pray  in 

Christ  attributes  it  here  to  the  Gentiles  . 

the  synagogues  and  corners  of  the  streets, 

only.  But,  as  his  Church  was  to  form  a 

that  they  may  be  seen  by  men.  Amen,  I 

union  of  the  two  people,  it  was  proper  that 

say  to  you,  they  have  received  their  re- 

the  Gentiles,  who  were  to  compose  the 

ward.  But  thou,  when  thou  slialt  pray, 

greater  part  of  it,  should  also  have  that 

enter  into  thy  chamber,  and,  having  shut 

instruction  which  was  necessary  for  them. 

the  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  in  secret,  and 

He  proceeds,  therefore,  thus  : 

thy  Father,  who  seeth  in  secret,  will  repay 

“And  when  you  are  praying,  speak  not 

thee.” 4  (St.  Matt.  vi.  1-6.) 

much,  as  the  heathens  ;  for  they  think  that 

This  naturally  led  Christ  to  correct  an- 

in  their  much  speaking  they  may  be  heard.5 

dispensed  their  alms.  Perhaps  there  was  also  among 

( 3 )  They  prayed  standing  to  be  seen  by  more 

them  the  custom  of  really  having  a  trumpet  sound- 

people.  The  words  of  the  text  in  Latin,  “  stantes 

ed,  to  assemble  the  poor  with  more  show  and  noise. 

orare,”  may  also  signify  “stopping  to  pray,”  wrbich 

( 1  )  Vain  like  themselves,  since  they  are  vain 

leaves  the  posture  undecided.  This  second  con- 

men.  But,  however,  it  is  theirs,  what  they  had  in 

struction  would  make  (the  hypocrisy  consist-  in 

view  and  desired.  They  have  received  it,  and  are 

seeking  out  public  places,  and  saying  long  prayers 

paid;  God  owes  them  nothing  more.  To  speak 

there,  with  a  view  of  being  seen  and  praised  by 

exactly,  he  owes  them  the  chastisement  of  their 

men. 

criminal  vanity,  and  he  owes  it  to  himself  to 

(4)  This  is  said  without  prejudice  to  public 

avenge  the  injury  which  they  have  done  him,  by 

prayer,  recommended  and  practised  at  all  times. 

preferring  the  glory  that  comes  from  men  to  that 

Some  distractions  do  not  hinder  it  from  being 

which  comes  from  God. 

the  better  course  for  the  heads  pf  families 

( 2 )  This  is  a  hyperbole,  which  conveys  the  idea 

to  pray  in  the  midst  of  their  children  and  their 

that  we  ought  to  conceal  our  alms  from  the  rest  of 

servants  than  in  the  secrecy  of  their  private  apart- 

men,  and,  if  it  be  possible,  even  from  ourselves,  by 

ments.  I  speak  here  of  morning  and  evening 

forgetting  them,  or  setting  little  value  upon  them. 

prayer.  If  they  wish  to  pray  at  other  hours,  let 

Nothing  is  so  great  as  to  do  great  things,  and 

them  apply  to  these  prayers  the  lesson  which  our 

• 

esteem  them  little.  There  is  a  measure  of  alms 

Saviour  here  gives  us. 

which  each  person  is  bound  to  perform,  according 

( 6 )  What  renders  long  discourses,  that  is,  a  great 

to  his  means;  these  alms  ought  not  to  be  un- 

display  of  our  miseries  unnecessary,  is  the  knowl- 

known.  This  would  tend  to  scandalize  those  who 

edge  which  God  has  of  them.  Our  sentiment 

might  have  grounds  for  believing  that  you  failed 

thereof  must  be  lively,  and  accompanied  with  an 

to  perform  the  precept.  Secrecy  refers  only  to 

ardent  desire  to  be  delivered  from  them.  This 

what  is  over  and  above  this. 

does  not  require  many  words. 

- - - - - -  - - - 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  555 


Be  not  you,  therefore,  like  to  them.  Your 
Father  knoweth  what  is  needful  for  you 
before  you  ask  him.  Thus,  therefore,  shall 
you  pray :  Our  Father,  who  art  in  hea¬ 
ven,  hallowed  be  thy  name  ;  thy  kingdom 
come ;  thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is 

( 1 )  Saint  Cyprian  says,  can  God  reject  this 
prayer,  in  which  he  recognizes  the  very  words  of 
his  Son  ?  Tertullian  calls  it  the  abridgment  of  the 
Gospel.  It  is  in  reality,  for  those  who  meditate  it, 
an  inexhaustible  source  of  light  and  instruction. 
We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  giving  what  seems  to 
us  the  most  literal  sense  of  it. 

The  name  of  Father  is  at  the  commencement, 
1st,  to  excite  our  confidence;  it  is  our  Father 
to  whom  we  pray ;  2d,  to  touch  the  heart  of  God ; 
those  who  pray  are  his  children. 

When  calling  him  Our  Father,  we  remember 
that  we  are  all  brethren,  since  we  have  a  common 
Father.  The  heathens,  who  have  not  received  the 
grace  of  adoption,  have  not,  like  us,  the  right  of 
calling  him  our  Father,  and  the  only  Son  whom 
he  begot  from  all  eternity  is  properly  the  only 
person  who  has  the  right  of  calling  him,  my 
Father. 

“  Who  art  in  heaven.”  God  is  everywhere,  but 
heaven  is  the  abode  of  his  glory,  and  the  inherit¬ 
ance  which  he  has  prepared  for  his  children. 
Where  can  we  more  willingly  contemplate  him 
than  in  the  place  where  he  reigns  with  the  greatest 
glory,  and  where  we  are  to  reign  eternally  with 
him  ?  “  Hallowed  be  thy  name.”  The  name  of 
God  is  essentially  holy,  says  St.  Augustine;  where¬ 
fore  all  that  we  can  ask  for  here  is,  that  his  sanctity 
may  be  known  and  confessed  by  all  men.  “  Thy 
kingdom  come.”  Reign  everywhere  without  op- 
pooition,  and  hasten  the  coming  of  that  great  day 
when  all  thy  friends  shall  be  at  thy  side,  and  all 
thy  enemies  at  thy  feet.  “  Thy  will  be  done,”  etc. 
Those  who  love  God  desire  the  most  perfect  ac¬ 
complishment  of  his  will  that  it  is  possible  to 
imagine.  In  heaven  but  one  will  is  done,  that  of 
God,  because  all  others  are  perfectly  conformable 
to  it.  We  ask  that  same  thing  for  earth ;  if  we 


in  heaven  ;  give  us  this  clay  our  ”  daily 
“bread,  and  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we 
also  forgive  our  debtors  ;  and  lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil. 
Amen.”1  (St.  Matthew,  vi.  7-13;  St. 
Luke  xi.  3.) 

cannot  obtain  it  for  all,  each  may  obtain  it  for 
himself,  and  the  earth  has  the  happiness  of  still 
possessing  souls  sufficiently  angelical  to  render  it 
easy  for  us  to  judge  that  this  petition  is  not  with¬ 
out  effect.  “  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,” 
that  is  to  say,  whatsoever  is  necessary  and  sufficient 
for  the  support  of  the  life  of  the  body.  “  This 
day:”  for  who  knows  whether  he  shall  see  the 
morrow  ?  “  Our  daily  bread :  ”  As  we  read  in  Saint 
Luke.  In  Saint  Matthew  it  is  “  super-substantial 
bread.”  The  Greek  word  is  the  same  in  the  two 
evangelists,  and  there  is  every  appearance  that  the 
“super-substantial”  of  Saint  Matthew  bears  the 
same  sense  as  the  “  daily”  of  Saint  Luke.  The  first 
may  signify  the  bread  necessary  to  the  support  of 
our  substance,  that  is  to  say,  of  our  body,  or 
indeed  the  bread  which  corresponds  to  the  sub¬ 
stance  of  this  day;  for  the  Hebrews,  in  order  to 
signify  the  present  day,  said  the  “  substance'  of  the 
present  day;”  and  we  know  that  Saint  Matthew 
wrote  his  Gospel  in  Hebrew  (Maldonado,  on  Saint 
Matthew,  p.  147).  This  bread  above  all  substance 
is  also,  according  to  the  Fathers,  the  Eucharistic 
bread ;  for  this  meaning,  although  mystic,  is  none 
the  less  here  a  direct  and  literal  one.  If  it  be  rea¬ 
sonable  for  us  to  ask  for  the  bread  which  nourishes 
the  body,  how  much  more  is  it  to  ask  for  the  bread 
which  supports  the  life  of  our  souls  ?  And  can 
we  pray  to  our  Father  without  asking  from  him 
the  bread  which  is  by  excellence  the  bread  of  the 
children  ?  “  And  forgive  us  our  debts.”  Our  of¬ 

fences,  which  render  us,  with  regard  to  God,  insol¬ 
vent  debtors.  God,  nevertheless,  consents  to 
remit  to  us  these  immense  debts,  these  ten  thou¬ 
sand  talents ;  provided  we  remit  to  our  brethren 
the  few  pence  wherein  they  may  stand  indebted  to 
us.  This  is  drawing  good  from  evil,  and  causing 
life  to  issue  from  the  bosom  of  death,  whilst  we 


556  HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


After  giving  us  this  admirable  prayer, 
Jesus  Christ  recalls  the  fifth  petition,  to 
show  us  that  it  comprehends  a  kind  of  cov¬ 
enant  between  God  and  man,  by  which 
God  undertakes  to  forgive  the  man  who 
forgives,  and  the  man  who  does  not  forgive 
virtually  consents  that  he  is  not  to  obtain 
from  God  the  pardon  of  his  sins.  This 
truth,  equally  terrible  and  consoling,  is  ex¬ 
pressed  by  these  words  :  “  For  if  you  will 
forgive  men  their  offences,  your  heavenly 
Father  will  forgive  you  also  your  offences. 
But  if  you  will  not  forgive  men,  neither 
will  your  Father  forgive  you  your  offences.” 
(St.  Matt.  vi.  14,  15.) 

Now,  if  we  pray  after  the  manner  pre¬ 
scribed,  we  may  hold  for  certain  that  our 
Father  will  hear  us.  His  word  is  express, 
and  his  goodness  alone  is  as  infallible  a 
guarantee  to  us  as  his  truth.  For  Jesus 
Christ  saith  further:  “  Ask  :  and  it  shall 
be  given  you  ;  seek,  and  you  shall  find  ; 
knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  to  you.  For 

learn  from  our  own  sins  to  grant  unto  others  a 
pardon  which  we  are  so  much  in  want  of  our¬ 
selves.  “  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation.”  God 
does  not  tempt  us ;  hut  he  permits  us  to  be  tempt¬ 
ed,  and  the  experience  which  we  have  of  our  weak¬ 
ness  makes  us  beg  of  God  not  to  allow  it,  a  prayer 
which  God  grants  by  diminishing  temptations  and 
redoubling  his  help.  “But  deliver  us  from  evil.” 
The  Latin  word  signifies,  equally,  the  evil  or  the 
wicked  one.  The  Greek  word  properly  signifies 
the  evil  one,  that  is  to  say,  the  devil.  As  to  the 
sense,  it  is  quite  equal  to  ask  from  God  that  he 
should  deliver  us  from  the  evil  which  the  wicked 
one  doth,  or  from  the  Avicked  one  that  doth  the 
evil.  This  prayer  embraces  two  parts :  the  first 
appears  to  have  in  view  only  the  interests  of  God ; 
the  second  is  for  us.  Good  children  should  desire 
the  prosperity  of  their  father  before  their  OAvn. 


every  one  that  asketh  receiveth,  and  lie 
that  seeketh  findetli ;  and  to  him  tliat 
knocketli  it  shall  be  opened.  And  which 
of  you,  if  he  ask  his  father  bread,  will  he 
give  him  a  stone  ?’  or  a  fish,  will  he  for  a 
fish  give  him  a  serpent  ?  Or,  if  he  shall 
ask  an  egg,  will  he  reach  him  a  scorpion  ? 
If  you,  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give 
good  gifts  to  your  children,  Iioav  much 
more  will  your  Father  from  heaven  give 
the  good  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ?  ” 
(St,  Luke  xi.  9-13.)  “And  when  you 
fast,”  continues  our  Saviour,  “  be  not  as  the 
hypocrites,  sad  :  for  they  disfigure  their 
faces,3  that  they  may  appear  unto  men  to 
fast.  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  they  have  re¬ 
ceived  their  reward.  But  thou,  when 
thou  fastest,  anoint  thy  head,3  and  wash 
thy  face,  that  thou  appear  not  to  men  to 
fast,  but  to  thy  Father  Avho  is  in  secret ; 
and  thy  Father,  who  seeth  in  secret,  will 
repay  thee.”  (St.  Matt.  vi.  16-18.) 

We  must  then  have  God  alone  in  vietv * (*) 


The  glory  of  God  is  more  advantageous  to  ourselves 
than  Ave  think.  If  it  Avere  not  so,  Avould  the  Church 
say  to  God  :  “  We  thank  thee  for  thy  great  glory  ?  ” 

(*)  We  ask  from  God  what  Ave  think  to  be 
bread,  and  Avhat  in  fact  is  a  stone.  God  gives  us 
Avhat  appears  a  stone,  but,  nevertheless,  is  bread. 
God  grants  when  he  seems  to  refuse.  He  would 
have  refused  if  he  had  appeared  to  grant.  For 
after  all,  Avhat  is  sought  for  is  bread. 

(a)  Some  think  that  they  rubbed  their  faces 
with  certain  preparations  Avhich  rendered  them 
pale  and  livid.  This  was  the  false  color  of  hypocrisy. 

( 3 )  Supposing  you  did  mean  to  perfume  the 
head  upon  that  day  :  for  if  a  person  only  perfumed 
on  fast  days,  then  perfumery,  instead  of  dissem¬ 
bling  the  fast,  Avould  announce  it.  Therefore  affect 
nothing,  and  conceal  mortifications  which  yon 
should  practise  in  secret. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


557 


in  all  the  good  works  we  perform.  This 
simplicity  of  purpose  and  purity  of  inten¬ 
tion  is  what  renders  them  virtuous  and 
worthy  of  recompense.  But  if  vanity  or 
interest  is  their  sole  or  principal  object, 
that  is  to  say,  if  the  intention  be  corrupt, 
this  vitiates  all  we  do,  as  Jesus  Christ  ex¬ 


plains  by  this  elegant  metaphor:  “The 
light  of  thy  body  is  thy  eye.  If  thy  eye  be 
single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  lightsome  , 
but  if  thy  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole  body  shall 
be  darksome.  If,  then,  the  light  that  is  in 
thee  be  darkness,  the  darkness  itself  how 
great  shall  it  be !  ”  (St.  Matt.  vi.  21,  22.) 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT. 


PRIDE,  lust,  anger,  and  vengeance, 
that  is  to  say,  almost  all  the  pas¬ 
sions,  were  overthrown  by  these  divine 
precepts.  Jesus  Christ  had  attacked  them 
even  in  the  very  heart  of  man,  where  they 
could  no  longer  exist  after  the  deadly  blows 
he  had  dealt  them.  For,  widely  different 
from  the  Pharisees,  who  cleansed  the  exte¬ 
rior,  and  left  corruption  within,  this  wise 
physician  sought  to  rectify  the  interim , 
without  which  the  exterior,  even  supposing 
it  well  regulated,  would  only  be  a  hypo¬ 
critical  show,  and  vice  painted  over  with 
the  colors  of  virtue.  There  remained  one 
more  passion  to  be  subdued,  this  was  ava¬ 
rice,  of  all  the  passions,  that  which  is  most 
deeply  rooted  in  the  heart,  and  the  most 
difficult  to  extirpate.  Christ  shows  its 
folly,  in  its  hoarding  up  of  goods  which  it 
seldom  enjoys  ;  its  inordinate  character,  in 
its  so  engrossing  the  heart  as  to  exclude  all 
thought  and  desire  of  heaven  ;  its  illusion, 
in  its  endeavors,  against  reason  and  experi¬ 


ence,  cunningly  to  ally  its  schemes  with 
the  service  of  Hod:  for  nearly  all  a\aii- 
cious  men  would  fain  be  devout,  and  per¬ 
suade  themselves  that  they  are.  Lastly, 
according  to  his  ordinary  method,  Christ 
attacks  this  passion  in  the  heart,  by  strip¬ 
ping  it  of  the  most  specious  of  all  its  pre¬ 
texts,  which  is  the  fear  of  future  want. 
This  excellent  moral  lesson  constitutes  the 
subject  of  the  following  articles  : 

“  Lay  not  up  to  yourselves  treasures  on 
earth,  where  the  rust  and  moth  consume, 
and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal ; 
but  lay  up  to  yourselves  treasures  in  heav¬ 
en  P  where  neither  the  rust  nor  moth  doth 
consume,  and  where  thieves  do  not  bieak 
through,  nor  steal.  For  where  thy  treasure 
is,  there  is  thy  heart  also.”  “  No  man  can 
serve  two  masters  ;  for  either  he  will  hate 


( ■  )  This  is  done  principally  by  alms.  To  keep 
one’s  goods  is,  then,  to  lose  them;  and  to  give 
them  is  to  treasure  them  up. 


- - - — - - - — - 

558  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

the  one  and  love  the  other  ;  or  he  will  sus¬ 
tain  the  one,  and  despise  the  other.  You 
cannot  serve  God  and  mammon.1  There¬ 
fore,  I  say  to  you  :  Be  not  solicitous  for 
your  life,  what  you  shall  eat,  nor  for  your 
body,  what  you  shall  put  on.  Is  not  the 
life  more  than  the  meat,  and  the  body 
more  than  the  raiment  ?  Behold  the  birds 
of  the  air  ;  they  neither  sow,  nor  do  they 
reap,  nor  gather  into  barns,  and  your  hea¬ 
venly  Father  feedeth  them.  Are  not  you 
of  much  more  value  than  they  ?  Now, 
which  of  you,  by  taking  thought,  can  add 
to  his  stature  one  cubit  ?  And  for  raiment 
why  are  you  solicitous?  Consider  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow  :  they  la¬ 
bor  not,  neither  do  they  spin  ;  but  I  say  to 
you,  not  even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was 
arrayed  as  one  of  these.  And,  if  the  grass 
of  the  field,  which  is  to-day,  and  to-morrow 
is  cast  into  the  oven,  God  doth  so  clothe, 
how  much  more  you,  0  ye  of  little  faith ! 
Be  not  solicitous,  therefore,  saying  :  What 
shall  we  eat,  or  what  shall  we  drink,  or 
wherewith  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  For  after 

all  these2  things  do  the  heathens  seek.  For 
your  Father  knoweth  that  you  have  need 
of  all  these  things.  Seek  ye,  therefore, 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  justice  ; 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you.  Be  not,  therefore,  solicitous  for  to¬ 
morrow  ;  for  the  morrow  will  be  solicitous 
for  itself;  sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  evil 
thereof.”  (St.  Matt.  vi.  19-21,  24-34.) 

The  judgments  which  we  pass  upon  one 
another  occupy  a  position  here  which 
shows  how  much  more  important  this  mat¬ 
ter  seemed  to  Jesus  Christ  than  to  the 
majority  of  mankind,  who  scarcely  reckon 
among  their  faults  those  which  they  daily 
commit.  Their  consequence  will  be  better 
known,  when  we  shall  have  seen  what  re¬ 
ward  Christ  promises  to  those  who  do  not 
judge,  and  what  judgment  he  reserves  for 
those  who  do.3  “  Judge  not,”  he  says, 

“and  you  shall  not  be  judged:  condemn 
not,  and  you  shall  not  be  condemned  ;  ” 

“for  with  what  judgment  you  judge,  you 

shall  be  judged.4 . And  why  seest 

thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother’s  eye, 

( 1 )  Remark  the  propriety  of  the  term :  for  man 
can  possess  riches  aud  serve  God;  but  we  cannot 
be  subject  to  riches  and  serve  God. 

(  1 )  God  does  not  prohibit  forecast,  but  he  pro¬ 
hibits  anxiety,  as  disrespectful  to  his  parental 
providence.  Not  to  worry  about  this  present  life, 
and  to  busy  ourselves  much  about  the  future  life, 
are,  in  two  words,  what  we  ought  to  do,  and  the 
reverse  of  what  we  really  do. 

( 3 )  What  is  as  clear  as  day  we  do  not  judge,  but 
see.  Beyond  this  never  judge,  if  you  be  not  a  judge. 
You  are  such  with  regard  to  those  over  whom  you 
have  a  right  of  correction.  We  may  be  allowed  to 
act  upon  a  legitimate  suspicion ;  but  we  are  not 
permitted  to  judge.  That  a  man’s  fidelity  is  sus- 

pectecl  is  not  enough  to  entitle  us  to  judge  him 
faithless,  although  it  may  be  enough  to  enable  us 
in  certain  circumstances  to  displace  or  discharge 
him,  on  account  of  the  right  which  we  have  to  em¬ 
ploy  only  persons  of  unsuspected  fidelity.  Whilst 
this  right  is  well  known,  its  limits  are  scarcely  ever 
known;  for  we  do  not  only  form  the  judgment, 
but  we  pronounce  and  publish  it,  without  dream¬ 
ing  that  a  subordinate,  and  perhaps  a  servant,  has 
no  less  a  right  to  his  reputation  than  the  master 
has  to  his  own,  and  that  often  this  reputation  is 
even  more  necessary  to  the  servant.  This  is  one 
of  those  sins  which  are  never  remitted,  unless  re¬ 
paration  is  made. 

C)  That  is  to  say,  that  those  who  shall,  have 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  559 

and  seest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thy  own 
eye  ?  Or  how  sayst  thou  to  thy  brother  : 
Let  me  cast  the  mote  out  of  thy  eye,  and 
behold,  a  beam  is  in  thy  own  eye  ?  Thou 
hypocrite,1  cast  out  first  the  beam  out  of 
thy  own  eye,  and  then  shalt  thou  see  to 
cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother’s 
eye.”  (St.  Luke  vi.  37  ;  St.  Matt.  vii.  1-5.) 

We  have  already  remarked,  that 
throughout  this  discourse  Christ  had  the 
apostles  more  directly  in  view,  and  that 
among  the  precepts  he  gives,  some  apply 
only  to  them  and  their  successors  in  the 
ministry.  We  now  call  the  reader’s  atten¬ 
tion  to  one  of  the  latter  class.  “  Give  not 
that  which  is  holy  to  dogs :  neither  cast 
your  pearls  before  swine,  lest,  perhaps, 
they  trample  them  under  their  feet,  and, 
turning  upon  you,  they  tear  you.”2  (St. 
Matt.  vii.  6.)  Which  signifies  that  we 
must  not  expose  holy  things  to  be  profaned, 
nor  announce  the  Gospel  truths,  when  we 
could  not  reasonably  expect  any  other 
fruit  than  to  irritate  those  to  whom  they 
are  announced,  and  draw  down  a  perse- 

cution  detrimental  to  the  preacher,  and 
perhaps  to  the  whole  Church.  Zeal  must 
then  be  according  to  knowledge,  many 
people  will  tell  you  so.  But  knowledge 
should  not  be  devoid  of  zeal  ;  and,  if  in¬ 
discretion  is  blameworthy,  cowardice  is 
more  so.  Let  us  add,  that  it  is  more  com¬ 
mon,  because  human  interests  are  thus  best 
suited.  In  the  apostles’  time,  it  was  ne¬ 
cessary  to  recommend  discretion  rather 
than  zeal.  At  other  periods,  it  has  been 
more  seasonable  to  preach  zeal  than  dis¬ 
cretion. 

After  laying  down  the  law,  Jesus  Christ 
had  now  nothing  more  to  do  but  to  fortify 
his  followers  against  the  false  constructions 
which  might  be  put  upon  it.  These  were 
to  be  of  two  kinds.  They  might  be  ex¬ 
plained,  first  of  all,  by  custom,  which  is, 
they  say,  the  best  interpreter  of  laws. 
Christ  shows  that  this  maxim  has  no  con¬ 
nection  with  his  law.  He  formally  declares 
that  the  majority  will  be  prevaricators, 
and  that  the  number  of  faithful  observers 
will  be  beyond  comparison  the  smaller  of 

judged  rigorously  shall  be  judged  with  rigor;  for 
the  judgments  of  God  shall  neither  be  false  nor 
rash,  like  ours.  In  what,  therefore,  could  they  re¬ 
semble  ours,  if  not  by  severity  ?  There  are  two 
ways  of  judging  the  guilty,  even  when  attainted 
and  convicted,  one  full  of  sternness  and  harshness, 
the  other  meek  and  indulgent.  The  former  was 
that  of  the  Pharisees,  the  latter  that  of  Jesus 
Christ,  who  said  to  the  adulterous  woman : 
“Neither  will  I  condemn  thee.” 

(’)  Because  censure  supposes  zeal  for  justice, 
and  is  its  expression.  Now,  he  who  does  not  com¬ 
mence  by  condemning  himself,  has  not  truly  zeal 
for  justice.  He,  therefore,  only  wears  the  mask  of 
justice,  and  this  makes  him  a  hypocrite. 

( 2 )  If  any  one  be  tempted  to  believe  that  Christ 
acted  contrary  to  his  own  maxim,  when  he  an¬ 
nounced  his  doctrine  to  the  Jews,  to  whom  it  was 
useless,  and  to  the  Pharisees,  whose  fury  it  excited, 
we  answer :  1st.  That  many  listened  with  docility 
and  profited  by  his  instructions.  2d.  When  he 
taught  the  Jews,  he  taught  all  nations  and  all 
ages  to  whom  his  doctrine  should  he  repeated. 

3d.  The  contradictions  Avhich  it  drew  upon  him,  by 
causing  his  death,  were  to  secure  the  redemption 
■■  of  mankind.  Every  foreseen  persecution  must 
not  hinder  preaching:  it  should  only  suspend 
that  which  could  have  no  effect  but  exciting  per¬ 
secution,  or  could  not  produce  sufficient  fruit  to 
counterbalance  the  evil  of  persecution. 

560 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


the  two  ;  that,  therefore,  his  law  should  be 
understood  and  observed  to  the  letter,  or, 
if  we  wish  to  explain  it  by  practice,  we 
seek  the  true  meaning  in  the  practice  of  the 
lesser  number.  The  corrupt  glosses  of  the 
false  prophets  was  the  second  rock  to  be 
avoided.  Christ  teaches  us  how  to  know 
these  dangerous  men,  and  thus  forewarns 
against  being  misled  those  who  are  sin¬ 
cerely  desirous  not  to  be  misled.  For  the 
false  prophet,  when  once  he  is  unmasked, 
takes  in  those  only  who  wish  to  be  taken 
in.  Here  are  the  very  words  of  the  Sa¬ 
viour  :  “  Enter  ye  in  at  the  narrow  gate  : 
for  wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the  way 
that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many 
there  are  who  go  in  thereat.  How  narrow 


( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  by  their  works.  One  evil 
deed  may  decide  that  the  prophet  is  false.  A  good 
work  does  not  equally  decide  the  prophet  to  be 
true.  We  have  seen  already  that  there  are  ostenta¬ 
tious  prayers,  proud  fasts,  and  pharisaical  alms. 
Humility  and  charity  are  the  least  equivocal  marks. 
In  vain  may  the  false  prophet  disguise  himself;  he 
is  always  despising  and  slandering,  and  sooner  or 
later  shows  himself.  Yet,  a  person  may  be  neither 
humble  nor  charitable,  and  still  not  be  a  false 
prophet.  There  are  men  who  do  wrong  and 
teach  right.  Works  are  not,  therefore,  an  infallible 
rule  to  distinguish  the  true  from  the  false,  and 
Jesus  Christ  only  proposes  them  as  a  prudent  rule  to 
discern  among  prophets  those  whom  we  ought  to 
reprove,  or  whom  we  ought,  at  least,  to  distrust. 

( * )  It  would  be  hard  to  count  up  all  the  errors 
which  have  been  built  upon  this  maxim.  The 
most  impious  was  that  of  the  Manicheans,  who 
made  use  of  it  to  defend  their  dogma  of  men  born 
and  necessitated  to  good,  and  of  men  born  wicked 
and  necessitated  to  evil.  The  strangest  was  that 
of  the  Pelagians,  who  inferred  from  it  that  there 
was  no  original  sin,  because  that  would  be  a  bad 


is  tlie  gate !  ”  he  exclaims,  in  a  tone  which 
should  strike  dread  into  every  heart — 
“  how  narrow  is  the  gate,  and  strait  is  the 
way  that  leadeth  to  life,  and  few  there  are 
that  find  it !  ”  This  is  saying  much  in  a  few 
words.  He  adds  at  once:  “Beware  of 
false  prophets,  who  come  to  you  in  the 
clothing  of  sheep,  but  inwardly  they  are 
ravening  wolves  :  by  their  fruits  you  shall 
know  them.1  Do  men  gather  grapes  of 
thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles?  Even  so  every 
good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruit,  and  the 
evil  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit.  A  good 
tree  cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither 
can  an  evil  tree  bring  forth  good  fruit.8 
Every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth  good 
fruit  shall  be  cut  down,  and  shall  be  cast 


fruit  resulting  from  mnrriage,  which  is  a  good  tree. 
The  most  generally  known  is  that  which  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Trent  condemns  in  Protestants,  who  con¬ 
cluded  from  it  that  all  the  actions  of  sinners  and 
of  the  unbelieving  are  so  many  sins.  The  good  or 
bad  tree,  and  the  good  or  bad  man,  have  some 
points  of  resemblance;  it  is  in  these  points  that 
Christ  compares  them.  There  are  also  essential 
differences  and  it  is  by  comparing  them  by  these 
differences,  that  so  many  have  been  misled.  The 
good  tree  cannot  render  itself  bad,  and  the  good 
man  can  render  himself  bad,  by  abusing  his  liberty. 
The  bad  tree  cannot  render  itself  good,  and  the 
bad  man  can,  by  his  free  co-operation  with  grace, 
become  good  and  just.  The  bad  tree  cannot  pro¬ 
duce  a  good  fruit,  because  its  productions  are 
always  conformable  to  its  nature,  which  is  bad; 
but  the  bad  man  may  absolutely  produce  an  action 
which  is  not  bad,  because,  being  free,  he  may  not 
always  act  conformably  to  his  bad  disposition.  We, 
therefore,  judge  infallibly  of  the  tree  by  its  fruits, 
and  morally  of  man  by  his  works.  And,  when  we 
speak  of  the  man,  we  mean  his  doctrine;  for  this 
is  what  is  here  considered. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


into  the  fire.  Wherefore,  by  their  fruits 
you  shall  know  them.”  (St.  Matt.  vii.  13- 
20.)  “A  good  man,  out  of  the  good  trea¬ 
sure  of  his  heart,  bringeth  forth  that  which 


561 


is  good  :  and  an  evil  man,  out  of  the  evil 
treasure,  bringeth  forth  that  which  is  evil : 
for  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the 
mouth  speaketh.”  (St.  Luke  vi.  45.) 


CHAPTER  XVIIl. 

CLOSE  OF  THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT. 


JESUS  ended  by  saying  that  which  is 
the  natural  conclusion  of  a  discourse 
like  this,  that  he  gives  not  his  law  to  men 
to  gratify  their  curiosity,  or  to  furnish  mat¬ 
ter  for  their  eloquence,  but  that  they  may 
observe  it,  and  save  their  souls  bv  the  ob- 
servance.  He  who  shall  have  kept  it  shall 
be  saved  ;  but  he  who  shall  not  have  kept 
it  shall  be  condemned,  even  if  in  other  re¬ 
spects  he  were  a  prophet  and  a  man  of 
miracles  ;  for  these  gifts,  which  God  grants 
for  the  good  of  his  Church,  do  not  pre¬ 
suppose  sanctity  in  those  who  receive  them. 
Judas,  and  many  others,  especially  in  the 
commencement  of  Christianity,  are  a  proof 
that  the  gift  of  miracles  is  not  absolutely 
incompatible  with  the  state  of  sin.  But 
had  we  not  facts  in  proof,  it  suffices  to  con¬ 
vince  one  to  hear  the  anticipated  judgment 
which  Jesus  Christ  is  about  to  pronounce 
against  many  of  these  prevaricating  pro¬ 
phets  and  reprobate  workers  of  miracles. 
“  Why,”  saith  he  to  them,  “  do  you  call  me 
Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the  things  which  I 
say?”  (St.  Luke  vii.  46.)  “Not  every 

71 


one  that  saith  to  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  “Many 
will  say  to  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord, 
have  not  we  prophesied  in  thy  name,  and 
done  many  miracles  in  thy  name?  And 
then  I  will  profess  unto  them :  I  never 
knew  you  :  depart  from  me,  you  that  work 
iniquity.”  (St.  Matt.  vii.  21-23.) 

Thus,  it  is  by  deeds,  not  b}^  words,  that 
Christ  will  recognize  his  own.  We  shall 
not  be  commended  for  what  we  have  said, 
or  for  what  we  have  learned,  but  for  what 
we  have  done.  Happy  he  who  shall  have 
put  in  practice  the  knowledge  which  God 
has  given  him  of  his  law  !  On  the  con- 
trary,  unhappy  he  who,  confining  himself  to 
knowing  it,  shall  not  have  produced  fruit 
therefrom  !  But  what,  on  that  great  day, 
will  constitute  the  difference  between  hap¬ 
piness  and  misfortune,  makes  at  present 
the  distinction  between  wisdom  and  folly. 
Oh,  how  many  shall  be  found  truly  wise 
whom  we  at  present  treat  as  simple  and 
ignorant ;  and  how  many  as  fools  amongst 
those  whom  we  now  recognize,  not  merely 


562 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


as  wise,  but  as  masters  of  wisdom!  For 
this  Christ  prepares  us  by  these  last  words  : 
“  Every  one  that  cometh  to  me,  and  hear- 
eth  my  words,  and  doth  them,  I  will  show 
you  to  whom  he  is  like  :  He  is  like  to  a 
man  building  a  house,  who  digged  deep, 
and  laid  the  foundation  upon  a  rock.” 
“And  the  rain  fell,  and  the  floods  came, 
and  the  winds  blew,  and  they  beat  upon 
that  house ;  and  it  fell  not,  for  it  was 
founded  on  a  rock.”  “  But  he  that  heareth 
these  my  words,  and  doth  them  not,  shall 
be  like  a  foolish  man,  that  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand  ;  and  the  rain  fell,  and  the 
floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  they 
beat  upon  that  house,  and  it  fell,  and  great 
was  the  fall  thereof.”  “  When  Jesus  had 
fully  ended  these  words,  the  people  were 
in  admiration  of  his  doctrine.  For  ”  it  was 
again  said  ‘  ‘  he  was  teaching  them  as  one 
having  power,  and  not  as  their  Scribes, 
and  as  the  Pharisees.”1  (St.  Luke  vi.  48  ; 
St.  Matthew  yii.  25-29.) 

There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  the 


whole  of  this  discourse  was  not  spoken 
then  upon  the  mountain,  but  that  on  the 
occasion  of  the  sermon  which  Jesus  Christ 
there  gave,  the  Gospel  reports  several 
other  maxims  of  our  Saviour,  uttered  at 
other  times,  and  which,  when  added  to 
those  he  proposed  on  this  occasion,  con¬ 
stitute  a  body  of  doctrine,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  the  abridgment  of  Christian 
morals.  It  may  have  been  observed,  that 
we  did  not  always  bind  ourselves  to  follow 
the  order  in  which  they  are  found  placed 
in  the  sacred  text.  We  did  this,  to  group 
together  those  which  refer  to  the  same 
subject.  Commentators  agree  sufficiently 
that  the  evangelists  themselves  have  not 
ranged  them  in  the  order  in  which  our 
Saviour  spoke  them.  This  order  was  not 
necessary,  since  the  Holy  Ghost  did  not  in¬ 
spire  them  to  follow  it :  but  we  were  obliged 
to  draw  them  together  thus  in  a  work 
which  has  for  its  principal  object  to  connect 
their  sacred  words,  and  to  form  them  into 
a  consecutive  and  methodical  narrative. 


CHAPTER,  XIX. 

THE  LEPER  CLEANSED. — THE  CENTURION’S  SERVANT.— THE  SON  OF  THE  WIDOW  OF  NAIM 
RAISED  TO  LIFE.— JOHN  SENDS  TWO  OF  HIS  DISCIPLES  TO  CHRIST.— HE  IS  COMMENDED  BY 
JESUS  CHRIST. 

\/\/^  return  to  the  details  of  the  ac-  come  down  from  the  mountain,  great  mul- 

V  V  tions  of  our  Saviour,  in  which  an  titudes  followed  him :  and  behold  a  leper 

attentive  mind  will  find  no  less  instruction 
than  in  his  discourses.  “  When  he  was 


( 1 )  See  note  2,  page  508. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  563 

came  to  him,  and  adored  him,  beseeching 

healed  by  him  of  their  infirmities.”  And 

nim,  and  kneeling  down,  said  to  him  : 

Jesus  withdrew  from  them  from  time  to 

Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me 

time,  and  “  retired  into  the  desert  and 

clean.”  “  Jesus  having  compassion  on  him, 

prayed.”  (St.  Matt.  viii.  1,  2  ;  St.  Mark  i. 

stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  touching  him, 

40-45  ;  St.  Luke  v.  12,  13.) 

saith  to  him :  I  will ;  be  thou  cleansed. 

Charity  soon  obliged  him  to  leave  it,  and 

Immediately  the  leprosy  departed  from 

return  to  those  places  which  he  avoided 

him,  and  he  was  made  clean.”  Jesus 

with  so  much  care.  Then  “  he  entered  into 

“forthwith  sent  him  away,  and  he  strictly 

Capharnaum,”  where  he  found  at  his  very 

charged  him :  See  thou  tell  no  man  : 1 

arrival  what  his  kind  foresight  had  come  to 

but  go  show  thyself  to  the  high  priest,2  and 

seek.  “And  the  servant  of  a  centurion, 

for  a  testimony  unto  them,  offer  the  things 

who  was  dear  to  him,  being  sick,  was  ready 

that  Moses  commanded.”3  “But  he  being 

to  die.  And  when  he  had  heard  of  J esus, 

gone  out,  began  to  publish,  and  to  blaze 

he  sent  unto  him  the  ancients  of  the  Jews, 

abroad  the  word  ;  so  that  Jesus  could  not 

desiring  him  to  come  and  heal  his  servant,” 

openly  go  into  the  city,  but  was  without  in 

“saying:  Lord,  my  servant  lieth  at  home 

desert  places.  And  they  flocked  to  him 

sick  of  the  palsy,  and  is  grievously  tor- 

from  all  sides”  “to  hear  him,  and  to  be 

mented.”  “And  when  they  came  to  Jesus, 

( 1 )  We  have  already  stated  in  note  3,  page 

might  not  have  it  in  their  power  to  gainsay  the 

522,  the  several  reasons  on  account  of  which 

miracle  after  they  themselves  had  recognized  and 

Christ  sometimes  exacted  secrecy  from  those  whom 

declared  it.  There  is  no  appearance  of  his  having 

he  had  miraculously  cured.  There  remains  one 

had  this  design  in  view.  A  person  might  be  cured 

difficulty  with  regard  to  this  man.  It  appears  that 

of  the  leprosy  by  natural  means,  and  the  inspection 

he  was  cured  in  the  sight  of  a  great  number. 

of  this  man  might  be  an  assurance  of  his  cure,  but 

Could  Jesus  Christ  reasonably  expect  that  so 

not  of  the  miraculous  manner  in  which  it  had 

public  an  action  should  remain  secret  ?  It  is  an- 

been  wrought.  It  was,  then,  out  of  deference  to 

swered,  that  it  was  not  impossible  that  the  miracle 

the  law  that  Christ  obliged  him  to  take  tliil  step. 

may  have  been  perceived  by  a  very  small  number 

But  had  he  not  also  violated  the  law  by  touching 

only.  In  the  crowd  a  leper  may  not  have  been  rec- 

this  man  ?  Without  here  adducing  the  indispu- 

ognized  as  being  a  leper.  Had  he  been  so,  would 

table  titles  which  dispensed  him  from  the  law,  we 

"the  Jews  have  allowed  him  to  push  himself  so  far 

may  say  that,  in  appearing  to  depart  from  the  let- 

forward,  and  to  reach  to  the  very  feet  of  our  Sa- 

ter,  he  had  followed  the  spirit.  The  law  forbade  a 

viour  ?  If  the  disease  was  not  perceived,  the  cure 

leper  to  be  touched,  because  leprosy,  being  a  highly 

might  equally  have  escaped  so  great  a  number. 

contagious  disease,  communicated  itself  by  touch. 

The  cure  being  asked  in  so  few  words,  and  obtained 

The  touch  of  Christ,  whilst  salutary  to  the  leper 

by  a  simple  touch,  accompanied  by  two  words,  it 

whom  he  touched,  could  not  be  dangerous  to  him- 

might  have  been  remarked  only  by  the  disciples, 

self ;  and  the  law,  which  forbade  contact  that 

who  apparently  surrounded  our  Saviour,  and  con- 

might  multiply  lepers,  was  very  far  from  prohibit- 

cealed  him,  at  least  in  part,  from  the  eyes  of  the 

ing  that  contact  which  diminished  the  number. 

multitude. 

( 3 )  The  rite  for  the  purification  of  lepers  is  to 

( s )  Many  assert  that  Christ  sent  the  cured  leper 

be  found  in  Leviticus  xiv.  2-31. 

to  show 'himself  to  the  priests,  in  order  that  they 

J 

- -  - 

564  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

they  besought  him  earnestly,  saying  to 

neither  did  I  think  myself  worthy  to  come 

him  :  He  is  worthy  that  thou  should  do 

to  thee  :  but  say  the  word,  and  my  servant 

this  for  him  ;  for  he  loveth  our  nation,  and 

shall  be  healed  :  for  I  also  am  a  man  sub- 

he  hath  built  us  a  synagogue.”  The  seek- 

ject  to  authority,  having  under  me  soldiers, 

ing  to  interest  him  by  this  motive  was, 

and  I  say  to  one  :  Go,  and  he  goeth  ;  and 

whatever  calumny  may  have  subse- 

to  another  Come,  and  he  cometh  ;  and  to 

quently  said,  acknowledging  Jesus  to  be 

my  servant :  do  this,  and  he  doth  it.”  This 

a  good  citizen.  His  answer  must  have 

was  confessing  that  for  a  much  stronger 

confirmed  them  in  this  idea.  <!  I  will  come, 

reason,  Jesus,  who  was  master  of  all  things, 

said  he  to  him,  and  heal  him.”  (St.  Luke 

and  who  recognized  no  master  in  the  uni- 

vii.  1-5  ;  St.  Matt.  viii.  6,  T.) 

verse,  had  only  to  speak  to  be  obeyed  by 

“  And  Jesus  went  with  them,  and  when 

all  nature.  “Which  Jesus,  hearing,  mar- 

he  was  not  far  from  the  house,  the  cen- 

veiled,1  and  turning  about  to  the  multitude 

turion,”  whose  faith  had  received  a  new 

that  followed  him,  said  :  Amen,  I  say  to 

impulse,  “  sent  his  friends  to  him,  saying,” 

you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  not 

on  his  part,  those  words  which  J esus  Christ 

even  in  Israel.”2  (St.  Luke  vii.  6-10.) 

has  praised  so  highly,  and  which  the  Church 

“  And  I  say  to  you  that  many  shall  come 

has  treasured  as  the  expression  of  the  most 

from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  shall  sit 

profound  humility  :  “  Lord,  trouble  not  thy- 

down 3  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and 

self,  for  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldst 

Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,4  but  the 

enter  under  my  roof ;  for  which  cause 

children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  out 

(')  Admiration,  properly  speaking,  is  excited 

( s )  The  Latin  word  signifies  supper,  which  was 

by  some  unforeseen  occurrence,  or  by  some  un- 

properly  the  chief  repast  of  the  ancients.  Scripture 

known  and  new  object;  it  therefore  always  sup- 

often  compares  to  it  the  happiness  of  heaven. 

poses  some  want  of  previous  knowledge,  and 

What  follows  continues  the  comparison.  Whilst 

cannot  be  said  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  knows  and  is 

strangers  shall  be  sitting  there  with  the  patriarchs, 

aware  of  everything,  and  who  could  not  be 

the  children  of  the  kingdom,  that  is  to  say,  the 

ignorant,  particularly  of  the  centurion’s  faith, 

Jews,  who,  by  virtue  of  the  promises,  had  that 

which  was  his.  own  work,  since  it  had  been  pro- 

riffht  to  it  which  children  have  to  sit  at  the  table 

duced  by  his  grace ;  but  he  assumed  the  air  and 

of  their  father,  shall  be  driven  from  it  and  cast- 

the  tone  of  admiration  to  conform  to  our  ways  ol 

out  into  exterior  darkness.  When  supper  is  going 

acting,  and  to  teach  us  what  we  should  admire. 

on,  the  light  is  in  the  apartment,  and  darkness  is 

( ! )  Several  interpreters  except  the  apostles ; 

outside.  There  they  shall  weep  from  grief,  and 

all,  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Saint  John  the  Baptist. 

shall  gnash  their  teeth  with  rage,  at  seeing  them- 

Jesus  Christ  speaks  hei’e  of  the  nation  in  general, 

selves  excluded  from  the  feast  to  which  they  first 

without  including  special  vocations  and  privileged 

of  all  had  been  called. 

souls.  A  king  may  say,  speaking  of  one  of  his 

( ‘ )  By  the  kingdom  of  heaven  some  understand 

subjects,  there  is  no  one  in  my  kingdom  who  has 

here  the  Church,  or  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Abra- 

such  affection  for  me  as  this  person,  although  the 

ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  have  believed  in  the  Messias 

king  be  not  ignorant  that  he  is  much  dearer  .to  his 

to  come,  as  we  believe  in  the  Messias  who  is  come ; 

wife  and  to  his  children. 

they,  therefore,  were  members  of  the  Church  as 

•  -  * 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


565 


into  exterior  darkness :  there  shall  be 
weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  And  Jesus 
said  to  the  centurion,”  through  those 
whom  the  latter  had  sent  in  his  stead  : 

“  Go,  and  as  thou  hast  believed,  so  be 
it  done  to  thee ; 1  and  the  servant  was 
healed  at  the  same  hour  ”  (St.  Matthew 
viii.  11-13),  “  and  they  who  were  sent  being 
returned  to  the  house,  found  the  servant 
whole  who  had  been  sick.”  (St.  Luke  vii. 
10.) 

“Afterwards  Jesus  went  into  a  city 
called  Naim  :  and  there  went  with  him  his 
disciples,  and  a  great  multitude.”  We  have 
already  seen  that  the  Jews  were  in  the 
habit  of  interring  their  dead  outside  the 
cities,  whether  to  avoid  some  legal  penalty, 

well  as  the  Gentiles.  Moreover,  we  know  that 
the  Gentiles  shall  have  their  place  in  heaven  with 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  The  kingdom,  there- 
fore,  is  both  the  Church  and  heaven,  the  happiness 
of  which  is  represented  by  the  feast,  as  exterioi 
darkness  is  the  image  of  hell,  the  punishment  of 
which  is  expressed  by  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth. 

( 1 )  Christ  appears  to  speak  to  the  centurion  as 
if  he  were  present;  and  it  seems,  according  to 
Saint  Matthew,  that  in  reality  he  was  present  in 
person.  According  to  Saint  Luke,  he  did  not 
deem  himself  worthy  to  present  himself  befoie 
Jesus  Christ,  and  first  deputes  the  ancients  of  the 
Jews,  and  then  his  friends.  This  difference  has 
induced  the  belief  that  these  were  two  different 
occurrences;  but  there  is  a  groundwork  of  le- 
semblance  which  decides  it  to  be  the  same.  In 
both  narratives  we  have  a  centurion,  a  sick 
servant,  the  same  discourse  of  the  master,  and  the 
same  prayer  to  Jesus  Christ  not  to  come  to  his 
house,  the  same  faith,  and  on  the  part  of  Jesus  the 
*6ame  admiration  which  makes  him  say  that  he  has 
not  found  such  great  faith  in  Israel.  With  all 
this,  it  is  still  possible  to  cavil  at  the  differences ; 


or  whether  this  was  merely  a  civil  sanitary 
regulation.  “  And  when,  therefore,  he 
came  nigh  to  the  gate  of  the  city,2  behold, 
by  one  of  those  seeming  chances  which 
were  never  such  to  the  Saviour,  “a  dead 
man  was  carried  out.  He  was  the  only 
son  of  his  mother,  and  she  was  a  widow, 
and  a  great  multitude  of  the  city  was  with 
her.  Whom  when  the  Lord  had  seen, 
being  moved  with  mercy  towards  her,  he' 
said  to  her,  Weep  not.  And  he  came  near 
and  touched  the  bier.”  (And  they  that 
carried  it  stood  still.)  Then  assuming  an 
absolute  tone,  which  only  suits  the  sover¬ 
eign  arbiter  of  life  and  death,  ‘  he  said  : 
Young  man,  I  say  to  thee,  arise.  And  he 
that  was  dead  sat  up,  and  began  to  speak  ; 

but  at  bottom  it  is  tlie  same  narrative,  and  good 
sense  will  not  permit  us  to  entertain  a  doubt  on 
the  subject. 

(a)  The  meeting  of  the  people  who  followed 
Jesus,  with  the  crowd  that  accompanied  the 
funeral,  furnished  spectators  to  this  miracle;  and 
it  is  certain  that  Christ  wished  to  make  it  public. 
Commentators  add,  besides,  to  the  gathering  those 
who  happened  to  be  waiting  at  the  gate  of  the  city 
for  judgments.  We  read,  in  fact,  in  Scripture, 
that  the  Israelites  held  there  a  sort  of  court,  where 
causes  were  decided  ;  but  did  this  custom  still  ex¬ 
ist  in  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ?  The  texts  which 
are  cited  with  reference  to  this  mafter  are  not  later 
than  the  times  of  the  kings  of  Juda.  In  matters 
of  custom,  several  centuries  make  great  changes, 
especially  among  a  people  who,  during  various 
transmigrations,  might  have  lost  many  of  its 
usages  to  assume  those  of  the  nation  in  whose 
midst  it  dwelt.  It  sometimes  occurs  to  commenta¬ 
tors  to  give  thus,  as  customs  of  the  time  of  Christ, 
customs  for  which  we  find  no  example  except  in 
much  earlier  centuries.  Nothing  is  more  uncer¬ 
tain,  and  we  have  thought  that  it  might  not  be 
useless  to  make  this  remark  here. 


566 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LTFE 


and  Jesus  gave  him  to  his  mother.  And 
there  came  a  [religious]  fear  upon  them 
all,  and  they  glorified  God,  saying  :  A 
great  prophet  is  risen  up  among  us,  and 
God  hath  visited  his  people.  And  this 
rumor  of  him  went  forth  throughout  all 
Judea,  and  all  the  country  round  about.” 
(St.  Luke  vii.  11-17.) 

The  miracle  at  last  reached  the  ears  of 
John,  who,  though  detained  in  a  prison, 
into  which  he  had  been  cast  by  the  incestu¬ 
ous  Herod,  was  not  so  much  confined  as  to 
have  no  communication  without.  There  he 
was  visited,  and  in  pursuance  of  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  saints,  who  do  all  the  good  they 
can,  when  they  cannot  perform  all  they 
wish,  he  announced  the  Messias,  at  least  to 
his  disciples,  and  profited  by  the  occasions 
which  offered  to  make  him  known  to  them. 
That  which  arose  from  his  miracles  was 
too  favorable  to  be  overlooked.  “  Now 
when  John  had  heard  in  prison,”  whose 
rigors  these  tidings  had  made  him  forget 
(his  disciples  told  him  of  all  these  things), 

“  he  called  to  him  two  of  his  disciples,  and 
sent  them  to  J esus,  saying  :  Art  thou  he 
that  art  to  come,  or  look  we  for  another  ?  ” 
It  is  not  difficult  to  penetrate  his  design. 
John  could  not  be  ignorant  what  Jesus  was, 
for  he  had  pointed  him  out  to  others,  nor 


( 1 )  We  read  in  Isaias  xxxv.  5,  6,  that  in  the 
time  of  the  Messias  “the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall 
be  opened,  aud  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  be  un¬ 
stopped;”  “then  shall  the  lame  man  leap  as  a 
hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  shall  be  free.” 
Jesus  Christ  clearly  alludes  to  these  words,  which 
furnishes  the  disciples  of  John  with  a  twofold 
proof,  that  of  miracles,  and  the  accomplishment 
of  the  prophecies  regarding  him. 


could  lie  begin  to  doubt  whether  he  was  the 
Messias  when  he  performed  miracles,  after 
having  recognized  him  as  such  before  he 
had  wrought  one.  But  his  disciples,  always 
too  much  prepossessed  in  favor  of  their 
master,  still  doubted  whether  Jesus  was 
preferable  to  him.  John  wished  them  to 
see  him  with  their  own  eyes,  as  this  evi¬ 
dence  would  complete  their  conviction,  al¬ 
though  with  regard  to  them,  it  should  not 
have  had  greater  weight  than  the  testimony 
they  had  heard  from  his  lips.  The  two 
deputies,  who  apparently  were  some  of  the 
most  incredulous,  “  when  they  were  come 
unto  Jesus  they  said:  John  the  Baptist 
hath  sent  us  to  thee,  saying :  Art  thou  he 
that  art  to  come,  or  look  we  for  another  ?  ” 
Before  replying  to  them  Jesus  did  what 
John  had  foreseen.  “In  that  same  hour 
he  cured  many  of  their  diseases  and  hurts,” 
with  which  they  were  afflicted,  “and  of 
evil  spirits,”  which  possessed  them:  “and 
to  many  that  were  blind  he  gave  sight.” 
Then,  making  answer,  he  said  to  John’s 
disciples:  “Go,  relate  to  John  what  you 
have  heard  and  seen  :  the  blind  see,  the 
lame  walk,1  the  lepers  are  made  clean,  the 
deaf  hear,  the  dead  rise  again,  to  the  poor 
the  Gospel  is  preached,2  and  blessed  is  he 
whosoever  shall  not  be  scandalized  in 


( 2 )  He  who  would  preach  only  for  the  rich, 
would  prove  nothing,  for  he  would  not  even  prove 
that  he  is  persuaded  of  the  truths  that  he  preaches. 
He  who  preaches  to  the  poor  is  persuaded  and  per¬ 
suades.  Charity  so  disinterested  becomes  a  proof 
of  religion,  to  be  compared  with  the  cure  of  the 
blind  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  Would  to 
Heaven  that  it  did  not  resemble  these  prodigies,  in 
another  point,  that  of  being  as  rare ! 


■ 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  567 

me.”  (St.  Matthew  xi.  2  ;  St.  Luke  vii. 

For  whether  Christ  wished  only  to  praise 

18-23.) 

John,  or  whether  his  design  was,  at  the 

This  answer  is  addressed  to  John,  because 

same  time,  to  prevent  those  who  had  wit- 

the  question  was  made  in  his  name  ;  but, 

nessed  the  deputation  from  believing  that 

in  reality  it  was  intended  for  the  disciples, 

John  wavered  in  the  testimony  he  had 

for  whom  the  question  was  put.  The  con- 

borne  him,  ‘  ‘  when  the  messengers  of  J ohn 

elusion  of  the  answer  completely  demon- 

were  departed,  Jesus  began  to  speak” 

strates  this.  Happy,  indeed,  is  he  that  is 

“  concerning  John,”  and  beginning  by 

not  scandalized  at  Jesus  Christ!  The 

praise  of  his  unshakable  firmness,  he  “  be- 

greatest  misfortune  of  the  Jews  was  their 

gan  to  say  to  the  multitudes  ”  who  listened 

being  scandalized  at  him.  But  this  truth 

to  him  :  “  What  went  you  out  into  the  de- 

had  a  particular  application  to  the  disci- 

serttosee?  a  reed  shaken  with  the  wind?” 

pies  of  John,  who  were  scandalized  be- 

Could  a  soul  so  weak,  and  a  character  so 

cause  Jesus  Christ  did  not  prescribe  to  his 

frivolous,  excite  to  such  a  pitch  your  curi- 

disciples  a  mode  of  life  as  austere  as  that 

osity  and  admiration?  “But  what  went 

which  they  practised  themselves  ;  and  we 

you  out  to  see  ?  a  man  clothed  in  soft  gar- 

have  not  forgotten  .that  they  joined  the 

ments  ?  Behold,  they  that  are  clothed  in 

Pharisees  to  reproach  him  with  it.  Here, 

costly  apparel  and  live  delicately  are  in 

then,  they  found  all  that  they  needed,  proof 

the  houses  of  kings.”  Another  circum- 

of  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ  by  miracles, 

stance  which  gives  new  weight  to  John’s 

of  which  he  deigned  to  make  them  eye- 

•testimony.  A  man  devoted  to  so  austere 

witnesses,  and,  moreover,  a  preservative 

a  life,  having  no  wants,  had  no  interest  in 

against  every  thing  that  could  alienate 

this  world.  He  could  not,  therefore,  be 

them  from  his  person.  John  the  Baptist 

suspected  of  flattery  ;  for  what  profit  could 

needed  neither  of  these.  Hence  the  Sav- 

he  have  derived  from  it  ?  “  But,”  in  short, 

iour  had  nothing  but  praise  for  him,  the 

adds  the  Saviour,  “  what,  then,  went  you 

most  magnificent  eulogy  that  ever  issued 

out  to  see?  a  prophet?  Yes,  I  say  to 

from  his  sacred  lips,  but  of  which  no  per- 

you,  and  more  than  a  prophet.  This  is  he 

son  could  have  been  less  worthy  than  the 

of  whom  it  is  written :  Behold,  I  send  my 

precursor,  if,  after  having  been  previously 

angel  before  thy  face,  who  shall  prepare 

endowed  with  so  clear  light,  he  had  been 

the  way  before  thee.1  For,  amen,  I  say 

capable  of  doubting,  for  one  instant,  that 

to  you  :  Amongst  those  that  are  born  of 

Jesus  was  truly  the  Messias. 

women,  there  is  not  a  greater  than  John 

( 1 )  God  said,  in  Malachy,  iii.  1 :  “  Behold,  I 

the  distinction  and  the  equality  of  the  persons. 

send  my  angel,  and  he  shall  prepare  the  way  be- 

This  is  the  first  proof  which  Christ  gives  of  the 

fore  my  fage.”  In  the  prophet  it  is  the  Son  who 

superiority  of  John  over  all  the  other  prophets ; 

speaks;  in  the  evangelist  it  is  the  Son  who  makes 

for  he  is  the  only  prophet  who  has  been  prophe- 

the  Father  speak ;  in  both  it  is  God,  and  the  same 

sied.  He  is  called  angel,  which  signifies  “  sent,” 

God;  and  the  difference  of  the  two  texts  shows 

on  account  of  his  office,  and  also  on  account  of  his 

568  HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 

the  Baptist  -1  Yet  he  that  is  lesser  in  the 

not  an  inheritance  in  which  children  sue- 

kingdom  of  God  is  greater  than  he.”  Such 

ceed  their  fathers  ;  it  is  a  conquest  re- 

is  the  superiority  of  the  law  which  com- 

served  for  him  who  has  courage  to  carry 

mences  over  that  which  now  closes  that 

it  sword  in  hand  :  it  suffereth  violence, 

what,  in  the  order  of  the  ministry,  is  first 

and  the  “  violent  bear  it  away.  For  all 

in  the  one  becomes  the  last  in  the  other. 

the  prophets  and  the  law  prophesied  until 

For  a  new  order  of  things  is  actually  be- 

John.”  But  prophecy  ceases  when  the 

ing  established,  and  standing  between  the 

accomplishment  begins.  You  believe  in- 

two  Testaments,  John  terminates  the  old, 

deed  that  Elias  is  to  be  the  forerunner  of 

and  announces  the  new.  “  And  from  the 

the  Messias  ;  but  “if  you  will  receive  it, 

days  of  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist 

John  is  Elias  that  is  to  come.  He  who 

until  now,  the  kingdom  of  heaven,”  previ- 

hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear.”2  (St. 

ously  proposed  to  one  people  alone,  is  open 

Matt.  xi.  7-15  ;  St.  Luke  vii.  24,  26,  28.) 

to  all  nations.  Let  the  Jews  cease  to  boast 

Informed  of  what  John  the  Baptist 

of  the  rights  which  they  claim.  This  is 

really  was,  and  of  the  interesting  object 

life,  more  angelical  than  human,  which,  as  Ease- 

sense,  or  when  they  propose  a  sublime  perfection. 

bins  reports  (Demons.  Evang.,  lib.  ix.,  chap.  5), 

The  words  which  he  has  just  spoken  are  of  the 

made  some  believe  that  John  was  really  and  by  na- 

former  kind  ;  and  we  do  not  flatter  ourselves  that 

ture  not  a  man,  but  an  angel.  They  were  indeed 

the  explanation  inserted  in  the  text  removes  all 

mistaken ;  but  then  this  shows  that  there  was 

difficulties.  The  following  abstract  may  throw 

ground  for  the  error. 

more  light  upon  it.  John  is  declared  to  be  the 

(*)  Saint  Matthew  says  only:  “  There  has  not 

greatest  of  the  children  of  women,  not  in  sanctity, 

arisen  among  them  that  are  born  of  women  a 

if  we  adhere  to  the  literal  sense,  but  by  his  dig- 

greater  than  John  the  Baptist.”  What  he  says 

nity  of  immediate  precursor  of  the  Messias,  a 

before  and  after  discloses  that  it  is  with  reference 

dignity  which  raises  him  above  all  the  prophets. 

to  prophecy  that  John  is  preferred  to  all  that  had 

But  the  Church,  which  the  Messias  came  to  found, 

appeared  till  then.  Saint  Luke,  who  says  plainly 

is  so  superior  to  the  synagogue,  that  the  lowest  of 

that  there  is  no  greater  prophet  than  John  the 

its  ministers  is,  by  his  ministry,  superior  to  John 

Baptist,  does  not  permit  us  to  doubt  any  longer  of 

himself.  This  Church  is  actually  established,  and 

this  being  its  literal  sense.  The  text  of  Saint 

is  designated  by  the  most  magnificent  of  its  marks, 

Matthew  has  made  some  believe  that  Saint  John 

by  its  universality,  which  embraces  all  nations, 

was  the  greatest  saint  of  either  the  Old  or  New 

called  from  the  four  parts  of  the  world  to  enter  it 

Testament ;  or,  to  speak  with  more  precision,  that 

as  a  conquered  country.  The  preaching  of  John 

none  was  more  holy  than  he  ;  for  the  text  does  not 

was  given  to  announce  its  establishment,  and  the 

exclude  equality.  This  sense,  although  not  literal, 

cessation  of  the  law  and  of  the  prophets,  which 

should  always  be  respected,  because  it  has  been  al- 

only  served  as  preparatives.  The  Jews  were  under 

ways  followed  from  all  antiquity,  and  the  Church 

the  persuasion  that  Elias  should  precede  the  Mes- 

seems  to  have  adopted  it  in  these  words,  which  it 

sias.  John  has  the  spirit  and  virtue  of  Elias,  and 

sings  in  honor  of  the  holy  precursor :  “No  one  in 

so  far  their  expectation  is  already  fulfilled,  without 

this  vast  universe  has  been  more  holy  than  Saint 

detracting  from  what  shall  happen  at  the  second 

John.” 

coming,  when  all  agree  that  the  Messias  is  to  be 

( 1 )  Christ  sometimes  employs  this  conclusion 

preceded  by  Elias  in  person. 

when  his  words  have  a  mysterious  and  profound  1 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


of  his  mission,  “the  people  and  the  publi¬ 
cans  hearing  it  justified  God,  being  baptized 
with  John’s  baptism,  and  recognized  with 
admiration  and  gratitude  the  wisdom  of 
God  ”  in  the  fitness  of  the  means  by  which 
he  attained  his  ends.  “  But  the  Pharisees 
and  the  lawyers,  being  not  baptized 
by  John,1  despised  the  counsel  of  God 
against  themselves,”  and  their  inflexible 
stubbornness  in  rejecting  all  the  means 
which  God  had  set  in  motion  to  gain 
them,  drew  upon  them  from  our  Lord  this 
just  reproach:  “  Whereunto,  said  he, 
shall  I  liken  the  men  of  this  generation, 
and  to  what  are  they  like  ?  They  are  like 
to  children2  sitting  in  the  market-place, 
speaking  one  to  another,  and  saying  :  We 
have  piped  to  you,  and  you  have  not 
danced  :  we  have  mourned,  and  you  have 
not  wept.  For  John  the  Baptist  came, 
neither  eating  bread  nor  drinking  wine  ; 
and  you  say  :  He  hath  a  devil.  The  Son 
of  man  is  come  eating  and  drinking  ;  and 
you  say  :  Behold  a  man  that  is  ^  glutton 
and  a  drinker  of  wine,  a  friend  of  publi¬ 
cans  and  sinners.  Thus  wisdom  is  justi¬ 
fied  by  all  her  children”  (St.  Luke  vii. 
29-35), -not  merely  by  those  who  have 

( 1 )  It  was  through  the  baptism  of  John  that 
God  chose  to  bring  them  to  the  faith.  Contempt 
for  the  lesser  grace  made  them  lose  the  decisive 
grace  of  salvation.  The  chain,  once  broken,  was 
never  more  reunited  for  them.  Let  us  profit  by 
everything,  since  the  greatest  things  often  hinge 
upon  the  smallest,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
what  is  everything  depends  on  what  is  almost 
nothing. 

72 


569 


been  docile  to  her  voice,  but  also  by  the 
rebellious.  Did  the  latter  wish  for  an  au¬ 
stere  life  ?  They  found  that  in  Saint  John 
the  Baptist.  Did  they  prefer  a  common 
life  ?  Such  was  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Of  the  two  opposite  kinds  of  life,  criticism 
of  the  one  was  apology  for  the  other,  and 
meant  in  turn  preference  of  one  or  the 
other.  After  that,  to  be  scandalized  at 
both  one  and  the  other,  and  submit  to 
neither,  is  a  declaration  of  an  intention  to 
be  scandalized  at  every  thing,  and  submit 
to  nothing.  So  far  as  God  is  concerned 
the  means  did  not  fail,  but  they  became 
useless,  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  incredu¬ 
lous,  and  the  reasons  which  the  latter  ad¬ 
vanced  to  elude  them  were  at  the  same 
time  an  apology  of  God’s  conduct,  and  a 
condemnation  of  their  own  incredulity. 
Let  us  not  be  surprised  that  they  should 
be  included  under  the  common  denomina¬ 
tion  of  children  of  wisdom.  All  the  Jews 
had  God  for  their  legislator,  and  his  wis¬ 
dom  for  their  director  ;  and,  though  most 
of  them  were  poor  disciples,  they  were 
not  the  less  under  her  discipline  ;  and 
in  this  sense  all  might  be  called  her  chil¬ 
dren. 


(a)  It  is  not  the  incredulous  Jews,  but  Jesus 
Christ  and  Saint  John  who  are  compared  to  chil¬ 
dren  who  sing  and  weep  ;  and  unbelievers  are  com¬ 
pared  to  children  whom  others  cannot  induce  by 
any  means  to  take  part  in  their  joys  or  sorrows. 
This  mode  of  comi^arison  is  not  unexamjded  in 
Scripture,  which  often  compares  the  whole  to  the 
whole,  leaving  the  attentive  reader  to  distribute 
the  different  members  of  the  comparison. 


570  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

THE  HOLY  WOMEN  FOLLOWING  JESUS  CHRIST.— HIS  KINDRED  WISH  TO  SEIZE  HIS  PERSON.— 
HEALING  A  BLIND  AND  DUMB  DEMONIAC.— BLASPHEMY  OF  THE  PHARISEES.— SIN  AGAINST 
THE  HOLY  GHOST. 


MEANWHILE  “Jesus,”  whose  zeal 
could  neither  be  repulsed  by  con¬ 
tradiction,  nor  exhausted  by  toil,  “  travelled 
through  the%cities  and  towns,  preaching  and 
evangelizing  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
twelve,”  to  whom  his  examples  were  to 
serve  as  lessons  for  the  same  ministry, 
“were  with  him.  And,”  there  also  were 
with  him  “  certain  women  1  who  had  been 
healed  of  evil  spirits  and  infirmities,  Mary, 
who  is  called  Magdalen,2  out  of  whom  seven 
devils  were  gone  forth  ;  Joanna,  the  wife 
of  Chusa,  Herod’s  steward  :  Susanna,  and 
many  others  who  ministered  unto  him  of 

( 1 )  The  reader  is  perhaps  surprised  that  Christ 
should  have  suffered  women  in  his  company.  It 
was,  says  St.  Jerome,  an  established  usage  among 
the  Jews,  that  women,  and  especially  widows, 
should  follow  their  religious  teachers,  and  minister 
to  their  wants.  The  custom  took  away  the  scan¬ 
dal,  and  the  Jews  clearly  took  no  scandal  at  Jesus 
on  this  account,  since  they  never  made  any  re¬ 
proach  to  him  concerning  it,  whilst  they  calumni¬ 
ated  him  upon  everything  else.  The  apostles  acted 
in  the  same  way  as  their  divine  Master.  Saint 
Paul  decides  positively  that  they  had  a  right  to  do 
so.  If  he  did  not,  it  was  out  of  precaution  for  the 
Gentiles,  who,  unaware  of  this  usage,  might  be 
scandalized.  -  Heretics  have  abused  it  only  too 
much;  and  you  will  find  very  few  sects,  indeed, 
who  have  neglected  this  resource.  This  usage  has 
then  a  claim  in  the  example  of  Christ.  We  have, 
in  the  example  of  Saint  Paul,  reserve,  if,  when 


their  substance.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  1,  2.) 
Thus  they  assumed  all  the  part  that  their 
sex  permitted  them  to  take  in  the  apostol¬ 
ical  functions,  and  deserved  to  share  in  its 
recompense  ;  for  supporting  an  apostle  is 
preaching  by  his  mouth,  since  he  could  not 
preach  if  he  were  diverted  from  it  by  the 
care  of  procuring  the  necessaries  of  life. 

During  the  course  of  this  mission,  those 
who  accompanied  him  ‘  ‘  came  to  a  house  ” 
to  rest  themselves ;  but  “  the  multitude 
cometh  together  again,  so  that  they  could 
not  so  much  as  eat  bread.”  Meanwhile  the 
fame  of  the  works  he  wrought  spread 

availing  ourselves  of  the  right,  there  be  apprehen¬ 
sions  lest* people  should  be  scandalized;  and  in 
heretics,  we  have  the  abuse;  and  its  consequences 
should  make  those  tremble  who  are  so  ill  advised 
as  to  listen  to  these  false  teachers.  For,  if  she  who 
serves  the  apostle  shall  have  the  reward  of  an 
apostle,  the  punishment  of  the  heresiarch  shall  he 
reserved  for  her  who  serves  the  heresiarch. 

( 2 )  The  reader  has  seen,  page  532,  chap,  xiv., 
the  reasons  why  we  do  not  distinguish  her  from 
the  sinful  woman,  nor  from  Mary,  the  sister  of 
Lazarus,  and  of  Martha.  Some  commentators 
understand  by  the  seven  demons,  the  vices  from 
which  she  was  delivered.  Others  hold  that  she 
really  was  possessed  by  seven  demons,  whom  Jesus 
expelled  from  her  body  by  the  virtue  of  his  word. 
Those  who  adopt  this  opinion  should  add,  that  this 
deliverance  preceded,  and  apparently  occasioned 
Magdalen’s  conversion. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  571 

throughout  the  country.  “  When  his  friends 

nothing  beyond  what  they  understand,  as 

had  heard  of  it,  they  went  out  to  lay  hold 

though  the  eye  of  the  spirit  had  not  limits 

on  him  ; 1  for  they  said  :  He  is  become 

as  certain,  and  as  distinctly  marked,  as  the 

mad.”  (St.  Mark  iii.  20,  21.)  These  good 

sight  of  the  body.  To  measure  the  extent 

people  could  not  persuade  themselves  that 

of  possible  things  by  the  narrow  sphere  of 

he  whom  they  had  seen  grow  up  amongst 

our  knowledge,  is,  in  both  cases,  the  cause 

them,  like  one  of  themselves,  could  be  a 

of  error  ;  and  they  are  as  like  each  other 

prophet  and  a  man  of  miracles.  They 

in  their  principle  as  in  their  consequences. 

concluded,  therefore,  from  the  reports  con- 

Moreover,  this  low  idea  of  Jesus  enter- 

cerning  him,  that  he  had  lost  his  mind, 

tained  by  his  kindred,  completely  assures 

and  believed  that  they  would  act  the  part 

us,  that  during  the  thirty  years  he  passed 

of  real  friends  by  seizing  his  person  ;  for 

at  Nazareth,  he  allowed  no  action  to  escape 

there  seems  to  have  been  no  malice  on 

him  which  could  raise  the  suspicion  of  what 

their  part.  It  was  that  weakness  usual  to 

he  was,  and  that  the  only  virtues  percepti- 

persons  of  limited  understanding,  and  no 

ble  in  him  were  merely  those  suitable  to  his 

education,  of  being  incapable  of  believing 

age  and  condition  :  virtues  always  esteemed 

anything  beyond  what  they  see  or  imagine. 

but  lightly,  and  scarcely  noticed  by  men, 

Now,  they  had  not  seen  the  miracles  of 

who  remark  and  esteem  only  what  is  won- 

Jesus  Christ,  and  they  could  not  imagine 

derful  and  dazzling  in  virtue  ;  yet,  when 

that  he  whom  they  had  seen  in  the  trivial 

practised  with  inviolable  fidelity,  and  from 

ways  of  infancy,  and  in  the  obscurity  of  a 

sublime  motives,  virtues  which  command 

poor  workshop,  had  become  suddenly  an 

the  approbation  of  God  and  the  admiration 

extraordinary  man.  Perhaps  that  at  the 

of  angels  ;  for,  was  there  ever  an  object 

same  time  some  freethinkers  passed  the 

so  worth}^  of  both  as  what  was  then  done 

same  judgment  upon  him  ;  for  extremes 

by  this  young  artisan,  unknown  to  all  the 

meet :  and  as  the  simple  believe  nothing 

world,  and,  next  to  him  what  was  done 

beyond  what  they  see,  the  subtle  admit 

with  him  by  Mary,  his  holy  mother,  shut 

(  1  )  One  thing  here  embarrasses  us.  It  seems, 

occasions  were  certainly  identical.  2d.  Supposing 

by  the  sequel,  that  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  was 

them  the  same,  Mary  might  have  been  ignorant  of 

with  them.  To  believe  that  she  had  the  same  idea 

their  design,  and  have  come  with  them,  impelled 

,  of  Jesus  which  they  had  conceived,  and  that  she 

solely  by  a  desire  to  see  her  son.  Perhaps  they  had 

concurred  in  the  design  they  had  formed  of  seizing 

even  induced  her  to  join  them,  hoping  that  the 

him,  is  something  the  mere  thought  of  which 

son,  assured  by  the  presence  of  his  mother,  would 

shocks  us;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  exculpate  her 

let  himself  the  more  easily  be  drawn  into  the  snare 

from  this.  1st.  Although  it  may  be  probable,  yet 

which  they  wished  to  lay  for  him.  Be  that  as  it 

it  is  not  certain  that  this  is  the  same  occasion  when 

may,  we  should  reject  as  impiety  the  very  thought, 

Jesus  was  told  that  his  mother  and  his  brethren 

that  Mary  could  have  the  idea  of  her  son  which 

were  waiting  for  him  at  the  door ;  it  is  not,  there- 

his  relatives  entertained,  or  that  she  took  part  in 

fore,  certain  that  Mary  was  present  upon  this  occa- 

their  plot. 

sion,  because  this  would  be  so  only  when  the  two 

572 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


up  in  the  same  cabin,  enveloped  in  the 
same  obscurity^  and  similarly  occupied  in 
lowly  toil,  of  no  consideration  in  the  eyes 
of  men? 

Still,  it  does  not  appear  that  our  Sa¬ 
viour's  kindred  carried  out  any  further  the 
strange  project  they  had  formed  against 
bis  person  ;  whether  they  were  enlightened 
by  his  grace,  or  arrested  by  his  power,  or 
whether  he  escaped  from  them,  by  becom¬ 
ing  invisible  to  their  eyes,  as  he  did  on 
another  occasion  ;  in  whatever  manner,  it 
was  effected  we  do  not  read  that  he  per¬ 
mitted  them  to  lay  hands  upon  him,  nor 
did  he  discontinue  doing  what  had  inspired 
them  with  the  idea.  For  it  was  “  then  was 
offered  to  him  one  possessed  with  a  devil, 
blind  and  dumb,  and  he  healed  him,  so 
that  he  spoke  and  saw.  And  all  the  multi¬ 
tudes  were  amazed,  and  said  :  Is  not  this 
the  son  of  David  ?  ” 1  (St.  Matt.  xii.  22-24.) 
The  Scribes,  who  were  come  down  from 
Jerusalem,  and  “  the  Pharisees,  hearing  it, 
said :  ”  “He  hath  Beelzebub,  and  he  casteth 
out  devils  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of 
devils.  And  others,  tempting,  asked  of 
him  a  sign  from  heaven.”  (St.  Matt.  xii.  22 
-24  ;  St.  Mark  iii.  22  ;  St.  Luke  xi.  15,  16.) 

We  recognize  in  these  traits,  not  only 
the  dark  thoughts  of  envy,  but  also  incre¬ 
dulity  and  its  wretched  subterfuges.  The 
people,  on  the  contrary,  who  had  neither 
passions  nor  prejudice,  had  judged  soundly 
that  the  author  of  the  great  prodigy  they 
had  witnessed  was  apparently  the  Messias. 

( 1 )  By  excellence,  the  Son  of  David,  that  is  to 
say,  the  Messias.  This  name  had  been  consecrated 
by  tradition  with  that  signification.  But  was  not 
the  crowd  who  spoke  thus  composed  of  Gentiles  ?  | 


For  the  people  never  err,  when  they  follow 
that  upright  sense  which  is  common  to  all 
men,  and  which  with  them  is  the  more  ac¬ 
curate  and  sure,  as  it  is  less  alloyed  with 
science  and  subtlety.  But  if  this  has  given 
ground  for  the  assertion  that  the  voice  of 
the  people  is  the  voice  of  God,  in  the  sense 
that  the  people’s  judgments  then  participate, 
in  some  manner,  in  the  infallibility  of  the 
divine  judgments,  still  they  are  far  from 
being  as  immutable.  Nothing  is  so  easy  as 
to  make  the  people  change  their  ideas  and 
sentiments,  and  to  make  them  pass  in  a 
moment  from  admiration  to  contempt,  and 
from  love  to  hatred.  And  this  was  pre¬ 
cisely  what  the  envious  and  the  incredu¬ 
lous  actually  aimed  at.  Scattered  through 
the  crowd,  they1"  had  spread  the  atrocious 
calumny  we  have  just  heard,  when  our 
Saviour,  in  order  to  forewarn  that  weak 
and  fickle  multitude  against  being  seduced 
by  them,  silenced  the  calumniators,  by 
making  them  feel  the  absurdity  of  the  re¬ 
proach  they  cast  upon  him,  and  the  enor¬ 
mity  of  the  crime  they  committed  in  doing 
so. 

“  Knowing  then  their  thoughts,”  and 
aware  of  their  pernicious  designs,  “and 
after  he  had  called  them  together,  Jesus 
said  to  them  in  parables  :  How  can  Satan 
cast  out  Satan?”  “Every  kingdom  di¬ 
vided  against  itself  shall  be  brought  to  ' 
desolation?”  “and  if  a  house  be  divided 
against  itself,  that  house  cannot  stand.” 

“  And  if  Satan  cast  out  Satan,  he  is  divided 

We  should  be  driven  to  say  so,  if  it  were  true,  as 
some  have  dreamed,  that  the  Gentiles  alone  gave  to 
the  Messias  the  title  of  Son  of  David. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  573 

against  himself.  How,  then,  shall  his  king- 

out  devils.  Now,  if  I  cast  out  devils  by 

dom  stand  ?  ”  “  He  cannot  stand,  but  hath 

Beelzebub,  by  whom  do  your  children1 

an  end.”  (St.  Luke  xi.  IT,  18  ;  St.  Mark 

cast  them  out?”  You  have  always  ac- 

iii.  23-26  ;  St.  Matt.  xii.  25,  26.) 

knowledged  that  it  was  in  the  name  of  God. 

Although  irreconcilable  enemies  of  union, 

“Therefore  they  shall  be  your  judges.” 

the  demons  nevertheless  unite  to  divide 

(St.  Luke  xi.  18.)  For  what  answer  can 

and  to  injure.  They  are  not  so  unskilful 

you  give  when  they  reproach  you  for 

as  not  to  see  that,  unless  there  is  some 

having  stigmatized  as  a  diabolical  opera- 

agreement  among  them,  none  of  their  de- 

tion  in  me  what  you  regard  in  them  as  a 

signs  can  succeed.  This  union  is  that  of 

divine  work?  “  But,”  adds  Jesus  Christ, 

cabal  and  faction.  Too  faithfully  imitated 

“if  I,  by  the  finger  of  God,  cast  out  de- 

by  the  wicked,  it  renders  them  but  too  ef- 

vils,  doubtless  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come 

fective  for  mischief ;  whilst  unhappy  divi- 

upon  you.”  (St.  Luke  xi.  18-20  ;  St.  Matt. 

sions  often  wreck  the  enterprises  which  the 

xii.  28.) 

good  would  form  for  good.  But,  although 

This  was  the  main  truth  which  Saint 

this  first  answer  of  our  Saviour  silenced 

John  had  announced  at  the  outset,  which 

his  enemies,  he  yet  adds  a  second,  which 

Christ  never  ceased  repeating  to  them, 

shows  the  Pharisees  their  condemnation,  in 

which  he  had  proved  by  all  the  miracles 

their  own  sentiments  and  in  their  conduct : 

he  had  hitherto  wrought,  but  of  which  tie 

for  all  the  casting  out  of  devils  wrought  by 

casting  out  of  devils  was  in  some  sort  a 

others  than  Christ,  they  constantly  attri- 

more  direct  proof,  because  it  was  the  direct 

buted  to  divine  power,  and  it  had  never  oc- 

proof  of  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of 

curred  to  their  minds  that  such  acts  could 

Satan,  which  kingdom  could  be  annihilated 

be  the  result  of  a  compact  with  Satan.  To 

only  by  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

accuse  Jesus  Christ  alone  of  this,  was, 

This  our  Saviour  makes  completely  manifest 

therefore,  showing  upon  their  part  the  most 

by  this  comparison:  “How  can  any  one 

evident,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most 

enter  into  the  house  of  the  strong,  and  rifle 

iniquitous  partiality.  This  results  from  the 

his  goods,  unless  he  first  bind  the  strong  ?  ” 

following  words  : 

(St.  Matt.  xii.  29.)  “  When  a  strong  man 

. 

“  You  say  that  through  Beelzebub  I  cast 

armed  keepeth  his  court,  those  things  are 

C)  A  common  scriptural  expression  for  fellow- 

more  apparent  reasons.  1st.  It  seems  that  Christ 

countrymen.  The  ancient  interpreters  understood 

had  not  yet  given  his  apostles  the  power  to  cast 

it  of  the  apostles,  who  cast  out  devils  by  the  power 

out  devils,  or  at  least  that  the  apostles  had  not  as 

■which  Christ  had  given  them.  Most  modern  in- 

yet  exercised  it.  2d.  Supposing  that  they  had  this 

terpreters  understand  it  of  the  Jewish  exorcists, 

power,  being  the  same  fundamentally  as  that  of 

who  successfully  employed  against  the  demons  cer- 

Christ,  the  Pharisees  might  attribute  it  as  well  to 

tain  formulas  of  conjuration  which  Solomon  had 

the  prince  of  demons,  as  Christ  even  gives  us  to 

taught  them,  as  Josephus  relates  (Jewish  Antiqui- 

understand  by  these  words :  “If  they  have  called 

ties,  Book  viii.  Ch.  ii.)  If  the  former  opinion  has  in 

the  goodman  of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how  much 

its  favor  the  most  weighty  authorities,  the  latter  has 

more  them  of  his  household!” — (Matthew  x.  25.) 

574 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


in  peace  which  he  possesseth.  But  if  a 
stronger  than  he  come  upon  him,  and 
overcome  him,  he  will  take  away  all  his 
armor  wherein  he  trusted,  and  will  dis¬ 
tribute  his  spoils.77  (St.  Luke  xi.  22.) 

These  spoils  wrested  from  Satan  are  the 
men  whose  arms  and  bodies  he  possessed, 
delivered  from  his  tyranny  by  the  power 
of  J esus  Christ.  His  defeat  then  is  certain, 
and  it  is  no  longer  lawful  not  to  recognize 
the  conqueror. 

This  is  so  evident,  that  it  would  be  crim¬ 
inal  to  act  with  indifference  or  neutrality 
towards  Christ,  as  he  assures  us  by  these 
words  which  he  distinctly  adds  :  “  He  that 
is  not  with  me,  is  against  me  ;  and  lie  that 
gathereth  not  with  me,  scattereth.77  Hence, 
what  must  be  their  crime  who  declare 

( 1 )  It  is  not  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
considered  as  the  third  person  of  the  adorable 
Trinity,  but  against  the  Spirit  of  God,  author  of 
the  wonders  which  Jesus  Christ  wrought.  Were 
we  to  understand  it  in  the  former  sense,  we  should 
believe  that  the  Eunomians,  who  denied  the  divin¬ 
ity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  the  most  hardened  of 
all  sinners.  Yet,  Saint  Chrysostom  says  that  they 
were  seen  returning  in  crowds  to  the  bosom  of 
the  Church.  By  blasphemy  against  the  Son  of 
man,  the  interpreters  understand  commonly  the 
reproachful  calumnies  of  the  Jews,  which  affected 
only  our  Saviour’s  humanity ;  as,  for  example,  when 
they  said  that  he  loved  good  cheer  and  wine,  that 
he  favored  sinners,,  etc.,  etc.  These  reproaches 
were  indeed  highly  criminal.  Still,  because  they 
attacked  his  divinity  only  indirectly,  Jesus,  the 
meekest  of  men,  seems  to  count  them  as  nothing, 
and  wishes  all  to  know  how  ready  he  is  to  pardon 
them. 

( 2 )  There  is  then  some  remission  in  the  other 
world ;  and  Protestants,  who  deny  it,  and  who  con¬ 
sequently  reject  purgatory  and  prayer  for  the  dead, 
are  refuted  by  this  single  word. 


against  him  with  that  excess  of  malignity 
and  fury  which  goes  to  the  extent  of  at¬ 
tributing  to  the  infernal  spirits  the  works  of 
his  almighty  power?  And  should  we  be 
astonished  at  his  immediately  drawing  this 
dreadful  conclusion?  “  Therefore,  I  say  to 
you,  every  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  for¬ 
given  men  ;  but  the  blasphemy  of  the  Spirit 
shall  not  be  forgiven.1  And  whoever  shall 
speak  a  word  against  the  Son  of  man,  it  shall 
be  forgiven  him  ;  but  he  that  shall  speak 
against  the  Holy  Grhost,  it  shall  not  be  for¬ 
given  him,  neither  in  this  world  nor  in  the 
world  to  come.77  2  (St.  Matt.  xii.  30-32.) 
“  He  shall  never  have  forgiveness,  and  shall 
be  guilty  of  an  everlasting  sin.77  He  spoke 
thus  to  them,  “  because  they  said  :  He  hath 
an  unclean  spirit.77  3  (St.  Mark  iii.  29.) 

( 3 )  This  expression  decides  what  is  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  here  in  question. 
It  is  visibly  that  which  the  Pharisees  committed, 
by  attributing  to  the  devil  the  works  of  Christ, 
which  had  the  Spirit  of  God  for  their  author.  I 
leave  it  to  theologians  to  examine  whether  there 
are  other  sins  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  what  they 
are,  and  how  many  should  be  reckoned.  I  content 
myself  with  remarking  that,  among  the  sins  com¬ 
mitted  in  the  world,  that  which  approaches  nearest 
to  the  sin  of  the  Pharisees,  is  to  attribute  to  hy¬ 
pocrisy,  or  any  other  vicious  principle,  the  virtues 
of  the  saints,  which  the  Spirit  of  God  operates  by 
his  grace;  a  sin  as  common  as  it  is  enormous; 
but  it  remains  to  see  in  what  sense  it  is  said  that  it 
shall  never  be  pardoned.  Saint  Augustine,  and, 
after  him,  the  majority  of  commentators,  regard 
this  passage  as  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  Scrip¬ 
ture  to  explain.  The  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact 
that  the  Church  does  not  recognize  any  sins  as 
absolutely  irremissible,  and  that  this  seems  to  be 
declared  such.  We  are,  therefore,  forced  to  say, 
that  when  Christ  assures  that  it  shall  never  be 
pardoned,  he  intends  to  say  no  more  than  that  its 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


575 


Finally,  as  the  casting  out  of  devils  is 
evidently  a  good  work,  there  remained 
only  one  consequence  to  draw,  that  Christ, 
the  author  of  this,  was  good,  that  is  to  say, 
holy  and  irreprehensible,  and  that  those 
who  calumniated  him  so  atrociously  were 
wicked  and  corrupt.  And  of  this  our 
Saviour  would  not  allow  these  perverse 
men  to  remain  ignorant.  “  Either  make 
the  tree  good,”  he  again  said  to  them,  “  and 
its  fruit  good  ;  or  make  the  tree  evil,  and 
its  fruit  evil ;  for  by  the  fruit  the  tree  is 
known.  0,  generation  of  vipers,  how  can 
you  speak  good  things,  whereas  you  are 
evil  ?  for  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart 
the  mouth  speaketh.  A  good  man,  out  of 

remission  will  be  more  rare  and  more  difficult. 
We  agree  that  this  mitigated  interpretation  is  with 
difficulty  adjusted  to  the  strong  and  absolute 
expressions  which  our  Saviour  here  employs. 
Nevertheless,  we  find,  even  in  this  passage,  matter 
to  justify  it.  Those  who  have  asserted  that  sin  or 
blasphemy  against  the  Son  of  man  is  merely  a 
venial  sin,  assert  an  absurdity;  this  sin  is  mortal 
and  irremissible  in  its  nature,  whether  in  this 
world  or  in  the  other,  if  it  be  not  expiated  by 
penance.  Yet  Jesus  Christ  says  simply  and  abso¬ 
lutely,  that  it  shall  be  pardoned,  remittetur.  Does 
he  mean  that  it  shall  be  so  always  ?  No,  but  that 
it  shall  be  so  easily  and  so  often,  in  comparison 
with  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  shall, 


a  good  treasure,  bringetli  forth  good  things ; 
and  an  evil  man,  out  of  an  evil  treasure, 
bringeth  forth  evil  things.1  But  I  say  to 
you,  that  every  idle  word  that  men  shall 
speak,  they  shall  render  an  account  for  it 
in  the  day  of  judgment  ;  for  by  thy  words 
thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words 
thou  shalt  be  condemned.”  (St.  Matt.  xii. 
33-37.)  The  last  words  of  our  Saviour 
give  us  to  understand  that  the  Pharisees 
made  little  of  the  sins  of  the  tongue  ;  and 
those  immediately  preceding  were  meant 
to  inform  us  how  rigorously  blasphemous 
words  shall  be  punished  at  that  exact  and 
severe  judgment,  in  which  an  idle  word 
shall  not  go  unpunished. 

therefore,  only  be  pardoned  rarely,  and  with  diffi¬ 
culty.  In  a  word,  Christ  says  absolutely  of  the 
sin  against  the  Son  of  man,  that  it  shall  be  par¬ 
doned,  as  he  says  absolutely  of  the  sin  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  it  shall  not  be  pardoned.  It 
never  occurs  to  the  mind  to  believe  that  the  first 
shall  be  always  pardoned ;  neither,  therefore,  should 
we  conclude  that  the  second  shall  never  be  par¬ 
doned. 

(  1 )  Habitually,  and  not  always.  See  note  2 
page  560.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the  truth  of 
moral  propositions,  that  they  should  never  suffer 
exceptions.  They  are  true  when  things  are,  gen* 
erally  speaking,  such  as  these  propositions  enounce 
them. 


576  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  SIGN  OF  JONAS. — THE  NINE YITES.— THE  QUEEN  OF  SABA. — THE  DEVIL  CAST  OUT  RETURN¬ 
ING.— EXCLAMATION  OF  A  WOMAN.— THE  MOTHER  AND  BRETHREN  OF  JESUS.— PARABLE  OF 
THE  SEED. 


HEN  some  of  the  Scribes  and  Phar¬ 
isees  answered  him,  saying  :  Mas¬ 
ter,  we  would  see  a  sign  from  thee.”  (St. 
Matt.  xii.  38.)  It  was  apparently  the  same 
who  had,  as  we  have  already  seen,  asked 
him  for  a  heavenly  sign.  Jesus  had  left 
them  unanswered,  because  he  had  first  to 
meet  the  odious  accusation  we  have  just 
spoken  of.  These  inquisitive  men  and 
temptershaving  raised  it  again,  and  “the 

( 1 )  Christ  refuses  them  the  miracle  they  ask, 
and  promises  them  one  they  did  not  ask.  Was  it 
reasonable  that  Omnipotence  should  be  subservi¬ 
ent  to  their  caprice,  and  perform  the  miracles 
which  they  wished,  because  they  did  not  wish  to 
yield  to  those  it  wrought?  Yet,  little  as- we  may 
know  the  genius  of  incredulity,  we  cannot  doubt 
hut  that  they  deemed  themselves  more  strong- 
minded  after  the  refusal,  and  that  they  said  more 
than  once,  with  an  air  of  triumph:  Why  does  lie 
not  work  the  miracle  which  is  asked  of  him  ? 

( 2 )  Christ  was  not  three  whole  days  and  nights 
in  the  bosom  of  the  earth ;  he  passed  there  only 
one  entire  day  and  one  entire  night,  with  a  part  of 
two  other  days  and  of  two  other  nights.  It  is  in 
this  sense  it  is  said  that  he  passed  there  three  days 
and  three  nights.  It  is  explained  thus  :  We  first 
reckon  the  entire  day  from  midnight  to  midnight. 
This  is  our  wray  :  and  although  it  was  not  the  Jew¬ 
ish,  it  was  that  of  the  Egyptians,  whom  all  nations 
then  regarded  as  legislators  in  astronomy,  and  that 
of  the  Romans,  the  masters  of  the  world,  and  par¬ 
ticularly  of  Judea,  where  it  is  natural  to  think 
that  they  partly  introduced  this  usage,  as  well  as 


multitudes  running  together,”  to  see  the 
wonder  they  expected,  “  Jesus  began  to 
say  :  This  generation  is  wicked  and  adul¬ 
terous  ;  it  asketh  a  sign,  and  a  sign  shall 
not  be  given  it,  but  the  sign  of  Jonas  the 
prophet.1  For  as  Jonas  was  a  sign  to  the 
Ninevites,  so  shall  the  Son  of  man  also  be 
to  this  generation.”  (St.  Luke  xi.  29,  30.) 
“For  as  Jonas  was  in  the  whale’s  belly 
three  days  and  three  nights,2  so  shall  the 

in  the  other  countries  under  their  sway;  for  they 
dated,  apparently,  the  public  transactions  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  ordinary  manner  of  reckoning  the 
days.  Supposing  this  to  be  the  case,  there  are  no 
longer  any  difficulties.  Jesus  Christ,  having  died 
on  Friday  at  three  o’clock,  after  mid-day,  and  be¬ 
ing  almost  immediately  taken  down  from  the  cross, 
could  be  laid  in  the  tomb  before  sunset,  which  was 
then  after  six  o’clock.  This  is  the  more  likely,  as 
the  repose  of  the  festival,  which  obliged  the  Jews 
to  suspend  their  work,  commenced  at  sunset. 
Thus  Christ  passed  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth  the 
part  of  the  (Jewish)  day  which  remained  from  his 
deposition  in  the  sepulchre  until  sunset.  From 
sunset  until  midnight  there  are  about  six  hours  of 
the  night  which  belong  to  Friday.  We  therefore 
have  already  part  of  a  day,  and  of  the  night  of 
Friday,  passed  in  the  tomb.  There  is  no  difficulty 
as  to  Saturday.  As  to  Sunday,  we  have  firstly,  the 
part  of  the  night  which  commenced  at  midnight, 
when  Saturday  closed  ;  and  as  to  the  day,  although 
it  he  held  that  the  Lord  rose  before  sunrise,  he 
may  not  have  risen  until  the  dawrn  gave  sufficient 
light  to  enable  us  to  say  truly  that  it  was  day.  And 


OP  OUR  LORD 

jesus  christ.  577 

Son  of  man  be  in  the  heart  of  the  earth 1 
three  days  and  three  nights.”  (St.  Matt, 
xii.  40.) 

This  sign,  more  wonderful  than  that  of 
Jonas,  since  it  is  more  wonderful  to  come 
forth  alive  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth, 
after  having  entered  it  dead,  than  to  come 
forth  alive  from  a  fish,  which  had  been  en¬ 
tered  alive,  this  sign,  I  say,  according  to 
God’s  intention,  was  to  be  for  the  Jews  a 
sign  of  conviction  and  salvation  ;  but  be¬ 
cause  Christ  foresaw  that  their  incredulity 
would  render  it  useless,  he  proposes  it  to 
them  here  as  a  sign  of  judgment  and  of 
condemnation,  the  equity  and  rigor  of 
which  are  justified  in  their  regard  by  the 
example  of  the  Ninivites.  He  proceeds, 
therefore,  as  follows  :  “  The  men  of  Ninive 
shall  rise  in  judgment  with  this  genera¬ 
tion,  and  shall  condemn  it  :  because  they 
did  penance  at  the  preaching  of  Jonas  ;  and 
behold  a  greater  than  Jonas  here.  The 
Queen  of  the  South  shall  rise  in  judgment 
with  this  generation,  and  shall  condemn 
it :  because  she  came  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  to  hear  Solomon  ;  and  behold  a 
greater  than  Solomon  here.”  (St.  Matt.  xii. 
41,  2.) 

The  case  of  a  possessed  man  led  Jesus 

to  speak  all  these  words.  He  closes  by 
a  sort  of  parable,  in  which,  under  the  fig¬ 
ure  of  a  man  possessed  anew,  after  deliv¬ 
erance,  he  announces  to  the  Jews  the  in¬ 
crease  of  their  crimes,  and  the  burthen  of 
their  future  misfortunes.  “  When  an  un¬ 
clean  spirit,”  said  he  to  them,  “  is  gone  out 
of  a  man,  he  walketh  through  dry  places, 
seeking  rest,  and  not  finding,  he  saith  :  I 
will  return  into  my  house  whence  I  came 
out;”  “and  coming,  he  findeth  it  empty, 
swept,  and  garnished.  Then  he  goeth,  and 
taketh  with  him  seven  other  spirits  more 
wicked  than  himself ;  and  they  enter  in, 
and  dwell  there  :  and  the  last  state  of  that 
man  is  made  worse  than  the  first.  So 
shall  it  be  also  to  this  wicked  generation.” 

(St.  Matt.  xii.  43-45  ;  St.  Luke  xi.  24-26.) 

There  are  several  ways  of  explaining 
this  parable,  which  we  omit  to  confine  our¬ 
selves  to  what  it  clearly  signifies.  This  is, 
that  the  Jewish  nation,  so  often  criminal 
and  so  often  penitent,  having  again  given 
entrance  to  the  demon  by  its  outrageous 
contempt  for  the  person  of  the  Saviour,  his 
doctrine  and  his  miracles,  shall  again  be¬ 
come  more  criminal  and  more  unfortunate 
than  it  had  hitherto  been.  The  event  too 
truly  justified  the  prophecy,  and  the  appli- 

that  period  of  light,  or  day,  passed  in  the  tomb,  if 
it  lasted  but  for  a  moment,  enables  us  to  say  with 
truth  that  he  was  there  upon  the  day  of  Sun¬ 
day. 

( 1 )  The  Latin  is  in  corde  terrce,  in  the  heart  of 
the  earth  :  this  word  is  usually  understood  with 
reference  to  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  in  which  the 
body  of  the  Lord  was  inclosed.  Yet  as  this  is  the 
only  passage  where  Scripture  makes  use  of  this 
mode  of  speech  to  express  a  sepulchre,  and  as,  be¬ 
sides,  the  Hebrew  phrase  also  signifies  the  centre 

73 

of  the  earth,  an  expression  too  strong  for  the  sepul¬ 
chres,  which  we  may  say  were  only  on  the  surface. 

Catholic  commentators  have  justly  thought,  that 
it  should  also  be  understood  of  Limbo,  whither 
the  holy  soul  of  our  Saviour  descended  immedi¬ 
ately  after  his  death.  Saint  Paul  has  said,  in  the 
same  sense,  that  Christ  descended  “  into  the  lower 
parts  of  the  earth.”  (Ephes.  iv.  9. )  This  truth  is 
of  faith ;  it  forms  a  part  of  the  Apostles’  Creed, 
and  we  do  not  see  upon  what  grounds,  nor  for 
what  reason,  Calvinists  so  obstinately  reject  it. 

- 

578  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

cation  made  every  day  to  relapsing  sin- 

that  inestimable  happiness  which,  as  the 

ners,  is  but  too  well  justified  by  experi- 

Mother  of  God  foretold  in  her  canticle,  was 

ence. 

to  be  extolled  by  all  nations  of  the  earth  ; 

“  And  it  came  to  pass  as  he  spoke  these 

much  less  did  it  mean  that  the  Blessed  Yir- 

things,  a  certain  woman  from  the  crowd 

gin  had  not  cherished  the  word  of  God,  or 

lifting  up  her  voice,”  amidst  the  murmur- 

failed  to  practise  it  herself.  It  was  only 

ing  of  the  Pharisees,  “  said  to  him  :  Blessed 

preferring  to  the  blessedness  of  her  mater- 

is  the  womb  that  bore  thee,  and  the  paps 

nity  that  of  her  fidelity,  which  surpasses 

that  gave  thee  suck.”  She  envied,  as  is 

in  fact  that  of  her  maternity,  inasmuch  as 

usual  with  those  of  her  sex,  the  happiness 

she  would  not  have  been  the  most  blessed 

of  the  woman  who  had  brought  into  the 

of  all  creatures,  if  she  had  not  been  the 

world  so  wonderful  a  man,  and  she  wished 

most  faithful. 

that  herself  could  have  been  that  happy 

This  was  the  moment  which  the  Son  of 

mother.  Jesus  instructed  her,  by  inform- 

God  had  chosen  to  establish  that  great 

ing  her  that  there  was  a  happiness  prefer- 

maxim,  that  by  perfect  observance  of  the 

able  even  to  that  of  such  an  exalted  ma- 

law  of  God,  we  unite  ourselves  to  him  by 

ternity,  and  consoled  her  by  giving  her  to 

closer  and  stronger  ties  than  those  of  flesh 

understand  that  she  could  procure  for  her- 

and  blood.  To  imprint  it  more  deeply  on  the 

self  this  happiness.  “Yea,  rather,”  he 

mind,  he  brought  about  the  following  event, 

said,  “  blessed  are  they  who  hear  the  Word 

which  furnished  him  with  an  occasion  to 

of  God,  and  keep  it.”  (St.  Luke  xi.  27, 

repeat  it.  “As  he  was  yet  speaking  to  the 

28.)  To  speak  thus  was  not  to  depreciate 

multitudes,  his  mother  and  his  brethren  1 

( 1 )  Those  who  say  that  after  the  birth  of  Christ 

James  the  Lesser,  Joseph,  Jude  or  Thaddeus,  and 

the  Blessed  Virgin  had  several  children  by  Saint 

Simon.  Saint  Matthew  says  expressly  that  the 

Joseph,  who  are  here  called  the  brothers  of  the 

two  former  were  the  sons  of  Mary,  the  wife  of 

Lord,  would  renew  the  heresy  of  the  infamous 

Cleophas,  or  Alpheus,  supposing  that  these  two 

Helvidius,  who  was  of  old  victoriously  opposed  by 

names  belong  to  the  same  man  ;  if  they  were  two 

Saint  Jerome.  The  Greeks,  and  among  the  Latins 

different  men,  she  was  daughter  of  one  and  wife 

Saint  Hilary  and  Saint  Ambrose,  followed  on  this 

of  the'  other.  Now,  this  Mary  is  called  by  Saint 

point  by  some  moderns,  have  thought  that  the 

John  sister  of  the  mother  of  Jesus,  which  no 

“brethren”  of  the  Lord  were  children  of  Saint 

longer  leaves  us  in  ignorance  of  the  sense  in  which 

Joseph  born  of  a  first  wife,  whom  he  had  before  he 

her  sons  might  have  been  called  the  brothers  of 

married  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Saint  Jerome  refuted 

the  Lord.  Those  who  deny  that  Saint  Joachim 

this  opinion  also,  and  the  perpetual  virginity  of 

and  Saint  Anne  had  other  children  besides  the 

the  holy  husband  of  Mary  is  recognized  at  the 

Blessed  Virgin,  say  that  Mary  of  Cleophas  was  her 

present  day  by  the  common  belief  of  the  faithful. 

aunt,  or  her  cousin-german.  Be  it  so.  This  be- 

It  is  not,  however,  an  article  of  faith,  although 

lief  is  pious,  and  Scripture  may  have  employed 

Cardinal  Peter  Damian  seems  to  say  so  in  a  letter 

here  the  name  of  sister,  as  it  makes  use  of  that 

which  he  wrote  to  Pope  Nicholas  II.  We,  there- 

of  brothers  with  regard  to  those  who  were  only 

fore,  should  believe  that  the  brothers  of  the  Lord 

the  cousins  of  our  Saviour. 

were  only  his  cousins.  Four  are  known  to  us, 

• 

OF  OUR  LORO 

JESUS  CHRIST.  579 

stood  without,  wishing  to  speak  to  him.” 

strangers  should  be  judged  worthy  of  being 

“And  they  could  not  come  at  him  for  the 

admitted  in  their  place. 

crowd.”  “And  standing  without,  they 

“  Again,”  “  when  a  great  multitude  was 

sent  unto  him.”  “The  multitude  sat  about 

gathered  together,  and  hastened  out  of  the 

him  and  they  say  to  him:”  “Behold, 

cities  to  Jesus,”  “  the  same  day  Jesus  going 

thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  stand  with- 

out  of  the  house,  sat  by  the  sea-side,”  “  and 

out,  seeking  thee.”  “Answering  them,  he 

began  to  teach.”  “And  great  multitudes 

said  :  Who  is  my  mother,  and  who  are  my 

were  gathered  unto  him,  so  that  he  went 

brethren?  And  looking  round  about  on 

up  into  a  ship,  and  sat  in  the  sea,  and  all 

them  who  sat  about  him,”  “  and  stretching 

the  multitude  was  upon  the  land  by  the 

forth  his  hand  towards  his  disciples,”  “he 

seaside.  And  he  taught  them  many  things 

saith  :  Behold  my  mother  and  my  brethren ; 

in  parables,  and  said  unto  them,  in  his  doc- 

for  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my 

trine  :  Hear  ye.  Behold  the  sower  went 

Father  who  is  in  heaven,  he  is  my  brother, 

out  to  sow  his  seed  ;  and  whilst  he  sowed, 

and  my  sister,  and  my  mother.” 1  (St.  Matt. 

some  fell  by  the  wayside,  and  the  birds  of 

xii.  46-50  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  19  ;  St.  Mark 

the  air  came  and  ate  it  up.  And  other 

iii.  31-33.) 

some  fell  upon  stony  ground,  where  it  had 

We  shall  add  to  what  we  have  already 

not  much  earth,  and  it  shot  up  immediately, 

said,  that  this  instruction  was  not  for  Mary, 

because  it  had  no  depth  of  earth ;  and 

who  was  too  enlightened  to  be  ignorant  of 

when  the  sun  was  up,  it  was  scorched,” 

the  truth  it  comprises,  too  humble  to  think 

‘  ‘  and  withered  away,  because  it  had  no 

of  exalting  herself  upon  her  maternity^,  and, 

root  and  no  moisture.”  “And  some  fell 

at  the  same  time,  too  faithful  an  observer 

among  thorns  ;  and  the  thorns  grew  up  and 

of  the  will  of  the  heavenly  Father,  to  need 

choked  it,  and  it  yielded  no  fruit.  And 

to  sustain  herself  by  any  other  merit. 

some  fell  upon  good  ground,  grew  up  and 

These  words  applied,  then,  to  the  other 

increased  ;  and  they  yielded  fruit,  some 

relatives  of  our  Saviour,  and  to  all  the 

one  hundred-fold,  some  sixty-fold,  and 

Jewish  nation.  The  former,  for  the  most 

some  thirty-fold.”  “  Saying  these  things, 

part,  did  not  yet  believe  in  him  ;  the  ma- 

he  cried  out :  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let 

jority  of  the  nation  were  never  to  believe 

him  hear.”  (St.  Luke  viii.  4-6  ;  St.  Mat- 

in  him  ;  and  it  was  proper  to  warn  all,  that 

thew  xiii.  1  ;  St.  Mark  iv.  1-9.) 

his  relatives  and  fellow-citizens,  if  incre- 

“And  when  he  was  alone,  the  twelve 

dulous  and  prevaricating,  should  become 

that  were  with  him  asked  him  the  sense  of 

strangers  to  the  new  alliance,  and  that  by 

this  parable,  “and  said  to  him,”  on  this 

the  merit  of  an  active  and  submissive  faith, 

subject:  “  Why  speakest  thou  to  them  in 

( 1 )  By  faith,  says  Saint  Gregory,  a  man  be- 

his  hearers,  according  to  this  expression  of  Saint 

comes  the  brother  of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  a  person 

Paul:  “My  little  children,  of  whom  I  am  in  labor 

becomes  in  some  manner  his  mother,  by  whose 

again,  until  Christ  be  formed  in  you.”  (Galatians 

preaching  Jesus  Christ  is  formed  in  the  heart  of 

iv.  19.) 

580  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

parables?  Because,”  he  answered,  “to 

been  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes  they 

you  it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of 

have  shut,  lest  at  any  time  they  should  see 

the  kingdom  of  heaven;”  “but  to  them 

with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears, 

that  are  without,  all  things  are  done  in 

and  understand  with  their  hearts,  and  be 

parables”1  (St.  Mark  iv.  10-12;  St. 

converted,  and  I  should  heal  them.  But 

Matthew  xiii.  10,  11  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  10)  ; 

blessed  are  your  eyes  because  they  see, 

“for  he  that  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given, 

and  your  ears,  because  they  hear.  For, 

and  he  shall  abound  :  but  he  that  hath  not, 

amen,  I  say  to  you,  many  prophets  and  just 

from  him  shall  be  taken  away  that  also 

men  have  desired  to  see  the  things  that  you 

which  he  hath.  Therefore  do  I  speak  to 

see,  and  to  hear  the  things  that  you  hear, 

them  in  parables,  because  seeing,  they  see 

and  have  not  heard  them.”  (St.  Matt.  xiii. 

not,2  and  hearing  they  hear  not ;  neither 

12-17  ;  St.  Luke  x.  24  ;  St.  Mark  iv.  12.) 

do  they  understand.  And  the  prophecy  of 

Then  returning  to  the  explanation  which 

Isaias  is  fulfilled  in  them,  who  saith :  By 

they  sought  from  him,  “Jesus  saith  to 

hearing  you  shall  hear,  and  shall  not  un- 

them :  Are  3Tou  ignorant  of  this  parable  ? 

derstand  ;  and  seeing  3*011  shall  see,  and  shall 

And  how  shall  you  know  all  parables? 

not  perceive,  for  the  heart  of  this  people  is 

(St.  Mark  iv.  13.)  Hear  3Tou,  therefore, 

grown  gross  :  with  their  ears  they  have 

the  parable  of  the  sower:3  (St.  Matt.  xiii. 

( 1 )  Saint  Augustine  gives  as  the  reason  for 

and  Saint  Luke,  when  reporting  the  same  words, 

this  difference,  that  the  first  were  predestined, 

make  a  remarkable  difference.  Instead  of  saying, 

and  the  latter  reprobate.  This  reason  has  not 

“  because”  seeing  they  see  not,  they  make  the  Sa- 

been  admitted  by  the  majority  of  ancient  and 

viour  say,  “  that”  seeing  they  may  not  see;  that  is 

modern  commentators  ;  and,  in  fact,  Judas,  one  of 

to  say,  that  the  first  gives  their  preceding  blindness 

the  twelve,  was  reprobate,  and  we  cannot  believe, 

as  cause  of  the  withdrawal  of  light,  and  that  the 

that  among  the  multitude  to  whom  Jesus  Christ 

other  two  give  the  withdrawal  of  light  as  cause  of 

spoke  only  in  parables,  there  was  not  some  of  the 

their  subsequent  blindness.  Both  are  true.  Christ 

elect.  The  reason  of  the  preference  given  to  the 

uses,  in  their  regard,  the  veil  of  parables,  because 

former  over  the  latter  is  to  be  found  in  their  ac- 

they  had  not  wished  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  pure 

tual  disposition.  The  good  use  which  the  former 

clear  light  of  his  miracles  and  doctrine,  set  forth 

made  of  the  lights  communicated  to  them,  mer- 

in  all  its  simplicity  and  all  its  clearness ;  and  be- 

ited  for  them  an  increase  thereof,  and  the  latter  de- 

cause  he  made  use,  in  their  regard,  of  the  veil  of 

served  the  diminution,  on  account  of  the  abuse  or 

parables,  they  should  see  much  less  than  they  had 

the  little  use  they  made  thereof.  This  explanation 

previously  seen.  Nevertheless,  the  intention  of 

appears  to  be  that  of  Christ  himself,  who  presently 

Jesus  Christ  was  not  to  leave  them  absolutely 

adds;  “For  he  that  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given, 

Avithout  light :  parables  were  not  necessary  for 

and  he  shall  abound;  but  he  that  hath  not,”  that 

this ;  his  silence  Avould  have  sufficed :  he  only 

is  to  say,  who  hath  a  little,  “from  him  shall  be 

Avished  to  diminish  the  light;  and  what,  in  fact, 

taken  away  that  also  which  he  hath,”  that  is  to 

is  a  parable,  but  a  light  enveloped  in  a  cloud, 

say,  the  little  which  he  hath.  This  saying,  re- 

Avhich  half  conceals  and  half  discloses  it  ? 

peated  in  several  passages  of  the  Gospel,  has 

( 8  )  The  parable  and  explanation  that  follows, 

everywhere  the  same  meaning. 

Avould  be  only  a  useless  speculation,  if  this  saying  of 

( * )  We  here  follow  Saint  Matthew.  Saint  Mark 

,  Saint  Augustine  Avere  not  true :  “  Each  individual 

OP  OUR  LORO  JESUS  CHRIST.  581 

18.)  The  seed  is  the  word  of  God  ”  (St. 
Luke  viii.  11);  “he  that  soweth,  soweth 
the  word  ;  they  by  the  wayside  where  the 
word  is  sown,  are  they  that  hear.  As  soon 
as  they  have  heard,  immediately  Satan 
coraeth,  and  taketh  out  the  word  that  was 
sown  in  their  hearts,”  “lest  believing,  they 
should  be  saved.1  And  they  that  received 
the  seed  upon  stony  ground,  are  they  who, 
when  they  hear,  receive  the  word  with  joy  ; 
and  these  have  no  root  in  themselves. 
Thej’  believe  for  a  while  ;2  and  then,  when 
tribulation  and  persecution  ariseth  because 
of  the  word,  they  are  presently  scandalized, 
and  in  time  of  temptation,  they  fall  away. 
That  which  fell  amongst  thorns,  are  tliey^ 
who  have  heard  the  word  ;  but  the  cares  of 
this  world,  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,3  the 
pleasures  of  this  life,  and  the  lusts  after 

other  things,  entering  in,  choke  the  word, 
and  it  is  made  fruitless.4  But  that  on  the 
good  ground,  are  they  who  hear  the  word 
in  a  good,  and  a  very  good  heart,  keep  it, 
and  bring  forth  fruit  in  patience,  the  one 
thirty  to  one,  another  sixty,  and  another 
a  hundred.”  (St.  Matt.  xiii.  19-23  ;  St. 
Mark  iv.  12-15  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  12-15.) 

Yet,  this  explanation  which  Jesus  Christ 
gave  to  the  apostles  alone,  was  not  destined 
only  for  them,  but  was  to  be  communicated 
by  them  to  all  nations.  They  were  the 
lamps  which  the  Father  of  the  family  was 
trimming,  and  setting,  and  lighting,  in  or¬ 
der  that  they  might  one  day  illumine  his 
whole  house,  that  is,  his  Church.  This  is 
what  Christ  gives  them  to  understand,  by 
repeating  those  words  which  he  had  already 
said  on  another  occasion  :  “  No  man,  light- 

renders  himself  good  or  bud  ground” — good,  by 
the  good  use  of  grace  ;  bad,  by  the  abuse  of  liberty, 
which  ever  retains  the  power  to  use  or  not  to  use 
grace. 

( 1 )  There  is  scarcely  any  appearance  that  the 
divine  word  fructifieth,  when  it  falls  upon  a  heart 
as  badly  prepared  as  is  a  high-road  to  receive  the 
seed  of  the  tiller.  Still  it  has  a  virtue,  which  the 
devil  always  distrusts.  A  word  heard  by  chance 
has  produced  more  than  once  the  most  abundant 
and  the  most  unexpected  fruit.  Satan  is  not  un¬ 
aware  of  this ;  and  to  make  sure,  he  hastens  to 
snatch  away  this  seed,  which  might  be  already 
regarded  as  lost. 

( a )  They  believed,  therefore,  and  on  their  part 
it  was  not  hypocrisy.  We  admit  that  they  were 
cowards  ;  let  us  not  call  them  deceitful  or  perfidi¬ 
ous.  When  sin  is  manifest,  we  must  not  seek  to 
justify  the  guilty ;  but  justice  does  not  permit  to 
make  him  more  guilty  than  he  is,  and  charity  in¬ 
clines  rather  to  excuse  evil  deeds  than  to  exagger¬ 
ate  them. 

He  who  abandons  persecuted  truth  is  perhaps 

i 

only  weak ;  but  if  he  combines  with  those  who 
persecute  it,  he  is  a  traitor. 

( 3 )  It  might  be  translated  “the  deceitful  riches.” 

They  are  so  principally,  in  that  they  promise  a  hap¬ 
piness  which  they  do  not  give.  Men  think  that 
by  doubling  their  property  they  double  their  hap¬ 
piness:  that  never  happens,  but  the  contrary  does 
too  often,  and  half  the  previous  happiness  is  lost. 

( 4 )  There  are  three  sorts  of  hearers  with  whom 
the  divine  word  produces  no  fruit.  1st.  Those 
who  pay  no  attention  to  it,  or  whose  entire  atten¬ 
tion  is  limited  to  hearing  it  as  the  word  of  man. 

2d.  Those  whose  mind  is  attentive,  and  Avliose 
heart  is  not  disposed  to  put  it  in  practice.  3d. 
Those  whose  mind  is  attentive,  and  whose  heart  is 
well  disposed,  but  who,  instead  of  meditating  when 
they  have  heard  it,  deliver  themselves  up  to  the 
cares  and  distractions  of  the  world.  In  the  first 
class  it  produces  nothing;  in  the  second  it  pro¬ 
duces  words;  and  the  fruits  which  it  produces  in 
the  third  class  are  almost  immediately  stilled  when 
formed.  Three  opposite  dispositions  make  it  fructify 
— attention,  good-will,  recollection,  and  meditation. 

582 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


ing  a  candle,  coveretli  it  with  a  vessel,  or 
putteth  it  under  a  bed  ;  but  setteth  it  upon 
a  candlestick,  that  they  who  come  in  may 
see  the  light.  For,”  added  he,  speaking 
of  the  brilliant  publicity  which  the  doctrine 
he  then  explained  to  them  in  secrecy  should 
one  day  have,  “  there  is  not  anything  se¬ 
cret  that  shall  not  be  made  manifest,  nor 
hidden  that  shall  not  be  known  and  come 
abroad.”  (St.  Mark  iv.  21,  22  ;  St.  Luke 
Viii.  16,  17.)  But  as  this  prophecy,  the 
accomplishment  of  which  was  to  be  con¬ 
fided  to  their  care,  was  not  yet  as  clear  to 
them  as  it  subsequently  was,  Jesus  warned 
them  to  meditate  on  the  sense  thereof :  “If 
any  man  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear.” 
(St.  Mark  iv.  23.) 

And,  to  awaken  their  attention  further, 


“  he  said  to  them  :  Take  heed,  therefore, 
what  you  hear.  In  what  measure  you  shall 
mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again, 
and  more  shall  be  given  to  you  ;  for  he 
that  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given  ;  but  he 
that  hath  not,  that  also  which  he  thinketh 
he  hath  shall  be  taken  away.”  (St.  Mark 
iv.  24  ;  St.  Luke  viii.  18.)  This  was  not 
the  first  time  that  Jesus  Christ  inculcated 
these  two  truths  ;  but,  when  applied  to  the 
existing  circumstauces,  they  became  to  the 
apostles  a  powerful  exhortation  to  diffuse 
abundantly  the  lights  he  had  communicated 
to  them,  persuaded  that  the  diffusion  of 
these  lights  would  merit  for  them  an  in¬ 
crease  thereof,  whereas  they  would  be 
withdrawn  from  him  who  attempted  to 
withhold  them  from  others. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PARABLES  OF  THE  COCKLE,  OF  THE  MUSTARD-SEED,  OF  THE  LEAVEN,  AND  OF  THE  NET  CAST 
INTO  THE  SEA. — PREACHING  OF  CHRIST  AT  NAZARETH.— A  PROPHET  WITHOUT  HONOR  IN 
HIS  OWN  COUNTRY. 


WHETHER  what  follows  was  spoken 
on  another  -  day,  or  whether,  as  is 
not  improbable,  after  having  conversed  for 
some  time  apart  with  his  disciples,  Jesus 
began  again  immediately  to  address  the 
multitude  :  “  He  proposed  to  them  another 
parable,  saying  :  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  likened  to  a  man  that  sowed  good  seed 
in  his  field.  But  while  men  were  asleep, 
his  enemy  came  and  sowed  cockle  among 


the  wheat,  and  went  away.  And  when  the 
blade  was  sprung  up,  and  had  brought 
forth  fruit,  then  appeared  also  the  cockle. 
And  the  servants  of  the  goodman  of  the 
house  coming,  said  to  him  :  Sir,  didst  thou 
not  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  Whence, 
then,  hath  it  cockle  ?  And  he  said  to 
them  :  An  enemy  hath  done  this.  And 
the  Servants  said  to  him  :  Wilt  thou  that 
we  go  and  gather  it  up  ?  No,  he  said,  lest 


OF  OUR  LORD 


perhaps,  gathering  up  the  cockle,  you  root 
up  the  wheat  also  together  with  it.1  Suffer 
both  to  grow  until  the  harvest,  and  in  the 
time  of  the  harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reap¬ 
ers  :2  Gather  up  first  the  cockle,  and  bind 
it  into  bundles  to  burn  ;  but  the  wheat 
gather  ye  into  my  barn.”  (St.  Matt.  xiii. 
24-30.) 

Without  pausing  then  for  the  explana¬ 
tion  of  this  parable,  which  his  disciples 
desired,  but  which  they  would  not  venture 
to  ask  their  Divine  Master  for  fear  of  in¬ 
terrupting  him,  “Jesus”  continued,  and 

( 1 )  Wherefore,  if  it  were  evident  that,  in  gath¬ 
ering  the  cockle,  we  should  not  root  up  the  wheat, 
we  should  gather  it,  since  the  father  of  the  family 
gives  no  other  reason  for  leaving  it.  Another  con¬ 
sequence.  Therefore  the  doubt  alone,  whether  if, 
when  gathering  the  cockle,  we  may  not  root  up  the 
wheat,  obliges  us  to  leave  it,  since  the  father  of  the 
family  does  not  say  absolutely  :  You  will  root  up 
the  wheat,  but  lest  perhaps  you  may  root  it  up.  In 
the  application  we  oftener  meet  doubt  than  evi¬ 
dence  to  the  contrary,  and  the  cases  in  which  the 
cockle  should  be  left  are  much  more  common  than 
those  in  which  it  must  be  prematurely  gathered. 
Note  that  it  is  on  account  of  the  wheat  that  the 
cockle  is  spared,  and  not  upon  its  own  account ;  if 
we  let  it  grow,  it  is  only  to  cast  it  afterwards  into 
the  fire. 

( * )  The  reapers  seem  distinguished  from  the 
servants  ;  the  former  are  the  angels,  according  to 
our  Saviour’s  explanation.  As  he  does  not  say 
who  the  servants  are,  we  may  be  permitted  to  seek 
it,  and  it  is  natural  to  think  that  they  are  the  min¬ 
isters  of  his  Church.  Those  whom  he  speaks  of 
here  are  not  altogether  faultless.  The  sleepers 
give  to  the  enemy  time  and  opportunity  to  sow  the 
cockle.  The  ardent  would  root  it  up  immediately 
when  it  appeared.  These  faults  are  not  so  opposite 
that  they  may  not  be  met  with  in  the  same  per¬ 
sons.  Men  may  be  too  fond  of  sleeping,  and  not 
be  overwise  when  awake.  May  we  not  also  say 


JESUS  CHRIST.  583 


“  said  :  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a 
man  should  cast  seed  into  the  earth  :  and 
should  sleep  and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the 
seed  should  spring  and  grow  up  night  and 
day  whilst  he  knoweth  not  :3  For  the  earth 
of  itself  bringeth  forth  fruit,  first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  afterwards  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear  :4  and  when  the  fruit  is  brought 
forth,  immediately  he  putteth  in  the  sickle, 
because  the  harvest  is  come.”  (St.  Mark 
iv.  26-29.) 

Two  other  parables  directly  followed 
this  one,  and  the  three  have  the  same  ob- 

that  this  great  zeal  was  the  consequence  of  negli¬ 
gence  ?  The  mischief  had  occurred  through  their 
’  fault ;  hence  their  vexation  and  their  impatient 
desire  to  root  it  up. 

( 3 )  Christ  was  never  really  to  abandon  his 
Church;  but  would  appear  to  abandon  it  when, 
ascending  to  heaven,  he  deprived  it  of  his  sensible 
presence.  The  state  of  apparent  weakness  in 
which  he  left  it  might  make  his  disciples  appre¬ 
hend  lest  it  should  disappear  with  its  founder,  and 
that  the  epoch  of  its  birth  was  only  that  of  its 
ruin.  Christ  teaches  them  here  that  the  seed  of 
the  word,  being  once  cast  by  his  divine  hands, 
shall  not  fall  in  vain  upon  that  blessed  earth ;  and 
that  when  he  shall  appear  to  be  the  least  occupied 
concerning  it,  they  shall  see  it  grow  and  ripen  be¬ 
fore  their  eyes,  as  the  wheat  which  the  laborer  has 
sown  in  the  field  grows  without  his  putting  a  hand 
near  it.  It  is  true,  that  the  inaction  of  the  latter 
is  real,  and  that  of  Jesus  is  only  apparent;  for  he 
alone  gives  increase  to  the  seed  by  the  secret,  but 
real  and  always  active,  power  of  his  grace.  Where¬ 
fore  it  is  merely  under  the  aspect  of  appearances 
that  they  are  here  compared  to  one  another. 

(*  * )  Grace  has  its  progression,  as  well  as  nature, 
imperceptible  from  day  to  day,  but  perceptible 
from  time  to  time.  We  cannot  too  earnestly  de¬ 
sire  its  growth,  but  we  should  know  how  to  await 
it.  Precocious  fruits  do  not  ripen;  and  a  stem 
prematurely’ fruitful  exhausts  itself  and  withers. 


584  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

ject,  viz.,  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  hid¬ 
den  at  first  like  seed  in  the  bosom  of  the 
earth,  but  afterwards  making  its  appear¬ 
ance,  and  by  imperceptible  degrees  arriv¬ 
ing  at  maturity  :  small  as  the  mustard- 
seed,  which  springs  up  above  all  the  vege¬ 
table  tribe,  and  whose  tall  stem  almost 
equals  the  height  of  the  trees ;  or  like 
paste,  whose  size  is  considerably  increased 
by  a  little  leaven.  Here  they  are  as  pro¬ 
nounced  by  the  Saviour.  He  said  then  to 
them  further  :  “To  what  shall  we  liken  the 
kingdom  of  God,  or  to  what  parable  shall 
we  compare  it  ?  ”  “  The  kingdom  of  hea¬ 

ven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  which 
a  man  took  and  sowed  in  his  field,  which* 
when  it  is  sown  in  the  earth  is  the  least  of 
all  the  seeds  that  are  in  the  earth  ;  and, 
when  it  is  sown,  it  groweth  up  and  becom- 
etli  greater  than  all  the  herbs  ;  and  shoot- 
eth  out  great  branches,  so  that  the  birds 
of  the  air  may  dwell  under  the  shadow 
thereof.”  (St.  Matthew  xiii.  31-33  ;  St. 
Mark  iv.  30-32.)  He  spoke  to  them,  in 
few  words,  the  other  parable  :  ‘  ‘  The  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  is  like  to  leaven,  which  a 
woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  until  the  whole  was  leavened.  Jesus 
spoke  all  these  things  in  parables  to  the 
multitude.  And  with  many  such  parables 
he  spoke  to  them  the  evangelical  word,  ac¬ 
cording  as  they  were  able  to  hear.”  (St. 
Matthew  xiii.  33-35  ;  St.  Mark  iv.  33,  34.) 
For  this  simple  style,  which  merely  pre¬ 
sented  to  them  those  images  with  which 
they  were  familiar,  was  most  on  a  level 

with  their  minds,  and  the  mist  in  which 
these  figures  partly  shrouded  truths,  the 
full  lustre  of  which  they  were  not  yet  able 
to  bear,  proportioned  the  light  to  their  ac¬ 
tual  disposition.  “  And  without  parables 
Jesus  did  not  speak  to  them,  that  it  might 
be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet 
saying  :  I  will  open  my  mouth  in  parables  ; 
and  will  utter  things  hidden  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,”  but  in  private  he 
explained  all  things  to  his  disciples. 

“  Then  having  sent  away  the  multitudes, 
he  came  into  the  house,  and  his  disciples 
came  to  him,  saying  :  Expound  to  us  the 
parable  of  the  cockle  of  the  field.  Jesus 
made  answer  and  said  to  them  :  He  that 
soweth  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of  man. 

And  the  field  is  the  world  ;  and  the  good 
seed  are  the  children  of  the  kingdom  ;  and 
the  cockle  are  the  children  of  the  wicked 
one.1  And  the  enemy  that  sowed  them  is 
the  devil.  But  the  harvest  is  the  end  of 
the  world.  And  the  reapers  are  the  an¬ 
gels.  Even  as  cockle,  therefore,  is  gath¬ 
ered  up  and  burned  with  fire,  so  shall  it  be 
at  the  end  of  the  world.  The  Son  of  man 
shall  send  his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather 
out  of  his  kingdom  all  scandals,  and  them 
that  work  iniquity  ;  and  shall  cast  them 
into  the  furnace  of  fire.  There  shall  be 
weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then 
shall  the  just  shine  as  the  sun  in  the  king¬ 
dom  of  their  Father.”  (St.  Matt.  xiii.  34- 
43.) 

After  explaining  this  parable,  Jesus  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  propose  some  others  to  his  disci- 

( 1  )  The  wicked  can.  become  good..  If  they  do 
not  become  such,  they  serve  at  least  to  exercise  and 

perfect  the  good.  These  are  two  reasons  for  which, 
says  Saint  Augustine,  God  suffers  them  on  earth. 

-  - 

• 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  585 

pies.  As  lie  wished  that  the  understand- 

whom  Christ  had  just  explained  the  first 

mg  of  them  should  he  the  fruit  of  their 

of  these  two  parables,  had  no  difficulty  in 

attention,  he  excites  them  to  it,  by  saying, 

comprehending  the  second.  The  two  pre- 

according  to  his  custom:  “He  that  hath 

ceding  have  another  object,  that  is,  the  in- 

ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear  ;  ”  then  he  con- 

estimable  value  of  the  evangelical  doctrine, 

tinued  to  speak  thus  :  “  The  kingdom  of 

and  the  profound  wisdom  of  the  man  who 

heaven  is  like  unto  a  treasure  hidden  in  a 

sacrifices  all  that  he  has  to  insure  its  pos- 

field  ;  which  a  man  having  found,  hid  it, 

session.  These  latter  parables  are  so  clear, 

and  for  joy  thereof,  goeth  and  selleth  all 

that  the  disciples  did  not  require  any  ex- 

that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that  field.  Again, 

planation  of  them.  Wherefore,  when  Christ 

the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  to  a  merchant 

said  to  them  :  “  Have  ye  understood  all 

seeking  good  pearls :  who,  when  he  had 

these  things?  They  say  to  him  :  Yea.” 

found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  went  his 

“  Then  he  said  to  them,”  wishing  to  teach 

way  and  sold  all  that  he  had,  and  bought 

them,  by  a  new  figure,  the  use  they  should 

it.  Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 

make  of  the  treasure  of  light  wherewith 

to  a  net  cast  into  the  sea,  and  gathering 

he  had  enriched  them  ;  “  Therefore  every 

together  of  all  kinds  of  fishes :  which, 

Scribe  instructed  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 

when  it  was  filled,  they  drew  out,  and  sit- 

is  like  to  a  man  who  is  a  householder,  who 

ting  by  the  shore,  they  chose  out  the  good 

bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  new 

into  vessels,  but  the  bad  they  cast  forth. 

things  and  old,”  in  order  that  all  his  house- 

So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world.  The 

hold  may  be  abundantly  provided.  (St. 

angels  shall  go  out,  and  shall  separate  the 

Matt.  xiii.  51,  52.) 

wicked  from  among  the  just,1  and  shall  cast 

“  When  Jesus  had  finished  these  para- 

> 

them  into  the  furnace  of  fire.  There  shall 

bles,  he  passed  from  thence”  “and  came 

be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.”  (St. 

to  Nazareth,”  “  his  own  country,”  “  where 

Matt.  xiii.  43-50.) 

he  was  brought  up  ;”  “  and  his  disciples 

The  bad  fish  caught  witli  the  good  in  the 

followed  him.  And  when  the  Sabbath-day 

same  net,  and  the  cockle  sowed  with  the 

was  come,”  Jesus  “  went  into  the  syna- 

good  seed  in  the  same  field,  are  two  differ- 

gogue,  according  to  his  custom,”  and  “be- 

ent  images  of  one  and  the  same  thing. 

gan  to  teach.”  (St.  Matthew  xiii.  51-54  ; 

That  is,  in  the  profession  of  the  same  faith 

St.  Luke  iv.  16  ;  St.  Mark  vi.  1,  2.)  “He 

and  in  the  bosom  of  the  same  Church,  the 

rose  up  to  read.  And  the  book  of  Isaias 

mixture  of  the  wicked  with  the  good  dur- 

the  prophet  was  delivered  unto  him,  and 

ing  this  life,  and  the  separation  to  be  made 

as  he  unfolded  the  book,  he  found  the  place 

at  the  end  of  the  world.  The  apostles,  to 

where  it  was  written :  The  Spirit  of  the 

( 1  )  This  eternal  separation  of  the  wicked  from 

one  word  all  that  we  might  be  inclined  to  deem  in- 

the  good,  followed,  for  the  latter,  by  eternal  happi¬ 
ness,  and  for  the  others  by  eternal  woe,  explains  in 

74 

explicable  in  the  ways  of  Providence. 

* 

586  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

Lord  is  upon  me  ; 1  wherefore  he  hath 
anointed  me2  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor  ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  contrite 
of  heart  ;3  to  preach  deliverance  to  the 
captives,  and  sight  to  the  blind  ;  to  set  at 
liberty  them  that  are  bruised  ;  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
day  of  reward.4  When  he  had  folded  the 
book,  he  restored  it  to  the  minister,  and 
sat  down.  And  the  eyes  of  all  in  the  syna¬ 
gogue  were  fixed  on  him,  and  he  began  to 
say  to  them  :  This  day  is  fulfilled  this  Scrip¬ 
ture  in  your  ears.”  (St.  Luke  iv.  16-21.) 

This  decisive  announcement,  which  was 
to  those  who  heard  it  a  summary  of  all  the 
discourses  which  Jesus  Christ  had  hitherto 
made  to  them,  and  which  in  a  few  words 
brought  them  all  to  mind,  made  at  the  out¬ 
set  a  great  impression  on  the  whole  assem- 

bly.  But,  by  one  of  those  strange  revolu¬ 
tions  which  we  sometimes  see  occurring  in 
the  public  mind,  they  passed  immediately 
from  admiration  to  envy,  from  envy  to  con¬ 
tempt,  scandal,  incredulity,  and,  at  last,  to 
a  transport  of  fury.  “  All  gave  [then  at 
first]  testimony  to  him,  and  they  wondered 
at  the  words  of  grace  that  proceeded  from 
his  mouth”  (St.  Luke  iv.  22),  “and  they 
said  :  How  came  this  man  by  all  these 
things?  and  what  wisdom  is  this  that  is 
given  to  him,  and  such  mighty  works  are 
wrought  by  his  hands  ?”  (St.  Mark  vi.  2.) 

This  is  the  language  of  admiration.  Now 
comes  that  of  envy,  contempt,  spite,  and 
scandal.  But  what!  they  went  on,  “  Is  not 
this  the  carpenter  ?  Is  not  this  the  car¬ 
penter’s  son,  ?s  the  son  of  Joseph,  the  son 
of  Mary,  the  brother  of  James  and  Joseph, 

( 1  )  He  found  there  what  lie  wished  to  find. 
There  is  no  chance  to  him  who  knows  everything. 

( 2 )  An  invisible  unction,  operated  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  diffused  himself  with  all  his  gifts  into 
the  holy  humanity  of  our  Saviour  at  the  moment 
of  his  incarnation.  A  regal  and  sacerdotal  unc¬ 
tion,  by  which  he  has  been  consecrated  monarch 
of  the  universe,  and  eternal  pontiff  of  the  new 
law.  Thus,  although  he  has  not  received  the  ma¬ 
terial  and  sensible  sign  thereof,  Jesus  Christ  is  very 
truly  said  to  have  received  the  unction  (expressed 
by  the  name  of  Christ),  because  he  received  the 
effect  in  all  its  plenitude,  and  in  a  degi’ee  of  excel¬ 
lence  infinitely  superior  to  that  received  by  all  to 
whom  the  same  name  is  given  in  Scripture. 

( 5 )  This  prophecy  was  in  part  accomplished  in 
the  miracles  which  Jesus  Christ  wrought  to  cure 
corporal  evils.  But,  to  reach  its  perfect  sense,  we 
should  understand  it  with  reference  to  the  sad 
effects  of  sin  in  souls,  and  the  powerful  remedies 
which  Christ  was  capable  of  applying  and  actually 
did  apply. 

( 4 )  We  read  in  the  text,  diem  retributionis,  day 
of  retribution.  It  is  generally  understood  of  the 
last  judgment;  and  what  further  favors  this  ex¬ 
planation  is,  that  this  day,  which  is  here  called  the 
“  day  of  retribution,”  is  called  by  Isaias  the  day  of 
vengeance,  dies  ultionis.  (Isai.  xxxiv.  8.)  Yet  it 
has  been  remarked  that  Jesus  Christ,  after  having 
read  the  prophecy,  adds  presently :  “  This  day  is 
fulfilled  this  Scripture  in  your  ears.”  Therefore 
some  conclude  that  there  is  no  reference  here  to 
the  last  judgment,  and  they  consequently  call  the 
day  of  retribution  the  day  of  liberality  and  of 
grace.  This  explanation  appears  to  them  the  more 
natural,  as  “  the  day  of  retribution  ”  is  placed  imme¬ 
diately  after  “  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.” 

All  this  is  more  specious  than  solid.  Jesus  Christ 
came  to  announce  present  mercy  and  the  judgment 
to  come :  the  prophet  says  that  he  shall  preach 
both  one  and  the  other.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
him  to  judge  actually  in  order  to  accomplish  the 
prophecy  :  the  preaching  suffices. 

( 6 )  In  Latin,  faber.  This  word  signifies  a 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  587 

and  Simon  and  Jnde  ?  And  his  sisters, 
are  they  not  all  with  us  ?  Whence,  there- 
.  fore,  hath  he  all  these  things  ?  And  they 
were  scandalized  in  his  regard.”  (St.  Matt, 
xiii.  55-57  ;  St.  Mark  vi.  3  ;  St.  Luke  iv. 
22.) 

Yet  Jesus  had  wrought  few  miracles  at 
Nazareth,  and  those  which  he  had  per¬ 
formed  had  not  been  so  striking.  He  who 
was  prodigal  of  them  elsewhere,  seemed 
parsimonious  of  them  towards  his  fellow- 
citizens.  This  was  for  reasons  worthy  of 
his  profound  wisdom.  These  he  was  will¬ 
ing  to  explain  ;  but,  as  his  miracles  were 
apparently  the  principal  subject  of  their 
great  eagerness  to  see  him,  being  deceived 
on  this  point,  they  no  longer  valued  his 
reasons,  and  their  consequent  spite  drove 
them  to  extreme  violence  against  his  per¬ 
son.  These  are  the  words  which  gave  oc¬ 
casion  to  it :  “He  said  to  them  then : 
Doubtless  j^ou  will  say  to  me  this  simili¬ 
tude  :  Physician,  heal  thyself.  As  great 
things  as  we  have  heard  done  in  Capliar- 
naum,  do  also  here  in  thy  own  country.1 
Amen,  I  say  to  you,”  added  he,  “  that  no 
prophet  is  accepted  in  his  own  country.” 

(St.  Luke  iv.  23,  24.)  “  A  prophet  is  not 

without  honor,  save  in  his  own  country  and 
in  his  own  house.”  (St.  Matt.  xiii.  57.) 

He  cannot,  then,  work  many  miracles 
there  ;  for  if  they  have  but  little  considera¬ 
tion  there  for  his  person,  they  will  have 
little  faith  in  his  words.  Now  miracles, 
which  are  usually  the  reward  of  faith,  must 
not  be  lavished  on  incredulity.  And  to  show 
that  such  had  been,  at  all  times,  the  way 
of  G-od,  “In  truth,”  pursues  the  Saviour, 

“  I  say  to  you  :  There  were  many  widows 
in  the  days  of  Elias  in  Israel,  when  heaven 
was  shut  up  three  years  and  six  months, 
when  there  was  a  great  famine  throughout 
all  the  earth  :  and  to  none  of  them  was 

Elias  sent,  but  to  Sarepta  of  Sidon,  to  a 
widow  woman.  And  there  were  many 
lepers  in  Israel  in  the  time  of  Eliseus  the 
prophet,  and  none  of  them  was  cleansed 
but  Naaman,  the  Syrian.”  (St.  Luke  iv. 
25-30.) 

Thus  they  should  not  expect  to  be  more 
highly  favored  than  the  Israelites  then 
were  ;  and  Christ  gave  them  sufficiently 
to  understand  that  it  was  through  their 
own  fault.  Why  did  they  not  reform, 

tradesman  or  an  artisan,  without  determining  the 
sort  of  work  :  it  simply  excludes  delicate  work.  It 
therefore  leaves  undecided  the  trade  in  which  he 
was  engaged  during  the  thirty  years  of  his  hidden 
life.  Some  have  said  that  it  was  as  a  mason;  others, 
that  he  worked  in  iron.  The  most  universal  and 
ancient  opinion  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  exercised  with 
Saint  Joseph  the  trade  of  carpenter.  Now,  that 
God  should  draw  forth  a  prophet  from  the  shop  of 
a  carpenter,  was  what  the  Nazarenes  never  could 
persuade  themselves.  They  would  have  no  diffi¬ 
culty  in  believing  him,  if  God  had  drawn  him  forth 
from  some  famous  academy ;  for  the  principle  of 

their  incredulity  was  constantly  this  :  God  cannot 
make  a  prophet  out  of  a  carpenter.  Bring  back 
all  unbelievers  to  their  first  principle,  yon  will  find 
nothing  more  weighty  than  this  assertion,  it  is  in 
every  case  :  “  God  cannot  do  it.” 

( 1 )  The  reputation  we  acquire  in  our  own  coun¬ 
try  is  much  more  precious,  and,  in  some  way,  more 
properly  our  own,  than  what  we  acquire  among 
strangers.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  opinion  of  men, 
which  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  application  that 
the  Saviour  here  makes  of  the  proverb :  “  Physi¬ 
cian,  heal  thyself.” 

588 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


if  they  wished  to  be  better  treated? 
And,  since  disdain  for  his  person,  and  in¬ 
credulity  to  the  words  of  him  whom  they 
ought  at  least  to  regard  as  the  messenger 
of  God,  rendered  them  unworthy  of  the 
favor  of  heaven,  why  did  they  not  strive 
to  render  themselves  worthy  by  listening 
to  him  with  docility  and  respect?  It  was 
to  bring  them  to  this  point  that  Christ  thus 
addressed  them.  But  there  are  always 
perverse  hearts,  which  turn  remedies  into 
poison,  and  grace  itself  into  an  occasion  of 
scandal,  and  a  rock  of  scandal.  What  was 
to  enlighten  them  served  only  to  complete 
their  blindness.  On  hearing  these  words, 
“  all  they  in  the  synagogue  hearing  these 
things,  were  filled  with  anger.  And  they 
instantly  rose  up,  and  thrust  him  out  of  the 

(*)  Saint  Ambrose  and  Venerable  Bede  judge 
them  more  culpable  than  those  who  crucified  our 
Saviour,  because  the  latter  preserved,  at  least,  the 
form  of  justice,  whereas  those  of  Nazareth  followed 
without  any  form  the  impulses  of  brutal  fury. 
We  hazard  the  opinion,  contrary  to  their  view,  that 
the  crime  is  more  enormous  where  there  is  more 
reflection ;  and  that,  comparing  these  two  attempts, 
one  is  murder,  and  the  other  assassination ;  and, 
besides,  the  most  criminal  injustice  is  that  which 
arrays  itself  in  the  form  of  justice. 

( * )  Not  in  the  sense  that  he  could  not  by  his  ab¬ 
solute  power,  but  that  he  could  not  by  the  rational 
exercise  of  power,  and  consistently  with  a  certain 
order  which  his  wisdom  has  freely  established,  from 
which  he  may  deviate  when  it  pleaseth  him,  but 
from  which  he  very  rarely  deviates.  We  have  al¬ 
ready  seen  that,  according  to  this  order,  God,  gen¬ 
erally  speaking,  grants  miracles  to  faith,  and 
refuses  them  to  incredulity.  The  latter  will  per¬ 
haps  ask  if  that  be  not  tantamount  to  saying  that 
miracles  are  accorded  to  credulity,  and  that  they 
are  refused  to  enlightened  and  distrustful  reason. 
It  is  a  sufficient  answer,  that  this  way  of  God  is 


city.”  They  sought  not  merely  to  banish 
him  ;  their  fury  went  so  far  as  to  attempt 
his  life.  And  “  they  brought  him  to  the 
brow  of  the  hill  whereon  their  city  was  built, 
that  they  might  cast  him  clown  headlong.1 
But  Jesus,  passing  through  the  midst  of 
them,  went  his  way”  (St.  Luke  iv.  28-30), 
at  a  moderate  pace,  without  seeming  to  fear 
them,  and  without  receiving  any  hurt. 
Whether  he  threw  a  mist  over  their  eyes 
which  prevented  their  seeing  him,  or 
whether  he  bound  their  hands  by  invisible 
chains,  it  was,  in  either  aspect,  a  miracle  ; 
but  it  was  almost  the  only  one  he  wrought 
in  his  own  country.  “For,”  adds  the 
sacred  text,  “he  could  not  do  any  miracle 
there,”2  “because  of  their  unbelief,”  “only 
that  he  cured  a  few  that  were  sick,  laying 

highly  worthy  of  his  wisdom,  and  good  sense  by 
itself  alone  tells  us  that  graces  should  be  measured 
out  according  to  the  use  made  of  them,  and  that, 
consequently,  they  should  be  redoubled  for  those 
who  profit  by  them,  and  be  cut  off  from  those  who 
abuse  them.  The  inhabitants  of  Nazareth  belong 
to  the  latter  class.  Christ  had  wrought  some 
miracles  among  them,  and  rumor  had  informed 
them  of  the  miracles  which  he  had  wrought  at 
Capharnaum.  This  was  enough  for  belief,  aud  had 
they  believed,  having  this  sufficient  proof,  prodigies 
would  have  been  multiplied  in  their  favor.  But, 
by  not  believing,  they  deserved  that  Christ  should 
in  some  manner  weaken  this  proof  in  their  regard, 
instead  of  strengthening  it  in  the  least.  The  same 
is  to  be  said  of  the  miracles  on  which  religion  is 
founded.  They  form,  for  every  upright  aud  im¬ 
partial  mind,  a  more  than  sufficient  proof.  God 
will  not  perform  other  miracles  for  those  who  do 
not  believe ;  and  he  will  perform  them  for  those 
who  already  believe.  On  his  part,  this  is  goodness 
towards  the  latter,  and  justice  with  regard  to  the 
others.  And,  when  I  say  that  God  will  perform 
new  miracles,  I  suppose,  what  is  true,  that  mira- 


OF  OUR  LOUD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


liis  hands  upon  them  ;  and  he  wondered 
because  of  their  unbelief.”  (St.  Mark  vi. 
5,  6  ;  St.  Matt.  xiii.  58.)  He  who  had 
wondered  at  the  faith  of  a  Gentile,  found 
in  his  fellow-citizens  a  prodigy  of  unbelief 
sufficient  to  awaken  in  him  equal  surprise. 
These  two  prodigies  are  daily  renewed 
in  our  days,  that  of  faith  even  to  heroism 
amongst  barbarous  nations  at  the  first  faint 
rays  of  Gospel  truth  that  reach  their  eyes  ; 
and,  in  the  bosom  of  Christianity,  the  prod¬ 
igy  of  incredulity  carried  to  personal  hatred 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  most  furious  vio¬ 
lence  against  his  religion  and  its  ministers. 

These  proceedings,  which  obliged  our 
Saviour  to  leave  his  ungrateful  country, 


589 


could  not  repress  his  zeal.  True,  he  aban¬ 
doned  to  their  reprobate  sense  these  self- 
blinded  individuals,  who  had  judged  them¬ 
selves  unworthy  of  the  eternal  life  which 
his  mercy  had  come  to  offer  them.  But  it 
was  only  to  seek  elsewhere  minds  more 
docile  and  hearts  better  disposed.  “  Jesus 
went  about  all  the  cities  and  towns,  teach¬ 
ing  in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the 
Gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  every 
disease  and  every  infirmity.  And,  seeing 
the  multitudes  ”  of  people  who  crowded  to 
him  from  all  parts,  “he  had  compassion 
on  them,  because  they  were  distressed, 
and  lying  like  sheep  that  have  no  shep-- 
herd.”  (St.  Matthew  ix.  35,  36.) 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

MISSION  OF  THE  TWELVE  APOSTLES.— INSTRUCTIONS  AND  ADVICE  WHICH  JESUS  GIVES  THEM. 


THEN  he  saith  to  his  disciples  :  The 
harvest  indeed  is  great,  but  the 
laborers  are  few.  Pray  ye  therefore  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  send  forth 


cles  have  never  ceased  in  the  Church.  They  have 
been  Avrought  in  the  Church  from  its  birth,  and 
they  shall  be  Avrought  in  until  the  consummation 
of  ages.  The  proceedings  for  canonizations  are  a 
judicial  and  incontestable  proof  for  all  the  period 
which  has  elapsed  since  these  proceedings  com¬ 
menced,  the  very  period  Avith  reference  to  which 
doubts  might  more  readily  be  entertained  as  to  the 
gift  of  miracles  having  remained  in  the  Church. 
But  it  has  been  remarked,  and  we  may  again  re- 


laborers  into  his  harvest.”  (St.  Matt.  ix. 
37,  38.)  We  cannot  reasonably  doubt  that 
this  command  was  obeyed,  or  that  all  the 
disciples  offered  the  prayer  prescribed  by 


mai’k,  that  miracles  folloAv  faith ;  that  is  to  say, 
where  there  is  more  faith  there  are  more  miracles, 
and  that  the  fountain  of  miracles  is  almost  entirely 
dried  up  in  places  Avhere  faith  is  dead  or  dying. 
Thus,  incredulity  in  miracles  is  the  cause  of  the 
withdrawal  of  miracles,  as  the  veil  of  the  parables 
Avas  in  punishment  of  unbelief  in  the  doctrine 
Avhen  exposed  naked  and  unveiled.  The  Avays  of 
God  support  themselves,  and  all  his  judgments  are 
justified. 


51)0 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


their  Divine  Master.  It  could  not  fail  to 
be  heard,  since  he  who  was  to  hear  it  was 
no  other  than  he  who  invited  them  to  pray. 
“  Then  calling  together  his  twelve  apostles, 
he  gave  them  power  and  authority  over  all 
devils,”  “  to  cast  them  out,  and  to  heal  all 
manner  of  diseases,  and  all  manner  of  in¬ 
firmities.”  “He  began  to  send  them  two 
and  two,”  in  order  that  they  might  aid  one 
another,  and  that  there  might  be  every¬ 
where  two  witnesses  to  the  same  truth. 
“The  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  are 
these  ” — as  we  have  seen  before,  yet  they 
are  ranged  here  in  an  order  somewhat  dif¬ 
ferent  from  the  first,  and  we  believe  from 
that  in  which  they  were  associated.  “  The 
first,  Simon,  who  is  called  Peter,  and  An¬ 
drew  his  brother  ;  James  the  son  of  Zebe- 
dee,  and  John  his  brother  ;  Philip  and 
Bartholomew  ;  Thomas,  and  Matthew  the 
publican  ;  James  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and 
Thaddeus  ;  Simon  the  Chananean,  and 
Judas  Iscariot,  who  also  betraved  Jesus.” 
(St.  Luke  ix.  1,  2  ;  St.  Matthew  x.  1  ;  St. 
Mark  vi.  7.) 

“He  commanded  them  that  they  should 
take  nothing  for  the  way  but  a  staff  only  :  ” 
even  this  they  were  merely  to  make  use  of 
for  a  support,  for  we  shall  presently  see 
that  he  did  not  allow  them  to  have  one  for 
defence.  This  explains  the  apparent  con¬ 
tradiction  of  the  staff  here  allowed  and 
elsewhere  forbidden.  In  addition,  he  en¬ 
joined  upon  them  “that  they  should  take 
no  scrip,  no  bread,  nor  money  in  their 

(  1 )  It  is  said  in  Saint  Luke  :  “  And  whatsoever 
house  you  shall  enter  into,  abide  there,  and  depart 
not  from  thence.”  There  would  be  levity  in  doing 
so  without  reason,  or  a  delicacy  unbecoming  in  an 


purse,  but  to  be  shod  with  sandals,  and 
that  they  should  not  put  on  two  coats.” 
(St.  Mark  vi.  8,  9.) '  An  unwavering  con¬ 
fidence  in  Providence  was  to  be  then  sub¬ 
stituted  for  all  these  preparations.  But 
we  must  hear,  from  the  very  lips  of  our 
Saviour,  the  admirable  regulations  which 
he  gave  them,  and,  in  their  persons,  their 
successors  in  the  apostolic  ministry  ;  for 
all  the  five,  except  the  first,  equally  re¬ 
gard  the  latter,  and  that  one  may  also 
serve  to  teach  them  that  they  ought  not  to 
go  elsewhere  than  whither  they  are  sent, 
and  that  if  it  be  criminal  to  preach  with¬ 
out  a  mission,  it  would  also  be  a  crime  to 
step  ever  so  little  beyond  its  prescribed 
bounds. 

“  Jesus  commanded  his  apostles,  saying : 
Go  ye  not  into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
into  the  'Cities  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye 
not  ;  but  go  ye  rather  to  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel ;  and  going,  preach, 
saying  :  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 
Heal  the  sick,  raise  the  dead,  cleanse  the 
lepers,  cast  out  devils  :  freely  have  you 
received,  freely^  give.  Do  not  possess 
gold,  nor  silver,  nor  money  in  your  purses  ; 
no  scrip  for  your  journey,  nor  two  coats, 
nor  shoes,  nor  a  staff.”  Be  assured,  how¬ 
ever,  that  no  necessary  shall  be  wanting 
to  you,  “  for  the  workman  is  worthy  of  his 
meat.  Into  whatever  city  or  town  you  shall 
enter,  inquire  who  in  it  is  worthy  ;  and 
there  abide,  until  you  go  thence.1  And  when 
you  come  into  the  house,  salute  it,  saying : 

apostle,  if  done  from  the  hope  of  better  treat¬ 
ment;  and  whatever  the  motive,  the  host  thus  left 
would  certainly  have  cause  to  complain. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  591 


Peace  be  to  this  house  ;  and  if  that  house 
be  worthy,  your  peace  shall  come  upon  it ; 
but  if  it  be  not  worthy,  your  peace  shall 
return  to  you.1  And  whosoever  shall  not 
receive  you,  nor  hear  your  words,  going 
forth  out  of  that  house  or  city,  shake  off 
the  dust  from  your  feet  ”  “for  a  testimony 
to  them.” 2  “Amen,  I  say  to  you,  it  shall 
be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom 
and  Gfomorrah  in  the  day  of  judgment  than 
for  that  city.”  (St.  Matthew  x.  5  ;  St. 
Mark  vi.  11.) 

These  instructions,  might  suffice  the 
apostles  for  this  first  mission  ;  it  was  to  be 
rather  a  short  one  :  no  persecution  awaited 
them  then,  and  it  was  merely  a  slight 
essay  of  those  missions,  wherein,  cross  in 
hand,  they  were  to  confront  all  the  powers 
of  the  universe,  and,  with  no  weapon 
but  patience,  range  all  nations  under  the 
law  of  the  Master,  who  sent  them.  As 
yet,  they  were  incapable  of  the  latter  mis¬ 
sions,  because  they  were  not  yet  “endued 
with  power  from  on  high.”  (St.  Luke 
xxiv.  49.)  Still,  before  he  imparted  the 
strength  for  these,  he  wishes  to  convey  a 
knowledge  of  them,  and  does  so  b}^  the 

( J  )  The  good  that  you  have  wished  them  shall 
come  to  pass  in  one  way  or  the  other. 

( 1 )  Dust  on  the  feet  is  the  proof  of  the  jour¬ 
ney;  and  to  shake  off  tins  dust  was,  on  the  part  of 
the  apostles,  equivalent  to  saying:  We  are  come, 
and  you  have  not  wished  to  receive  us.  In  this 
way  the  act  bore  testimony  against  the  inhabitants. 

(*  * )  Meekness  and  simplicity  are  the  primary 
virtues  which  Jesus  Christ  prescribes  to  the  apos¬ 
tles.  They  should  neither  oppose  force  to  violence 
nor  wiles  to  malice.  “  The  prudence  of  the  ser¬ 
pent”  greatly  perplexes  the  commentators.  We 
know  that  this  animal  has  a  quick  and  piercing 

68 


following  words,  rapidly  sketching  before 
their  eyes  the  terrible  picture  of  the  com¬ 
bats  they  were  one  day  to  sustain,  they 
and  their  first  disciples  ;  for  we  have  in 
this  picture  an  historical  sketch  of  the 
three  first  ages  of  the  Church.  This 
prophetic  picture  could  not  but  be  most 
useful  to  them  one  and  all.  Besides,  it  con¬ 
tained  instructions  relative  to  the  various 
trials  through  which  they  were  to  pass, 
and  by  seeing  that  they  were  foretold,  the 
apostles  would  be  less  surprised,  and  less 
alarmed  when  they  came  ;  and  the  accom¬ 
plishment  of  this  part  of  the  prophecy 
guaranteed  .the  truth  of  those  passages 
which  announced  their  victories  and  their 
crowns.  Our  Saviour  then  continues  thus : 

“  Behold,  I  send  you  as  sheep  in  the  midst 
of  wolves.  Be  ye,  therefore,  wise  as  ser¬ 
pents  and  simple  as  doves.3  But  beware 
of  men  ”  (meaning  those  whom  he  has  just 
called  wolves).  “  For  they  will  deliver  you 
up  in  councils,  and  they  will  scourge  you  in 
their  synagogues.  And  you  shall  be 
brought  before  governors  and  before  kings 
for  my  sake,  for  a  testimony4  to  them  and 
to  the  gentiles.  But  when  they  shall  de¬ 

glance.  It  is  natural  to  think  that  Jesus  Christ 
enjoins  his  disciples  to  be  clear-sighted  like  the 
serpent,  in  order  to  discover  the  snares  of  their 
enemies,  and  to  avoid  them  by  flight  or  by  con¬ 
cealment  ;  for  he  leaves  them  no  other  means  of 
defending  themselves  against  them. 

( * )  Much  more  by  the  testimony  of  blood  than 
by  that  of  speech.  This  it  was  which  caused  the 
name  of  “  martyrs,”  which  signifies  “  witnesses,” 
to  be  given  to  them  who  sealed  with  their  blood 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel;  this  is  the  highest  testi¬ 
mony.  For  “  if  there  be  no  greater  love  than  to 
give  one’s  life  for  those  whom  we  love,”  there  is 


'  • 

592  HISTORY  OF 

THE  LIFE 

liver  3rou  up,  take  no  thought  how  or  what 

persecution,  does  not  wish  an  indiscreet 

to  speak  ;  for  it  shall  be  given  you  in  that 

zeal  to  thrust  them  under  its  stroke.  Where- 

hour  what  to  speak.  For  it  is  not  you 

fore,  he  adds,'“  When  they  shall  persecute 

that  speak,  but  the  spirit  of  your  Father 

you  in  this  city,1  flee  into  another.2  Amen, 

that  speaketh  in  you.”  Moreover,  it  is  not 

I  say  unto  you  :  You  shall  not  finish  all 

merely  on  the  part  of  your  fellow-citizens 

the  cities  of  Israel  till  the  Son  of  man 

that  you  shall  encounter  so  violent  a  per-  • 

come.”3 

secution.  “The  brother  also  shall  deliver 

If  he  announces  to  them  great  sufferings. 

up  the  brother  to  death,  and  the  father  the 

he  presents  to  them  at  the  same  time  great 

sou  :  and  the  children  shall  rise  up  against 

motives.  Of  these  his  own  example  is  the 

their  parents,  and  shall  put  them  to  death  ; 

first.  “The  disciple,”  said  he,  “is  not 

and  you  shall  be  hated  by  all  men  for  my 

above  the  master,  nor  the  servant  above 

name’s  sake ;  but  he  that  shall  persevere 

his  lord.  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that 

unto  the  end,  he  shall  be  saved.” 

he  be  as  his  master,  and  the  servant  as  his 

Meantime,  Jesus  Christ,  who  wishes  his 

lord.  If  they  have  called  the  good  man 

disciples  to  be  intrepid  under  the  sword  of 

of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how  much  more 

- 

no  stronger  persuasion  than  to  shed  our  blood  in 

that  they  may  fall  under  the  effect  of  persecution : 

support  of  our  cause. 

in  this  case  we  should  prefer  our  own  salvation  to 

( 1 )  Persecution  is  an  equivocal  sign  of  truth  or 

that  of  others. 

virtue.  The  wicked  suffer  it  as  well  as  the  good,  the 

( 3 )  Several  commentators  think  that  these 

Jews  as  well  as  Christians,  heretics  as  well  as  Cath- 

words  were  spoken  for  the  apostles;  others  con- 

olics,  and  false  teachers  as  well  as  apostles.  Happy 

tend  that  they  regard  those  amongst  their  succes- 

those  who,  like  the  latter,  suffer  it  for  justice! 

sors  who  shall  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  time  of 

“It  is  not  the  pain,  it  is  the  cause  which  makes 

Anti-Christ.  According  to  the  former  interpreta- 

the  martyr.” — Saint  Augustine. 

tion,  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  should  be  un- 

( 2 )  Plight  was  not  merely  allowed  the  apostles. 

derstood  with  reference  to  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 

it  was  enjoined  upon  them  :  it  preserved  to  the  in- 

salem ;  according  to  the  latter,  what  are  here  called 

fant  Church  her  first  pastors,  and,  by  dispersing 

the  cities  of  Israel  are  the  Christian  cities  which, 

them,  it  was  instrumental  to  the  propagation  of 

at  the  end  of  the  world,  shall  have  apostatized 

the  Gospel.  In  subsequent  ages  it  has  been  com- 

from  the  faith,  and  shall  persecute  its  preachers. 

manded,  permitted,  or  forbidden  according  to  cir- 

Both  interpretations  present  difficulties.  Never-  • 

cumstances.  It  is  even  commanded  to  the  pastor, 

theless,  as  these  are  less  than  those  which  are  to 

when  his  presence  would  more  injure  the  Church 

be  met  in  the  other  ways  of  explaining  this  text. 

than  his  absence:  it  is  permitted  to  him,  when  the 

the  most  probable  thing  we  can  .say  here  is,  that 

persecution  is  levelled  against  him  alone,  and  his 

each  of  these  interpretations  is  the  correct  one.  In 

ministry  can  be  easily  supplied  by  others:  it  is 

the  first  case,  the  prophecy  must  have  been  under- 

forbidden  him  when  his  flock  would  thereby  incur 

stood  by  the  apostles ;  in  the  second  case,  it  will  be 

notable  injury.  This  is  the  case  where  he  must 

understood  at  the  end  of  ages ;  in  either  case, 

give  his  life  for  his  flock.  It  rarely  occurs  that 

Christ  has  not  prophesied  in  vain.  For  as  we  have 

flight  is  prohibited  to  those  who  are  not  pastors, 

already  remarked,  although  nothing  is  useless  in 

and  it  is  commanded,  when  the  knowledge  they 

Scripture,  it  does  not,  therefore,  follow  that  all 

have  of  their  weakness  makes  them  apprehend 

therein  is  equally  useful  for  all  times. 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  593 

them  of  his  household.”  We  can  see  that 

my  Father  who  is  in  heaven  ;  but  he  that 

this  motive  had  much  greater  force,  when 

shall  deny  me  before  men,  I  will  also  deny 

men’s  rage,  passing  from  words  to  the  most 

him  before  mv  Father  who  is  in  heaven.” 

%/ 

sanguinary  deeds,  had  fastened  to  the  cross 

It  was  further  necessary  to  fortify^  the 

the  Master  and  the  Lord.  “Therefore  fear 

disciples  against  another  trial,  less  terrible 

them  not,”  said  our  Saviour,  “  for,”  despite 

in  appearance,  yet  often  more  formidable 

the  fury  of  the  world,  “nothing  is  cover- 

in  effect  than  tyrants  and  tortures  :  that  is, 

ed  ”  in  the  doctrine  which  I  teach  you 

what  they  would  have  to  undergo  on  the 

“  that  shall  not  be  revealed,  nor  hid,  that 

part  of  their  own  relatives.  Amongst 

shall  not  be  known.  That  which  I  tell 

these  several  were  to  use  the  utmost  vio- 

you  in  the  dark,  speak  ye  in  the  light : 

lence  ;  but  others  were  only  to  employ  af- 

and  that  which  you  hear  in  the  ear,  preach 

fection  and  tears.  The  finest  minds  are 

ye  upon  the  house-tops.”1 

most  sensible  to  the  latter  ;  and  then  almost 

God  alone  is  to  be  feared,  and  he  who 

reproach  themselves  with  the  virtuous  re- 

is  alone  to  be  feared  shields  them  with  his 

sistance,  as  if  it  were  a  crime.  Be  silent, 

almighty  protection :  new  motives  of  con- 

flesh  and  blood,  and  learn  at  last,  that  if 

fidence,  which  our  Saviour  proposes  in 

all  fear  is  to  give  way  to  the  fear  of  the 

these  words  :  “  Fear  ye  not  them  that  kill 

Most  High,  his  love  far  exceeds  all  other 

the  body,  and  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul.2 

love.  For  this  is  the  meaning  of  these 

But  rather  fear  him  that  can  destroy  both 

words,  so  terrifying  to  nature,  and  yet  so 

soul  and  body  in  hell.  Are  not  two 

conformable  to  the  light  of  purified  reason, 

sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  ?  and  not  one 

since  they  merely  express  the  rights  of 

of  them  shall  fall  to  the  ground  without 

God,  those  rights  which  there  wq,uld  be  as 

■ 

your  Father.  But  the  very  hairs  of  your 

much  blindness  as  impiety  in  denying  him. 

head  are  all  numbered.  Fear  not,  there- 

Let  us,  then,  hearken  to  these  warnings, 

fore  :  better  are  ye  than  many  sparrows.” 

just  as  they  fell  from  the  lips  of  him  who 

Lastly,  gathering  into  one  focus  what  they 

is  truth  itself.  “  Do  not  think  that  I  came 

had  most  to  desire  and  fear  :  “  Every  one, 

to  send  peace  upon  the  earth.  I  came  not 

therefore,  said  he,  that  shall  confess  me 

to  send  peace,  but  the  sword.3  For  I  am 

before  men,  I  will  also  confess  him  before 

come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against  his 

( 1  )  Amongst  the  Jews  the  roofs  of  the  houses 

if  the  body  could  suffer  always  without  dying; 

were  flat,  which  makes  the  figure  more  appropriate 

but  it  soon  perishes,  and  in  perishing,  it  deprives 

than  if  the  roofs  had  been  of  the  same  form  as 

them  of  their  victim,  and  mocks  their  fury. 

ours. 

( 8 )  He  does  not  say  war,  where  combatants 

(’  )  They  should  not  be  feared  for  two  reasons. 

fight  on  both  sides,  because  his  disciples,  who  were 

1st.  They  cannot  take  away  the  life  of  the  soul. 

to  receive  the  blows,  were  not  to  return  them.  He 

2d.  They  can  take  aw'ay  the  life  of  the  body  by 

therefore  says  the  sword ;  that  is  to  say,  as  appears 

torments,  or  rather  they  cannot  fail  to  take  it 

by  the  ensuing  words,  the  separation  of  the  heart 

away.  For  they  would  be  much  more  formidable 

75 

on  one  side,  and  on  the  other,  bodily  separation,  by 

594  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

father,  the  daughter  against  her  mother, 

find  men  who  will  deem  it  meritorious  to 

and  the  daughter-in-law  against  the  mother- 

entertain  you  kindly,  and  to  share  with 

in-law  :  and  a  man’s  enemies  shall  be  they 

you  their  goods, — he  continues  in  these 

of  his  own  household.  He  that  loveth 

terms  :  ‘  ‘  He  that  receiveth  you,  recei veth 

father  or  mother  more  than  me,  is  not 

me  ;  and  he  that  receiveth  me  receiveth 

worthy  of  me  ;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or 

Him  that  sent  me.  He  that  receiveth  a 

daughter  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of 

prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet,  shall 

me.  And  he  that  taketh  not  up  his  cross 

receive  the  reward  of  a  prophet ;  and  he 

and  folio weth  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.  He 

that  receiveth  a  just  man  in  the  name  of  a 

that  findeth  his  life,  shall  lose  it  ;  and  he 

just  man,  shall  receive  the  reward  of  a  just 

that  shall  lose  his  life  for  me,  shall  find  it.” 

man.  And  whosoever  shall  give  to  drink 

Jesus  Christ  concludes  this  discourse  by 

to  one  of  these  little  ones  a  cup  of  cold 

the  magnificent  promises  he  makes  to  those 

water  only  in  the  name  of  a  disciple,  amen, 

who  shall  exercise  charity  and  hospitality 

I  say  to  you,  he  shall  not  lose  his  reward.” 

towards  his  disciples.  These  promises  are 

“  When  Jesus  had  made  an  end  of  com- 

evidence  of  the  love  he  bore  them,  and  a 

manding  his  twelve  disciples,  he  passed  from 

fresh  encouragement  against  the  persecu- 

thence  to  teach  and  preach  in  their  cities.” 

tions  which  he  had  foretold.  By  inviting 

(St.  Matt.  _x.  16,  42  ;  xi.  1.)  The  apostles 

all  men  to  do  good  to  them,  he  shows  us 

“  going  out  [also],  went  about  through  the 

how  well  he  loves  them,  and  that  if  he 

towns,  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  healing 

allows  them  to  be  maltreated  it  is  only 

everywhere.”  “  They  preached  that  men 

to  perfect  their  virtue,  and  enrich  their 

should  do  penance  ;  they  cast  out  many 

crown.  Wherefore,  as  if  he  had  again  said 

devils,  and  anointed  with  oil  many  that 

to  them  :  Go,  then,  without  fear  :  already 

were  sick,  and  healed  them.”  1  (St.  Luke 

• 

assured  of  my  protection,  you  will  ever 

ix.  6  ;  St.  Mark  vi.  12,  13.) 

the  impossibility  of  dwelling  together.  Moreover, 

( 1 )  The  Council  of  Trent  declares  that  the  sa- 

we  must  not  understand  this  as  meaning  that 

crament  of  Extreme  Unction  is  insinuated  by 

Christ  was  to  be  the  author  of  the  division  :  he  is 

these  words.  Therefore,  two  sorts  of  persons  are 

merely  the  occasion  thereof.  He  comes  to  establish 

deceived — those  who  say  that  it  is  here  clearly 

the  Gospel,  which  shall  be  received  by  some,  and 

established,  and  those  who  say  that  these  words 

refused  by  others.  The  latter  wish  to  eradicate  it 

have  no  reference  to  it.  But  the  error  of  the 

from  the  hearts  of  the  others,  and  with  this  design 

second  is  more  malignant  and  more  dangerous  than 

will  persecute  them.  Here  is  the  division  estab- 

that  of  the  first.  In  what  relates  to  the  proof  of 

lished ;  but  it  is  visible  that,  if  the  Gospel  be  the 

revealed  dogmas,  we  deceive  ourselves  more  inno- 

occasion  of  the  division,  its  enemies  are  its  real 

cently  by  addition  than  by  subtraction. 

i 

i  £ 

authors. 

- 

OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


595 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

DECAPITATION  OF  SAINT  JOHN.  —  MULTIPLICATION  OF  THE  LOAVES  AND  FISHES.  —  JESUS 

WALKS  ON  THE  WATER,  AND  SUPPORTS  PETER. 


“  IVT  OW  Herod  the  tetrarch  heard  the 
1.  \l  fame  of  Jesus,”  “  for  his  name  was 
made  manifest.”  “He  heard  all  things 
that  were  done  by  Jesns,  and  he  was  in 
doubt,  because  it  was  said  by  some  :  John 
the  Baptist  is  risen  again  from  the  dead, 
aud,  therefore,  mighty  works  show  forth 
themselves  in  him.”  “  Others  said  it  is 
Elias  hath  appeared  ;  and  others,  that  one 
of  the  old  prophets  had  risen  again.  But 
Herod  said :  John  I  have  beheaded  ;  but 
who  is  this  of  whom  I  hear  such  things? 
And  he  sought  to  see  him.”  Still  carried 
away  by  popular  opinion,  “  he  said  to  his 
sei*vants  :  This  is  John  the  Baptist,  whom 
I  beheaded  ;  he  is  risen  from  the  dead. 
For  Herod  himself  had  sent  and  appre¬ 
hended  John,  and  bound,  and  put  him  in 
prison,  for  the  sake  of  Herodias,  wife  of 
Philip,  his  brother,  because  he  had  married 
her  ;  for  John  said  to  Herod  :  It  is  not 
lawful  for  thee  to  have  thy7-  brother’s  wife. 
Herod  having  a  mind  to  put  him  to  death, 
feared  the  people,  because  they  esteemed 
him  as  a  prophet.”  (St.  Matt.  xiv.  1,  2, 
5  ;  St.  Mark  vi.  14-18  ;  St.  Luke  ix.  7-9.) 
“Now,  Herodias  laid  snares  for  him,  and 
was  desirous  to  put  him  to  death,  and  could 
not,  for  Herod  feared  John,  knowing  him 
to  be  a  just  and  holy  man  ;  and  kept  him, 
and  when  he  heard  him,  did  many  things, 


and  he  heard  him  willingly.”  (St.  Mark 
vi.  19,  20.) 

The  holy  precursor’s  life  was  not  the 
more  secure  on  this  account.  Virtue  may 
coerce  the  wicked  to  esteem  it  ;  but  this 
estimation  does  not  lessen  the  natural  hatred 
they  bear  it.  He,  therefore,  who  had  only 
abstained  from  murder  through  fear  of 
men,  was  but  too  well  disposed  to  commit 
it  to  please  a  woman.  All  she  wanted  was 
the  occasion,  which  soon  arose.  “  A  con¬ 
venient  day  was  come,  when  Herod  made 
a  supper  for  his  birth-day  for  the  princes, 
and  tribunes,  and  the  chief  men  of  Galilee. 
When  the  daughter  of  Herodias  had  come 
in,  and  had  danced,  and  pleased  Herod, 
and  them  that  were  at  table  with  him,  the 
king  said  to  the  damsel,”  "  with  an  oath  !  ” 
“  Ask  of  me  what  thou  wilt,  and  I  will 
give  it  thee,  ....  though  it  be  the  half  of 
my  kingdom.”  The  habits  of  the  country 
did  not  permit  the  presence  of  women  on 
these  occasions  ;  we  must  not,  then,  be  as¬ 
tonished  at  the  absence  of  Herodias.  Her 
daughter,  who  was  a  mere  child,  might  ap¬ 
pear  there  a  few  moments  without  any 
consequence.  But  this  child  had  already 
sufficient  understanding  to  conceive  that 
she  ought  not  to  decide  on  the  request  she 
was  to  make — “Who,”  therefore,  “when 
she  was  gone  out,  said  to  Iter-  mother,” 


596 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


after  having  recounted  to  her  the  promise 
and  the  oath  of  the  king :  “  What  shall  I 
ask  ?  The  head  of  John  the  Baptist,”  said 
the  mother.  And  when  she  was  come  in 
immediately  with  haste  to  the  king,  being- 
instructed  before  by  her  mother,  she  asked, 
saying  :  “  I  will  that  forthwith  thou  give  me 
in  a  dish  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist. 
And  the  king  was  struck  sad  :  yet,  because 
of  his  oath,  and  because  of  them  that  were 
with  him  at  table,”1  he  would  not  incur 
the  shame  of  breaking  his  promise,  or  mor¬ 
tify  the  girl  by  refusing  her  request  ;  he 
would  not  “  displease  her,  but,  sending  an 
executioner,  he  commanded  that  his  head 
should  be  brought  in  a  dish.”  “  And  the 
executioner  beheaded  him  in  the  prison, 
and  brought  his  head  in  a  dish,  and  gave 
it  to  the  damsel,  and  the  damsel  gave  it  to 
her  mother.”  Thus  the  head  of  the  great¬ 
est  of  men  was  made  the  price  of  a  dance  ; 
and,  after  this  transaction,  the  world  should 
be  fully  convinced  that  there  is  no  crime 
too  dark  for  an  abandoned  woman  to  exact, 
or  a  weak  and  impassioned  man  to  grant. 
“  Which  John’s  disciples  hearing,  came  and 
took  the  body,  and  laid  it  in  a  tomb.”  Then 
“  they  came  and  told  Jesus.  Which,  when 
Jesus  had  heard,  he  retired  from  thence  by 
boat.”  (St.  Mark  vi.  21-29  ;  St.  Matt.  xiv. 
8-13.) 

We  do  not  see  why  the  death  of  John 
the  Baptist  should  make  him  apprehend  a 
similar  fate.  But  what  we  cannot  see, 
he  knew  and  he  might  have  a  certainty 


of  what  appears  unlikely  to  us.  Yet,  what 
we  read  in  Josephus  the  historian  may 
throw  some  light  upon  this  point.  He  says 
that  Herod  put  John  the  Baptist  to  death, 
because  he  feared  lest  he  should  excite  a 
sedition.  He  deceives  himself,  or,  rather, 
he  wishes  to  deceive  the  world,  as  to  the 
real  cause  of  this  assassination,  which  was 
no  other  than  the  one  recounted  by  the 
evangelists.  But  there  is  a  strong  pre¬ 
sumption  that  Herod,  to  exonerate  himself, 
at  least  in  part,  from  the  odium  of  so  great 
a  crime,  disseminated  the  rumor  that  John 
the  Baptist  had  been  secretly  trying  to 
cause  an  insurrection  amongst  the  people. 
He  was  a  saint,  the  object  of  public  vene¬ 
ration,  and  he  had  made  many  disciples  :  on 
what  ground,  then,  could  they  accuse  him 
of  sedition  ?  Now  all  these  traits  belonged 
also  to  Jesus  ;  and,  moreover,  he  was  a 
worker  of  miracles.  Herod,  who  as  yet 
knew  him  not,  would  not  be  long  in  know¬ 
ing  them.  Might  he  not,  when  he  bec&me 
aware  of  his  history,  conceive  the  design 
of  putting  him  to  death,  under  the  same 
pretext,  inasmuch  as  Jesus  resembled  John 
in  so  many  ways  ?  His  death  could  not  be 
attributed  to  the  solicitations  of  Herodias. 
Sedition  would  have  been  the  sole  apparent 
cause  of  it,  and  by  this  means  Herod  would 
have  given  more  likelihood  to  that  pre¬ 
tended  cause  for  the  death  of  John,  by  ex¬ 
tending  the  same  treatment  to  all  those 
who  were  similarly  situated,  although  they 
did  not  come  in  collision  with  the  adulter- 


(  *)  It  is  not  unlikely  that  they  seconded  the 
girl's  request,  and  solicited  the  king  to  grant  it. 
What  was  occurring  before  their  eyes  taught  them 


what  it  might  cost  those  who  had  the  misfortune 
to  displease  the  favorite. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


ess.  In  one  word,  Herod  might  say  :  The 
proof  that  I  have  sacrificed  John  to  the 
public  safety,  and  not  to  the  vengeance  of 
a  woman,  is,  that  I  have  treated  Jesus  in 
the  same  way,  a  person  as  dangerous  as 
himself,  and  against  whom  this  woman  could 
have  no  cause  of  complaint.  Those  who 
say  that  there  were  too  many  witnesses  of 
the  true  cause  of  John’s  death  for  it  to  be 
possible  to  substitute  another,  must  be  ig¬ 
norant  of  the  fact,  that  the  people  may  be 
brought  to  believe  anything  you  wish,  were 
there  a  hundred  witnesses  to  the  contrary. 
And,  in  fact,  Josephus  assigns  no  other 
cause  for  this  foul  deed,  than  the  fear  which 
Herod  entertained  lest  John  should  excite 
a  sedition.  He  therefore  believed  this  ;  or, 
what  comes  almost  to  the  same  thing,  he 
hoped  to  make  it  believed,  although  lie 
lived  at  a  period  when  some  of  those  who 
assisted  at  that  fearful  supper  might  still 
be  living. 

Thus  the  Man-God,  who  is  ignorant  of 
nothing  which  can  happen  in  any  possible 
conjuncture,  might  know  the  designs  which 
Herod  had  formed  against  him,  if  he  had 
remained  longer  within  reach  to  feel  its 
effects  ;  and  this  knowledge  may  have  been 
the  motive  for  his  retreat.  But  it  seems 
that  to  this  reason  there  was  joined  a 
second:  “The  apostles,  when  they  were 
returned  ”  from  their  mission,  “  coming 
together  to  Jesus,  related  to  him  all  things 
that  they  had  done  and  taught.”  (St.  Mark 
vi.  30-34  ;  St.  Luke  ix.  10,  11  ;  St.  John 


( * )  These  people  forgot  even  to  provide  nourish¬ 
ment,  in  order  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
justice.  They  found  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  we 


597 


vi.  1-4.)  They  required  a  little  relaxation 
after  such  great  labor.  ‘  ‘  J esus  said  to 
them :  Come  apart  into  a  desert  place,  and 
rest  a  little  ;  for  there  were  many  coming 
and  going,  and  they  had  not  so  much  as 
time  to  eat.  And  going  up  then  into  a 
ship,  they  went  aside  into  a  desert  place 
apart  ”  which  belongeth  to  Bethsaida,  over 
the  sea  of  Galilee,  which  is  that  of  Tiberias. 
“And  they  saw  them  going  away,  and 
many  knew  ;  and  they  ran  flocking  thither 
on  foot  from  all  the  cities,  and  were  there 
before  him.”  A  great  multitude  followc'd 
him,  because  they  saw  the  miracles  which 
he  did  on  them  that  were  diseased.  “Jesus 
going  out  ”  of  the  ship,  “  saw  a  great  mul¬ 
titude,  and  he  had  [that]  compassion  on 
them  ”  which  he  was  accustomed  to  feel  on 
beholding  them,  “because  they  were  as 
sheep  not  having  a  shepherd.”  “  He  re¬ 
ceived  them,  went  up  into  a  mountain,  and 
there  he  sat  with  his  disciples.  How  the 
pasch,  the  festival  day  of  the  Jews,  was  near 
at  hand.  Jesus  began  to  teach  them  many 
things.  He  spoke  to  them  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  healed  them  who  had  need  of 
healing.” 

“And  when  the  day  was  now  far  spent, 
his  twelve  disciples  came  to  him,  saying  : 
This  is  a  desert  place,  and  the  hour  is  now 
past ;  send  them  away,  that,  going  into  the 
next  villages  and  towns”  round  about 
“they  may  buy  themselves”  victuals.1 
“  And  he  answering,  said  to  them  :  ”  “They 
have  no  need  to  go,”  “give  you  them  to  eat.2 


are  going  to  see  that  nourishment  did  not  fail 
them. 

( J )  This  was  the  prophecy  of  what  was  going  to 


598 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


And  they  said  to  him  :  Let  us  go  and  buy 
bread  for  two  hundred  pence,  and  we  will 
give  them  to  eat.” 1  “  When  Jesus,”  who, 

from  the  top  of  a  mountain  he  had  ascended, 
could  discover  the  entire  plain,  “  had  lifted 
up  his  eyes,  and  seen  that  a  very  great 
multitude  cometh  unto  him,  he  said  to 
Philip:  Whence  shall  we  buy  bread  that 
these  may  eat?  And  this  he  said  to  try 
him ;  for  he  himself  knew  what  he  would 
do.  Philip  answered  him  :  Two  hundred 
pennyworth  of  bread  is  not  sufficient  for 
them,  that  every  one  may  take  a  little.” 
He  should  have  added  :  But  if  we  are  de¬ 
ficient  in  human  means,  thy  power  can 
easily  supply  them.  It  was  this  act  of  faith 
which  Jesus  gave  him  an  opportunity  to 
make,  yet  he  did  not  do  it.  But  the  avowal 
which  Philip  made  of  the  impossibility  of 
providing  food  for  so  many  mouths,  was  in 


take  place.  These  people  were  fed,  in  point  of  fact, 
from  the  hands  of  the  apostles,  and  out  of  what 
little  provisions  they  had.  Pastors,  never  despair  of 
being  able  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  your  people: 
give  what  you  have,  ask  from  God  what  you  have 
not,  and  you  shall  witness  miracles. 

( 1 )  This  seems  to  be  said  ironically.  But  as  the 
same  thing  is  said  by  St.  Andrew,  in  a  serious  and 
affirmative  tone,  it  is  more  natural  to  think  that 
the  apostles  made  this  proposition  as  having  the 
power  and  will  to  execute  it,  supposing  that  Jesus 
Christ  had  taken  them  at  their  word.  If  their 
faith  seems  weak  on  this  occasion,  they  at  least  give 
marks  of  a  very  uncommon  charity.  1st.  They 
are  attentive  to  the  wants  of  the  people,  and  they 
are  careful  in  representing  them  to  their  divine 
Master.  2d.  They  propose  to  go  and  purchase 
bread,  and  to  employ  a  sum  which  would  have  ap¬ 
parently  exhausted  the  common  purse.  3d.  Lastly, 
they  sacrificed  the  little  provisions  which  remained 
for  themselves.  The  faith  was,  therefore,  weak: 


itself  a  proof  of  the  miracle  which  the  Sa¬ 
viour  was  going  to  operate.  To  render  it 
more  evident  (St.  Mark  vi.  35-40 ;  St. 
John  vi.  5-10;  St.  Luke  ix.  12-15;  St. 
Matthew  xiv.  15,  16,  21),  “  He  said  to  the 
apostles  :  How  many  loaves  have  you  ?  go 
and  see  ;  and  when  they  knew.”  “  Andrew, 
the  brother  of  Simon,  one  of  his  disciples, 
saith  to  him  :  There  is  a  boy  here  that  hath 
five  barley  loaves  and  two  fishes  ;  but  what 
are  these  among  so  many,”  “  unless  per¬ 
haps  we  should  go  and  buy  some  food  for 
all  the  multitude  ?  Now,  there  were  about 
five  thousand  men  besides  women  and 
children.”  Thereupon,  “  he  commanded 
them  that  they  should  make  them  all  sit 
down  by  fifties  ”  in  a  company  upon  the 
green  grass..  “  And  they  sat  down  in  ranks 
by  hundreds,  and  by  fifties.” 2 

“Jesus  took  the  five  loaves  and  two 


neveitlieless,  the  charity  appears  not  to  have  been  so. 
The  fact  is,  there  was  in  this  charity  more  of  na¬ 
tural  compassion,  or  of  generosity,  than  of  charity, 
properly  speaking.  For  charity  is  only  such,  when 
it  acts  through  motives  of  faith.  Nevertheless, 
this  tender  and  effective  compassion  is  still  a  virtue, 
and  a  disposition  very  favorable  to  the  increase,  of 
faith  and  the  perfection  of  charity. 

(  )  Saint  Luke  says  that  Jesus  Christ  gave 
orders  to  his  apostles  to  distribute  the  people  in 
companies  of  fifty.  He  adds,  that  they  did  what 
was  enjoined  upon  them.  Still,  according  to  Saint 
Mark,  they  made  up  companies — some  of  fifty, 
others  of  one  hundred ;  which  might  make  it  be 
thought  that  they  did  not  obey  to  the  letter.  If 
this  be  regarded  as  a  difficulty,  the  following  ex¬ 
planation  may  serve  for  the  solution  The  apos¬ 
tles  had  made  each  company  consist  of  fifty  men. 
It  may  have  been  remarked  that  the  women  and 
little  children  are  not  counted;  but  there  is  every 
appearance  that  they  did  not  separate  the  women 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


599 


fishes,  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  he  blessed 
them  ;  he  then  broke  the  loaves  and  gave  to 
his  disciples,”  “  to  set  before  them  that  were 
sat  down.  In  like  manner  also  he  divided 
the  two  fishes  among  them  all,  as  much  as 
they  could  eat.  And  they  all  did  eat,  and 
were  filled.”  “And  when  they  were  filled, 
Jesus  said  to  his  disciples  :  Gfather  up  the 
fragments  that  remain,1  lest  they  be  lost. 
They  gathered  up,  therefore,  and  filled 
twelve  baskets2  with  the  fragments  of  the 
five  barley  loaves,  which  remained  over 
and  above  to  them  that  had  eaten.”  They 
also  took  up  the  leavings  of  the  fishes. 
“Now  those  men,  when  they  had  seen 
what  a  miracle  Jesus  had  done,  said  :  This 
is  of  a  truth  the  prophet  that  is  to  come 
into  the  world.  Jesus,  therefore,  when  he 
knew  that  they  would  come  to  take  him  by 
force,  and  make  him  king,”  immediately 
obliged  his  disciples  to  go  up  into  the  ship, 
that  they  might  go  before  him  over  the 
water  to  Bethsaida,  whilst  he  dismissed  the 
people  ;  and  when  he  had  dismissed  them, 


from  their  husbands,  nor  the  little  children  from 
their  mothers,  which  would  have  made  several 
companies  of  one  hundred  persons,  although  in 
each  company  there  were  only  fifty  men. 

( 1 )  Thus  the  Eucharistic  Bread  satiates  an  en¬ 
tire  world,  and  is  not  consumed.  We  have  just 
seen  that  Jesus  Christ  employed,  upon  this  occa¬ 
sion,  the  same  ceremonies  as  at  the  institution  of 
the  Eucharist.  He  himself  will  soon  tell  us  that 
this  miracle  was  the  figure  of  it. 

( 3 )  Miraculous  multiplication,  the  ordinary 
fruit  which  springs  from  almsdeeds.  Perhaps  it  is 
the  most  common  of  all  prodigies.  Everything  is 
not  written ;  but  we  may  not  hesitate  to  surmise 
that,  amongst  those  persons  who  give  great  alms, 
there  are  to  be  found  some  who  have  experienced 


be  “fled  again  into  the  mountain  liimself 
alone.”3  “He  went  up  into  it  to  pray  ; 
and  when  it  was  evening  he  was  there 
alone.”4  (St.  Mark  vi.  41-46  ;  St.  John  vi. 
12-15  ;  St.  Matthew  xiv.  19-23.) 

It  must  have  been  perceptible  that 
neither  Jesus  Christ  nor  his  disciples  en¬ 
joyed  the  repose  they  sought  to  find  in 
solitude.  Nature  did  require  it ;  yet  char¬ 
ity  cannot  decide  to  allow  it,  whilst  there 
remain  wants  to  alleviate.  Then  self  is 
forgotten  and  strength  is  borrowed,  and 
derived  from  exhaustion  itself.  After  so 
fatiguing  a  day,  the  disciples  had  not  a 
night  more  tranquil.  To  obey  the  order 
they  had  just  received,  “  when  evening  was 
come,  his  disciples  went  down  to  the  sea, 
and  when  they  had  gone  up  into  the  ship, 
they  went  over  the  sea  to  Capharnaum.” 
But  ere  they  arrived,  their  faith  was  again 
more  than  once  put  to  the  test.  “It  was 
now  dark,  and  Jesus  was  not  come  to 
them.”  (St.  John  vi.  16,  17.)  We  have 
seen  already  that  “he  himself  was  alone 


it  more  than  once.  What  remained  to  the  apos¬ 
tles  far  surpassed  what  they  had  given.  No  one 
ever  grows  poor  by  giving  alms,  hut  very  often  an 
individual  becomes  rich  by  so  doing.  It  has  the 
promises  for  the  present  and  for  the  future  life. 

(s)  After  this  action  of  the  Saviour,  if  there 
was  one  crime  of  which  he  should  not  have  been 
suspected,  it  was  that  of  aspiring  to  royalty.  It 
was,  nevertheless,  for  this  pretended  crime  that  he 
was  soon  after  judged,  condemned,  and  crucified. 
Nothing  so  little  surprises  those  who  have  observed 
the  excess  reached  by  iniquity  and  the  blindness 
of  judgment  swayed  by  passion. 

( 4  )  He  did  not  require,  in  order  to  compose  his 
mind,  either  solitude  or  the  silence  of  night ;  but 
both  are  necessary  to  us,  and  he  wished  to  instruct  us. 


600 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


on  the  land.”  (St.  Mark  vi.  47.)  “But  the 
boat  in  the  midst  of  the  sea  was  tossed 
with  the  waves  ”  (St.  Matt.  xiv.  24),  “  for 
the  sea  arose,  by  reason  of  a  great  wind 
that  blew.”  (St.  John  vi.  18.)  Jesus  “see¬ 
ing  them  laboring  in  rowing,  for  the 
wind  was  against  them,  about  the  fourth 
watch  of  the  night,1  he  cometh  to  them 
walking  upon  the  sea,  and  he  would  have 
passed  by  them.”  (St.  Mark  vi.  47,  48.) 
“When  they  had  rowed,  therefore,  about 
five-and-twenty  or  thirty2  furlongs,3  they 
see  Jesus  walking  upon  the  sea,  and  draw- 


( 1 )  About  three  o’clock  in  the  morning.  The 
night  was  divided  into  four  military  watches,  each 
of  which  lasted  three  hours.  The  moon  was  then 
at  its  full,  for  it  was  Paschal  time ;  hence  the  dis¬ 
ciples  might  easily  see  Jesus,  but  could  not  re¬ 
cognize  him.  Our  Saviour’s  delay  had  then  the 
effect  which  it  usually  has  whenever  God  seems  to 
forget  his  servants  in  their  tribulations.  He  tests 
their  faith,  he  exercises  their  patience,  he  renders 
them  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  succor  from  on 
high,  he  obliges  them  to  recognize  and  adore  the 
all-powerful  protector  from  whom  comes  the  sal¬ 
vation  which  could  no  longer  be  hoped  for,  but 
from  him  alone. 

('■')  It  is  only  consistent  with  the  truth  to  ad¬ 
vance  as  uncertain  that  concerning  which  one  has 
not  entire  certainty,  and  there  is  nothing  in  this 
repugnant  to  divine  inspiration.  The  Holy  Ghost 
may  have  inspired  the  sacred  writers  to  recount 
things  precisely  as  they  knew  them,  or  as  they  re¬ 
collected  them,  supposing,  nevertheless,  that  in 
their  recollections  or  their  knowledge  there  was 
merely  uncertainty ;  for  had  there  been  error,  in¬ 
spiration  would  have  rectified  it.  This  applies,  too, 
to  the  two  or  three  measures  which  were  contained 
in  the  water-pots  at  the  marriage-feast  of  Cana. 

( 3 )  Eight  stadia,  here  translated  furlongs,  make 
one  Italian  mile,  and  sixteen  make  the  common 
league. 


ing  nigli  to  the  ship,  and  they  were  afraid.” 
(St.  John  vi.  19.)  “  And  they  were  trou¬ 

bled,  saying :  It  is  an  apparition,  and  they 
cried  out  for  fear  ”  (St.  Matt.  xiv.  26)  ;  “  for 
they  all  saw  him  and  were  troubled.”  (St. 
Mark  vi.  50.)  “And  immediately  Jesus 
spoke  to  them,  saying :  Be  of  good  heart, 
it  is  I,  fear  ye  not.  And  Peter,  making 
answer,  said :  Lord,  if  it  be  thou,4  bid  me 
come  to  thee  upon  the  waters.  And  he 
said  :  Come,  and  Peter  going  down  out  of 
the  boat,  walked  upon  the  water  to  come 
to  Jesus.  But  seeing  the  wind  strong,  he 


( 4 )  Calvin,  who  reproaches  Saint  Peter  with 
fifteen  mortal  sins,  finds  two  here.  One  is  infidel¬ 
ity,  for  having  said  to  Jesus  Christ,  “  If  it  be  thou :  ” 
therefore  he  doubted,  concludes  Calvin.  The  other 
is  presumption,  for  having  wished  to  walk  upon 
the  water,  like  his  Master.  Catholic  commentators 
find  here,  on  the  contrary,  grounds  for  admiring 
the  faith  of  this  great  apostle,  and  the  fervor  of  his 
love.  There  was  no  infidelity  in  doubting  whether 
he  who  walked  upon  the  water  was  Christ,  since 
they  did  not  see  him  distinctly  enough  to  be  sure 
of  the  fact;  and  there  was  as  much  faith  in  walk¬ 
ing  upon  it  at  his  word,  supposing  that  it  was  he, 
as  there  was  great  love  in  doing  so  from  the  desire 
of  sooner  joining  him.  Christ,  by  telling  him  to 
come,  and  by  working  so  great  a  miracle  in  his 
favor,  seals  with  his  approbation  all  the  favorable 
interpretations  which  may  be  given  to  this  act  of 
the  chief  of  the  apostles.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
moment  of  danger  his  faith  wavered,  that  is  to  say, 
that  his  faith,  very  lively  in  the  first  instance,  ap¬ 
peared  feeble  in  the  second.  Let  it  be  observed, 
however,  that  Jesus  reproaches  him  not  with  in 
fidelity,  but  merely  with  the  smallness  of  his  faith. 
Calvin  should  have  confined  himself  to  this;  but 
it  was  a  difficult  matter  for  him  to  spare  Saint 
Peter,  whom  he  justly  regarded  as  the  founder  of 
popery. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


601 


was  afraid,  and  when  he  began  to  sink,  he 
cried  out :  Lord,  save  me.  And  immedi¬ 
ately  Jesus  stretching  forth  his  hand,  took 
hold  of  him,  and  said  to  him :  0  thou  of 
little  faith,  why  didst  thou  doubt  ?  ”  (St. 
Matt.  xiv.  27-31.)  “The  disciples  were 
willing,  therefore,  to  take  him  into  the 
ship,  and  he  went  up  to  them  into  the 
ship.”  “And  when  he  and  Peter  were 
come  up  into  the  boat,  the  wind  ceased.  ” 
The  disciples  “  were  far  more  astonished 
within  themselves  (for,”  in  their  agitation, 
“they  understood  not  concerning  the 
loaves,  for  their  heart  was  blinded);” 
“  and  presently  the  ship  was  at  the  land  to 
which  they  were  going.”  (St.  Matthew  xiv. 
32  ;  St.  Mark  vi.  51,  52  ;  St.  John  vi.  21.) 
This  was  the  fourth  miracle  which  Jesus 
Christ  wrought  in  their  presence  :  he  had 
walked  upon  the  waters  ;  he  had  made 
Peter  do  the  same  ;  he  had  stilled  the 


tempest  ;  and,  lastly,  he  had  caused  them 
to  make  in  a  moment  the  passage  of  several 
hours.  So  many  prodigies  performed  one 
after  another,  tore  off  the  bandage  from 
their  eyes.  “  They  that  were  in  the  boat 
came  and  adored  him,  saying  :  Indeed  thou 
art  the  Son  of  God.”1  (St.  Matt.  xiv.  33.) 

“  When  Jesus  and  his  disciples  had 
passed  over,  they  came  into  the  land  of 
Genesareth,  and  set  to  the  shore.”  “  And  . 
when  they  were  gone  out  of  the  ship,  the 
men  of  that  place  knew  Jesus,  and,  run¬ 
ning  through  the  whole  country,  they  be¬ 
gan  to  carry  about  in  beds  those  that  were 
sick  where  they  heard  he  was.  And  whith¬ 
ersoever  he  entered,  into  towns  or  into  vil¬ 
lages  or  cities,  they  laid  the  sick  in  the 
streets,  and  besought  him  that  they  might 
touch  but  the  hem  of  his  garment.  And 
as  many  as  touched  him  were  made  whole.” 
(St.  Matt.  xiv.  34  ;  St.  Mark  vi.  53-56.) 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

SERMON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  ON  THE  EUCHARIST.— THE  JEWS  MURMUR. 


THE  next  day,”  after  the  multiplica¬ 
tion  of  the  loaves,  “  the  multitude 
that  stood -on  the  other  side  of  the  sea  saw 

(  1 )  An  evangelist  lias  already  told  us  that  the 
apostles  had  embarked  in  order  to  go  to  Gaphai- 
naum.  Another  makes  the  hark  arrive  now  at 
Genesareth,  which  embarrasses  commentators. 
All  agree  that  Jesus  went  successively  to  these  two 
places,  which  were  not  far  distant  from  one  another. 
But  some  state  that  he  first  arrived  at  Capharnaum, 

70 


that  there  was  no  other  ship  but  one,  and 
that  Jesus  had  not  entered  into  the  ship  with 
his  disciples  ;  but  that  his  disciples  were 

in  order  to  go  afterwards  to  Genesareth.  Others 
make  him  land  at  Genesareth,  whence  he  proceeded 
almost  immediately  to  Capharnaum.  It  would  be 
too  tedious  to  give  their  arguments,  and  the  ques¬ 
tion,  which  is  not  very  important,  would  l email) 
as  undecided  as  we  leave  it. 


602 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


gone  away  alone.”  They  did  not  know 
what  was  become  of  him  ;  and  this  people, 
still  with  a  view  to  proclaim  him  king,  were 
vainly  seeking  him,  when  “  other  ships 
came  in  from  Tiberias  nigh  unto  the  place 
where  they  had  eaten  [miraculous]  bread, 
the  Lord  giving  thanks.  When,  therefore, 
the  multitude  saw  that  Jesus  was  not  there, 
nor  his  disciples,”  presuming,  moreover, 
that  in  some  manner  or  other  he  had  gone 
and  rejoined  them,  “  they  took  shipping, 
and  came  to  Capharnaum,  seeking  for  Je¬ 
sus.  And  when  they  had  found  him  on  the 
other  side  of  the  sea,”  either  that  same 
day,  or  perhaps  the  day  after,  “  they  said 
to  him,”  with  surprise:  “Rabbi,  when 
earnest  thou  hither  ?  ”  Instead  of  satisfying 
their  curiosity,  Jesus,  who  wished  to  in¬ 
struct  them,  deemed  it  more  proper  to  dis¬ 
close  to  them  the  interested  motive  of  their 
great  eagerness  to  find  him.  Therefore, 
“  Jesus  answered  them  and  said  :  Amen, 
amen,  I  say  to  you  ;  you  seek  me,  not  be¬ 
cause  you  have  seen  miracles,  but  because 
you  did  eat  of  the  loaves  and  were  filled. 


( 1 )  Heretics  have  concluded,  from  this  expres¬ 
sion,  that  it  is  forbidden  to  work  for  our  living. 
They  should  have  further  concluded  that  it  is  for¬ 
bidden  to  eat,  since  Saint  Paul  said  :  “  If  any  mail 
will  not  work,  neither  let  him  eat ;  ”  but  their 
logic  took  care  not  to  go  quite  so  far.  We  must 
toil  in  order  to  live,  in  fulfilment  of  that  sentence 
pronounced  against  the  human  race :  “  In  the 
sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat  thy  bread.”  But 
there  are  two  different  lives:  the  life  of  the  body 
and  the  life  of  the  soul,  the  present  and  the  future 
life.  The  body  perishes,  the  soul  dieth  not ;  the 
present  life  is  short,  the  future  life  eternal.  To 
prefer  the  first  to  the  second,  to  do  everything  for 
the  former  and  nothing  for  the  latter,  is  the  too 


Labor  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth, 
but  for  that  which  enclureth  unto  life  ever¬ 
lasting,1  which  the  Son  of  man  will  give 
you,  for  him  hath  God  the  Father  sealed  ” 
by  the  prodigies  which  attest  the  truth  of 
his  mission,  and  which  are,  as  it  were,  the 
letters  patent  by  which  God  declares  to  all 
men  that  it  is  himself  who  sends  him,  and 
that  all  his  words  are  to  be  received  as  the 
express  declaration  of  the  divine  will. 

An  idle  life,  passed  amid  the  abundance 
of  good  things,  was,  as  we  see,  the  sole  at¬ 
traction  to  this  people,  and  what  the  bread 
miraculously  multiplied  led  them  to  hope 
for  from  Jesus  Christ.  The  first  of  these 
hopes  is  already  destroyed  by  this  word  of 
the  Saviour:  “Labor.”  Nor  will  he  let 
the  other  exist,  at  least  in  the  manner  they 
had  conceived  it.  Nevertheless,  as  he  has 
just  spoken  to  them  of  a  nourishment 
which,  according  to  the  meaning  they  at¬ 
tached  to  his  words,  should  hinder  them  from 
dying,  their  appetite,  excited  by  so  flatter¬ 
ing  a  hope,  makes  them  consent  to  labor. 
The  only  thing  they  had  yet  to  hear  was, 


common  error,  which  J esus  Christ  reproves  by  this 
expression :  “  Labor  not  (principally)  for  the  meat 
which  perisheth,  but  for  that  which  endureth  unto 
life  everlasting.” 

We  must  toil  from  necessity,  hut  also  from  vir¬ 
tue  ;  we  must  toil,  but  we  may  do  so  from  the  mo¬ 
tive  of  fulfilling  the  will  of  God ;  we  must  labor 
to  procure  ourselves  the  bread  which  is  necessary 
for  the  support  of  this  mortal  life,  but,  above  all, 
in  order  to  share  that  immortal  life,  which  shall  be 
the  recompense  of  necessary  labor,  sanctified  by 
such  motives.  This  practically  harmonizes  Christ 
with  Saint  Paul;  and,  by  means  of  the  nourish¬ 
ment  which  perisheth,  works  out  that  which  en¬ 
dures  unto  life  everlasting. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


603 


by  wliat  labor  tliey  should  merit  it.  “They 
said,  therefore,  unto  him :  What  shall  we 
do  that  we  may  work  the  works  of  Gfod  ? 
Jesus  answered,  and  said  to  them  :  This  is 
the  work  of  God,  that  you  believe  in  him 
whom  he  hath  sent.”1 

This  was  but  the  commencement,  and 
the  effort  was  not  very  painful  :  still  they 
stopped  short  at  this  first  step.  “What 
sign,  therefore,  dost  thou  show,  that  we 
may  see,  and  may  believe  thee  ?  What  dost 
thou  work  ?  Our  fathers  did  eat  manna  in 
the  desert,  as  it  is  written  :  He  gave  them 
bread  from  heaven  to  eat.” 

Losing  part  of  their  hopes,  they  lose 
faith  in  proportion.  They  ask  miracles 
from  him  who  had  just  wrought  so  striking 
a  miracle  in  their  favor.  It  is  true,  they 
do  not  as  yet  formally  reject  him  ;  but,  by 
a  subtlety  worthy  of  their  indocile  and 
ungrateful  hearts,  they  cite  against  him  the 
miracle  of  the  manna,  which  they  judged 
so  superior  to  his,  that  the  latter,  accoid- 
ing  to  their  notions,  could  no  longer  be 
called  a  miracle.  Whence  their  incredu¬ 
lity  tacitly  drew  this  conclusion,  which 
tended  less  to  elevate  Moses  than  to  lowei 
Jesus  Christ :  Let  this  new  lawgiver  work 
miracles  like  those  of  the  former  one,  and  we 
shall  have  in  him  the  same  faith  which  our 
fathers  had  in  Moses. 


( ‘ )  We  shall  soon  see  that  this  wondrous  ali¬ 
ment  is  no  other  than  the  eucharistic  bread.  We 
merit  it  by  doing  the  work  of  God,  and  this  work 
of  God  is  faith,  saith  the  Saviour ;  not  that  faith  is 
enough,  if  faith  is  alone,  but  because  it  is  the  first 
of  all  the  requisite  dispositions,  and  that  it  pro¬ 
duces  all  the  others.  It  is,  therefore,  by  faith  that 
we  must  always  commence  when  we  prepare  to  eat 


Here,  again,  we  recognize  the  predomi¬ 
nant  taste  of  this  people,  inasmuch  as,  for 
the  purpose  of  exciting  the  emulation  of 
the  Saviour,  they  cite  against  him  a  miracle 
of  abundance  and  satiety  ;  for,  as  Jesus 
Christ  reproached  them,  they  put  a  much 
higher  value  on  the  nourishment  which  sat¬ 
isfied  their  appetite  than  the  miraculous 
work  of  God  which  produced  it.  This 
was,  perhaps,  the  chief  ground  for  the  pre¬ 
ference  which  they  gave  to  Moses.  The 
latter  had  fed  two  millions  of  people  dur¬ 
ing  forty  years  ;  what  was  it,  in  compari¬ 
son,  to  have  once  given  food  to  a  few 
thousands  ?  As  if  the  grandeur  of  miracles 
was  to  be  measured  (if  we  may  venture  so 
to  speak)  by  the  bushel,  and  that,  in  a 
smaller  compass,  God  might  not  display 
equal  power.  But,  finally,  Moses  was  not 
the  author  of  the  manna,  which  their  fa¬ 
thers  had  received  from  God  alone.  Nor 
was  this  bread  from  heaven,  which  is  only 
termed  such  in  the  sense  in  which  we  say, 
the  birds  of  heaven  ;  that  is  to  say,  be¬ 
cause  it  fell  from  the  upper  region  of  the 
air,  where  it  had  been  formed  by  the  hands 
of  angels  ;  nor  was  this  bread  to  be  at  all 
compared  to  that  which  Jesus  Christ  comes 
to  give  them.  I  say  it  was  not  comparable 
to  this  bread,  either  in  its  origin,  since  the 
latter  is  properly  the  only  bread  descended 


the  heavenly  bread.  Humility,  desire,  and  love 
flow  naturally  from  this  source,  and  these  senti¬ 
ments  have  more  or  less  strength,  in  proportion  as 
the  faith  is  more  lively  or  more  languishing.  This 
is  a  point  to  which,  perhaps,  men  give  not  suffi¬ 
cient  attention.  They  have  faith  ;  but  they  re¬ 
pose  too  easily  upon  habitual  faith,  which  should 
be  then  redoubled,  to  make  it  produce  double  feivoi. 


604 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


from  heaven  ;  nor  in  the  extent  of  its  use, 
since  it  may  suffice  for  all  men  during  all 
ages  ;  nor  in  its  effect,  which  shall  be  to 
give  and  preserve  an  immortal  life.  A 
truth  which  must  have  seemed  incredible 
to  these  gross  and  prejudiced  minds ; 
wherefore  Christ,  in  order  to  give  it  greater 
weight,  proceeds  to  assure  it  with  an  oath. 

“  Then  Jesus  said  to  them  :  Amen,  amen, 
I  say  to  you  :  Moses  gave  you  not  bread 
from  heaven,  but  my  Father  giveth  you  the 
true  bread  from  heaven  ;  for  the  bread  of 
God  is  that  which  cometh  down  from  hea¬ 
ven,  and  giveth  life  to  the  world.  They  said, 
therefore,  unto  him  :  Lord,  give  us  always 
this  bread.” 

This  was  just  the  answer  of  the  Samari¬ 
tan  woman,  whom  they  also  resembled,  in¬ 
asmuch  as  they  did  not  understand  the 
bread  which  gives  life  to  the  world  in  a 
sense  more  spiritual  than  that  woman  had 
at  first  understood  the  water  springing  up 
into  life  everlasting.  But  Jesus,  who  be¬ 
gan  to  enter  into  the  depths  of  the  mystery 
he  had  to  propose  to  them,  “answered 


( 1 )  The  will  of  the  Father  and  the  divine  will 
of  the  Son  is  bnt  one  and  the  same  will;  there¬ 
fore,  when  Jesus  Christ  speaks  of  the  will  of  his 
Father  and  of  his  own,  as  of  two  different  wills, 
he  speaks  of  his  human  will.  By  this  will  he  re¬ 
ceives  all  that  his  Father  gives  him  ;  and  when  he 
says,  with  reference  to  this,  that  he  is  come  to  do 
not  his  own  will,  but  that  of  his  Father,  he  wishes 
to  give  us  to  understand,  that  such  is  his  submis¬ 
sion  to  the  will  of  the  Father,  that,  supposing 
(what  is  not  the  case)  that  he  felt  repugnance  in 
receiving  all  those  whom  his  Father  gives  him,  he, 
would  make  this  repugnance  yield  to  the  desire 
which  he  has  to  execute,  not  his  own  will,  but  that 
ol  his  Father.  This  submission,  despite  the  repug¬ 


them”  thus  :  “I  am  the  bread  of  life.  He 
that  cometh  to  me  shall  not  hunger,  and 
he  that  believeth  in  me  shall  never  thirst. 
But  I  said  unto  you :  that  you  also  have 
seen  me,  and  you  believe  not.”  Conse¬ 
quently  you  follow  me  in  vain,  because  it  is 
not  with  the  feet  of  the  body,  but  by  faith, 
that  men  come  really  to  me.  Thus  it  is, 
that  “  all  that  the  Father  giveth  to  me 
shall  come  to  me  ;  and  him  that  cometh  to 
me,  I  will  not  cask  out,  because  I  came 
down  from  heaven,  not  to  do  my  own  will, 
but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me.  Now, 
this  is  the  will  of  the  Father,  who  sent  me,1 
that  of  all  that  he  hath  given  to  me,  I 
should  lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up 
again  in  the  last  day.  And  this  is  the  will 
of  my  Father,  that  sent  me,  that  every  one 
who  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  in  him, 
may  have  life  everlasting  ;  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  again  in  the  last  day.”3 

Such  is  the  life  which  Jesus,  the  true 
bread  of  heaven,  cometh  to  give  to  the 
world,  and  this  part  of  the  mystery  is  al¬ 
ready  explained.  It  is  not  this  first  life, 


nance  of  his  human  nature,  appeared  in  him  when 
about  to  drink  the  chalice  of  his  passion. 

( a )  All  men,  without  distinction  of  good  or  bad, 
shall  be  resuscitated  by  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
but  he  speaks  here  only  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
first,  because  this  shall  be  the  fruit  of  his  merits, 
and,  as  it  were,  the  development  of  the  germ  of 
life  which  the  eucharistic  bread  shall  have  mingled 
with  their  flesh,  and  which  shall  be  preserved  even 
in  their  arid  bones  and  inanimate  ashes.  There¬ 
fore,  this  resurrection  alone  shall  be  happy  and 
glorious,  while  that  of  the  wicked,  produced  simply 
by  the  almighty  justice  of  an  avenging  God,  shall 
be  less  a  return  to  life  than  the  commencement  of 
a  life  ever  dying,  and  of  an  immortal  death. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  605 

whose  destruction  is  already  pronounced 
by  an  irrevocable  sentence  :  it  is  that  which 
Jesus  Christ  shall  impart  to  those  who 
nourish  themselves  with  him,  a  life  eternal 
and  eternally  happy,  which  shall  not  only 
be  exempt  from  death,  but  also  from  all 
the  wants  and  miseries  of  the  present  life  ; 
a  life  of  which  Jesus  Christ  could  say,  in 
the  most  literal  sense,  that  its  possessor 
shall  suffer  neither  hunger  nor  thirst,  be¬ 
cause,  together  with  a  relish  ever  new,  he 
shall  find  therein  a  perfect  satiety.  What 
a  life ! — and  what  transports  of  joy  should 
not  such  a  magnificent  promise  cause  the 
Jews!  But  it  must  be  allowed  that  our 
Saviour  had  to  deal  with  most  stubborn 
and  untractable  minds  ;  instead  of  opening 
their  hearts  to  this  great  and  precious 
hope,  they  stop  to  criticise  his  words. 
“The  Jews,  therefore,  murmured  at  him, 
because  he  had  said  :  I  am  the  living  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven;”  and, 
after  the  example  of  the  Nazarenes,  some 
of  whom  were,  perhaps,  mingled  in  the 
crowd,  “they  said  :  Is  not  this  Jesus,  the 

son  of  Joseph,  whose  father  and  mother  we 
know  ?  How,  then,  saith  he  :  I  came 
down  from  heaven  ?  ” 

This  murmur  was  but  too  perceptible ; 
and  Jesus,  whose  sermon  it  interrupted,  felt 
obliged  to  silence  it.  He,  “  therefore,  an¬ 
swered,  and  said  to  them,”  in  an  austere 
tone  :  “  Murmur  not  among  yourselves  :  ” 
though,  after  all,  neither  your  murmurs 
nor  your  indocility  have  aught  to  ‘surprise 
me  ;  they  are  the  natural  result  of  the  low 
and  grovelling  motives  which  brought  you 
here.  It  is  not  by  following  the  allure¬ 
ments  of  flesh  and  blood  that  I  am  to  be 
found.  “No  man  can  come  to  me,  except 
the  Father,  who  hath  sent  me,  draw  him 
and  I  will  raise  him  up  in  the  last  day.” 

If  you  do  not  wish  to  be  one  of  these,  do 
not  think  the  number  shall  be  smaller  on 
that  account,  since  of  all  nations,  without 
distinction  of  Jew  or  G-entile,  “  it  is  written 
in  the  prophets : 2  They  shall  all  be  taught 
of  God.  Every  one  that  hath  heard  of  the  ■ 
Father,  and  hath  learned  ”  of  him,  “  cometh 
to  me.  Not  that  any  man  hath  seen  the 

( * )  “  By  an  interior  attraction,  by  making  him 
wish  what  he  did  not  previously  wish,’  says  Saint 
Augustine.  By  comparing  this  expression  of  our 
Saviour  with  that  which  he  addressed  to  Saint 
Peter:  “Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  to 
thee,  but  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven,”  we  have 
the  double  operation  of  grace,  the  revelation  and 
the  attraction,  the  light  of  the  understanding  and 
the  impulse  of  the  will.  The  Fathers  have  always 
found  this  attraction  in  the  text  which  gives  occa¬ 
sion  to  this  note,  and  they  employed  it  successfully 
against  Pelagius,  who  opposed  its  necessity  and  de¬ 
nied  its  existence.  The  enemies  of  free  will  have 
abused  it,  to  support  their  dogma  of  irresistible 
grace.  Catholic  truth  lies  between  these  two  con¬ 
trary  errors.  We,  therefore,  adopt  the  perfect 

medium,  by  believing,  on  one  side,  that,  in  tlie 
matter  of  salvation,  man  can  do  absolutely  nothing 
without  the  interior  attraction  of  grace ;  and,  on 
|  the  other,  that  he  always  has  the  unhappy  power 
of  resisting  this  attraction,  and  of  rendering  it 
useless  to  him,  by  his  resistance,  according  to  this 
decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  sess,  6,  can.  4 : 

“If  any  one  saith  chat  the  free  will  of  man,  moved 
and  excited  by  God,  ....  cannot,  if  he  wishes  so  to 
do,  refuse  its  consent,  ...  .let  him  be  anathema.” 

( a )  This  prophecy  is  in  Isaias,  chap,  liv.,  nearly 
in  the  same  terms  that  we  see  it  here.  It  is  to  be 
found  in  equivalent  terms  in  several  other  pro¬ 
phets.  It  began  to  have  its  accomplishment  im¬ 
mediately  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

GOG 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


Father,  but  he  who  is  of  God  ;  he  ”  alone 
“  hath  seen  the  Father.”  (St.  John  vi.  22- 
46.)  Nevertheless,  without  having  seen 
the  Father  unveiled,  we  have  heard,  and 
learned  from  him,  when  we  observe  with 
attention  and  receive  with  docility  this 


testimony  which  he  hath  rendered  to  his 
Son  by  his  own  lips,  and  which  he  hath 
since  repeated  and  confirmed  by  a  host  of 
prodigies:  “This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased.”  (St.  Matt, 
iii.  17.) 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE  SERMON  ON  THE  EUCHARIST.— SOME  DISCIPLES  ARE  SCANDALIZED.- 

CONSTANCY  OF  THE  APOSTLES. 


AFTER  this  digression,  in  which  Christ 
has  incidentally  spoken  of  the  im¬ 
mutability  of  divine  electiofi  and  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  interior  grace,  mysteries  which  he 
merely  skims  over  (if  we  may  use  the  ex¬ 
pression),  and  the  development  of  which 
he  seems  to  reserve  for  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  he  returns  to  the  main  object  of 
his  discourse.  After  having  informed  them 
that  he  is  the  true  bread  of  life,  and  that 
whoso  shall  be  nourished  with  this  bread 
shall  live  eternally,  he  proceeds  to  inform 
them  that  this  bread  is  his  own  flesh,  which 

( 1  )  All  those  who  eat  the  living  bread  die  cor¬ 
poreally,  and  all  those  who  eat  the  manna  are  not 
spiritually  dead;  we  must,  therefore,  explain  in 
what  sense  Jesus  Christ  has  said  of  the  first  that 
they  do  not  die,  and  of  the  second  that  they  are 
dead.  The  Saviour  speaks  less  of  persons  than  of 
the  properties  of  these  two  aliments.  Manna  did 
not  give  immortal  life  to  the  body,  much  less  to 
the  soul.  The  bread  which  is  here  called  the  living 
bread  gives,  or,  if  we  prefer  so  to  express  ourselves, 


is  to  be  eaten  and  received  within  us  in  the 
same  way  as  ordinary  food.  Thus,  seem¬ 
ing:  to  enter  into  their  material  views,  he 
shocks  all  their  senses,  and  completely  dis¬ 
concerts  their  reason.  He  resumes,  there¬ 
fore,  and  continues  in  these  terms  :  “  Amen, 
amen,  I  say  to  you,  he  that  believeth  in 
me  hath  life  everlasting.  I  am  the  bread 
of  life.  Your  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the 
desert,  and  are  dead.  This  is  the  bread 
which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  that  if 
any  man  eat  of  it,  he  may  not  die.1 

“I  am  the  living  bread,  which  came 

supports :  1st,  the  life  of  the  soul,  a  life  immortal 
in  its  nature,  which  can  only  perish  through  the 
fault  of  him  who  hath  received  it,  so  that  if  he 
come  to  perdition,  that  death  should  not  be 
imputed  to  the  bread,  but  to  him  alone.  In  the 
same  way,  as  if  God  had  left  to  Adam,  in  the  fruit 
of  the  tree  of  life,  the  power  of  giving  death  to 
himself,  in  the  supposition  that  he  availed  himself 
of  this  power  of  self-murder,  his  death  could  not 
be  attributed  to  the  tree  of  life,  but  to  the  violence 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  607 

down  from  heaven.  If  any  man  eat  of  this 

them,  if,  as  has  been  contended  in  these 

bread,  he  shall  live  forever  ;  and  the  bread 

last  ages,  he  had  but  spoken  of  the  mere 

that  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,”  which  I  am  to 

eating  by  faith.  The  latter  has  nothing  . 

give  “for  the  life  of  the  world.” 

which  shocks  either  the  senses,  op  reason, 

“The  Jews,  therefore,  strove  among 

or  humanity ;  and,  so  explained,  J esus 

themselves,  saying :  How  can  this  man 

Christ  was  a  rock  of  scandal.  But  he 

give  us  his  flesh  to  eat?”1  They  either 

could  not  so  explain  it,  because  he  had 

spoke  so  in  derision,  or,  having  seen  the 

spoken,  in  point  of  fact,  of  real  eating ;  he 

miracle,  of  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves, 

could  not,  I  say,  destroy  the  meaning  which 

they  inquired  by  what  new  prodigy  he 

he  himself  had  wished  to  establish  ;  where- 

could  fulfil  so  strange  a  promise  ;  for  it  is 

fore,  in  pursuance  of  the  right  which  he 

questionable  whether  they  thought  that 

had  to  be  believed  upon  his  own  word, 

Jesus  Christ  spoke  to  them  of  eating  his 

without  explaining  how  he  wished  them  to 

flesh  cut  in  pieces.  Incredulous  as  they 

confide  in  his  almighty  power,  instead  of 

were,  they  must  have  found  it  difficult  to 

struggling  to  disabuse  them,  he  reiterates 

imagine  that  such  a  thought  could  have 

these  strong  expressions  which  had  con- 

entered  the  mind  of  a  man  so  wise  and  so 

veyed  to  their  minds  the  idea  of  the  real 

holy  as  Jesus  must  naturally  have  appeared 

eating  of  his  flesh  ;  and  to  confirm  them  in 

to  them.  Yet  what  else  could  they  imagine, 

it,  he  swears  for  the  fourth  time,  and 

supposing  he  spoke  of  the  real  eating  of 

“said  to  them:  Amen,  amen,  I  say  unto 

the  proper  substance  of  his  flesh,  and  what 

you,  except  you  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of 

other  meaning  could  be  given  to  his  words  ? 

man,  and  drink  his  blood,  you  shall  not 

This  was  the  point  that  caused  their  em- 

have  life  in  you.  He  that  eateth  my  flesh 

barrassment,  and  upon  which  it  seems  rea- 

and  drinketh  my  blood  hath  everlasting 

sonable  that  Christ  should  have  enlightened 

life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up  in  the  last  day  ; 

Avliich  he  would  voluntarily  exercise  upon  himself. 

virtue  shall  have  supplied  the  reality  to  them. 

2d.  It  is  the  common  opinion  of  the  holy  Fathers 

There  is  nothing  in  this  which  should  appear  sur- 

that  this  living  bread  imprints  upon  the  very 

prising,  since  baptism,  the  most  necessary  of  all  the 

bodies  of  those  who  nourish  themselves  with  it  a 

sacraments,  is  supplied  by  charity  andby  martyrdom. 

vivifying  quality,  which  is  in  them,  as  it  were,  the 

( 1  )  “  How,”  a  JeAvish  word,  as  Saint  Cyril  calls 

germ  of  the  happy  and  immortal  life  which  shall 

it:  let  us  take  care  not  to  advance  it;  it  is  the 

be  communicated  to  them  by  the  resurrection.  We 

source  of  all  infidelity.  We  should  also  call  it  a 

should  so  believe  with  them ;  but  pre-supposing, 

Calvinistic  Avord,  for  the  Calvinists  have  likeAvise 

what  they  themselves  supposed,  that  the  just  Avho 

said :  “  How  can  this  man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat  ?  ” 

preceded  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  children  who 

This  Avord  has  no  other  signification  than  this:  I 

died  before  the  age  Avlien  the  Church  permits  them 

cannot  comprehend  such  a  thing;  therefore  Cod 

to  communicate,  and,  generally,  all  those  Avho  have 

cannot  make  it  be  so,  at  least  God  has  not  declared 

died  in  justice,  Avithout  having  been  able  to  par- 

that  it  is  so ;  which  is  reducible  to  this  silly  pro- 

ticipate  in  the  Eucharistic  Bread ;  that  all  these, 

positron:  Nothing  can  be  except  what  I  can  com 

T  say,  shall  have  received  the  virtue  of  it,  Avliich 

prehend. 

GO 8  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

for  ray  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my  blood 

no  one  will  be  surprised  that  we  should 

is  drink  indeed.  He  that  eatetli  my  flesh 

understand  as  spoken  of  the  Eucharist,  not 

.  and  drinketh  my  blood  abideth  in  me, 

only  these,  but  also  all  the  preceding  words. 

and  I  in  him.1  As  the  living  Father  hath 

It  is,  in  fact,  this  adorable  sacrament  which 

sent  me,  and  I  live  by  the  Father,  so  he 

alone  is  spoken  of  through  the  whole  course 

that  eateth  me,  the  same  also  shall  live  by 

of  this  sermon.  Though  shrouded  at  first, ' 

me.2  This  is  the  bread  that  came  down 

it  is  gradually  unfolded,  and  at  last  appears 

from  heaven.  Not  as  your  fathers  did  eat 

with  such  evidence  as  renders  it  no  longer 

manna  and  are  dead  ;  he  that  eateth  this 

possible  to  ignore  it.  We  first  see  it  an- 

bread 3  shall  live  forever.  These  things  he 

nounced  under  the  name  of  nourishment 

said,  teaching  in  the  synagogue,  in  Ca- 

which  endureth  unto  life  everlasting  ;  then 

pharnaum.” 

Jesus  Christ  calls  it  the  living  bread  which 

After  reading  these  words  of  our  Saviour, 

came  down  from  heaven.  Then  he  adds, 

( 1 )  Jesus  Christ  does  not  say :  He  dwells  in  my 

manity  in  its  turn  unites  itself  to  men  by  the  eat- 

flesh,  and  my  flesh  in  him;  but,  “he  abideth  in 

ing,  and  communicates  to  them  the  life  with  which 

me,  and  I  in  him.”  For,  in  fact,  the  flesh  and  the 

it  is  filled  and  animated.  This  life  is  taken  in  the 

■  blood  withdraw  when  the  accidents  undergo 

most  extensive  and  most  excellent  sense.  It  is  at 

change ;  but  the  vivifying  spirit  abides,  that  is  to 

the  same  time  the  life  of  grace,  the  life  of  glory, 

say,  the  divine  person,  which  in  Jesus  Christ  is 

and  even  the  natural  life,  which  consists  in  the 

properly  the  I;  it  abideth,  I  say,  producing  life  in 

eternal  union  of  the  soul  with  the  body.  Jesus 

the  soul  of  him  who  has  received  the  flesh  and  the 

Christ,  from  the  instant  of  his  conception,  had,  in 

blood,  which  are,  as  it  were,  the  channel  by  which 

point  of  fact,  the  two  first,  and  by  right,  the  third; 

the  divinity  communicates  itself.  Thus  Jesus 

for  he  died  only  because  he  wished,  and  he  rose  to 

Christ  and  the  man  who  receiveth  him  live  by  the 

die  no  more.  Like  him,  we  have,  in  fact,  the  first 

same  life,  produced  by  the  same  vivifying  prin- 

life,  and  by  right,  the  other  two  lives;  but  we 

ciple,  according  to  what  Saint  Paul  says :  “  He 

shall  enjoy  the  second  only  after  death,  and  the 

who  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  spirit”  (1  Cor.  vi. 

third  after  the  resurrection.  They  are  deferred  in 

17).  This  is  what  our  Saviour  understands  by 

our  regard,  but  they  are  due  to  us,  if  we  preserve 

these  words:  “He  abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him,” 

the  vivifying  spirit  which  Jesus  Christ  communi- 

an  expression  which  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  give 

cates  to  us  by  the  communion  of  his  body  and  of 

an  idea  of  so  intimate  a  union ;  but  human  lan- 

his  blood.  This  seems  to  be  merely  the  develop- 

guage  furnishes  no  other. 

ment  of  these  words  of  Saint  Paul  to  the  Romans, 

( 2 )  The  explanation  of  the  preceding  text 

chapter  viii.  11:  “And  if  the  spirit  of  him  that 

serves  also  to  throw  light  upon  this.  In  the  same 

raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you. 

way  as  the  Father,  by  sending  the  Son — that  is  to 

he  that  raised  up  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead  shall 

say,  by  uniting  the  divinity  to  the  humanity  in  the 

quicken  also  your  mortal  bodies,  because  of  hia 

person  of  the  Son,  has  given  to  humanity  the  life 

spirit  that  dwelleth  in  yon.” 

of  which  the  divinity  is  the  efficient  principle ;  so 

( 3 )  From  this  text,  and  from  several  others  of 

he  who  unites  himself  to  the  Son  by  the  eating  of 

a  similar  nature,  where  mention  is  only  made  of 

his  body,  likewise  receives  life  from  him.  We, 

the  eating  of  bread  alone,  the  Council  of  Trent, 

therefore,  see  life  reside  in  the  divinity  as  its 

sess.  21,  ch.  i.,  concludes  that  communion  under 

source,  whence  it  infuses  itself  into  the  humanity 

the  two  kinds  is  not  necessary  to  participate  in 

of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  united  to  it.  The  hu- 

the  sacrament. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


that  he  is  himself  that  living  bread  who, 
by  the  incarnation,  came  down  from  heaven, 
and  who  giveth  life.  Had  he  stopped  here, 
we  might  have  thought,  with  some  appear¬ 
ance  of  reason,  that  merely  his  mysteries 
and  his  maxims,  are  here  meant,  which  he 
has  just  proposed  to  men  as  a  salutary 
bread  with  which  they  should  nourish 
themselves  by  faith  and  meditation  ;  but 
when  at  last  he  says  expressly,  that  this 
bread  is  his  flesh,  which  was  to  be  given  for 
the  life  of  the  world,  an  expression  which 
he  will  repeat  at  the  institution  of  the  Eu¬ 
charist  ;  when,  instead  of  disabusing  his 
hearers,  whom  this  expression  had  so  much 
shocked,  he  even  drops  the  word  bread, 
and  no  longer  speaks  to  them  but  of  eating 
his  flesh,  which  is  “  meat  indeed,”  and  of 
drinking  his  blood,  which  is  “  drink  in¬ 
deed,”  it  is  clear  that  he  himself  explains 
the  sense  of  his  words  in  a  manner  that 
leaves  no  reasonable  doubt.  That  those, 
however,  who  reject  the  dogma  of  the  real 
presence,  should  endeavor  to  elude  this 
clear  and  natural  meaning,  does  not  sur¬ 
prise  us  ;  the  stamp  of  reality  is  so  visible, 

*  more  especially  in  the  conclusion  of  the 
discourse,  that  they  could  not  prevent  its 
application  to  the  Eucharist,  if  they  ac¬ 
knowledged  that  the  question  here  had  any 
reference  to  the  Eucharist.  But  we  can 
hardly  conceive  how  Catholic  commentators 
should  have  deviated  from  this  evident 
sense,  and  substituted  far-fetched  allegories 
and  forced  meanings,  if  we  did  not  know 
that  the  inordinate  desire  of  seeing  what  is 
not  perceived  by  the  rest  of  men,  often 
makes  stars  visible,  and  obscures  the  sun 
at  noon-day.  To  remove  all  doubt  that 

77 


609 


Jesus  Christ  spoke  here  of  the  Eucharist, 
it  will  be  enough  for  us  to  observe,  that  he 
could  not  express  himself  with  more  en¬ 
ergy  and  clearness,  supposing  he  had 
wished  to  speak  of  it  in  fact.  Thus  all  the 
Fathers,  without  exception,  and  the  Church 
in  all  the  Councils  wherein  this  discourse  is 
cited,  have  understood  it  of  this  divine 
sacrament.  With  these  authorities  and 
proofs  there  is  associated  a  conjecture, 
which  has  appeared  highly  reasonable  to 
the  best  commentators — that  is,  that  it  was 
natural  for  Saint  John,  the  only  one  of  the 
four  evangelists  who  does  not  speak  of  the 
Eucharist  when  detailing  the  Last  Supper, 
to  speak  of  it  on  this  occasion.  It  is  easy 
for  us  to  judge  that,  having  written  after 
all  the  others,  he  wished  to  omit  what  they 
had  already  related,  and  to  report  what 
they  had  omitted. 

After  this  explanation,  it  seems  advisa¬ 
ble  to  make  some  reflections  which  may 
serve  to  justify  the  wisdom  and  goodness 
of  our  Saviour  in  the  eyes  of  those  who 
may  find  it  hard  to  recognize  here  either 
the  one  or  the  other. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  reason  which 
induced  him  to  pronounce  this  discourse, 
was  the  design  which  he  entertained  of 
preparing  the  world  for  faith  in  the  divine 
and  incomprehensible  Eucharist.  Appa¬ 
rently  he  succeeded,  as  regards  his  apos¬ 
tles  ;  for  else  why,  when  he  afterwards 
said  to  them,  “  Take  and  eat,  this  is  my 
body  ;”  why,  I  say,  did  they  not  manifest 
any  surprise,  if  it  were  not  that  what  was 
then  done  was  merely  the  accomplishment 
of  what  he  had  announced  and  promised 
them?  But  it  is  certain  that  this  produced 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


610 


quite  a  contrary  effect  upon  the  multitude 
who  heard  it ;  and  that,  far  from  increasing 
their  faith,  it  served  only  to  quench  the 
little  which  some  of  them  began  to  have  in 
our  Saviour.  We  may,  perhaps,  be  asked 
if  this  was  not,  in  some  manner,  laying  a 
snare  for  this  feeble  new-born  faith,  to  put 
it  to  such  a  test  ?  Perhaps  here,  again,  the 
reader  will  bear.in  mind  the  conduct  of  the 
Church,  which,  in  the  primitive  ages,  veiled 
from  the  eyes  of  the  catechumens  a  mys¬ 
tery  so  shocking  to  reason  and  the  senses, 
and  only  proposed  it  to  them  when,  by 
baptism,  they  had  received  the  habit  of 
faith.  Piety  seldom  allows  itself  such 
questions,  which  often  proceed  from  a  pry¬ 
ing  and  rash  curiosity.  We  are  going  to 
answer  them  with  the  aid  of  Him  whose 
works,  justified  in  themselves,  do  not  re¬ 
quire  our  apologies,  but  who  condescends 
in  his  goodness  to  account  for  his  ways  to¬ 
wards  us,  and  to  suffer  us  to  enter  into 
judgment  with  him. 

Jesus  Christ  had  resolved  to  institute  the 
Eucharist,  a  mystery  evincing  such  admi¬ 
rable  love,  that  no  one  can  ever  suspect 
him  who  was  able  to  devise  and  execute  it 
with  being  deficient  in  kindness.  Before 
instituting  it,  he  wished  to  announce  it  to 
men  and*  prepare  them  for  it ;  that  he  had 
good  reasons  so  to  do,  we  may  confidently 
leave  to  his  wisdom. 

One  of  these  might  be  that,  having  the 
intent  to  institute  it  in  the  presence  of  the 
apostles  alone,  he  wished  that  they  might 
have  it  in  their  power  to  say,  when  an¬ 
nouncing  for  the  first  time  this  incredible 
mystery  :  “  My  brethren,  this  is  no  inven¬ 
tion  of  our  mind.  Remember  what  the 


Lord  Jesus  said  of  the  real  eating  of  his 
body.  What  he  then  promised  he  has  since 
given,  and  now  distributes  it  amongst  you 
by  our  hands.”  Thus,  while  trying  their 
faith  at  the  present  moment,  he  makes  the 
way  smooth  for  their  future  belief.  But 
we  must  also  acknowledge  that  the  course 
adopted  by  our  Saviour  on  this  occasion 
was  marked  by  the  most  considerate  kind¬ 
ness.  He  announces  indeed  the  most  re¬ 
pugnant  of  all  mysteries  ;  but  observe  by 
what  preliminaries  he  leads  his  hearers  to 
the  revelation  he  makes.  He  began  by 
curing  all  their  sick  ;  next,  compassionating 
the  wants  of  the  people  he  fills  them  with 
five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  by  a  prodigy  so 
surprising,  and,  at  the  same  time,  striking 
the  senses  so  powerfully,  that  the  whole 
multitude  cried  out,  in  a  sudden  transport, 
that  he  is  the  prophet  by  excellence,  who 
was  to  come  into  the  world.  Their  enthu¬ 
siasm  even  impels  them  to  declare  him 
king.  When  his  flight  deprived  them  of 
him,  they  cross  the  lake,  and  seek  him 
even  in  Capharnaum,  where,  at  length, 
they  find  him.  Could  they  have  been  bet¬ 
ter  prepared  to  hear  his  divine  oracles? 
and,  if  you  were  to  select  throughout  all 
their  life  the  moment  in  which  you  would 
presume  the  greatest  facility  on  their  part 
to  hearken  to  him  and  believe  him,  would 
you  not  have  taken  this  in  preference  ?  It 
is  true,  they  did  not  then  comprehend  aught 
of  his  words  ;  but,  after  having  recognized 
him  for  a  prophet,  were  they  not  further 
bound  to  admit  his  truth,  until  it  should 
please  him  to  give  them  the  gift  of  under¬ 
standing  ?  G-od  has  performed  what  he 
wished  ;  who  shall  dare  to  say  to  him,  Why 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  611 

hast  thou  acted  thus  ?  This  general  answer 
has  ever  been  sufficient  for  humble  and 
submissive  faith  ;  but  it  is  obvious  that  this 
is  not  the  sole  reply  which  can  be  made 
here,  since  it  is  apparent  that  Jesus  Christ 
admirably  adapted  himself  to  the  weakness 
of  those  to  whom  he  spoke,  and  that  he  did 
not  expose  to  any  trial  the  faith  of  this  in¬ 
docile  people  until  he  had  first  employed 
the  means  which,  by  rendering  faith  easy, 
made  their  incredulity-  inexcusable. 

But  it  was  not  merely  amongst  the  peo¬ 
ple  that  he  found  unbelievers.  “  Many  of 
his  disciples  hearing  it,  said  :  This  saying 
is  hard,  and  who  can  hear  it?”  They 
spoke  this  to  one  another  in  a  low  tone. 

“  But  Jesus,  knowing  in  himself  that  his 
disciples  murmured,  said  to  them  :  Doth 
this  scandalize  you?  If,  then,  you  shall 

see  the  Son  of  man  ascend  up  where  he 
was  before  ?1  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quick- 
eneth  ;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing.2  The 
words  that  I  have  spoken  to  you  are  spirit 
and  life.3  But  there  are  some  of  you  that 
believe  not.  For  from  the  beginning” — 
that  is  to  say,  from  all  eternity  as  God,  and 
as  man  from  the  moment  of  his  concep¬ 
tion,  “  Jesus  knew  who  they  were  that  did 
not  believe,  and  who  he  was  that  would  be¬ 
tray  him ;  and  he  said  :  Therefore  did  I 
say  to  you,  that  no  man  can  come  to  me, 
unless  it  be  given  him  by  my  Father,” — a 
purely  gratuitous  gift,  which  cannot  be 
merited  by  those  to  whom  it  is  made,  but 
which,  being  offered  to  all,  makes  those  re¬ 
sponsible  who  are  deprived  of  it  only  be¬ 
cause  they  have  not  wished  to  receive  it ; 
for  it  is  offered  in  vain  if  it  be  not  received. 

( 1 )  These  words  are  susceptible  of  two  different 
meanings,  which  correspond  with  the  two  parts  of 
the  discourse  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  two  objec¬ 
tions  made  by  his  hearers.  They  had  murmured 
first,  because  Jesus  Christ  had  said  that  he  was  the 
living  bread  descended  from  heaven.  If  we  apply 
here  his  answer,  it  signifies :  You  do  not  wish  to 
believe  at  present  that  I  am  descended  from  hea¬ 
ven  ;  will  you  believe  it  when  you  see  me  reascend 
thither  ?  Applied  to  the  real  eating  of  his  flesh,  it 
signifies :  You  find  it  very  hard  to  believe  that  I  can 
give  you  my  flesh  as  food,  and  my  blood  as  drink, 
now  that  I  am  in  the  midst  of  you  ;  how  much 
more  incredible  shall  the  thing  appear  to  you  when, 
after  having  seen  me  ascend  to  heaven,  you  must 
believe  that  this  flesh,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  in 
heaven,  is  given  as  nourishment  here  on  earth  ? 
The  first  sense  facilitates  faith  in  the  incarnation  ; 
the  second  renders  more  difficult  that  of  the  real 
eating.  The  second  is  the  most  probable,  because 
it  is  much  more  probable  that  Jesus  Christ  should 
here  reply  to  the  second  of  the  two  objections; 

and,  by  indicating  his  presence  in  different  places 
by  means  of  the  Eucharist,  we  may  say  he  consum¬ 
mates  the  revelation  of  this  great  mystery. 

( 2 )  The  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  vivifying  by 
itself;  it  is  so  only  by  the  spirit ;  that  is  to  say,  by 
the  divinity  which  is  united  to  it,  and  which  com¬ 
municates  itself,  through  it,  to  those  who  eat  it. 

This  explanation,  which  harmohizes  well  with  the 
text,  has  nothing  in  it  repugnant  to  the  faith  of 
the  real  presence.  It  leaves  the  preceding  words 
in  all  their  energy,  and  therein  the  i*eality  is  most 
clearly  expressed,  and  this  great  intrenchment  of 
the  Calvinists  is  thus  ever  open  to  assault. 

( 8 )  That  is  to  say,  pause  not  at  the  carnal  and 
revolting  sense  in  which  they  may  appear  to  your 
minds.  As  they  promise  great  benefits,  they  con¬ 
tain  great  mysteries  ;  if  .you  cannot  as  yet  compre¬ 
hend  them,  still  commence  by  believing.  What 
could  be  more  proper  to  dissipate  any  wrong  idea, 
and  to  take  away  every  pretext  for  incredulity  than 
such  words  ? 

012  HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 

A  great  many  of  those  whom  Jesus  ad- 

hope,  and  the  love  which  made  him  prefer 

dressed  were  just  in  this  position,  which 

Jesus  Christ  to  all  else.  We  may  also  re- 

was  the  reason  why,  “  after  this,  many 

mark  the  virtuous  inclination  which  he  had 

of  his  disciples  went  back,1  and  walked 

to  judge  favorably  of  his  colleagues  for 

no  more  with  Mm.” 

he  does  not  seem  to  doubt  that  they  all  en- 

Jesus  did  not  appear  surprised  at  this 

tertained  the  same  sentiments  as  himself. 

desertion,  which  he- had,  of  course,  fore’ 

Yet  he  was  mistaken  ;  and  as  it  concerned 

seen  ;  he  even  wished  to  profit  by  the  occa- 

the  glory  of  Jesus  that  they  should  not 

sion  to  teach  the  world  that  he  had  no  need 

think  that  he  was  ever  ignorant  of  what 

of  any  one,  and  that  he  only  permitted  in 

one  amongst  them  either  already  was  or 

his  retinue  voluntary  disciples.  “  He  said 

was  soon  to  be,  “he answered  them  :  Have 

then  to  the  twelve  :  Will  you  also  go 

not  I  chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  of  you  is 

away?  Lord,  answered  to  him  Simon 

a  devil  ?  Now,  he  meant  Judas  Iscariot, 

Peter,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast 

the  son  of  Simon,  for  this  same  was  about 

the  words  of  eternal  life.2  We  have  be- 

to  betray  him,  whereas  he  was  one  of  the 

lieved,  and  have  known  that  thou  art  the 

twelve.”  But  Jesus  did  not  designate 

Christ,  the  Son  of  G-od.”  (St.  John  vi.  47-72.) 

him,  that  the  apprehension  of  being  one 

As  the  chief  of  the  apostles,  he  made 

day  the  wretch  of  whom  he  spoke,  might 

this  answer  in  the  name  of  all  the  others, 

keep  them  in  constant  self-distrust  and  in 

and  we  behold  in  it  at  once  his  faith,  his 

humble  opinion  of  themselves. 

( 1  )  Many,  and  not  all,  as  some  commentators 

beginniug  from  the  baptism  of  John  until  the  day 

state,  who  have  even  advanced  that  Saint  Mark  and 

wherein  he  was  taken  up  from  us,  one  of  these 

Saint  Luke  were  among  the  number  of  the  desert- 

must  be  made  a  witness  with  us  of  his  resurrection.” 

ers,  although  it  is  much  more  probable  that  they 

( 8 )  These  words  of  Saint  Peter  are  as  the  repe- 

were  not  even  among  the  number  of  the  disciples. 

tition  of  those  words  of  the  Saviour :  “  My  words 

It  is  certain  that  several  of  these  remained  insepa- 

are  spirit  and  life.”  Apparently  Saint  Peter  did 

rably  attached  to  Jesus  Christ  from  his  baptism 

not  understand  any  better  than  the  rest  of  them 

until  his  ascension.  We  have  a  proof  of  it  in  these 

the  mystery  which  Jesus  Christ  had  just  proposed ; 

words  of  Saint  Peter,  Acts  i. :  “  Wherefore  of  these 

but  he  believed  that  his  Master  spoke  nothing  but 

men  who  have  companied  with  us  all  the  time  that 

the  truth,  and  promised  nothing  but  what  was 

the  Lord  Jesus  came  in  and  went  out  among  us, 

good.  That  was  enough  for  the  time. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


613 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

COMPLAINTS  OF  THE  PHARISEES. — THEIR  TRADITIONS  REJECTED. — CURE  OF  THE  CANAANEAN 

WOMAN’S  DAUGHTER. 


AFTER  these  things  Jesus  walked  in 
Galilee  ;  for  he  would  not  walk  in 
Judea,1  because  the  Jews  sought  to  kill 
him.”  (St.  John  vii.  1.)  “And  there  as¬ 
sembled  together  unto  him  the  Pharisees 
and  some  of  the  Scribes  coming  from  J eru- 
salem  ;  and  when  they  had  seen  some  of 
his  disciples  eat  bread  with  common,  that 
is,  with  unwashed  hands,  they  found  fault. 
For  the  Pharisees  and  all  the  Jews,  hold- * (*) 

( 1 )  We  have  already  seen  that  it  was  then  pas¬ 
chal  time.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  go  to  Jerusalem 
to  celebrate  this  passover,  as  the  law  ordained.  He 
was  not  subject  to  the  law,  except  so  far  as  he 
wished  to  be,  and  the  design  which  the  Jews  had 
of  putting  him  to  death  is  a  further  reason 
for  the  dispensation.  He  might  baffle  it  by 
his  omnipotence ;  but  he  might  also  use  the 
natural  right  which  he  had  not  to  expose  his  life. 
We  are  not,  therefore,  rigorously  obliged  to  per¬ 
form  external  acts  of  religion,  of  which  we  could 
acquit  ourselves  only  by  exposing  ourselves  to 
some  great  peril.  We  must,  nevertheless,  except 
the  case  wherein  the  omission  of  the  prescribed 
duty  would  seem  a  declaration  of  infidelity  or  apos¬ 
tasy.  In  that  case,  at  the  risk  of  life  itself,  exte¬ 
rior  profession  is  no  less  obligatory  than  interior 
belief. 

( * )  If  we  would  profit  by  everything,  we  can 
learn  from  the  Pharisees  to  purify  not  the  body, 
but  the  conscience,  when  we  return  from  human 
intercourse  ;  for  it  is  rare  to  return  thence  without 
some  defilement. 

( 8 )  By  confining  their  religion  to  these  prac- 


ing  the  tradition  of  the  ancients,  eat  not 
without  often  washing  their  hands ;  and 
when  they  come  from  the  market,  unless 
they  be  washed,  they  eat  not.2  And  many 
other  things  there  are  that  have  been  de¬ 
livered  to  them  to  observe,  the  washing  of 
caps  and  of  pots,  and  of  brazen  vessels, 
and  of  beds  ”  upon  which  they  take  their 
meals.3  (St.  Mark  vii.  1-4.)  Thereupon  “  the 
Pharisees  and  the  Scribes  asked  him  : 

tices,  they  acted  very  wrong,  and  are  justly  re¬ 
proved.  Occasion  has  hence  been  taken  to  de¬ 
claim  against  superstitious  practices.  If  the  prac¬ 
tices  be  such,  the  declaimers  are  right;  if  not, 
people  should  still  be  taught  to  blend  with  them 
the  spirit,  that  is  to  say,  interior  piety,  without 
which  religion  is  only  a  vain  shadow,  and  a  body 
without  a  soul.  But  let  us  stop  here,  and  with 
these  correctives  let  us  always  uphold  and  never 
condemn  exterior  practices.  We  might  do  with¬ 
out  them,  if  we  were  pure  spirits;  but,  since  wo 
have  senses,  we  require  sensible  objects.  There 
may  be  excess;  hut  too  little  is  another  extreme, 
the  consequences  of  which  are,  perhaps,  more  to 
be  dreaded.  It  is  a  less  evil  to  have  religion  over¬ 
loaded  with  these  practices,  than  to  have  no  reli¬ 
gion,  which  may  happen  when  religion,  divested 
of  pious  practices,  has  no  longer  any  hold  upon 
the  senses.  Here  the  accident  is  so  close  to  the 
substance,  and  the  accessory  to  the  principal,  that, 
in  removing  the  one,  you  often  banish  the  other. 
Remark  further,  that  those  who  have  declaimed 
most  loudly  against  practices,  and  who  have  la¬ 
bored  most  to  abolish  them,  are  constantly  here- 


614 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


(St.  Mark  vii.  1-5)  Why  do  thy  disciples 
transgress  the  tradition  of  the  ancients? 
for  they  wash  not  their  hands  when  they 
eat  bread;”  “but  they  eat  bread  with 
common  hands.”  (St.  Matt.  xv.  12  ;  St. 
Mark  vii.  5.) 

Here  we  recognize  the  Pharisees,  who, 
in  the  first  place,  treated  as  a  criminal 
transgression  what  was  not  ;  but  supposing 
that  it  had  been,  still  this  reproach  was, 
we  must  observe,  visibly  exaggerated. 
For  they  had  seen  only  some  of  the  dis¬ 
ciples  omit  washing  their  hands  before 
meals,  and  they  say  to  Christ  “thy  dis¬ 
ciples,”  as  if  it  were  the  fault  of  all.  Then 
they  censure  our  Saviour  himself,  although 
he  might  have  had  no  part  in  it.  Had  they 
then  wished  to  act  equitably,  they  should 
have  contented  themselves  with  saying : 
We  have  remarked  that  some  of  thy  dis¬ 
ciples  do  not  wash  their  hands  before  eat¬ 
ing.  Hast  thou  taught  them  to  do  so,  or 
who  authorizes  them?  After  that  they 
might  have  examined  what  fault  there  was 
in  such  an  omission.  But  Jesus  took  a 


tics  ;  whereas  those  who  have  multiplied  them,  if 
one  may  say  so,  to  excess,  are,  after  all,  Catholics ; 
and  between  the  nations  which  have  either  reject¬ 
ed,  and  those  which  have  appeared  most  attached 
to  them,  we  know  in  which  of  the  two  religion  has 
been  lost  or  best  preserved.  Let  us  endeavor, 
however,  always  to  preserve  a  just  medium. 

( 1 )  We  should  remark  that  the  Saviour  speaks 
here  of  those  human  traditions  only  which  are 
opposed  to  the  law  of  God.  To  conclude  from 
thence  with  Protestants,  that  all  traditions  should 
he  rejected,  is  concluding  from  the  species  to  the 
genus,  and  from  the  particular  to  the  general. 
But,  say  they,  Catholic  traditions  are  contrary  to 
the  word  of  God.  This  also  is  bad  reasoning, 


shorter  way  to  confound  them,  that  was  to 
reproach  them  directly  with  this  senseless 
respect  for  their  traditions,  which  induced 
them  to  sacrifice  to  these  trifles  the  most 
sacred  laws  of  religion  and  humanity. 

“  He  answering,  said  to  them  :  Why  do 
you  also  transgress  the  commandment  of 
God  for  your  traditions?1  For  God  said  : 
Honor  thy  father  and  mother ;  and  :  He 
that  shall  curse  father  or  mother,  let  him 
die  the  death.  But  you  say :  If  a  man 
shall  say  to  his  father  or  mother,  Corban, 
(which  is  a  gift),  the  gift  whatsoever  pro¬ 
ceeded  from  me,  shall  profit  thee,”  he 
satisfied  the  precept;  “and  further,  you 
suffer  him  not  to  do  anything  for  his  father 
and  mother.  And  he  shall  not  honor 
them  ”  (St.  Matt.  xv.  3-6  ;  St.  Mark  vii.  11, 
12),  that  is  to  say,  that  he  does  not  assist 
them  in  their  wants,  in  which  act  consists 
the  substantial  honor  and  real  homage  due 
them,  without  which  all  else  is  but  vain 
ceremonies  and  a  sort  of  derision  :  Thereby 
“  you  do  make  void  the  commandment  of 
God,  making  void  the  word  of  God  by 


since  they  adduce  in  proof  the  very  matter  in 
question.  There  are  different  traditions  which  may 
be  preserved :  there  are  bad  ones  which  ought  to 
he  rejected,  and  good  ones  which  should  be  re¬ 
tained.  Our  adversaries  receive  with  us  the  sanc¬ 
tification  of  the  Sunday,  infant-baptism,  the 
validity  of  baptism  by  infusion.  These  points  are 
not  found  in  Scripture.  If  it  be  true  that  we 
must  reject  all  tradition,  and  receive  only  what  is 
in  Scripture,  we  must  also  reject  these  points  with 
all  the  rest.  Why  have  they  not  done  so  P  It  is 
easy  to  see  that,  when  they  wish  to  reason  against 
us,  they  talk  nonsense;  and  when  they  act  like 
us,  they  contradict  themselves. 


•  -  '  ^ 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  615 

your  own  tradition.”  (St.  Matt.  xv.  6  ;  St. 
Mark  vii.  IB.)  “Hypocrites,  well  hath 
Isaias  prophesied  of  you,  saying  :  This 
people  honoreth  me  with  their  lips,  but 
their  heart  is  far  from  me.  And  in  vain 
do  they  worship  me,  teaching  doctrines  and 
commandments  of  men.”  (St.  Matt.  xv.  7- 
9.)  “  For  leaving  the  commandment  of 

God,  you  hold  the  tradition  of  men,  the 
washing  of  pots  and  of  cups,  and  many 
other  things  you  do  like  to  these.”  (St. 
Mark  vii.  8.) 

The  people  were  not  within  hearing  of 
these  answers,  which  were  addressed  to 
the  Pharisees  only.  Yet  they  led  to  a 
maxim  in  which  it  was  proper  that  the 
world  should  be  instructed.  “  Jesus  there¬ 
fore  calling  again  the  multitudes  unto  him, 
he  said  to  them :  Hear  me,  ye  all,  and 
understand  :  There  is  nothing  from  without 
a  man  that,  entering  into  him,  can  delile 
him ;  but  the  things  which  come  from  a 
man,  these  are  they  that  defile  a  man.” 1 
(St.  Mark  vii.  14-16.)  “Not  that  which 
goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man  ;  but 
what  cometh  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth 
a  man  ”  (St.  Matt.  xv.  11.)  “  If  any  man 

have  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear.”  (St.  Mark 
vii.  16.) 

The  meaning  of  this  maxim  is,  that 
meat  contains  nothing  in  itself  which  is 

capable  of  staining  the  conscience  of  man, 
and  that  all  defilement  of  this  kind  springs 
solely  from  the  disorder  of  the  heart.  This 
was  said  in  a  manner  to  be  understood  by 
those  meditating  on  it ;  and  Christ  exhorts 
the  people  to  do  so.  But  it  might  occur  to 
their  minds  that  he  thereby  wished  to 
abolish  the  known  and  recognized  distinc¬ 
tion  between  clean  and  unclean  animals. 

He  was  soon  to  do  so ;  but  the  time  had 
not  yet  come.  It  was  not  even  mooted 
here :  the  question  was,  simply  to  know 
whether,  supposing  an  individual  used  only 
the  lawful  meats,  his  conscience  was  purer 
or  more  sullied,  in  proportion  as  he  should 
eat  them  with  more  or  less  cleanliness, 
rather  than  purity.  This  is  the  case  de¬ 
cided  by  the  sentence  which  Jesus  has 
just  pronounced.  The  Pharisees  seemed 
highly  scandalized.  To  make  light  of  their 
traditions  was  sufficient  to  give  offence  to 
these  proud  men.  But  we  may  presume, 
from  this  Pharisaical  spirit,  which  always 
contrives  to  give  things  the  very  worst 
construction,  that  they  accused  our  Saviour 
of  openly  attacking  the  law  which  pre¬ 
scribed  the  choice  of  meats.  The  disciples 
took  alarm  ;  perhaps  they  also  were  scan¬ 
dalized,  for  we  shall  see  that  they  them¬ 
selves  did  not  at  first  comprehend  what 
their  Lord  meant.  Thinking  it,  therefore, 

( 1 )  All  know  how  Protestants  have  perverted 
this  expression,  in  order  to  reject  as  superstitious 
the  abstinence  from  flesh-meat  prescribed  by  the 
Church.  There  are  but  too  many  Catholics  who 
in  this  point  imitate  their  conduct  and  their  lan¬ 
guage.  It  is  easy  to  answer  both.  What  enters 
into  man  doth  not  defile  him  of  itself  and  by  its 
own  nature,  since  every  creature  of  God  is  good; 

hut  it  may  defile  him  by  the  violation  of  the  law 
which  forbids  its  use.  Thus  Adam  was  defiled  by 
the  forbidden  fruit,  and  the  Jews  were,  by  the  use 
of  the  meats,  declared  unclean.  It  is  not,  there¬ 
fore,  the  food  which  produces  the  defiling ;  it  is 
the  disobedience  which  “  comes  from  man,”  that  is 
to  say,  which  the  heart  engenders  when  the  for¬ 
bidden  meat  enters  into  man. 

01Q  HISTORY  OT 


proper  to  remonstrate  with  him  on  this 
subject,  “  they  came  then  and  said  to  him  : 
Dost  thou  know  that  the  Pharisees,  when 
they  heard  this  word,  were  scandalized  ? 
But  he  answering,  said  :  Every  plant  which 
my  heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted  shall 
be  rooted  up.1  Let  them  alone  ;  they  are 
blind  and  leaders  of  the  blind  ;  and  if  the 
blind  man  lead  the  blind,  both  fall  into  the 
pit.”2  (St.  Matt.  xv.  12-14.) 

When  it  happens  that,  in  doing  good,  we 
scandalize,  if  the  scandal  proceeds  solely 
from  the  malice  of  those  who  take  scandal, 
we  should  despise  it ;  but  if  scandal  be  taken 
through  ignorance  or  through  weakness, 
charity  then  obliges  us  to  reassure  the 
weak,  and  enlighten  the  ignorant.  The  man¬ 
ner  in  which  Jesus  has  just  spoken  of  the 
Pharisees,  shows  us  that  he  pursued  the 
conduct  first  mentioned  with  respect  to 
them.  We  have  an  example  of  the  second 
in  his  condescension,  when  giving  to  his 
disciples  the  explanation  which  they  asked. 
“And  when  he  was  come  into  the  house 
from  the  multitude,  his  disciples  asked 
him  ”  the  meaning  of  “  the  parable,”  “and 
Peter,”  who  usually  spoke  for  all,  “  said  to 
him  :  Expound  to  us  this  parable.”  Jesus 
“  saith  to  them  :  Are  you  also  yet  without 

( 1 )  Every  doctrine  which  comes  not  from  hea¬ 
ven,  and  which  is  merely  the  invention  of  the 
human  mind:  all  teachers  who  have  not  received 
their  mission  from  God,  as  the  apostles  and  their 
successors  have. 

( 2 )  The  blind  man  who  takes  another  as  blind 
for  his  guide  is  guilty  of  his  own  death.  The 
blind  man  who  assumes  to  lead  another  blind  man, 
commits  a  double  homicide. 

( 9 )  To  defile  a  man  the  sin  need  not  come  forth 
out  of  the  heart:  he  may  consummate  the  sin  by 


THE  LIFE 


understanding?”  “So  are  you  also  yet 
without  knowledge?  Understand  ye  not 
that  everything  from  without,  entering 
into  a  man  cannot  defile  him  :  because  it 
entereth  not  into  his  heart,  but  goeth  into 
the  belly,  and  is  cast  out  into  the  privy, 
purging  all  the  meats  ?  But  he  said  that 
the  things  which  come  out  from  a  man, 
they  defile  a  man  ”3  (St.  Mark  vii.  17-20  ; 
St.  Matt.  xv.  15-17) ;  for  “  the  things 
which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth  come  forth 
from  the  heart,  and  those  things  defile  a 
man.”  “For  from  within  out  of  the  heart 
of  men  come  forth  evil  thoughts,  adulteries, 
fornications,  murders,  thefts,  covetousness, 
wickedness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  an 
evil  eye”  of  envy,  “blasphemy,  pride, 
foolishness.  All  these  evil  things  come  from 
within  ; ”  “these  are  the  things  that  defile 
a  man.  But  to  eat  with  unwashed  hands 
doth  not  defile  a  man.”  (St.  Mark  vii.  21- 
23  ;  St.  Matthew  xv.  19,  20.)  An  expres¬ 
sion  which  alone  would  suffice  to  prove 
what  we  have  already  said,  namely,  that 
Christ  does  not  here  enter  on  the  question 
of  meats  forbidden  or  allowed,  but  that  he 
merely  speaks  of  the  extravagant  purifi¬ 
cations  of  the  Pharisees  ;  and  even  what 
he  does  say  of  these  is  less  for  the  purpose 

interior  consent,  as  Jesus  Christ  informs  us,  with 
respect  to  adultery,  and,  consequently,  all  other 
sins.  If,  therefore,  he  makes  it  here  come  forth 
from  the  heart,  it  is  because  he  speaks  of  what 
usually  occurs ;  for,  when  the  heart  hath  conceived 
iniquity,  it  makes  an  effort  to  bring  it  forth,  that 
is  to  say,  to  carry  into  execution  what  it  hath  de¬ 
sired  and  projected.  And  if  it  does  not  always,  it 
is  only  because  it  is  prevented  by  a  greater  force, 
to  which  it  yields,  yet  foaming  with  rage  and  vex 
ation. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


617 


of  condemning  them,  than  to  disabuse 
those  who,  relying  on  the  decisions  of  their 
false  doctors,  made  these  observances 
which  are  really  indifferent,  a  matter  of 
conscience. 

“Jesus  went  from  thence,  and  retired 
into  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.”  (St. 
Matt.  xv.  21.)  He  did  not  wish  to  make 
himself  known  in  this  idolatrous  country, 
lest,  it  is  supposed,  these  people,  attracted 
by  the  fame  of  his  miracles,  should  bring 
to  him  all  their  sick.  He  could  not  cure 
them  without  exceeding  the  bounds  of  his 
mission,  and  his  natural  goodness  would 
find  it  painful  to  refuse  them.  To  prevent 
this  embarrassment,  “  entering  into  a 
house,  he  would  that  no  man  should  know 
it  ;  and  he  could  not  be  ”  entirely  “hid.1 
For”  “behold  a  woman  of  Canaan  who 
came  out  of  those  coasts,  whose  daughter 
had  an  unclean  spirit,  crying  out,  as  soon 
as  she  heard  of  him,  said  to  him  :  Have 
mercy  on  me,  0  Lord,  thou  Son  of  David  ; 
my  daughter  is  grievously  troubled  by  a 
devil.  Who  answered  her  not  a  word. 
And  his  disciples  came  and  besought  him, 
saying  :  Send  her  away,  for  she  crieth 
after  us.”  Now,  by  crying  out,  she  made 
him  known,  the  very  thing  that  Jesus  did 
not  wish,  and  this  reason  adduced  by  the 
disciples  was  highly  proper  to  induce  him 
to  grant  her  request  speedily.  Neverthe- 

( 1 )  We  must  by  no  means  think  that  he  had  not 
the  power  to  conceal  himself.  He  took  the  precau¬ 
tions  which  human  prudence  usually  employs  to 
hinder  one  from  being  known.  These  precautions 
were  not  sufficient  to  keep  his  arrival  in  the  coun¬ 
try  unknown  by  all  without  exception,  as  he  had 
not  absolutely  desired  it ;  and  it  is  time  to  say  that 

78 


less,  “  he  answering,  said:  I  was  not  sent 
but  to  the  sheep  that  are  lost  of  the  house 
of  Israel.”  (St.  Mark  vii.  24-25  ;  .St.  Mat¬ 
thew  xv.  22-24.) 

It  seems  that  the  incident  we  have  just 
related  took  place  whilst  Jesus  was  still 
walking  towards  the  house  whither  he  re¬ 
tired,  as  we  have  said.  This  woman,  who 
kept  following  him,  “  came  in  ”  after  him, 
“  and  fell  down  at  his  feet,”  and  adored 
him,  saying  :  “  Lord,  help  me”  that  is  to 
say,  she  besought  him  that  he  would  cast 
forth  the  devil  out  of  her  daughter.  Jesus 
was  fully  disposed  to  do  so  ;  but,  in  order 
to  make  it  apparent  that  she  was  indebted 
for  this  favor  to  the  greatness  of  her  faith, 
“  he  said  to  her”  in  a  severe  tone  :  “Suffer 
first  the  children  to  be  filled.  For  it  is  not 
good  to  take  the  bread  of  the  children  and 
to  cast  it  to  the  dogs.”  “The  woman  was 
a  Gentile,  a  Syrophenician  born.”  It  is 
these  idolatrous  nations  who  are  here  reck¬ 
oned  as  dogs,  in  comparison  with  the  Jews, 
who  are  styled  the  children.  If  the  terms 
employed  by  our  Saviour  in  regard  to  the 
former  are  humiliating,  they  are  not  alto¬ 
gether  discouraging.  In  them  we  may 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  fact,  that  the  bread 
should  be  given  to  the  idolaters  when  the 
children  have  had  their  fill  or  refuse  it,  and 
that  time  was  not  far  distant.  But  a  pa¬ 
gan  woman  could  not  divine  this  mystery, 

be  was  known  and  unknown  precisely  as  much  as 
he  wished  to  be.  Perhaps  he  wished  to  teach  us 
that  he  does  not  always  show  himself  to  us,  and 
that  we  must  seek  him  with  earnestness  in  order 
to  find  him.  “  Seek  ye  the  Lord,  and  be  strength¬ 
ened  :  seek  his  face  evermore.” — (Ps.  civ.  4.) 


618 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


then  unknown  to  the  apostles  ;  and  a  refu¬ 
sal  accompanied  with  so  much  apparent 
contempt  should  naturally  have  deprived 
her  of  all  hope.  It  must  be  owned  that 
we  never  have  keener  ingenuity  than  when 
we  ask  for  what  we  ardently  desire.  This 
poor  mother  had  enough  on  this  occasion 
to  make  the  reason  of  the  refusal  a  motive 
of  grace.  Far,  therefore,  from  being  re¬ 
pulsed  when  Jesus  appeared  to  confound 
her  with  the  unclean  brutes,  she  answer¬ 
ed,  “Yea,  Lord,”  humbly  acknowledging 
what  she  was  ;  yet  she  immediately  adds, 
‘  ‘  for  the  whelps  also  eat  of  the  crumbs  of 
the  children’s  bread,  that  fall  from  the  ta¬ 
ble  of  their  masters.”  One  single  miracle 
in  favor  of  the  heathen  world,  compared 
to  the  vast  number  which  Christ  had 


wrought  for  the  Jews,  was,  in  fact,  like  a 
crumb  of  bread  dropped  under  the  table, 
and  the  domestic  animals  were  fully  enti¬ 
tled  to  it.  Then  Jesus  said  to  her,  “  0 
woman,  great  is  thy  faith  ;”  “for  this  say¬ 
ing,1  go  thy  way ;  the  devil  is  gone  out  of 
thy  daughter.”  And  her  daughter  was 
cured  from  that  hour,  “and  when  she  was 
come  into  her  house,  she  found  the  girl 
lying  upon  the  bed,  and  that  the  devil  was 
gone  out.”  (St.  Mark  vii.  26-30  ;  St.  Maft. 
xv.  25-28.)  This  is  a  remarkable  narra¬ 
tive,  which  teaches  us  that  a  prayer  ani¬ 
mated  by  faith,  accompanied  by  humility, 
and  sustained  by  perseverance,  is  a  stron¬ 
ger  reason  for  God  to  hearken  to  it 

O 

than  all  those  which  he  may  have  to  re¬ 
fuse  it. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

DEAF  AND  DUMB  CURED. -MULTIPLICATION  OF  THE  SEVEN  LOAVES.-A  SION  FROM  HEAVEN 
ASKED. _ LEAVEN  OF  THE  PHARISEES  AND  SADDUCEES. 


THE  sacred  writers  do  not  say  that 
our  Saviour  did  anything  more  in 
that  foreign  land.  We  know  that  all  is 
not  written,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
he  wrought  there  only  the  miracle  we  have 

( 1 )  Not  because  this  expression  was  to  the 
point,  but  because  it  admirably  expressed  the  faith 
and  the  humility  of  the  virtuous  Cauaanean  wo¬ 
men.  We  have  seen,  chapter  xvi.,  note  5,  and 
page  554,  that  God  does  not  exact  loifg  prayers ; 


just  recounted.  Resides  the  excellent  in¬ 
struction  which  the  entire  Church  derives 
from  this  miracle  on  the  efficacy  of  prayer, 
perhaps  he  also  wished  to  teach  his  minis¬ 
ters  to  consider  the  salvation  of  a  single 

neither  does  he  require  that  they  should  be  elo¬ 
quent.  Studied  discourses  are  of  no  avail  before 
him,  whose  ear  listens  only  to  the  preparation  of 
the  heart. 


OF  OTJR  LORD 


soul  as  a  fruit  well  worthy  of  a  laborious 
mission  ;  and  no  one  will  not  consider  as 
useless  the  pains  he  took  to  furnish  us 
with  this  twofold  lesson.  Whatever  might 
have  been  the  cause,  it  is  certain  that  he 
did  not  tarry  in  that  country  :  “  and  going 
out  of  the  coasts  of  Tyre,  he  came  by 
Sidon  to  the  sea  of  G-alilee,  through  the 
midst  of  the  coasts  of  Decapolis.” 

He  was  scarcely  arrived  there,  when 
“they  bring  to  him  one  deaf  and  dumb  ; 
and  they  besought  him,  that  he  would  lay 
his  hand  upon  him.  And,  taking  him  from 
the  multitude  apart,”  Jesus  “put  his  finger 
into  his  ear,  and,  spitting,  he  touched  his 
tongue ;  then,  looking  up  to  heaven,  he 
groaned.”  In  the  ardor  of  his  prayer,  un¬ 
less  indeed  it  was  through  compassion  for 
our  miseries  ;  “and  said  to  him  :  Ephphe- 
ta,  which  is,  be  thou  opened.1  And  imme¬ 
diately  his  ears  were  opened,  and  the  string 
of  his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  spoke 
right.2  And  Jesus  charged  them  that  they 
should  tell  no  man.3  But  the  more  he 
charged  them,  so  much  the  more  a  great 
deal  did  they  publish  it,  and  so  much  the 
more  did  they  wonder,  saying,”  in  contrast 
to  the  calumnies  of  the  Pharisees:  “He 


( 1 )  He  speaks  as  God,  after  having  prayed  as 
man  ;  elsewhere  he  speaks,  and  prays  not.  At 
other  times  he  heals  solely  by  the  mere  imposition 
of  his  blessed  hands;  sometimes,  by  the  touch  of 
his  garments.  It  were  useless  to  seek  reasons  for 
this  different  course.  It  is  enough  to  know 
that  uncreated  wisdom  could  not  act  without  rea¬ 
son. 

( a )  Miracles  are  also  mysteries ;  and  what  the 
power  of  Christ  wrought  visibly  upon  the  bodies, 
his  grace  wrought  invisibly  in  their  souls.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  the  Church  has  made  this  ac¬ 


JESUS  CHRIST.  619 


hath  done  all  things  well ;  he  hath  made 
both  the  deaf  to  hear,  and  the  dumb  to 
speak.”  (St.  Mark  vii.  31-37.) 

Then  Jesus,  “going  up  into  a  mountain, 
sat  there  ;  and  there  came  to  him  great 
multitudes,  having  with  them  the  dumb, 
the  blind,  the  lame,  the  maimed,  and  many 
others  ;  and  they  cast  them  down  at  his 
feet,  and  he  healed  them  :  so  that  the  mul¬ 
titudes  marvelled,  seeing  the  dumb  speak, 
the  lame  walk,  the  blind  see  ;  and  they 
glorified  the  G-od  of  Israel.”  (St.  Matt.  xv. 
29-31.) 

Circumstances  like  those  in  which  they 
were  some  months  previous,  occasioned  a 
miracle  like  that  then  wrought.  “  Again 
when  there  was  a  great  multitude,  and  had 
nothing  to  eat,”  Jesus,  “calling  his  disci¬ 
ples  together,  saith  to  them  :  I  have  com¬ 
passion  on  the  multitude,  for  behold  they 
have  now  been  with  me  three  days,  and 
have  nothing  to  eat.  And  if  I  shall  send 
them  away  fasting  to  their  home,  they  will 
faint  in  the  way,  for  some  of  them  come 
from  afar  off.”  “I  will  not”  therefore 
“send  them  away  fasting.”  “And  his 
disciples  answered  :  From  whence  can  any 
one  fill  them  here  with  bread  in  the  wil- 


tion  of  our  Saviour  one  of  the  ceremonies  of  bap¬ 
tism.  The  word  “  Ephpheta,  be  thou  opened,” 
which  the  priest  pronounces,  when  making  nearly 
the  same  motions  that  Christ  made  upon  the  deaf 
and  dumb  man,  this  word,  I  say,  signifies  in  this 
circumstance:  Let  thine  ears  be  opened,  to  hear 
and  to  believe;  and  let  thy  tongue  be  loosed,  to 
confess  the  truth  which  you  believe. 

(s)  With  reference  to  secrecy  commanded,  and 
not  kept,  and  to  secrecy  commanded  regarding 
certain  miracles,  and  not  regarding  others,  see 
note  3,  page  522. 


020 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


derness  ?”  (St.  Matt.  viii.  1-4  j  St.  Mark 
xv.  B2.) 

We  are  surprised  that  they  could  have 
forgotten  the  yet  recent  miracle  of  the 
multiplication  of  the  five  loaves,  and  that, 
instead  of  soliciting  a  similar  one,  natural 
means  alone  occur  to  their  minds.  Jesus 
did  not  pause  to  reproach  them  with  this 
forgetfulness  or  want  of  faith  ;  what  he  was 
about  to  do  was  to  take  the  place  of  that 
lesson.  “He  asked  them:  How  many 
loaves  have  ye  ?  But  the}''  said  :”  “  Seven 
and  a  few  little  fishes.  And  he  command¬ 
ed  the  multitude  to  sit  down  upon  the 
ground.”  (St.  Matt.  xv.  33-35  ;  St.  Mark 
viii.  5-6.)  It  is  presumed,  with  good  rea¬ 
son,  that  they  were  ranged  in  companies, 
as  at  the  other  multiplication,  that  there 
might  be  order  in  the  distribution,  and 
the  number  of  guests  might  be  easily 
known.  Then  Jesus,  “  taking  the  seven 
loaves,  giving  thanks,  he  broke  and  gave 
to  his  disciples  for  to  set  before  them,  and 
they  set  them  before  the  people.  And  he 
blessed  the  few  little  fishes  they  had,  and 
commanded  them  to  be  set  before  them.” 
“And  they  did  all  eat  and  had  their  fill,1 


( 1 )  The  loaves,  according  to  Saint  Augustine, 
multiplied  in  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ  just  as 
grain  multiplies  in  the  earth.  If  we  wonder  more 
at  one  multiplication  than  the  other,  the  reason  is, 
that  one  is  a  daily  occurrence  and  the  other  extra¬ 
ordinary.  Fundamentally,  it  is  the  same  miracle, 
and  there  is  nothing  to  admire  in  the  one  more 
than  in  the  other.  Free-thinkers  do  not  believe  in 
the  multiplication  of  the  bread,  because  they  have 
not  seen  it ;  if  anybody  who  had  not  seen  the  mul¬ 
tiplication  of  grain,  refused  to  believe  it,  upon  the 
report  of  witnesses  worthy  of  credit,  he  would  be 
iustly  regarded  as  weak  in  mind.  Yet  this  weak- 


and  they  took  up  seven  baskets  full2  of 
what  remained  of  the  fragments.  And 
they  that  had  eaten  were  about  four  thou¬ 
sand  men,  besides  children  and  women.” 
(St.  Mark  viii.  6-9  ;  St.  Matt.  xv.  36-38.) 
Jesus  dismissed  them,  in  order  to  escape 
their  applause,  and  also  to  baffle  the  desire, 
which  might  arise  in  them  as  in  the  others, 
to  proclaim  him  king.  “  And  immediately 
going  up  into  a  ship  with  his  disciples,  he 
came  into  the  parts  of  Dalmanutha”  “into 
the  coasts  of  Magedan.”  (St.  Mark  viii.  10  ; 
St.  Matt.  xv.  39.) 

This  country  lies  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  sea  of  G-alilee.  Jesus  wished  to  show 
himself  there  as  elsewhere.  For  it  is  easy 
to  see  that  his  design  was  to  make  himself 
known  to  all  the  house  of  Israel,  and  that 
he  did  not  wish  that  there  should  be  a 
single  division  of  Judea  unenlightened  by 
his  doctrine  and  miracles.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  in  this  district  as  in  the  others 
he  preached  and  healed ;  although  the 
evangelists  do  not  mention  it ;  but  what 
they  say,  and  what,  after  their  narrative, 
we  are  about  to  relate,  is,  that  here,  as 
elsewhere,  he  encountered  opposition. 


minded  man  would  be  precisely  only  what  free¬ 
thinkers  are. 

( * )  Jesus  Christ  caused  them  to  be  gathered,  in 
order  that  the  whole  extent  of  the  miracle  should 
he  known,  and  also  to  teach  them  “  not  to  throw 
away  the  gift  of  God:”  a  popular  phrase,  which 
comprises  a  highly  moral  and  very  religious  mean¬ 
ing. 

The  circumstance  of  the  seven  baskets  marks 
the  difference  of  this  multiplication  from  the  pre¬ 
ceding  one,  and  prevents  the  two  from  being  taken 
for  one  and  the  same  miracle.  This  is  a  remark  of 
Saint  Chrysostom. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


621 


The  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  were,  as  is 
well  known,  two  irreconcilable  sects.  But 
when  the  object  is  to  persecute  the  good, 
the  wicked,  no  matter  how  divided,  have 
no  difficulty  in  combining  together.  These 
“came”  in  concert  “to  Jesus.”  “And 
began  to  question  with  him.”  “  And  they 
asked  him  to  show  them  a  sign  from  hea¬ 
ven,”  it  is  added  “tempting  him.”  And, 
in  fact,  to  ask  for  fresh  proofs  of  what  is 
already  more  than  sufficiently  proved,  is 
not  desiring  additional  light  ;  it  is  merely 
grounds  for  further  cavil.  Jesus  “an- 
swered,  and  said  to  them:  When  it  is 
evening,  you  say  :  It  will  be  fair  weather, 
for  the  sky  is  red.  And  in  the  morning,  . 
to-day  there  will  be  a  storm,  for  the  sky  is 
red  and  lowering.  You  know,  then,  how  to 
discern  the  face  of  the  sky,  and  can  you 
not  know  the  signs  of  the  times?”1  (St. 
Matthew  xvi.  1-4;  St.  Mark  viii.  11.) 

“  And  he  said  also  to  the  multitudes : 
When  you  see  a  cloud  rising  from  the 
west,  presently  you  , say  :  A  shower  is  com¬ 
ing  ;  and  so  it  happeneth.  And  when  you 
see  the  south  wind  blow,  you  say  :  There 
will  be  heat ;  and  it  cometh  to  pass.  You 
hypocrites  !  ”  added  he — whether  he  ad¬ 
dressed  this  word  exclusively  to  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  or  whether  the 
curiosity  which  led  the  people  to  desire  a 
heavenly  sign  was  tinged  with  Pharisaical 
malignity,  “  you  know  how  to  discern  the 
face  of  the  heaven  and  of  the  earth  ;  but 

(>)  The  preceding  passage  is  taken  from  Saint 
Matthew ;  what  immediately  follows  is  from  Saint 
Luke.  The  latter,  in  the  twelfth  chapter,  reports 
consecutively  several  expressions  of  our  Saviour, 
detached  from  one  another,  without  stating  under 


how  is  it  that  you  do  not  discern  this  time, 
and  why,  even  of  yourselves,  do  you  not 
judge  that  which  is  just?”  (St.  Luke  xii. 
54-57.) 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  tendency  of  these 
words.  All  the  signs  given  by  the  pro¬ 
phets  for  the  coming  of  the  Messias  had 
appeared,  or  were  actually  appearing. 
The  sceptre  of  Juda  had  passed  away  to 
foreigners.  The  seventy  weeks  foretold  by 
Daniel  were  approaching  their  end.  “  The 
Messias  cometh,”  said  a  Samaritan  woman  of 
low  degree,  so  notorious  was  the  fact.  The 
time  then  had  come  ;  and  nothing  remained 
but  to  know  who  it  was  that  they  should 
acknowledge.  The  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ 
clearly  designated  him,  not  only  by  the 
general  evidence  which  ever  results  from 
miraculous  deeds,  but  also  because  the  par¬ 
ticular  species  of  miracles  had  been  fore¬ 
told,  as  constituting  one  of  the  characters 
of  the  Messias,  as  he  himself  observed  to 
the  disciples  of  John.  Now  to  say,  after 
this,  We  will  not  recognize  you  unless  you 
show  us  some  sign  from  heaven,  if  in  jest, 
is  an  insult;  if  seriously  spoken,  it  can 
only  signify  a  decided  and  fixed  design  to 
believe  nothing.  So  criminal  a  disposition 
caused  the  Saviour  both  grief  and  indigna¬ 
tion:  “and  sighing  deeply  in  spirit,  he 
saith :  Why  doth  this  generation  ask  a 
sign  ?”  (St.  Mark  viii.  12.)  Afterwards,  as  if 
in  his  own  mind  he  had  replied  to  himself 
that  the  motive  which  induced  them  to  ask 

what  circumstances  they  were  uttered,  most  of 
them  spoken  on  different  occasions.  On  account 
of  the  identity  of  the  subject,  we  considered  it 
more  natural  to  place  this  expression  here,  although 
several  commentators  place  it  elsewhere. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


622 


it  rendered  them  unworthy  of  seeing  it,  he 
presently  adds  :  “A  wicked  and  adulterous 
generation  seeketh  after  a  sign ;  ”  but 
“  amen,  I  say  to  you,”  “  a  sign  shall  not  be 
given  it,  but  the  sign  of  Jonas1  the  pro¬ 
phet.”  Jesus,  “leaving  them,  went  away 
up  again  into  the  ship,  and  passed  to  the 
other  side  of  the  water.”  “And  when  his 
disciples  were  come  over  the  water,  they 
had  forgotten  to  take  bread  ; ”  “and  they 
had  but  one  loaf  with  them  in  the  ship.” 
Jesus  “said  to  them,”  “  and  charged  them  :  ” 
“Take  heed,  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of 
the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,”  “  and  of  the 
leaven  of  Herod.”2  (St.  Mark  viii.  12-15  ; 
St.  Matt.  xvi.  4-6.)  This  word  “leaven,” 
which  they  took  in  its  literal  meaning,  re¬ 
minded  them  that  they  had  not  thought  of 
laying  in  bread.  Whereupon  they  were 
filled  with  anxiety ;  for  they  frequently 
touched  at  desert  places,  where  it  was  im¬ 


( 1 )  That  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
figured  by  Jonas  coming  forth  from  the  belly  of  the 
whale,  where  he  had  been  shut  up  for  three  days. 
Jesus  Christ  had  already  proposed  this  sign  on  an 
occasion  like  the  present. 

( 2 )  Saint  Mark,  who  omits  the  Sadducees  named 
by  Saint  Matthew,  adds  to  the  leaven  of  the 
Pharisees,  that  of  Herod,  or  of  the  Herodians,  of 
whom  mention  is  made,  page  466.  Nothing  is 
there  said  of  their  opinions,  regarding  which  there 
is  nothing  certain.  Nevertheless,  it  has  been  con¬ 
jectured  that  they  may  not  have  been  different 
from  the  Sadducees,  aud  for  these  grounds  :  The 
Herodians  could  scarcely  have  been  so  styled  ex¬ 
cept  for  their  attachment  to  the  family  of  the 
Herods,  who  were  the  princes  of  the  country; 
they  were  then  courtiers.  Now  Josephus  (Wars 
of  the  Jews,  Book  II.,  chapter  vii.),  states,  that  the 
sect  of  Sadducees  was  not  numerous,  but  that  it 
was  the  sect  of  the  great.  On  the  other  hand,  we 


possible  to  procure  it.  “And  they  rea¬ 
soned  among  themselves,  saying :  Because 
we  have  taken  no  bread.”  Perhaps  they 
had  come  already  to  the  mutual  reproaches 
of  censure  usually  made  when  a  fault 
common  to  several  is  committed.  “  Jesus, 
knowing,”  however,  their  embarrassment, 
which  they  did  not  dare  to  reveal  to 
him,  showed  them  the  considerably 
greater  fault  which  they  were  then 
committing.  “He  saith  to  them,  Why 
do  you  think  within  yourselves,  0  ye  of 
little  faith,  for  that  you  have  no  bread  ?  ” 
“  Do  you  not  yet  know  nor  understand? 
Have  you  still  your  hearts  blinded  ?  Hav¬ 
ing  eyes,  see  you  not ;  and  having  ears, 
hear  jmu  not?  Neither  do  3^011  remember, 
when  I  broke  the  five  loaves  among  five 
thousand,  how  many  baskets  full  of  frag¬ 
ments  took  you  up  ?  The}"  say  to  him  : 
Twelve.  When,  also,  the  seven  loaves 


learn  from  the  Gospel  that  the  Sadducees  were 
pure  materialists,  who  not  only  denied  the  re¬ 
surrection,  but  did  not  acknowledge  that  any 
spiritual  substance  existed  in  the  universe.  Here, 
then,  we  have  in  this  aristocracy  the  condition, 
as  well  as  in  this  materialism  the  religion,  of 
many  courtiers;  therefore,  if  we  like,  the  Sad¬ 
ducees  are  the  Herodians.  If  it  be  now  asked, 
whether  these  men  of  rank  were  those  who  joined 
the  Pharisees,  to  put  captious  questions  to  our  Sa¬ 
viour,  it  is  not  only  possible  that  some  among  them 
may  have  done  so,  but  we  may  answer,  moreover, 
that  the  great  were  not  the  only  members  who 
made  up  the  sect  of  Sadducees.  They  were,  in¬ 
deed,  the  heads  of  it ;  but  we  may  also  presume 
that  Sadduceeism  was  the  religion  of  their  clients, 
their  parasites,  and  their  servants,  not  to  speak  of 
those  who,  not  having  it  in  their  power  to  equal 
them  in  riches,  may  have  wished  to  resemble  them 
in  laxity  of  ideas  and  morals. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


023 


among  four  thousand,  how  many  baskets 
of  fragments  took  you  up  ?  And  they  say 
to  him :  Seven.” 

This  was  enough  to  make  them  ashamed 
of  their  embarrassment.  But  if  they  were 
not  to  be  anxious  about  bread  after  the 
two  miracles  of  which  they  had  just  been 
witnesses  and  co-operators,  Jesus  Christ, 
the  author  of  these  miracles,  whose  arm 
was  not  shortened,  was  still  less  to  think 
of  it.  They  should,  therefore,  when  he 
spoke  of  leaven,  have  understood  it  in  a 

( 1 )  Jesus  Christ  says  elsewhere  :  “  The  Scribes 
and  the  Pharisees  have  sitten  on  the  chair  of 
Moses.  All  things,  therefore,  whatsoever  they 
shall  say  to  you,  observe  and  do”  (St.  Matt,  xxiii. 
2,  3) ;  thus  openly  authorizing  their  doctrine, 
which  is,  nevertheless,  condemned  here.  This 
shows  that  there  was  a  distinction  to  be  made  be¬ 
tween  the  doctrine  of  Moses,  when  the  Pharisees 
expounded  it,  and  their  own  particular  doctrines, 
when  they  proposed  them.  The  former  was  to  be 
received,  the  latter  rejected.  All  this  is  signified 
by  the  words  of  our  Saviour:  “Beware,”  which 
do  not  mean  :  Reject  all  that  they  say,  or  close 
your  ears,  lest  you  should  hear  them  ;  but  hearken 
with  precaution  and  discernment.  Those  who 
shall  say  that  this  discernment  was  a  difficult  and 
anxious  thing,  recognize  a  truth  which  must  make 
known  to  them,  at  the  same  time,  the  obligation 
which  they  owe  to  God  for  having  spared  them  the 
trouble  and  the  dangers.  For  when  the  Church 
instructs  us  by  the  instrumentality  of  those  whom 


sense  different  from  what  the  word  usually 
presents  to  the  mind.  This  is  what  he 
made  them  remark,  when  terminating  this 
conversation,  “  He  said  to  them,”  “Why 
do  you  not  yet  understand  that  it  was  not 
concerning  bread  I  said  to  you  :  Beware 
of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  Saddu- 
cees?  Then”  at  last  “they  understood 
that  he  said  not  that  they  should  beware 
of  the  leaven  of  bread,  but  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees.”1  (St. 
Mark  viii.  16-20  ;  St.  Matt.  xvi.  8-12.) 

God  has  established  the  chief  pastors,  all  is  pure 
and  sound,  and  should  be  received  without  dis¬ 
trust.  Hence  it  is  unreasonable  to  read  the  works 
of  heretics,  saying  that  the  reader  profits  by  what 
is  good,  and  passes  over  what  is  bad ;  for  people 
are  to  be  found,  who  deem  themselves  authorized 
to  do  so,  by  the  permission  which  Jesus  Christ 
grants  to  hear  the  Pharisees  when  using  this  dis¬ 
crimination.  This  was  profitable  to  the  Jews,  who 
had  no  other  teachers ;  but  we  who  have  teachers 
holding  truth  pure  and  unalloyed,  why  should  we 
take  on  us  the  burthen  to  separate  truth  from 
amid  a  thousand  errors,  at  the  risk  of  still  falling 
into  mistake  ?  There  is  no  imprudence  in  avail¬ 
ing  ourselves  of  a  poor  guide,  when  we  have  no 
other,  and  must  have  one;  but  when  we  have 
found  one  who  is  a  sure  guide,  to  leave  him,  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  another  guide  who  may  mis¬ 
lead  us,  because  he  also  may  not  go  astray,  is  not 
merely  rash,  but  mad. 


624 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  BLIND  MAN  OF  BETHSAIDA.— SAINT  PETER’S  CONFESSION.— PROMISE  OF  THE  KEYS.— THE 
PASSION  FORETOLD.— PETER  REBUKED.— SELF-DENIAL.— BEARING  OUR  CROSS. 


FROM  the  place  where  they  disem¬ 
barked  “  they  came  to  Bethsaida, 
and  they  bring  to  Jesus  a  blind  man,  and 
they  besought  him  that  he  would  touch 
him.”  As  this  miracle  was  one  of  those 
which  he  did  not  wish  to  make  public, 
“  taking  the  blind  man  by  the  hand,  he 
led  him  out  of  the  town ;  and  spitting 
upon  his  eyes,  laying  his  hands  on  him,  he 
asked  him  if  he  saw  anything.”  The  blind 
man  “looking  up,  said:  I  see  men  as  it 
were  trees  walking.”  This  answer  shows 
that  he  was  not  born  blind,  since  he  had  a 
distinct  idea  of  men  and  trees.  “  After 
that  again,  Jesus  laid  his  hands  upon  his 
eyes,  and  he  began  to  see  ”  better,  “  and 
was  restored,  so  that  he  saw  all  things 
clearly.  And,”  Jesus  “sent  him  into  his 
house,  saying :  Go  into  thy  house,  and  if 
thou  enter  into  the  town,1  tell  nobody.”2 
(St.  Mark  viii.  22-27.) 

This  cure  is  remarkable,  being  the  only 
one  which  Jesus  wrought  by  degrees  only. 

(  1  )  The  town  of  Bethsaida  is  also  called  city  by 
Saint  John.  It  was  one  of  that  middle  class  of 
places  which  may  receive  either  appellation. 

(’)  Was  it  simply  in  order  that  the  miracle 
should  remain  a  secret .  in  the  country,  that  Jesus 
forbid  the  blind  man  to  speak  of  it  in  Bethsaida, 
or  did  he  wish  to  conceal  all  knowledge  of  it 
from  the  inhabitants,  to  punish  them  for  the  little 
fruit  which  they  had  derived  from  the  great  num¬ 
ber  of  miracles  which  he  had  wrought  amongst 


It  is  commonly  attributed  to  the  disposi¬ 
tion  of  the  blind  man,  whose  faith,  at  first 
feeble,  obtained  for  him  only  an  imperfect 
cure,  which  was  then  perfected  by  his 
faith,  so  that  he  did  not  see  clearly  until  he 
believed  firmly.  Thus,  Peter  walked  upon 
the  waters  when  he  believed  without  hesi¬ 
tating  ;  and  when  he  began  to  doubt,  he 
began  to  sink.  Certain  it  is,  and  we  think 
we  have  already  remarked  it,  that  miracles 
usually  follow  faith,  and  are  proportioned 
to  it.  Nevertheless,  our  Saviour  may  have 
had  other  reasons  for  acting  as  he  did  on 
this  occasion.  One  is,  for  example,  that  he 
wished  to  depict  the  sometimes  slow  and 
gradual  progress  of  his  grace,  which,  when 
it  makes  souls  pass  from  darkness  to  light, 
has,  if  we  may  venture  to  speak  so,  its  twi¬ 
light  and  its  dawn.  Happy  he  who  is  not 
disheartened  at  its  slow  coming,  who  knows 
how  to  take  advantage  of  its  first  ra}7s, 
and  to  quicken,  by  an  increase  of  faith,  the 
coming  of  broad  day. 

them  ?  this  is  uncertain.  The  second  conjecture 
is  usually  grounded  upon  these  words  of  our 
Saviour,  St.  Luke  x.  13  :  “Wo  to  thee,  Corozain  ! 
wo  to  thee,  Bethsaida!  for  if  in  Tyre  and  Sidon 
had  been  wrought  the  mighty  works  that  have 
been  wrought  in  you,  they  would  have  done  pen¬ 
ance  long  ago,  sitting  in  sackloth  and  ashes.”  See 
note  2,  Chap,  xxii.,  p.  588  ;  the  contempt  of  mira¬ 
cles  punished  by  the  cessation  of  miracles. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  625 

From  Bethsaida  Jesus  “went  out  with 
his  disciples  into  the  towns  in  the  quarters 
of  Cesarea  Philippi.1  And  in  his  way,  as 
he  was  alone  praying,”  that  is  to  say,  apart 
from  the  crowd,  or  without  being  followed 
by  it,  for  “  his  disciples  also  were  with 
him,”  he  asked  them,  saying  :  “  Whom  do 
men  say  that  the  Son  of  man  is?”  It 
seems  that  the  prejudices  of  the  people  as 
to  who  Jesus  might  be  were  not  different 
from  those  of  Herod  and  his  court,  since 
“  they  said  :  Some,  John  the  Baptist  ;  but 
some  say,  Elias,  and  others,  Jeremias  :  and 
others  say  that  one  of  the  former  prophets 
is  risen  again.”2  (St.  Matthew  xvi.  IB,  14  ; 
St.  Luke  ix.  18-21  ;  St.  Mark  viii.  27-29.) 

“  Jesus  saith  to  them  :  But  whom  do  you  say 
that  I  am?  Simon  Peter  answered,  and 
said  :  Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  liv¬ 
ing  Grod.3  And  Jesus  answering,  said  to 
him  :  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-Jona  ; 
because  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed 

it  to  thee,  but  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.” 

Then  bearing  testimony  to  him  in  return 
for  testimony,  but  with  this  difference,  that 

Peter  only  declared  what  Jesus  was,  in¬ 
stead  of  which  Jesus  made  Peter  what  he 
declared  him  to  be  :  “  And  ”  he  added, 

“I  say  to  thee  that  thou  art  Peter,4  and 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
it.5  I  will  give  to  thee  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  And  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  bind  upon  earth,  it  shall  be  bound 
also  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
loose  on  earth,  it  shall  be  loosed  also  in 
heaven.”  After  this  twofold  testimony, 
which  comprehends,  in  brief,  all  religion — 
one  being  the  groundwork  of  Christian 
faith,  and  the  other  that  of  Catholic  unity 
— Jesus  strictly  “  commanded  his  disci¬ 
ples  that  they  should  tell  none  that  he  was 

Jesus  the  Christ.”  (St.  Matt,  xvi  15-20  ; 

St.  Mark  viii.  BO.)  We  have  already  said 

(')  Previously  Paneas,,  but  called  Cesarea  by _ 
Philip  the  tetrarch,  who  Wished  to  flatter  the  Em¬ 
peror  Tiberius.  The  surname  Philippi  was  given 
to  distinguish  it  from  another  Cesarea,  rebuilt  and 
magnificently  adorned  by  Herod  the  Great,  in 
honor  of  the  Emperor  Augustus.  This  latter  city, 
which  was  situated  on  the  borders  of  the  Mediter¬ 
ranean,  was  previously  called  the  Tower  of  Strato. 

( * )  Or  perhaps  because  the  soul  of  some  of  these 
great  men  had  passed  into  his  body;  for  a  belief  in 
transmigration  was  current  among  the.  Jews,  as 
appears  by  the  books  of  their  Talmudists  and  Ca¬ 
bal  ists. 

(’)  More  than  were  John  the  Baptist,  Elias, 
Jeremias,  and  the  prophets  ;  therefore  more  than 
by  adoption ;  therefore  by  nature. 

( 4 )  This  name  had  already  been  given  to  him, 
6ee  page  489,  but  the  prerogatives  appertaining  to 
it  had  not  as  yet  been  declared.  Jesus  Christ 

79 

wished,  for  the  glory  of  St.  Peter,  to  be  indebted 
to  him  for  the  merit  of  the  confession. 

( 6 )  The  powers  of  hell,  according  to  the  com¬ 
mon  interpretation.  Nevertheless,  since  the  gates 
of  hell  are  merely  defensive,  forces,  and  the  refer¬ 
ence  here  is  to  offensive  forces,  inasmuch  as  what 
is  here  said  shall  not  prevail,  is  the  unsuccessful 
attack,  according  to  this  expression  of  Jeremias,  i. 

19  :  “  They  shall  fight  against  thee,  and  shall  not 
prevail,”  this  difficulty  has  made  commentators 
seek  another  meaning  for  “gates.”  It  has  been 
thought  that  this  name  might  be  given  to  those 
who  drag  down  a  great  number  of  souls  to  hell, 
and  more  particularly  to  the  authors  of  schisms 
and  heresies,  who  wage  a  more  open  war  with  the 
Church.  These  perverse  men  may  justly  be  term- 
.  ed  the  gates  of  hell,  as  Jesus  Christ  is  called  the 
gate  of  heaven.  This  explanation  is  plausible, 
even  if  it  be  not  the  real  one. 

i 

626 


niSTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


that  Jesus  cliose  to  lead  men  only  by  de¬ 
grees  to  the  knowledge  of  his  divinity. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  disciples 
violated  the  secrecy  so  severely  enjoined. 
But,  assured  at  last  of  the  divinity  of  their 
Master,  and  still  prepossessed  with  the 
flattering  idea  of  his  temporal  kingdom, 
their  imagination  revelled  in  the  glory  and 
the  pleasures  which  it  seemed  to  foretoken. 
Jesus  took  this  occasion  to  disabuse  them, 
by  informing  them  that  his  quality  of 
Christ  should  not  hinder  him  from  dying 
by  capital  punishment,  and  that  he  would 
recognize  as  his  true  disciples  only  those 
who  should  participate  in  his  opprobrium 
and  suffering.  Two  truths,  the  first  of 
•  which  was  to  shake  the  very  foundation- 
stone  of  the  new  edifice  which  Jesus  was 
to  cement  with  his  blood  ;  which  circum¬ 
stance  did  not  hinder  him  from  proposing 
both  one  and  the  other  without  any  dis¬ 
guise  :  for  “from  that  time  Jesus  began 
to  show  to  his  disciples  that  he  must  go  to 
Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things,  and  be 

( 1 )  This  word,  in  holy  language,  properly  signi¬ 
fies  “  adversary ;  ”  we  often  find  it  used  in  this  sense 
in  Scripture.  It  is  appropriated  to  Lucifer,  be¬ 
cause  he  is  the  capital  enemy  of  God  and  men. 
Those  who  wish  to  spare  Saint  Peter  this  odious 
denomination,  assert  that  it  was  Satan  himself 
whom  the  Saviour  then  addressed.  Their  inten¬ 
tion  is  praiseworthy ;  but  as  what  follows  is  evi¬ 
dently  spoken  to  Saint  Peter,  the  figure  would  be 
too  violent,  if  the  preceding  expression  were  ad¬ 
dressed  to  another.  Nothing  conflicts  with  our 
Saviour’s  saying  to  Saint  Peter :  Thou  art  filling 
against  me  the  office  of  Satan  ;  thou  art  a  tempter 
to  me.  The  motive  which  led  this  apostle  to 
speak  was  good ;  but  what  he  uttered  was  not. 
The  error  is  justly  reproved,  and  the  person  is  not 
the  less  loved,  as  we  shall  soon  see. 


rejected  by  the  ancients,  and  by  the  chief 
priests  and  the  Scribes,  and  be  put  tc 
death,  and  after  three  days  rise  again,  and 
he  spoke  the  word  openly.  And  Peter, 
taking  him,  began  to  rebuke  him,  saying  : 
Lord,  be  it  far  from  thee  ;  this  shall  not 
be  unto  thee.’7  Love  made  him  speak 
thus,  and  this  motive  might  render  him 
excusable  ;  but  it  was  necessary  to  repress 
this  sally,  too  highly  savoring  of  nature, 
aiming  as  it  did  to  obstruct  the  great  work 
for  which  the  only  Son  of  the  living  God 
had  made  himself  Son  of  man.  Jesus, 
therefore,  “  turning  about,  and  seeing  his 
disciples,”  whom  he  wished  to  render  wit¬ 
nesses  of  the  reprimand  which  he  was  go¬ 
ing  to  address  to  their  chief,  in  order  that 
they  might  profit  thereby,  “  he  threatened 
Peter,  saying  :  Go  behind  me,  Satan  ! 1 
thou  art  a  scandal  unto  me,  because  thou 
savorest  not  the  things  that  are  of  God, 
but  that  are  of  men.”3  (St.  Matthew  xvi. 
21-23  ;  St.  Mark  viii.  31-33.) 

Peter  durst  not  reply,  and  the  disciples, 

Those  who,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  what  is 
opposed  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  designs  of 
God  upon  them,  earnestly  repel  the  assaults  which 
a  too  natural  love  may  raise  up  against  them,  are 
more  than  justified  by  this  answer  of  our  Sa¬ 
viour. 

( 2 )  Men  relish  only  glory  and  pleasures,  and 
God  wishes  them  to  prefer  humiliations  and  suffer¬ 
ings.  But  these  sufferings  will  be  repaid  them  by 
infinite  pleasures,  and  these  humiliations  followed 
by  immortal  glory.  God,  therefore,  wishes  sub¬ 
stantially  the  same  things  which  we  desire ;  but  he 
wishes  the  pain  to  precede  the  reward.  What  can 
be  more  just  ?  and  as  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  fleeting 
for  the  eternal,  what  can  be  more  reasonable  ? 
Men,  on  the  contrary,  wish  to  share  the  recompense 
without  sharing  the  pain ;  could  anything  be  more 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


627 


instructed  at  liis  expense,  remained  in  re¬ 
spectful  silence  :  then  Jesus  passing  on  to 
another  truth,  which  was  the  sequel  of  the 
preceding,  informed  them  that  it  was  only 
by  humiliations  and  sufferings  that  they 
could  be  true  disciples  of  an  outraged  and 
crucified  Messias. 

But  as  this  alarming  doctrine  did  not  re¬ 
gard  the  apostles  merely,  but  generally  all 
who  wished  to  embrace  the  new  Gospel, 
Jesus  “calling  the  multitude  together  with 
his  disciples,  said  to  them :  If  any  man 
will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,1 
take  up  his  cross2  daily,3  and  follow  me.” 
(St.  Mark  viii.  34 ;  St.  Matthew  xvi.  24  ; 

unjust  ?  And,  reduced  to  the  dilemma  of  choos¬ 
ing  between  the  two,  they  leave  the  solid  for  the 
frivolous,  and  what  is  to  last  forever  for  what  is 
but  of  time.  Can  anything  be  more  unreasona¬ 
ble  ?  Oh,  how  wise  is  the  folly  of  the  Gospel,  and 
how  silly  is  the  wisdom  of  the  world ! 

(')  What  follows  in  the  test  explains  wherein 
this  renunciation  is  rigorously  binding  ;  but  there 
are  several  degrees  of  perfection.  rIo  renounce 
one’s  self,  to  follow  the  counsels  of  Jesus  Christ,  is, 
undoubtedly,  a  much  higher  degree  than  to  re¬ 
nounce  self,  in  order  to  obey  his  commandments  5 
in  this  consists  renouncement  in  the  religious 
state,  which  is  merely  the  commencement  of  per¬ 
fection.  To  renounce  one’s  self  in  everything  which 
is  not  forbidden,  when  it  is  not  absolutely  neces¬ 
sary  ;  to  deny  one’s  self  all  innocent  satisfactions, 
to  refuse  pleasures  which  are  allowed,  to  check  all 
our  inclinations,  to  master  all  our  propensities,  to 
repress  even  the  slightest  sallies  of  nature,  in  a 
word,  to  be  constantly  disposed  to  sacrifice  eveiy- 
thing  without  reserve,  I  say  not  only  to  the  com¬ 
mandments  of  God,  nor  even  to  his  counsels,  but 
to  all  that  we  may  presume  to  be  most  agreeable 
to  him,  this  is  the  perfection  to  which  the  saints 
unceasingly  tend,  because  they  always  long  to  ar¬ 
rive  at  it,  and  in  this  life  never  do.  It  is  the  death 


St.  Luke  ix.  23.)  This  renunciation  ex¬ 
tends  to  everything  that  can  raise  an  ob¬ 
stacle  to  the  observance  of  the  law  of  J  esus 
Christ.  Even  life  itself  is  pot  excepted ; 
for  we  must  be  disposed  to  lose  it,  rather 
than  preserve  it  by  a  single  prevarication. 
What  more  revolting  to  nature?  we  may 
even  say,  what  less  reasonable  to  the  eyes 
of  carnal  prudence  ?  Yet  nothing  is  more 
wise  or  salutary.  “For,”  adds  our  Saviour, 

“  whosoever  will  save  his  life,”  at  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  what  he  owes  to  me,  “  shall  lose 
it ;  and  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my 
sake  and  the  Gospel,  shall  save  it:4  for 
what  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  gain  the 

of  self-love,  if  we  should  not  rather  call  it  its  re¬ 
surrection  and  life,  being  its  perfect  transforma¬ 
tion  into  the  will  of  God. 

(a )  It  is  not  his  cross  that  Jesus  Christ  obliges 
us  to  carry ;  it  is  our  own,  which  is  much  lighter 
than  his.  But,  moreover,  it  is  not  he  who  lays  it 
upon  us:  the  condition  of  this  life  renders  it  in¬ 
evitable,  and  what  he  requires  from  us  is  to  the 
very  letter  that  we  should  make  a  virtue  of  neces¬ 
sity.  When  we  thus  carry  our  cross  after  our 
Saviour,  that  is  to  say,  by  imitating  his  patience, 
he  also  sweetens  it  by  the  unction  of  his  grace,  and 
he  himself  comes  to  our  assistance  and  enables  us 
to  bear  its  weight.  How  many  souls  bear  testimony 
that  they  find  it  as  delicious  as  it  is  meritorious  to 
them!  whilst  those  who  bear  it  with  impatience 
groan  under  the  load,  and  make  it  a  double  hell,  that 
of  this  life,  and  that  of  the  other.  Since  we  must 
suffer  in  one  way  or  another,  is  it  not  more  rational 
to  save  ourselves  by  suffering  less,  than  to  damn 
ourselves  by  suffering  more  ? 

( s )  If  each  day  has  its  pain,  each  day  should 
also  have  its  patience.  This  is  said  for  those  per- 
sons  who  have  their  good  and  bad  days,  like  inter¬ 
mittent  fevers. 

( 4 )  Here  all  the  potentates  of  the  earth  fall 
short.  Not  one  of  them  was  ever  able  to  say 


628 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


whole  world,  and  suffer  the  loss  of  his 
soul?  Or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  ex¬ 
change  for  his  soul?  (St.  Mark  viii.  35-37.) 

To  feel  the  full  force  of  this  reasoning, 
we  must  remark  that  our  Saviour  seems  to 
suppose  a  man  who  would  give  his  life  for 
some  one,  or  even  for  all  the  goods  of  this 
life.  It  is  evident  that  this  man  would  be 
a  fool,  since  by  losing  his  life  he  would 
make  himself  incapable  of  enjoying  what 
he  might  acquire  at  this  price  ;  and  gain¬ 
ing  nothing  more,  he  would  have  a  life  the 
less.  Now  such,  and  a  thousand  times 
worse,  is  he  who  saves  his  life  at  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  his  soul,  that  is  to  say,  who  pre¬ 
serves  the  present  life  by  the  sacrifice  of 
that  which  is  to  come.  It  may  be  said  that 
he  saves  nothing,  since  he  must  necessarily 
lose  whatsoever  he  saves,  and  that  the 
moment  will  come  when  he  shall  be  in  this 
regard  just  in  the  same  position  as  if  he 
had  not  saved  it  ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
he  will  find  that  he  has  lost  everything, 
since  the  life  which  he  has  lost  must  last 
eternally ;  and  that,  in  this  eternal  dura¬ 
tion,  there  will  not  be  one  instant  in  which 
it  may  not  be  said  in  truth  of  him  :  He 
has  lost  all.  While  the  man  who  has 
sacrificed  his  life  to  his  duty,  will  find  that 
he  has  lost  nothing,  since  what  he  has  lost 
must  necessarily  have  perished,  and  he 
shall  have  gained  everything  by  gaining  a 
life  eternal  and  eternally  happy.  Christ 
speaks  directly  of  the  sacrifice  of  life,  be¬ 
cause  this  alone  'compromises  all  others  ; 

Those  are  gainers  who  lose  their  lives  in  my  ser¬ 
vice.  Nevertheless,  those  may  he  gainers  who  lose 
their  lives  in  the  service  of  a  prince ;  but  this  is 
when,  in  the  service  of  the  prince,  they  have  in 


and,  moreover,  because  the  profession  of 
Christianity  was  going  to  be,  by  reason  of 
the  persecutions  which  were  to  arise,  a 
proximate  occasion  for  the  sacrifice  of  life. 
It  was  necessary  to  prepare  the  new  dis¬ 
ciples  for  this  ;  but,  in  order  to  do  so  in 
the  most  efficacious  manner,  and  to  coun¬ 
teract  fear  by  a  greater  fear,  he  displays 
before  their  eyes  the  formidable  spectacle 
of  that  great  judgment  in  which  he  is  to 
overwhelm,  with  the  weight  of  his  eternal 
indignation,  those  cowardly  disciples  whom 
the  sight  of  torments  and  of  death  causes 
to  fall  into  a  shameful  apostasjL  It  is  for 
this  purpose  that,  immediately  after  the 
last  words  which  we  have  recorded,  he 
uttered  these:  “For  he  that  shall  be 
ashamed  of  me  and  of  my  words  in  this 
adulterous  and  sinful  generation,  the  Son 
of  man  also  will  be  ashamed  of  him,  when 
he  shall  come”  (St.  Mark  viii.  38)  “in  his 
majesty,  and  that  of  his  Father,  and  that 
of  his  holy  angels.”  (St.  Luke  ix.  26.) 
“For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the 
glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels  :  and 
then  will  he  render  to  every  man  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  works.”  Then  addressing  his 
words  to  his  disciples  alone,  “he  said  to 
them  :  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  there  are 
some  of  them  that  stand  here  that  shall 
not  taste  death,  till  they  see  the  king¬ 
dom  of  Gfod  coming  in  power,”  “  the  Son 
of  man  coming  in  ”  the  splendors  of  “his 
kingdom.”  (St.  Matt.  xvi.  27,  28 ;  St. 
Mark  viii.  39.) 

view  only  God’s  service ;  and  in  that  case  it  is  not 
the  prince,  but  God  alone  who  promises  and  gives 
the  recompense. 


TRANSFIGURATION. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


629 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  TRANSFIGURATION.— RETURN  OF  ELIAS  ANNOUNCED.— CHRIST’S  HUMILIATION  CONTRASTED 

WITH  HIS  GLORY. 


THIS  magnificent  promise  was  ere 
long  to  be  fulfilled  ;  for  we  believe, 
with  the  majority  of  ancient  commentators, 
that  it  was  accomplished  in  the  transfigu¬ 
ration.  Those  who  choose  to  find  its  ac¬ 
complishment  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Church  on  the  ruins  of  razed  Jerusalem, 
have  not  borne  in  mind  that  the  Son  of 
man  did  not  there  appear  in  person ;  and 
still  it  is  here  said  that  he  shall  be  seen. 
Others  have  thought  that  the  state  in 
which  he  appeared  after  his  resurrection, 
and  still  more  the  glory  which  accom¬ 
panied  his  ascension,  suffice  to  verify  the 
prediction.  This  may  be  ;  but  then  he 
was  seen  by  all  his  disciples,  and  here  it 
is  said  that  he  shall  only  be  seen  by  some. 
Lastly,  the  accomplishment  has  been  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  last  judgment ;  and  all  here 
would  be  consistent,  if  some  of  his  dis¬ 
ciples  were  never  to  die  ;  but  we  know 
that  this  privilege  was  not  granted  to  any 
one  of  them,  for  it  has  been  long  ago  re¬ 
cognized  that  the  pretended  immortality 
of  Saint  John  is  merely  a  popular  notion, 
without  any  solid  foundation.  There  re- 

( 1 )  Saint  Luke  says  about  eight  days  after. 
Saint  Matthew  and  Saint  Mark  say  six  days  after  : 
they  all  agree.  Saint  Luke  includes  the  day  when 
Jesus  held  the  discourse,  and  that  on  which  the 
event  took  place,  while  the  two  other  evangelists 
do  not  reckon  them. 


mains,  then,  but  the  transfiguration,  on 
which  occasion  some  of  those  who  were 
present  had  the  advantage  of  seeing  Jesus, 
not  in  the  actual  exercise,  but  in  the  glory 
of  his  kingdom,  that  is  to  say',  such  as  he 
shall  appear  on  that  great  day  when  his 
dazzling  splendor  shall  efface  the  light  of 
the  sun,  and  all  the  glory  of  earth  and 
heaven.  We  have  said  that  the  Saviour 
did  not  delay  in  accomplishing  his  promise  ; 
in  fact,  “about  eight  days  after  these 
words”  (the  preceding  discourse),1  Jesus 
“  take th  with  him  ”  his  three  favorite  dis¬ 
ciples  “  Peter  and  James,”  “  and  John  his 
brother,  and  bringeth  them  up  into  a  high 
mountain”  “  apart  by  themselves  ”  whither 
he  went  up,  “  to  pray.”  “  And  whilst  he 
prayed,  the  shape  of  his  countenance  was 
altered,”2  “  and  he  was  transfigured  before 
them.  And  his  face  did  shine  as  the  sun  :  ” 
“and  his  garments  became  shining  and 
glittering,  and  exceeding  white  as  the 
snow,  so  as  no  fuller  upon  earth  can 
make  white.”  “And  behold,  there  ap¬ 
peared  two  men,  who  were  talking  with 
him.  And  they  were  Moses  and  Elias,3 


( J )  His  countenance  appeared  quite  different, 
not  in  the  features,  which  were  still  the  same,  but 
by  their  lustre  and  majesty. 

( ’ )  It  is  certain  that  Elias  was  present  in  body 
and  soul.  We  are  ignorant  whether  the  same  was 
the  case  with  regard  to  Moses.  God  might  either 


630 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


appearing  in  majesty,  and  they  spoke”  of 
his  passion  and  “of  his  decease,  that  he 
should  accomplish  in  Jerusalem.  But 
Peter  and  they  that  were  with  him  were 
heavy  with  sleep  ”  which  strengthens  the 
conjecture  of  those  who  think  that  this 
occurred  in  the  evening.  “And  awaking, 
they  saw  his  glory,  and  the  two  men  that 
stood  with  him.”  As  Moses  and  Elias 
“were  departing  from  him,”  charmed  with 
the  glory  of  his  Master,  and  tasting  a 
part  of  the  joy  with  which  he  fills  the 
saints  who  see  it  in  all  his  lustre,  “  Peter 
saith  to  Jesus  :  Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to 
be  here.”  “If  thou  wilt,  let  us  make  here 
three  tabernacles  :  one  for  thee,  one  for 
Moses  and  one  for  Elias.”1  (St.  Luke  ix. 
28-33  ;  St.  Matt.  xvii.  1,  2  ;  St.  Mark  ix. 
1,  2.) 

Could  glorified  men,  such  as  were  Moses 
and  Elias,  require  a  dwelling  to  be  pre¬ 
pared  for  them  upon  earth  ?  And  had  the 
Son  of  man  come  down  merely  to  fix  his 
residence  upon  a  mountain,  away  from  the 
view  and  commerce  of  men  ?  Peter’s  pro¬ 
posal,  therefore,  was  unreasonable  :  in¬ 
deed,  it  is  added  that  “  he  knew  not  what 

» 

he  said,  for,”  besides  the  surprise  and  joy 
which  had  seized  upon  them,  he  and  his 
companions  “were  struck  with  fear.” 
Nevertheless,  his  desires  were  in  some 
way  accomplished.  “And  as  he  spoke 
these  things,  there  came  a  bright  cloud, 

have  resuscitated  him,  or  formed  for  him  a  body 
from  air,  like  that  which  angels  assume  when  they 
appear  in  a  visible  form. 

( 1 )  Peter  knew  them  either  by  inspiration  or  by 
some  particular  mark,  which  served  to  make  them 
known  to  those  who  were  acquainted  with  their 


and  overshadowed  them  ”  like  a  celestial 
tabernacle  covering  them  over  with  its 
shining  rays.  Moses  and  Elias  sank  into 
the  cloud  and  disappeared.  The  apostles 
“were”  still  more  “afraid”  when  they 
entered  into  the  cloud.  And  lo,  a  voice 
came  out  of  the  cloud,  saying:  “This  is 
my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased  ;  hear  ye  him.”  “  And  whilst  the 
voice  was  uttered,  Jesus  was  found  alone,” 
in  order  that  there  might  be  no  doubt  that 
the  voice  spoke  of  him  only.  “  And  the 
disciples  hearing,  were  very  much  afraid, 
and  fell  upon  their  face.  But  Jesus  came 
and  touched  them,  and  said  to  them  : 
Arise,  and  fear  not.  Then  lifting  up  their 
e}Tes,”  “  and  immediately  looking  about, 
they  saw  no  one  but  only  Jesus  ”  (St. 
Mark  ix.  5-7  ;  St.  Matthew  xvii.  3-8  ;  St. 
Luke  ix.  34-36),  returned  to  his  usual  ap¬ 
pearance,  that  is  to  say,  that  he  again 
checked  those  torrents  of  light  which 
strove  continually  to  flow  from  his  divin¬ 
ity  upon  his  humanity.  For  the  glorious 
state  in  which  he  had  just  exhibited  him¬ 
self  was,  if  we  may  so  speak,  his  natural 
state  ;  and  the  miracle  was,  not  that  he 
should  have  appeared  for  some  moments 
in  this  glory,  which  was  proper  to  the  only 
Son  of  the  Father,  but  that,  by  an  effect 
of  his  Omnipotence,  he  kept  it  closed  up 
within  himself,  and  prevented  it  striking 
or  dazzling  all  eyes. 

history,  nearly  in  the  same  way  as  we  recognize 
them  in  pictures;  or  perhaps  that  Jesus,  in  the 
conversation  which  he  had  with  them,  and  part  of 
which  the  apostles  may  have  heard,  had  named 
them  when  he  addressed  them. 


1 

OP  OUR  LORI) 

JESUS  CHRIST.  631 

“  As  they  came  down  from  the  moun- 

in  the  literal  sense,  they'  feared  lest  this 

tain;  Jesus  charged  his  disciples  not  to  tell 

sense  should  also  deceive  them  on  the 

any  man  what  things  they  had  seen  till 

present  occasion. 

the  Son  of  man  shall  be  risen  again  from 

The  thought  of  his  resurrection  recalled 

the  dead.”  (St.  Mark  ix.  8.)  Of  the  sev- 

to  them  the  remembrance  of  his  death. 

eral  reasons  which  are  assigned  for  this 

It  appears  even  that  they  had  caught  a 

mysterious  silence,  the  most  simple,  and 

glimpse  of  the  fact  that  his  death  was  not 

perhaps,  for  that  reason,  the  true  one,  is, 

far  distant,  and  this  troubled  them.  For 

that  it  was  in  the  order  of  the  divine  de- 

as  yet  they  had  no  idea  of  his  second  com- 

crees  that  the  glory  of  the  Man-Gfod 

ing  ;  and,  believing  his  death  to  be  the 

should  not  be  fully  manifested  until  after 

termination  of  all  he  was  to  do  in  this 

his  passion  ;  and,  master  of  his  own  favors 

world,  they  were  surprised  not  to  see  the 

and  predilections,  he  did  not  wish  to  ex- 

accomplishment  of  an  ancient  prophecy, 

tend  further  the  particular  revelation 

which,  according  to  the  opinion  of  all 

which  he  had  just  made  to  his  three  most 

their  doctors,  was  to  be  an  unerring  pre- 

cherished  disciples.  They,  without  seek- 

liminary  to  the  exploits  of  the  Messias, 

ing  for  other  reasons,  had  a  sufficient  mo- 

and  to  the  establishment  of  his  kingdom 

tive  for  silence  in  the  order  of  Jesus  not 

on  earth.  This  prophecy  concerned  the 

to  speak.  “They  held  their  peace,  and 

coming  of  Elias,  whose  arrival  the}7  did 

told  no  man  in  those  days  any  of  these 

not  see  ;  for  what  had  just  occurred  before 

things  which  they  had  seen.”  (St.  Luke 

their  eyes  was  to  be  regarded  as  simply  a 

ix.*36.)  Nevertheless,  as  they  were  not 

brief  apparition.  To  clear  it  up,  “they 

forbidden  to  speak  of  it  among  themselves, 

asked  him,  saying :  Why,  then,  do  the 

“  they  kept  the  word  to  themselves,  ques- 

Pharisees  and  Scribes  say  that  Elias  must 

tioning  to  one  another  what  that  should 

come  first?”  “But  he  answering,  said 

mean :  When  he  shall  be  risen  from  the 

to  them,”  speaking  of  his  second  coming: 

dead.”  (St.  Mark  ix.  9.)  Nothing  was 

“Elias  indeed  shall  come,  and  restore  all 

more  clear  ;  but  because  it  had  frequently 

things  ;  ” 1  “  and  ”  he  also,  “  as  it  is  writ- 

happened  that  they  had  deceived  them- 

ten  of  the  Son  of  man,  must  suffer  many 

selves,  by  explaining  the  words  of  Jesus 

things  and  be  despised.”2  But,  lastly, 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  that  he  will  bring  the  Jews 

(2)  Elias  will  be  persecuted  like  Christ.  We 

to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  Messias.  This  is  the 

read  in  the  11th  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  that 

common  opinion,  and  it  appears  certain.  The 

the  beast  shall  overcome  the  two  witnesses,  and 

Jews  also  believe  that  Elias  will  come,  and  re-es- 

kill  them.  The  common  opinion  is,  that  Elias  and 

tablish  all  things ;  which  coming,  however,  they 

Enoch  are  these  two  witnesses.  Jesus  Christ,  by 

understand  in  a  manner  very  different  from  our 

foretelling  that  the  first  shall  endure  treatment 

way  of  conceiving  the  event.  They  expect  from 

similar  to  his  own,  renders  his  death  more  than 

him  also  the  solution  of  all  their  doubts.  This  is 

probable.  The  death  of  Enoch  is  not  the  less 

their  final  reply  to  great  difficulties.  “Elias  will 

probable,  if  it  were  only  by  virtue  of  the  common 

come,”  say  they,  no  longer  knowing  what  to  say. 

law,  from  which  there  is  no  likelihood  of  any 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


632 


if  it  must  be  necessary  for  each  occurrence 
to  have  its  own  Elias,  and  in  order  to 
take  away  this  pretext  from  the  incredu¬ 
lity  of  the  Jews,  “  I  say  to  you,”  added 
onr  Saviour,  “  that  Elias  is  already  come, 
and  they  knew  him  not,  but  have  done 
unto  him  whatsoever  they  had  a  mind,” 
“  as  it  is  written  of  him.”  “So  also  the 
Son  of  man  shall  suffer  from  them.  Then 
the  disciples  understood  that  he  had 
spoken  to  them  of  John  the  Baptist.”  (St. 
Mark  ix.  10-12  ■  St.  Matthew  xvii.  11-13.) 

Recalling  to  mind  a  part  of  what  we 
have  just  read,  we  may  remark  that  the 
grandeur  of  Jesus  develops  itself  here 
with  a  magnificence  which  had  never  be¬ 
fore  appeared.  His  divine  Sonship  is 
recognized  and  clearly  confessed  by  the 
chief  of  the  apostles.  He  himself  displays 
before  their  eyes  the  superb  pomp  and 
formidable  array  of  the  great  judgment,  in 
which,  from  the  height  of  the  throne  of 
justice,  where  he  shall  appear  escorted 
by  myriads  of  angels,  he  shall  decree,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  quality  of  the  works,  infi¬ 
nite  joys  or  eternal  punishments  ;  and  that 
they  might  not  think  that  this  is  advanced 
gratuitously,  he  gives  to  some  of  them  an 
earnest  of  the  truth  of  his  words,  by  show¬ 
ing  himself  to  them  in  the  lustre  of  his 
glory,  even  as  he  shines  forth  in  the  high¬ 
est  heaven,  whence  his  light  diffuses 
through  the  vast  extent  of  the  empyrean 
of  which  he  is  the  eternal  sun.  But  it 
may  have  also  been  remarked,  that  his 
passion  had  not  been  either  so  clearly 


man’s  being  exempted,  after  the  Author  of  life 
deigned  to  subject  himself  to  it. 


foretold,  and  so  often  alluded  to,  as  in  the 
discourse.  We  see  it  at  every  moment 
surge  out,  as  it  were,  from  the  midst  of 
his  splendor  ;  and  form  with  it  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  light  and  shade,  the  contrast  of 
which  must  have  been,  in  the  eyes  of  his 
disciples,  a  truly  surprising  spectacle.  All 
this  was  for  their  instruction.  The  Christ 
was  to  be  presented  to  them  entire  ;  that 
is  to  say,  with  all  his  ignominy  and  all  his 
glory.  Such  he  had  been  announced  by 
the  prophets,  reuniting  in  his  person  all 
the  attributes  of  divinity  and  all  the  low¬ 
liness  of  humanity  ;  as  such  at  one  time 
the}''  style  him  the  strong  God  ;  and  at 
another,  the  last  of  men.  Nothing  so  ex¬ 
alted  as  the  throne  of  the  Divinity,  and 
they  show  him  unto  us  seated  there. 
Nothing  so  low  as  the  death  of  a  criminal, 
and  they  declare  to  us  that  he  shall  be 
condemned  to  it.  Such  opposite  extremes 
are  included  in  the  name  of  our  Saviour. 
Jesus  Christ  was  only  to  be  such,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  word  of  the  angel,  by  saving 
his  people  from  their  sins.  Now,  he  could 
save  therefrom  only  by  expiating  them, 
and  he  could  expiate  them  only  by  satis- 
f}Ting  the  divine  justice,  which  required 
that  the  debt  contracted  should  be  rigor¬ 
ously  paid.  Hence  it  was  requisite  that 
there  should  be  a  subject  capable  of  hu¬ 
miliation  and  of  suffering,  and  he  who  was 
simply  God  could  not  be  such.  And  then 
too  a  subject  of  dignity  so  eminent  as  to 
impart  to  his  humiliation  and  sufferings 
merit  proportioned  to  the  infinite  justice 
which  he  was  obliged  to  satisfy,  and  this 
was  infinitely  higher  than  any  merely  cre¬ 
ated  being  could  merit.  Therefore,  a 


CHRIST  HEATING 


A  LUNATIC. 


M  r  M 


a,  r 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  633 

Christ  was  necessary  ;  that  is  to  say,  a 

profits  only  inasmuch  as  it  is  accompanied 

Man-God,  and  a  Christ  humbled  and  suf- 

by  interior  light,  which  renders  it  obliga- 

fering  •  for  this  explains  the  entire  mys- 

tory  on  us  to  beg  it  without  ceasing.  It 

tery.  In  our  days,  even  children  know 

was  not,  therefore,  without  reason  nor 

this  truth  ;  then  the  apostles  did  not  com- 

without  fruit  that  Christ  announced  to  his 

prebend  it.  But  the  time  was  not  yet 

disciples  certain  truths,  of  whose  connec- 

come  to  confer  upon  them  the  gift  of  un- 

tion  and  expediency  he  left  them  in  igno- 

derstanding.  Jesus  labored,  so  to  say, 

ranee.  His  function  was  to  engrave  in 

only  to  deposit  the  ideas  in  the  treasury  of 

their  souls  the  mysterious  characters  of 

their  memory,  where  it  was  to  remain  bu- 

which  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  furnish  the 

ried  until  the  Hoty  Ghost  came  to  unravel 

key.  They  learned  all  from  Christ,  and 

the  confusion,  and  dissipate  the  obscurity. 

they  understood  all  through  the  Holy 

Thus  this  spirit  of  light  was  to  co-operate 

Ghost,  who  is  said  to  have  taught  them  all 

in  the  manifestation  of  the  gospel  myste- 

things,  only  because  he  made  them  under- 

ries  ;  and  our  Saviour  likewise  teaches  us, 

stand  those  which  they  had  already  learn- 

by  this  conduct,  that  exterior  teaching 

ed,  and  which  they  did  not  comprehend. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

A  LUNATIC  CURED.— A  DEMON  WHO  CAN  BE  CAST  OUT  ONLY  BY  PRAYER  AND  FASTING.— AN- 

OTHER  PREDICTION  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  CHRIST  AND  OF  HIS  RESURRECTION.— PAYMENT  OF 

TRIBUTE. 

'  % 

TESUS,  and  the  apostles  who  accom- 

ning  to  him,  they  saluted  him.  And  lie 

j  panied  him,  passed  the  night  upon 

asked  them  :  What  do  you  question  about 

the  mountain.  “  The  day  following,  when 

among  you  ?  ”  Instantly,  and  before  they 

they  came  down  from  the  mountain,  there 

had  time  to  reply,  “behold  a  man  among 

met  them  a  great  multitude.”  Jesus 

the  crowd  cried  out,”  “  falling  down  on  his 

“  coming  to  his  ”  other  “  disciples,  saw  a 

knees  before  him,”  “  answering  :  Master, 

great  multitude  about  them.”  “  And 

I  have  brought  my  son  to  thee,  having  a 

presently  all  the  people  seeing  Jesus,  were 

dumb  spirit.”1  “I  beseech  thee,  look 

astonished  and  struck  with  fear,  and  run- 

upon  my  son,  because  he  is  my  only  one.” 

(  1 )  Jesus  Christ  calls  him  further  on,  “  Deaf 

away  from  this  child  the  faculties  of  hearing  and 

and  dumb  spirit.”  He  is  designated  by  the  effect 
which  he  produced,  which  consisted  in  taking 

80 

speaking. 

634 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


“Lord,”  said  likewise  this  afflicted  father, 
“have  pity  on  my  son,  for  he  is  a  lunatic,1 
and  suffereth  much,  for  he  falleth  often 
into  the  fire,  and  often  into  the  water.” 
“  Lo,  a  spirit  seizeth  him,  and  he  suddenly 
crieth  out  :  the  spirit  throweth  him  down,” 
“  and  dasheth  him,  so  that  he  foameth  and 
gnasheth  with  the  teeth,”  “  and  bruising 
him,  the  spirit  hardly  departeth  from 
him,”  and  my  son  “  pineth  away.”  “And  I 
brought  him  to  thy  disciples,  and  I  de¬ 
sired  them  to  cast  him  out,  and  they  could 
not.”  (St.  Luke  ix.  37-40  ;  St.  Mark  ix. 
13-17  ;  St.  Matt.  xvii.  14-15.) 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  it  was  this 
that  caused  the  subject  of  the  dispute. 
The  Scribes,  witnessing  the  want  of  power 
in  the  disciples,  used  it  as  an  argument 
against  them,  and  apparently  against  their 
Master,  from  whom  they  claimed  to  derive 
the  power  which  had  thus  been  found 
wanting.  The  disciples,  in  their  turn,  had 
not  had  sufficient  faith  to  expel  the  devil ; 
and  this  failure,  on  so  public  an  occasion, 
might  well  discourage  them,  and  cast  them 
into  a  state  of  despondency,  perhaps  even 
of  distrust.  The  father,  on  his  side,  had 
as  yet  a  very  uncertain  faith,  as  we  shall 
presently  see  by  his  words.  Thus  we  have 
good  reason  for  thinking  that  to  every  one 

( 1 )  Because  the  demon  tormented  him  by  fits. 
Perhaps  he  had  regular  paroxysms  following  the 
course  of  the  moon.  If  it  be  true,  as  several  an¬ 
cients  assert,  that  he  wished  to  conceal  the  posses¬ 
sion  by  the  symptoms  of  sickness,  he  failed  to  con¬ 
ceal  his  tricks ;  for  we  here  see  that  no  one  doubted 
that  the  youth  was  possessed.  To  add  to  this,  that 
what  he  had  in  view  was  to  induce  men  to  blas¬ 
pheme  against  the  Creator  of  the  moon,  whom  they 
would  have  regarded  as  the  cause  of  all  the  evil, 


assembled  there  was  addressed  this  ex¬ 
pression  of  indignation,  spoken  by  the 
mildest  of  men,  after  he  had  heard  the 
account  of  what  had  occurred:  “0  faith¬ 
less  and  perverse  generation,”  said  he  to 
them,  “how  long  shall  I  be  with  you?” 
“  how  long  shall  I  suffer  you?”  “Bring 
hither  thy  son  ”  (St.  Luke  ix.  41,  42 ;  St. 
Matt.  xvii.  16  ;  St.  Mark  ix.  18),  he  added 
to  the  father.  “  And  they  brought  him.” 
“As  he  was  coming,”  “  and  when  he  had 
seen  Jesus,  immediately  the  spirit  troubled 
him  ;  ”  “  the  devil  threw  him  down,”  “and 
he  rolled  about  foaming.”  Jesus  permitted 
this,  that  the  greatness  of  his  power  might 
be  better  known  when  all  understood  the 
greatness  of  the  evil,  and,  because  the 
knowledge  of  its  duration  tended  to  this 
end,  “  He  asked  his  father :  How  long 
time  is  it  since  this  hath  happened  unto 
him  ?  From  his  infancy,  said  the  father  ; 
and  oftentimes  hath  the  devil  cast  him  into 
the  fire  and  into  waters,  to  destroy  him  : 
but,  if  thou  canst  do  anything,  help  us, 
having  compassion  on  us.”  He  doubted 
whether  the  power  was  vested  in  Jesus, 
and  Jesus  informs  him  that  by  faith  he 
himself  might  become  all-powerful:  “If 
thou  canst  believe,  he  saith  to  him,  all 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth. 

is  supposing  in  him  an  intention  highly  worthy  of 
his  wickedness;  but  such  a  trick  did  no  credit 
to  his  subtlety,  since,  after  all,  every  one  laid  the 
matter  to  his  charge,  and  no  one  blamed  the  moon. 
God  permitted  the  demon  to  take  possession  of 
this  young  man,  and  to  torment  him  at  intervals. 
The  demon  tormented  him  whenever  he  could,  and 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  and  always  less  than 
he  wished.  We  must  not  seek  other  mysteries 
here. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  635 

And  immediately  the  father  of  the  boy 

prodigy,  suspect  their  Master  of  being 

crying  out.,  with  tears,  said  :  I  do  believe ; 

powerless.  Wishing,  therefore,  to  know 

Lord,  help  my  unbelief.1  And  when  Jesus 

the  cause  of  their  own  inability  to  perform 

saw  the  multitude  running  together,  he 

the  cure,  “  When  Jesus  was  come  into  the 

threatened  the  unclean  spirit,  saying  to 

house,”  “  the  disciples  came  secretly  to 

him  :  Deaf  and  dumb  spirit,  I  command 

him,”  “  and  asked  him  :  Why  could  not 

thee  go  out  of  him,  and  enter  not  any 

we  cast  him  out  ?  Jesus  said  to  them : 

more  into  him.”  The  demon  obeyed,  yet, 

Because  of  your  unbelief.”  (St.  Mark  is. 

still  demon-like,  “  crying  out,  and  greatly 

27  ;  St.  Matt.  xvii.  18-20.)  Then,  en- 

tearing  him,2  he  went  out  of  him  ;  and  the 

lightened  as  to  their  own  deficiency,  “  the 

child  became  as  dead,  so  that  many  said  : 

apostles  said  to  the  Lord  :  Increase  our 

He  is  dead.  But  Jesus,  taking  him  by  the 

faith.”  (St.  Luke  xvii.  5,  6.)  We  must 

hand,  lifted  him  up,  and  he  arose  ”  (St. 

presume  that  our  Saviour  then  granted,  to 

Mark  is.  19-26)  ;  “  and  the  child  was  cured 

a  certain  extent,  a  prayer  which  could  have 

from  that  hour.”  Jesus  “restored  him  to 

been  inspired  by  him  alone.  But  to  the 

his  father.  And  all  were  astonished  at 

end  that  they  might  better  prize  so  great 

the  mighty  power  of  Gfod.”  (St.  Matt. 

a  gift,  and  that  they  might  learn  to  desire 

xvii.  17  ;  St.  Luke  is.  43,  44.) 

it  with  more  ardor,  and  ask  it  with  more 

Yet  the  disciples  took  to  heart  their  dis- 

earnestness,  “  the  Lord  said  to  them:  If 

comfiture  before  so  numerous  an  assem- 

you  had  faith  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard- 

blage.  They  could  no  longer,  after  this 

seed,3  you  might  say  to  this  mulberry-tree,” 

( 1 )  We  may  expect  to  be  heard,  when,  having 

comparison  here  is  with  reference  to  the  smallness 

commenced  by  performing  what  depends  upon 

of  the  seed.  Jesus  Christ  would  have  said  nothing 

ourselves,  we  request  of  God  to  do  the  remainder. 

very  wonderful  by  saying :  If  you  have  faith  full 

“God  doth  not  command  impossibilities;  but  when 

of  vivacity  and  ardor,  you  could  remove  mountains. 

he  commands,  he  warns  us  to  do  what  we  can,  to 

The  wonder  is  much  greater,  and  the  eulogium  of 

ask  for  what  we  cannot  do,  and  gives  strength  to 

faith  much  more  magnificent,  if  it  be  asserted  that 

enable  us  to  perform  it. 

its  virtue  is  such  that  he  who  has  faith,  even  as 

( * )  Image  of  the  violent  agitation  which  the 

small  in  quantity  as  is  the  grain  of  mustard-seed. 

devil  excites  in  a  soul  which  he  is  forced  to  leave. 

would  never  find  anything  whatever  impossible ; 

It  is  a  species  of  agony  through  which  we  pass  from 

and  it  seems  that  all  the  bystanders  understood  the 

death  to  life.  Jesus  is  present,  holding  out  his 

comparison  in  this  sense.  But  does  it  not  follow 

hand,  and  aiding  us  to  rise.  One  is  surprised  to  find 

from  thence,  that  he  who  should  not  have  that 

himself,  or  rather  another  self  as  different  from 

faith  which  may  remove  mountains,  could  have  no 

what  he  was  as  peace  is  from  trouble,  and  health 

faith  at  all,  since,  in  point  of  faith,  he  would  be  in- 

from  fever.  0  God  of  help !  can  men  still  desire 

ferior  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  which  is  here 

to  abandon  thee  and  return  again  to  the  tyrant’s 

given  to  represent  the  very  smallest  thing  in  the 

fetters  ? 

world  ?  In  reply  to  this  difficulty,  it  may  be  said, 

( * )  Most  of  the  ancients  thought  that  our  Sa- 

that  the  question  here  is  of  faith  perfect  in  its  own 

viour  meant  to  say  a  faith  lively  and  ardent  as  the 

kind :  the  faith  which  excludes  all  hesitation  and 

grain  of  mustard-seed.  It  is  more  likely  that  the 

all  doubt.  As  the  virtues  of  creatures  can  never 

I 

636  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

there  was  one  before  their  eyes  :  “  Be  thou 

After  leaving  Thabor,  Jesus  turned  his 

rooted  up,  and  be  thou  transplanted  into 

thoughts  towards  Calvary.  He  must  go 

the  sea  ;  and  it  would  obey  you.”  (St.  Luke 

on  to  find  it  in  Judea  and  at  Jerusalem  ; 

xvii.  6.)  “  For”  said  he  further  to  them, 

but  he  wished  to  visit  Capharnaum  again 

to  make  them  more  sensible  of  the  efficacy 

before  he  left  it  never  to  return.  This 

of  faith,  “  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  if  you  have 

was  one  grace  more  which  he  accorded  to 

faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  you  shall 

that  unbelieving  city  ;  and  he  who  saw, 

say  to  this  mountain,”  this  apparently  was 

with  regret,  the  loss  of  souls,  whose 

the  mountain  whereon  he  was  transfigured, 

salvation  was  about  to  cost  him  all  his 

and  which  was  visible  from  the  spot  where 

blood,  required  no  other  motive  to  under- 

Jesus  spoke  :  “  Remove  from  hence  hither, 

take  the  journey.  “  Departing  from 

and  it  shall  remove  ;  and  nothing  shall  be 

thence,”  from  the  vicinity  of  the  mountain, 

impossible  to  you.,r  (St.  Matt.  xvii.  19.) 

where  they  do  not  appear  to  have  tarried 

To  this  observation  Jesus  added  another, 

more  than  one  dayq  Jesus  and  his  dis- 

which  bore  a  more  particular  reference  to 

ciples  “passed  through  Galilee  ;”  but,  in 

the  subject  in  hand  :  “  But  this  kind  of 

order  that  he  might  not  be  retarded  on  his 

demon  is  not  cast  out  but  by  prayer  and  fast- 

journey,  Jesus  “  would  not  that  any  man 

ing.”1  (St.  Matt.  xvii.  20  ;  St.  Mark  ix.  28.) 

should  know  it.”  “  And  when  they  abode 

reach  infinite  perfection,  so  this  faith,  although 

Moses  did  when  he  struck  the  rock  twice ;  for, 

perfect  in  its  species,  may  still  have  or  not  have 

says  Saint  Chrysostom,  faith,  even  in  the  just 

certain  degrees  of  perfection.  Nevertheless,  as  soon 

themselves,  is  not  always  equally  lively  and  im- 

as  it  is  of  the  kind  which  utterly  excludes  distrust 

movable;  it  has  its  moments  of  weakness,  wherein 

and  hesitation,  the  possessor  thereof,  even  in  the 

it  doth  not  fall,  but  totters. 

lowest  degree  (which  degree  is  compared  in  small- 

( 1 )  It  often  occurs  that  the  demons  who  possess 

ness  to  the  grain  of  mustard-seed),  would  be  suffi- 

souls  cannot  be  expelled  by  any  other  means.  “  We 

ciently  qualified  to  work  the  greatest  prodigies. 

will  give  ourselves  continually  to  prayer  and  to  the 

The  idea  of  this  explanation  is  found,  it  is  thought, 

ministry  of  the  word.”  (Acts  vi.  4.)  They  knew, 

in  those  words  which  Jesus  Christ  uttered  on  an- 

therefore,  the  necessity  of  these  means.  Apos- 

other  occasion:  “For,  amen,  I  say  to  you,  if  you 

tolical  men,  who  have  learned  it  from  them  and 

have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  you  shall 

from  their  Master,  always  combine  prayer  with 

say  to  this  mountain :  Kemove  from  hence  hither ; 

preaching;  often  indeed  they  add  great  austerities. 

and  it  shall  remove;  and  nothing  shall  be  impos- 

Hell,  attacked  by  such  arms  does  not  long  resist ; 

sible  to  you.”  (St.  Matthew  xvii.  19.)  An  individ- 

but  makes  a  mockery  of  those  who  employ  mere 

ual  may  have  faith  in  mysteries  without  possessing 

words  against  it.  They  do  not  bear  away  from  hell 

the  faith  which  works  miracles.  Still,  it  was  a 

one  of  its  victims;  and,  perhaps,  the  fiend  does 

species  of  infidelity  in  the  apostles  not  to  have  this 

not  despair  of  beholding  the  men  of  words  become 

faith ;  because  after  Jesus  Christ  had  conferred 

his  prey.  Prayer,  unaccompanied  by  exhortation, 

upon  them  the  power  of  working  miracles,  and 

will  always  be  a  more  efficient  means  of  conversion 

specifically  that  of  expelling  demons,  it  was  no 

than  exhortation  without  prayer :  all  the  eloquence 

longer  permissible  for  them  to  doubt  as  to  this 

of  orators  could  never  have  effected  what  was  ac- 

power  being  efficacious,  every  time  the  occasion 

complished  by  the  tears  of  Monica. 

arose  for  them  to  exercise  it.  They  acted  nearly  as 

\ 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  637 

*  — - - -  . 

together  in  Galilee,”  “and  wliile  all  won¬ 
dered  at  all  the  things  he  did,”  “  he  taught 
his  disciples,”  “  and  said  to  them  :  ”  “  Lay 
you  up  in  your  hearts  these  words  :  The 
Son  of  man  shall  be  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  men.  And  they  shall  kill  him, 
and  after  that  he  is  killed  he  shall  rise 
again  the  third  day.”  (St.  Mark  ix.  29, 

30  ;  St.  Matt.  xvii.  21  ;  St.  Luke  ix.  44.) 

We  see  how  anxious  he  was  to  prevent 
the  idea  of  his  greatness  and  wonderful 
deeds  effacing  from  their  minds  that  of 
his  opprobrium  and  suffering.  Another 
reason  is  also  given  for  these  constantly 
repeated  predictions  of  his  approaching 
Passion.  They  showed  his  disciples  that 
his  Passion  was  to  be  purely  voluntary  (for 
he  who  could  foresee  it  could  easily  avoid 

it),  and  they  also  served  to  diminish  the 
scandal  it  was  to  give  them.  “But  the 
disciples  understood  not”  as  yet  “this 
word  :  and  it  was  hid  from  them,  so  that 
they  perceived  it  not.”1  And,  fearing  lest 
they  should  become  more  enlightened  than 
they  wished  to  be,  “they  were  afraid  to 
ask  him  concerning  this  word.”  (St.  Luke 
ix.  45.)  Yet  the  woes  which  they  saw 
but  indistinctly,  caused  that  “they  were 
troubled  exceedingly.”  (St.  Matt.  xvii.  22.) 

Of  all  that  Jesus  Christ  did  at 
Capharnaum  during  this  his  last  sojourn, 
the  evangelists  only  report  one  fact,  which 
comprises,  besides  a  signal  miracle,  a  deep 
fund  of  instruction.  “They  that  received 
the  didrachmas,” 2  which  every  Jew  paid  -  j 
yearly  for  the  support  of  the  temple, 

•  ( 1  )  It  is  in  vain  that  what  is  told  us  is  clear,  when 
it  displeases  us;  we  always,  in  such  cases,  find  it 
obscui'e.  Such,  with  reference  to  the  apostles, 
were  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  announced 
to  them  his  sufferings  and  death.  They  wounded 
the  love  which  they  bore  him  ;  they  disconcerted  the 
views  of  their  ambition,  which  knew  not  what  to 
expect  from  a  crucified  Messias.  They  would, 
therefore,  naturally  desire  that  his  words  might 
not  be  real.  Moreover,  we  have  already  remarked, 
that  they  could  not  reconcile  in  their  minds  the 
greatness  of  their  Master  with  such  prodigious 
humiliation.  The  speedy  establishment  of  his 
kingdom,  coupled  with  the  prediction  of  his  ap¬ 
proaching  death,  caused  them  too  inexplicable 
embarrassment.  Thus  they  comprehended  the 
terms  of  the  prediction,  which  were  clear;  but 
they  did  not  comprehend  the  thing  itself,  because 
they  found  it  to  clash  with  other  things  which  they 
knew  as  clearly  as  that  which  appeared  to  annihi¬ 
late  them. 

(’ )  The  didrachma  was  two  drachmas.  The 
drachma  was  the  eighth  part  of  an  ounce,  and  was 
worth  about  fifteen  cents  of  our  money.  The 

Romans  may  have  already  laid  hands  on  this  tribute, 
which  they  subsequently  appropriated  to  them¬ 
selves.  But,  in  that  case,  was  it  impossible  that 
the  Jews  should  pay  it  twice  over,  once  to  the 
Romans,  and  a  second  time  for  the  temple  ?  Their 
zeal  for  the  temple  and  for  the  Divine  worship, 
renders  this  conjecture  probable  enough.  The 
second  contribution  might  then,  indeed,  be  regard¬ 
ed  as  voluntary;  but  do  not  even  the  collectors 
seem  to  insinuate  as  much,  when,  in  lieu  of  exact¬ 
ing  it  absolutely,  they  merely  say :  “  Doth  not  your 
Master  pay  the  didrachma?”  Yet  what  appears 
most  decisive  in  favor  of  the  opinion  which  we 
have  followed  is,  that  we  no  longer  know  in  what 
sense  Jesus  Christ  declares  himself  exempt  from 
the  tribute,  on  account  of  his  quality  of  being  the 
son  of  Him  to  whom  it  is  paid,  if  this  tribute  be 
not  paid  to  God.  Jesus  Christ  could  never  be 
called,  in  any  sense,  the  son  of  the  Roman  emper¬ 
ors.  But,  it  has  been  said,  was  he  not  the  son  of 

David  ?  Yes  ;  but  remark,  that  it  is  not  the  sons 
of  kings,  generally  speaking,  who  are  here  declared 
to  be  exempted  from  the  tribute,  but  merely  the 
children,  properly  so  speaking,  of  the  kings  who 

638  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


“  came  to  Peter,  and  said  to  him  :  Doth 
not  your  Master  pay  the  didrachma  ?  ”  It 
has  been  contended  that  this  was  one  of 
those  captious  questions  wdiich  were  some¬ 
times  put  to  our  Saviour,  for  the  purpose 
of  calumniating  him  ;  and  that  they  ad¬ 
dressed  Peter,  thinking  that  he  would 
more  easily  fall  into  the  snare  than  his 
Master.  But  as  this  deep  malice  is  more 
characteristic  of  the  Pharisees  than  of  the 
Publicans,  whom  we  always  see  acting  well 
towards  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  more  natural 
to  think  that  they  put  this  question  to  the 
disciple  out  of  respect  for  the  Master : 
Peter  who  was  well  acquainted  with  what 
Jesus  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  on  the  like 
occasion,  “said:  Yes;”  my  blaster  does 
pay  the  didrachma.  “And  when  he  was 
come  into  the  house,  Jesus,”  to  whom 
nothing  is  unknown,  “prevented  him,  say¬ 
ing:  What  is  thy  opinion,  Simon?  The 
kings  of  the  earth,  of  whom  do  they  re¬ 
exact  it,  those  who  are  not  strangers  in  their  re¬ 
gard.  Shall  it  be  asserted  that  the  posterity  of 
David  were  not  strangers  to  the  Roman  emperors  ? 
Shall  it  be  asserted  that  all  this  posterity,  for  the 
assertion  here  is  not  confined  to  the  oldest  repre¬ 
sentative,  was  legitimately  dispensed  from  paying 
the  tribute  to  Caesar?  Is  this  reasonable?  Yet 
this  must  be  held,  if  it  he  true  that  the  quality  of 
son  of  David  dispensed  Jesus  Christ  from  paying 
the  tribute  to  the  Romans. 

( 1 )  We  have  already  spoken,  page  636,  of  the 


ceive  tribute  or  custom  ?  of  their  own 
children  or  of  strangers?  And  he  said: 
Of  strangers.  Jesus  said  to  him:  Then, 
the  children  are  free?”  And  with  much 
greater  reason  the  only  Son  of  Glod  should 
not  be  subjected  to  a  tribute  which,  being 
imposed  for  the  temple,  is  paid  really  to 
Glod,  who  is  there  adored.  This  conse¬ 
quence  flows  from  the  kind  of  parable 
which  Jesus  had  just  proposed  to  Peter. 
No  doubt  he  understood  its  meaning  ;  he 
who,  on  one  side,  was  not  ignorant  of  the 
object  of  this  kind  of  contribution,  and 
who,  on  the  other,  had  so  plainly  confessed 
the  divine  filiation  of  his  Master.  “  But,” 
added  our  Saviour,  “  that  we  may  not 
scandalize  them, 1  go  to  the  sea,  cast  in  a 
hook,  and  that  fish  which  shall  first  come 
up,  take  ;  and  when  thou  hast  opened  its 
mouth,  thou  shalt  find  a  stater  :  take  that, 
and  give  it  to  them  for  me  and  thee  ”  (St. 
Matt.  xvii.  23-26.) 

scandal  taken  through  malice,  and  which  must  be 
despised;  and  of  that  taken  out  of  weakness,  which 
must  be  considered.  This  scandal  was  of  the 
second  kind,  and  Jesus  Christ,  by  removing  it  as  he 
did,  inclines  us  the  more  to  believe  that  the  tribute 
was  not  asked  out  of  malice.  The  reason  for  not 
treating  the  first  with  caution  is,  that  malice  or 
wickedness  would  take  scandal  at  the  very  indul¬ 
gence  used  for  avoiding  scandal.  All  is  scandal  to 
him  who  wishes  to  take  scandal. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  639 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

DISPUTE  AMONG  THE  DISCIPLES  FOR  THE  FIRST  RANK. — EVANGELICAL  CHILDHOOD.— HE  WHO  IS 
NOT  AGAINST  US  IS  FOR  US.— SCANDAL.— RETRENCHING  ALL  THAT  IS  AN  OCCASION  OF  FAL¬ 
LING.— LITTLE  ONES  NOT  TO  BE  DESPISED.— THE  HUNDRED  SHEEP. 


SOON  the  disciples  forgot  their  afflic¬ 
tion,  to  think  only  of  what  flattered 
them.  Their  ambitious  ideas  soon  revived  ; 
and  deeming  themselves  already  great,  be¬ 
cause  they  reckoned  on  soon  being  so,  the 
only  doubt  remaining  was  to  know  who 
should  have  preeminence  over  the  rest. 
“  There  entered  a  thought  into  them  ”  to 
examine  therefore  “which  of  them  should 
be  greater.”  The  question  seemed  already 
resolved  in  favor  of  Peter,  whom  our 
Saviour  had  declared  the  foundation  of  his 
Church,  of  which  he  was  to  establish  him 
the  chief  and  first  pastor.  But  Andrew 
had  priority  of  vocation,  John  the  famil¬ 
iarity  of  his  Master,  and  James  his  elder 
brother  was  admitted  with  him  into  the 
most  intimate  confidence.  The  other 
James,  and  those  who,  like  him,  were 
styled  the  brothers  of  the  Lord,  appar¬ 
ently,  did  not  neglect  to  avail  themselves 
of  their  relationship,  which,  according  to 
the  usual  course  in  the  kingdoms  of  earth, 
gives  a  claim  to  the  highest  rank.  The 
majority,  therefore,  had  some  title  for  pre¬ 
tending  to  it  ;  and  who  can  doubt  but  that 
each  one  thought  his  own  the  best  ?  The 
only  title  which  could  decide  the  matter, 
under  the  principles  of  the  new  Gospel, 
was  wanting  in  all,  and  Jesus  availed 
himself  of  this  occasion  to  show  them  so  : 


“  Seeing  the  thoughts  of  their  heart,”  “  he 
asked  them  when  they  were  in  the  house  : 
What  did  you  treat  of  in  the  way  ?  ” 
Pride  betrays  its  shame,  by  its  fear  of  dis¬ 
covery.  “  But  they  held  their  peace,  for 
in  the  wa}T  they  had  disputed  among 
themselves,  which  of  them  should  be  the 
greatest.  Jesus,  sitting  down,  called  the 
twelve.”  (St.  Luke  ix.  46-47  ;  St.  Mark 
ix.  32-34.)  “  The  disciples  came  to  him,” 

and,  thinking  they  had  found  a  good  op¬ 
portunity  to  draw  from  him  an  explana¬ 
tion  that  might  clear  up  their  doubts,  with¬ 
out  acknowledging  their  ambitious  preten¬ 
sions,  instead  of  asking  who  was  greatest 
among  them,  “  they  say  to  him,”  leaving 
themselves,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  question  : 
“  Who,  thinkest  thou,  is  the  greater  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven?  ”  (St.  Matt,  xviii.  1.) 
Jesus  saw  more  in  these  words  than  they 
seemed  to  express  ;  and  in  order  to  reply, 
at  the  same  time,  to  what  they  said  and 
what  they  did  not  say,  he  pronounced  this 
sentence,  before  which  all  pride  must 
either  bend  or  be  crushed  :  “  If  any  man 
desire  to  be  first,  he  shall  be  the  last  of 
all,  and  the  minister  of  all.”  (St.  Mark 
ix.  34.) 

It  follows,  by  the  rule  of  contraries, 
that  he  who  wishes  to  be  first  and  master 
of  all,  shall  be  the  last  of  all.  Thus,  to 


G40 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


attain  the  object  of  their  pretensions,  they 
had  only  to  dispute  between  themselves 
who  should  most  deeply  humble  himself,  a 
dispute  far  different  from  that  in  which 
they  had  been  engaged,  and  a  dispute 
which  never  yet  engendered  quarrelling. 
But  in  order  to  give  them  a  sensible  idea 
of  that  humility  which  he  proposed  to 
them  as  the  only  foundation  for  the  high¬ 
est  elevation,  “  calling  unto  him  a  little 
child,”  “  whom,  when  he  had  embraced,” 
“he  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them,” 
“he  saitli  to  them:”  “Amen,  I  say  to 
you,  unless  you  be  converted,  and  become 
as  little  children,  you  shall  not  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.1  Whosoever, 
therefore,  shall  humble  himself  as  this  lit¬ 
tle  child,2  he  is  the  greater  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.”  (St.  Matt,  xviii.  2—4  ;  St.  Luke 
ix.  47  ;  St.  Mark  ix.  35.) 

Infancy  is  the  age  of  simplicity,  candor, 
and  innocence — amiable  qualities  which  a 
disciple  of  the  Gospel  should  strive  to 
have  at  every  age  ;  as  he  will  be  ever  all 
the  more  loved  by  God  and  man.  Yet, 
it  is  not  these  charming  virtues  that  Christ 
has  directly  in  view  in  the  words  that 
have  just  been  read  ;  that  here  meant  is 
of  a  more  sublime  perfection  ;  yet,  at  the (*) 

(*)  Catholic  commentators  would  not  have  us 
conclude  from  this  expression,  that  the  apostles 
would  have  been  excluded  from  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  had  they  died  in  the  state  in  which  they 
then  were;  that  is  to  say,  they  do  not  wish  us  to 
believe  that  they  were  in  a  state  of  damnation. 
Their  pride  had  not  yet  reached  that  degree  which 
renders  it  mortal ;  but  it  would  have  reached  it, 
had  they  not  suppressed  it,  and  it  would  inevitably 
have  caused  their  perdition.  The  Man-God  infalli¬ 
bly  foresaw  this ;  but  were  he  even  an  ordinary 


same  time,  of  less  difficult  practice. 
Children  enjoy  no  high  consideration  in 
the  world,  nor  ask  it ;  they  have  the  low¬ 
est  rank  in  society,  and  they  hold  to  it ; 
every  one  orders  them  about,  even 
their  very  slaves,  if  they  be  in  a  condi¬ 
tion  of  life  to  have  such  menial  attendants, 
and  they  obey  all :  so  it  may  be  said  with 
reference  to  them,  that  dependence  is 
their  natural  state.  This  is  the  point  of 
view  in  which  Jesus  here  admonishes  the 
apostles  to  resemble  them.  A  terrible 
effort  this  for  human  nature,  which  loves 
only  to  rule,  and  cannot  bear  to  be  ruled  ! 
But  what  renders  it  still  more  painful  is, 
the  advantage  which  men  are  too  apt  to 
take  of  this  humble  and  submissive  child¬ 
hood.  If  they  find  you  always  disposed 
to  obey  them,  they  will  tyrannize  over 
you  ;  if  you  exact  no  attention,  they  will 
despise  you  ;  if  you  put  yourself  under 
their  feet,  they  will  crush  you  :  you  must 
expect  it :  and  all  the  pride  of  the  disci¬ 
ples  must  have  been  stirred  up  at  the 
mere  thought  of  the  insupportable  arro¬ 
gance  they  would  have  to  encounter,  -and 
the  contempt  they  should  be  obliged  to 
swallow.  Jesus  Christ  proceeds  to  soften 
down  this  idea  for  them,  by  informing 

man,  he  might  very  reasonably  have  conjectured 
it.  Every  passion  tends  towards  crime,  and,  when 
long  fostered,  is  sure  to  end  there.  Stifle  in  the 
first  instance  these  rising  monsters,  if  you  do  not- 
wish  one  day  to  become  their  prey.  “  The  lion’s 
whelp  became  a  lion,  and  he  learned  to  catch  the 
prey,  and  to  devour  men.” — Ezechiel  xix.  3. 

( 2 )  Religious  obedience,  when  perfect,  is  the  per¬ 
fection  of  this  blessed  childhood.  Those  who  make 
light  of  it,  make  light  of  the  uncreated  wisdom; 
and  those  who  condemn  it,  condemn  the  Gospel. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


641 


them  that  by  this  childhood  which  yields 
to  all  and  resists  nothing,  they  shall  indeed 
be  the  butt  and  contempt  of  the  profane, 
but  that  they  shall  be  indemnified  for 
this  unjust  contempt,  by  the  esteem  of 
his  Father,  by  his  own,  and  by  that 
of  all  the  true  children  of  God,  in  re¬ 
gard  to  whom  he  gives  them  the  quality 
of  his  own  and  his  Father’s  representa¬ 
tives,  considering  as  done  to  his  Father 
and  to  himself  all  the  good  treatment 
which  his  disciples  shall  receive  from 
them.  For  it  is  difficult  to  find  another 
explanation  which  connects  the  preceding 
words  of  our  Saviour  with  those  which  he 
uttered  immediately  after:  “He  that 
shall  receive  one  such  little  child  as  this 
in  my  name,”  that  is  to  say,  a  perfect  im¬ 
itator  of  his  infancy,  “receivetli  me,  and 
whosoever  shall  receive  me,  receiveth  not 
me,  but  him  that  sent  me  ;  ”  “  for  he  that  is 
the  lesser  among  you  all,  he  is  the  greater,” 
(St.  Matthew  xviii.  5  ;  St.  Mark  ix.  36  ; 
St.  Luke  ix.  48),  and  thenceforward  the 
most  worthy  representative  of  me  and  of 
my  Father. 


( 1 )  John  had,  perhaps,  in  view  merely  to  cor¬ 
rect  what  he  deemed  an  irregularity:  perhaps  a 
little  jealousy  entered  into  his  motives.  The  apos¬ 
tles  were  cured  of  this  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Such  is  not  the  case  with  all  those  who 
have  succeeded  them  in  their  ministry.  There  are 
but  too  many  who  are  not  utterly  exempt  from 
that  unhappy  emulation,  which  turns  us  away 
from  any  good  which  is  not  done  by  ourselves  or 
by  our  own  friends.  How  much  good  has  it  not 
prevented  ?  And  can  we  here  refrain  from  ex¬ 
claiming  with  the  wise  man  :  “  Do  not  withhold 
him  from  doing  good  who  is  able  ;  if  thou  art  able, 
do  good  thyself  also.” — (Proverbs  iii.  27.) 


This  was  one  of  those  familiar  confer¬ 
ences  wherein,  with  the  zeal  of  a  master 
anxious  for  the  advancement  of  his  disci¬ 
ples,  our  Saviour  evinced  also  the  gra¬ 
ciousness  of  a  good  father  in  the  midst  of 
his  children.  He  does  not  blame  them  for 
interrupting  him,  and  does  not  hesitate 
to  interrupt  the  discourse  he  had  com¬ 
menced,  in  order  to  give  them  the  expla¬ 
nations  they  asked.  Hence  we  will  not 
be  surprised  that  the  well-beloved  disciple 
should  avail  himself  of  the  right  which  he 
granted  to  them  all,  or  that,  without  wait¬ 
ing  to  see  whether  Jesus  had  anything  fur¬ 
ther  to  state  on  the  subject  which  he  was 
then  treating,  he  proposed  another,  “John 
answering,  said  :  Master,  we  saw  a  certain 
man  casting  out  devils  in  thy  name,  and 
we  forbade  him,1  because  he  followeth  not 
with  us.”  John  wished  to  know  whether 
he  had  acted  right  or  wrong.  Jesus  sat¬ 
isfied  him  without  delay.  “And  Jesus 
said  to  him:  Forbid  him  not,”  “for 
there  is  no  man  that  doth  a  miracle 
in  my  name  and  can  soon  speak  ill  of 
me.”  8  For  he  that  is  not  against  you  is 


(’)  It  is  even  impossible  that  he  should  think 
so,  having  before  him  present  and  incontestable 
proof  of  his  divine  power.  But  were  he  capable 
of  speaking  evil  of  him,  he  could  not  do  so  at  the 
outset.  Could  he  blaspheme  a  name  by  virtue  of 
which  he  is  actually  operating  prodigies  ?  Even 
those  who  would  chiefly  be  opposed  to  this  name, 
if  they  retained  the  least  uprightness,  would  be  in¬ 
dignant  at  such  inconsistency,  and  reproach  him 
with  it  to  his  very  face. 

Hypocrites  sometimes  defend  the  cause  of  reli¬ 
gion,  because  they  find  it  their  interest  to  do  so, 
which  interest  is  at  bottom  their  sole  religion.  Let 
them  do  so  and  seem  to  believe  them.  They  bind 


81 


-7 

642  HISTORY  OF 

THE  LIFE 

for  you.”1  (St.  Luke  is.  49,  50  ;  St.  Mark 

drawn  :  “  Whosoever  shall  give  you  a 

is.  37-39.) 

cup  of  water  ”  “  to  drink  ”  “  in  my  name, 

In  fact,  if  the  slightest  thing  done  with 

because  you  belong  to  Christ  ;  Amen,  I 

a  view  to  honor  Jesus  done  for  the  least 

say  to  you,  he  shall  not  lose  his  reward.” 

of  those  who  Christ  shall  have  its  pay  and 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  slightest 

reward,  how  much  more  should  he  be  re- 

evil  done  to  the  least  of  those  who  belong 

warded  who,  by  the  miracles  which  he 

to  Christ  shall  have  its  penalty  and  chas- 

does  in  his  name,  is  instrumental  in  mak- 

tisement.  What,  therefore,  shall  be  the 

ing  known  his  power,  and  extending  his 

punishment  of  those  who,  by  scandal, 

glory  !  Thus,  instead  of  blaming  and  op- 

shall  have  mortally  wounded  his  soul  ?  A 

posing  him,  the  apostles  should  praise  and 

very  trifling  evil  in  the  judgment  of  those 

encourage  him  ;  they  should  treat  him  in 

who  reckon  souls  as  valueless  ;  and  it  is 

the  same  way  that  Jesus  Christ  wishes 

perhaps  for  this  reason  that  Jesus  Christ 

they  themselves  should  be  treated  for  his 

seems  to  compare  it  to  a  glass  of  water  ; 

sake.  It  is  this  that  he  insinuates  by  the 

yet  the  greatest  of  evils  in  the  eyes  of  the 

following  words,  which,  without  evading 

Saviour  of  souls,  who,  for  this  reason, 

the  question,  reduces  it  once  more  to  the 

launches  against  its  author  the  terrible 

*■' 

subject  from  which  he  had  been  with- 

sentence  which  we  find  comprised  in  the 

themselves  to  the  public.  They  will  not  dare  to 

in  liis  regard,  were  against  him  in  this  sense,  that 

attack  openly  what  may  have  publicly  been  de- 

they  refused  him  the  faith  and  the  devotion  which 

fended,  at  least  they  will  not  dare  to  do  so  imme- 

they  owed  him,  and  in  which  they  could  not  fail 

diately,  and  when  they  do  so,  it  will  be  only  half- 

without  crime.  It  is  of  these  he  said:  He  who  is 

way  and  with  precautions,  and  this  in  order  that 

not  with  me  is  against  me.  As  regards  exterior 

they  may  not  be  recognized  for  what  they  are, 

and  apparent  neutrality,  their  circumstances  must 

hypocrites,  and  there  will  be  so  much  mischief 

be  considered.  The  new  Gospel  was  then  perse- 

avoided.  But  if  you  press  them  too  strongly  for 

cuted,  because  there  was  a  greater  and  more  ac- 

their  motives,  if  you  leave  no  resource  to  their 

credited  one  in  the  nation.  A  person  could  with 

honor,  in  a  word,  if  you  tear  away  their  mask,  you 

impunity  declare  himself  opposed  to  it,  and  there 

deprive  them  of  the  only  curb  whereby  they  were 

was  no  security  in  openly  undertaking  its  defence. 

restrained  :  they  have  nothing  further  to  lose  ;  they 

How  many  timid  souls  recognize  the  truth,  and 

will  attack  openly,  and  they  will  persecute  to  the 

dare  not  confess  it,  for  fear  of  being  exposed  to 

bitter  end. 

persecution  !  It  is  of  the  latter  that  Christ  saith  : 

( 1 )  We  must  here  reconcile  this  expression  with 

“He  who  is  not  against  you  is  for  you.”  Such 

that  other  one  of  our  Saviour:  “He  who  is  not 

was  Nicodemus,  who  always  has  had,  during 

with  me  is  against  me.” — (Matthew,  xii.)  It  would 

stormy  periods,  and  who  always  shall  have,  many 

seem  that  by  neutrality  we  should  be  at  the  same 

imitators  of  his  clandestine  course,  if  we  may  be 

time  for  and  against  Christ.  This  we  will  try  to 

permitted  to  use  this  term.  They  are  weak,  but 

reconcile.  Let  us  distinguish  real  and  interior 

not  unfaithful.  Let  us  not  make  them  more  wick- 

neutrality  from  that  which  is  exterior  and  appa- 

ed  than  they  are.  They  are  for  us :  let  us  not  pro- 

rent.  By  the  former  men  were  against  Jesus 

ceed  to  turn  them  against  us,  by  insulting  a  weak- 

Christ.  Those  who,  witnessing  his  miracles,  doubt- 

ness  which  we  see  that  Jesus  Christ  himself  conde- 

ed  the  truth  of  his  words,  or  remained  indifferent 

scended  to  treat  with  considei'ation. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


643 


following  words:  “and  whosoever  shall 
scandalize  one  of  these  little  ones  that  be¬ 
lieve  in  me  ;  it  were  better  that  a  mill¬ 
stone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  he 
were  cast  into  the  sea.”  (St.  Mark  ix.  40, 
41  ;  St.  Matthew  x.  42.) 

Then,  casting  his  eyes  upon  the  world, 
contemplating  the  fearful  ravages  caused 
there  by  scandals,  seeing  iniquity  commu¬ 
nicate  itself  like  the  plague,  overrunning 
all  ages  and  all  conditions,  whilst  men  per¬ 
ish  in  thousands,  and  almost  all  by  the 
hands  of  one  another,  grief,  mingled  with 
indignation,  was  stirred  up  within  him  at 
so  deplorable  a  spectacle  :  and  he  cannot 
refrain  from  pronouncing  that  maledic¬ 
tion,  which  has  been  to  such  a  vast  num¬ 
ber  of  the  wise  a  signal,  as  it  were,  to  fly 
this  tainted  atmosphere,  and  seek  shelter 
from  its  corruption  in  the  deserts,  and 
even  in  the  hollow  of  rocks.  “  Wo  to  the 
world  because  of  scandals.”  For,  al¬ 
though  it  is  inevitable  in  human  society, 
which  is  scarcely  anything  else  but  a  com¬ 
pound  of  corruption  and  weakness,  still 

( 1 )  See  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  page  547. 

( 2 )  Men  would  fain  make  this  expression  meta¬ 
phorical  merely,  and  hell  fire  not  a  real  mateiial 
fire  ;  but,  with  all  the  subtlety  possible,  they  never 
can  succeed.  For,  let  me  be  allowed  to  ask  heie, 
whence  comes  this  striking  affectation  in  Scripture 
of  scarcely  ever  speaking  of  the  punishment  of 
hell  except  by  the  name  of  fire  ?  Why  (not  to 
speak  here  of  the  Old  Testament,  where  this  teim 
is  so  often  employed),  why,  I  say,  do  we  see  it  re¬ 
peated  in  the  Hew  Testament  no  less  than  thiity 
times?  Why  is  it  to  be  found  in  the  enunciation 
of  the  sentence  where  usage,  founded  upon  reason 
and  good  sense,  admits  nothing  but  simple  and 
precise  expressions?  Could  God  wish  that  hell 
should  never  present  itself  to  the  mind  but  under 


the  general  necessity  coerces  no  one  indi¬ 
vidual.  Each  taken  separately  can  well 
avoid  giving  scandal  ;  and  “  wo  to  that 
man  by  whom  the  scandal  cometh.”  (St. 
Matt,  xviil.  7.) 

Nevertheless,  the  crime  of  him  who 
gives  scandal  does  not  justify  him  who 
takes  it.  The  murderer  shall  be  punished 
as  a  murderer  ;  but  his  punishment  shall 
not  give  back  the  life  which  he  has  taken. 
Must  we,  then,  of  necessity  perish  ?  and 
is  there  no  way  to  escape  the  dangers  that 
encompass  us  on  every  side  ?  Yes,  there 
are  means,  though  they  are  hard  indeed, 
violent,  and  painful.  Christ  does  not  dis¬ 
semble  the  fact.  But,  inasmuch  as  life  is 
at  stake,  and  the  life  of  the  soul,  infinitely 
more  precious  than  the  life  of  the  body,  he 
enjoins  it  as  a  duty  to  employ  these  means. 
He  had  already  spoken  the  words  on  the 
mountain,  and  they  cannot  be  too  deeply 
meditated  :  “If  thy  hand  scandalize  thee, 
cut  it  off.1  It  is  better  for  thee  to  enter 
into  life  maimed,  than  having  two  hands  to 
go  into  hell,  into  unquenchable  fire  ; 2 

the  image  of  a  five  which  did  not  exist  ?  Has  he 
not  foreseen  that  this  must  originate,  in  all  men, 
the  idea,  or  rather  the  conviction  of,  a  real  and  ma¬ 
terial  fire;  that  this  conviction,  which  thenceforth 
would  be  only  an  erroneous  opinion,  should  be  as 
widely  diffused  as  religion  itself;  for  where  is  it 
not  to  be  found  ?  and  as  durable ;  for  in  what  pe¬ 
riod  has  it  not  been  believed?  Could  he  have 
wished  to  lay  this  inevitable  snare  for  the  credulity 
of  all  Christians,  I  say  of  all,  without  exception,  be¬ 
cause  we  see  that  the  most  enlightened  have  fallen 
into  this  belief,  as  well  as  the  most  simple ;  and 
that  Avhat  some  would  fain  put  down  as  a  popular 
prejudice  has  been  constantly  believed,  taught, 
dreaded  even,  with  the  liveliest  apprehension,  by 
the  first  men  of  Christianity. 


644  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire 

them  that  evangelical  wisdom  is  the  only 

is  not  extinguished.  And  if  thy  foot  scan- 

meaus  of  maintaining  peace  among  them, 

dalize  thee,  cut  it  off :  it  is  better  for  thee 

by  curing  them  of  the  infatuation  of  pride 

to  enter  lame  into  life  everlasting,  than 

and  its  jealous  pretensions. 

having  two  feet  to  be  cast  into  the  hell  of 

But  the  tenderness  of  his  heart  brings 

unquenchable  fire,  where  their  worm  dieth 

him  back  again  to  the  little  children,  ob- 

not,1  and  the  fire  is  not  extinguished.  If 

jects  worthy  the  favor  of  an  humbled  and 

th}r  eye  scandalize  thee,  pluck  it  out.  It 

annihilated  God,  whether  they  be  such  by 

is  better  for  thee  with  one  eye  to  enter 

age,  or  have  become  so  by  their  humble 

into  the  kingdom  of  God,  than  having  two 

simplicity.  He  does  not  think  that  he  has 

eyes  to  be  cast  into  the  hell  of  fire,  where 

done  enough  for  them  in  frightening  their 

their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 

tempters  by  the  terrible  image  of  the  un- 

extinguished.  For  every  one  shall  be 

dying  worm  and  the  eternal  fire  :  he  wishes 

salted  with  fire,”  which  shall  preserve 

them  to  be  governed  as  much  by  respect 

while  it  burns  them.  Victims  of  divine 

as  by  fear,  and  still  more  by  love  which  is 

vengeance,  they  shall  be  treated  like  all 

due  to  those  whom  he  himself  has  loved 

those  of  whom  it  is  said  :  “  Every  victim 

so  tenderly.  They  are  entrusted  to  the 

shall  be  seasoned  with  salt.” 2  Taking  oc- 

care  of  angels  :  who  can  fail  to  respect 

casion  from  this  to  speak  of  true  wisdom, 

such  mighty  protectors  ?  He  has  de- 

of  which  salt  is  the  symbol,  he  adds  these 

scended  from  heaven  to  save  them,  by  in- 

words,  as  it  were  incidentally:  “Salt  is 

credible  toils  and  sufferings  :  who  will  not 

good  ;  but  if  the  salt  become  unsavory, 

shrink  with  horror  from  contributing  to 

wherewith  will  you  season  it  ?  Have  salt 

the  perdition  of  those  who  have  cost  him 

in  you,  and  have  peace  among  you.”  (St. 

so  much  ?  “  See,”  he  said  to  them,  “  that 

Mark  ix.  42-49.)  This  last  expression 

you  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones  ; 

seems  to  refer  to  the  recent  contest  of  the 

for  I  say  to  you  that  their  angels 3  in  hea- 

apostles  for  pre-eminence.  It  teaches 

ven  always  see  the  face  of  my  Father  who 

(  1 )  By  the  worm,  remorse  of  conscience  is  usu- 

stood,  these  worms,  if  they  signify  remorse,  should 

ally  understood.  Yet,  many  also  understand  it  to 

be  lodged  in  the  heart,  and  not  in  the  flesh. 

mean  material  worms  preying  upon  the  reprobate, 

( 3.)  In  Leviticus,  ii.  13,  we  read  these  words  : 

whose  ever  renewing  flesh  they  devour.  Saint  Au- 

“  Whatsoever  sacrifice  thou  offerest,  thou  shalt  sea- 

gustine,  who  admits  the  first  explanation,  is  very 

son  it  with  salt.” 

far  from  rejecting  the  second.  What  gives  greater 

( 8 )  Their  guardian  angels ;  for  so  it  has  been 

probability  to  the  latter  is  these  words  of  Judith, 

understood  at  all  times,  and  this  text  alone  would 

xvi.  21:  “  He  will  give  fire  and  worms  into  their 

suffice  to  prove  it.  We  learn  from  Scripture,  1st. 

flesh,  that  they  may  burn,  and  may  feel  forever.” 

That  kingdoms  and  empires  have  each  their  guar- 

It  is  evident  that  hell  is  here  spoken  of,  since  the 

dian  angel;  2d.  That  each  particular  church  hath 

sacred  text  mentions  eternal  suffering.  Now,  it 

also  its  own ;  3d.  That  each  of  the  faithful  has  an 

seems  that  it  would  be  more  natural  to  express  re- 

angel,  who  watches  over  him  from  his  birth  until 

morse  by  worm,  in  the  singular  number,  than  by 

his  death.  The  manner  in  which  Jesus  Christ 

, 

worms,  in  the  plural.  But,  supposing  it  so  under- 

speaks  in  this  passage  seems  to  suppose  that  the 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  645 

is  in  heaven.1  For,”  continues  he,  and 

in  the  mountains,  and  go  to  seek  that 

this  is  the  second  reason,  and  a  more 

which  is  gone  astray?  And  if  it  so  be 

touching  one  than  the  first ;  “for  the  Son 

that  he  find  it  :  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  he 

of  man  is  come  to  save  that  which  was 

rejoiceth  more  for  that  than  for  the  ninety- 

lost.” 

nine  that  went  not  astray.”2  This  pastor 

They  were  lost  in  reality,  and  about  to 

is  the  image  of  the  great  pastor  of  all,  and 

become  the  prey  of  the  infernal  wolf.  But 

“  Even  so  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father, 

“  what  think  you  :  If  a  man  have  a  hun- 

who  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these  little 

dred  sheep,  and  one  of  them  should  go 

ones  should  perish.”  (St.  Matt,  xviii. 

astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety-nine 

10-14.) 

Jews  were  not  ignorant  of  it,  and  they  still  believe 

thought  that  each  man  has  his  demon,  who  tempts 

it  at  the  present  day.  Christians  have  also  be- 

him,  and  that  Saint  Paul  speaks  of  his,  when  he 

lieved  it  from  the  origin  of  Christianity.  When 

said  that  the  angel  of  Satan  had  been  given  to 

the  damsel  to  whom  Peter  spoke  on  coming  ont  of 

him  to  buffet  him.  This  opinion  has  been  followed 

his  prison  said  “that  Peter  stood  before  the  gate, 

by  most  of  the  ancients,  although  it  does  not  ap- 

they”  who  were  in  the  house  “said  to  her:  Thou 

pear  to  have  sufficient  foundation  in  Scripture, 

art  mad;  but  she  affirmed  that  it  was  so.  Then 

which,  however,  contains  nothing  contradictory 

said  they:  It  is  his  angel.”  (Acts  xii.  14,  15.)  Cal- 

to  it. 

vinists  acknowledge  that  angels  are  charged  with 

( 1 )  In  whatever  place  they  may  be,  they  always 

the  administration  of  the  world ;  but  will  not  be- 

retain  the  intuitive  vision  of  God,  in  which  the 

BS 

fcr- 

lieve  that  each  angel  has  his  department:  but  it  is 

essence  of  beatitude  consists :  they  carry  their  para- 

only  from  fear  of  believing  like  the  Catholic 

dise  everywhere,  in  the  same  way  as  the  devils 

Church.  .The  latter  has  settled,  on  this  point,  the 

carry  their  hell. 

belief  of  her  true  children,  by  instituting  the  feast 

( ’ )  This  sheep  is  not  dearer  to  him  than  the 

of  the  Holy  Guardian  Angels. 

others,  since  he  is  disposed  to  do  for  the  others, 

Although  it  be  not  a  matter  of  equal  certainty 

if  they  h Ripened  to  stray,  the  same  that  he  did  for 

that  all  men,  without  excepting  the  heathens,  have 

this  one  ;  but  this  one  causes  him,  at  the  moment, 

each  their  guardian  angel,  still  it  is  the  most  com- 

a  sensible  joy,  which  the  others  do  not,  the  joy  of 

mon  and  authorized  sentiment.  It  has  been  also 

having  found  it. 

646 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

FRATERNAL  CORRECTION. — POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING. — WE  ARE  TO  PARDON  SEVENTY 
TIMES  SEVEN  TIMES.— PARABLE  OF  THE  WICKED  SERVANT.— SECRET  JOURNEY  TO  JERUSALEM, 
FOR  THE  FEAST  OF  TABERNACLES.— THE  TEN  LEPERS. 


FTER  beginning  by  humility,  our  | 
Saviour  proceeded  insensibly  to 
speak  of  charity.  This  subject  was  too 
dear  to  his  heart  for  him  to  wish  to  change 
it  speedily.  Having  treated,  therefore,  of 
the  charity  which  we  should  exercise  to¬ 
wards  those  whom  we  are  most  inclined 
to  despise,  the  weak  and  lowly,  he  gives 
rules  for  what  we  are  to  do  with  regard 
to  those  whom  we  are  most  tempted  to 
hate,  those  persons  from  whom  we  have 
received  any  offence.  “  If  thy  brother,” 
said  he  (he  gives  him  this  name,  so  well 
calculated  to  disarm  hatred  and  to  awaken 
love) — “sin  against  thee,  reprove  him  :”x 
this  solace  is  granted  to  your  weakness  ; 

( 1 )  Ofttimes  an  explanation  is  sufficient  to  unite 
two  divided  hearts  ;  sometimes  it  would  only  exas- 
perate  minds  all  the  more.  There  are  some  resent¬ 
ments  which  give  way  of  their  own  accord ;  there 
are  others  which  require  applications  to  the  wounds. 
Some  dispositions  easily  forget  injuries,  the  best 
course  is  not  to  recall  them  to  their  recollection; 
there  are  other  persons  in  whose  hearts  the  fihaft 
remains  until  they  are  soothed ;  it  is  well  to  furnish 
them  an  occasion,  by  speaking  to  them.  We  are 
always  wrong  when  we  meet  others  only  to  taunt 
them  with  bitter  reproaches;  or  when,  whilst  we 
cease  our  intercourse,  we  do  not  cease  making  the 
world  ring  with  slanderous  complaints  and  defam¬ 
atory  moans.  We  always  act  right,  in  the  sight  of 
God,  when  we  act  from  the  motive  of  charity  only, 
and  with  a  sincere  desire  of  peace. 


but  “  if  he  do  penance,  forgive  him.  And 
•if  he  sin  against  thee  seven  times  in  a  day, 
and  seven  times  in  a  day  be  converted 
unto  thee,  sajdng  :  I  repent,  forgive  him.” 
(St.  Luke  xvii.  3,  4.)  I  have  said  to  you : 
Go  go,  and  reprove  him  ;  but  remark  with 
what  caution  you  must  proceed.  In  the 
first  place,  the  matter  must  be  negotiated 
“  between  thee  and  him  alone.”  Seeing 
you  so  careful  to  avoid  injuring  his  reputa¬ 
tion,  perhaps  he  will  hear  thee  ;  and  “if 
he  shall  hear  thee,  thou  shalt  gain  thy 
brother.2  If  he  will  not  hear  thee,  take 
with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the 
mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every 
word  may  stand.8  And  if  he  will  not  hear 

(3)  You  will  have  gained  him  to  God  and  to 
yourself.  To  you,  by  reconciling  him  with  your¬ 
self  ;  and  to  God,  by  leading  him  mildly  to  the 
point  of  making  you  the  reparation  which  God 
prescribes  to  him  in  your  regard,  and  which  God 
makes  indispensable  duty  to  him.  See  what  has 
been  said  of  the  necessity  of  reparation,  page  546. 

( 9 )  In  order  to  represent  to  him  the  injustice 
of  his  proceeding,  and  the  justice  of  the  reparation 
which  is  required  from  him.  He  might  very 
probably  decline  allowing  you  to  be  the  judge  in 
your  own  cause ;  but  he  cannot  reasonably  mis¬ 
trust  those  who  must  be  presumed  to  have  no  other 
interest  in  the  affair  than  that  of  equity  and  rea¬ 
son.  They  may  also  have  another  use.  If  he  does 
not  yield  to  their  remonstrances,  they  will  certify 
to  the  Church  that  you  have  not  had  recourse  to 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


them,  tell  the  Church  :  and  if  he  will  not 
hear  the  Church,1  let  him  be  to  thee  as  the 
heathen2  and  the  Publican.”3  (St.  Mat¬ 
thew  xviii.  15-35.)  He  shall  be  so,  in 
fact,  when  the  Church  shall  have  cut  off 
from  her  bosom  this  incorrigible  sinner  :  I 
sa}7-  he  shall  be  so  not  only  in  the  eyes  of 
men,  but  also  in  the  eyes  of  Grod  and  his 
angels.  For,  “Amen,  I  say  to  you,”  and 
in  your  person  I  say  it  to  all  those  who 
shall  succeed  to  your  ministry  :  “  Whatso¬ 
ever  you  shall  bind  upon  earth,  shall  be 
bound  also  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever 
you  shall  loose  upon  earth  shall  be  loosed 
also  in  heaven.” 

But,  in  order  that  you  may  better  un¬ 
derstand  how  agreeable  to  Grod  is  the 
union  of  hearts,  and  the  power  which  it 
lias  over  his  heart,  “  Again  I  say  to  you, 
that  if  two  of  you  shall  consent  upon  earth 
concerning  anything  whatsoever  they  shall 

denunciation,  until  after  all  the  means  of  meekness 
and  charity  have  been  employed  in  vain. 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  the  , Republic,  said  the  heretic 
Castalion.  This  explanation  is  absurd.  These  first 
Protestants  wished  neither  Church  nor  Monarchy. 
If  we  were  to  credit  them,  the  entire  universe,  as 
well  sacred  as  profane,  should  be  governed  by 
burgomasters.  Tell  it  to  the  Church,  that  is  to 
say,  to  the  head  and  the  ancients  of  each  church, 
who  are  the  bishop  and  the  priests :  thus  was  it 
practised  in  the  primitive  ages.  Saint  Paul  im¬ 
poses  it  as  a  duty  upon  all  Christians,  and  to  de¬ 
viate  therefrom  was  regarded  as  a  great  irregularity. 
The  cause  of  this  regulation  no  longer  exists ;  it 
was  that  in  those  days  all  the  secular  judges  were 
heathens. 

( a )  These  words  do  not  authorize  us  to  hate 
him ;  they  only  signify  that,  after  the  judgment 
of  the  Church,  we  should  deal  with  him  as  with 
«n  excommunicated  person. 


647 


ask,  it  shall  be  done  to  them  by  my  Father 
who  is  in  heaven;4  for  where  there  are 
two  or  three  gathered  together  in  my 
name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,” 
praying  with  them  and  for  them. 

Our  Saviour  had  previously  said  that 
if  our  brother  sin  against  us  seven  times 
in  the  day,  we  must  pardon  him  as  often. 
This  number  seven  might  require  explana¬ 
tion  ;  for  if  it  usually  signifies  the  precise 
number  which  it  expresses,  it  is  likewise 
employed  sometimes  to  signify  an  inde¬ 
terminate  number.  Jesus  Christ  has  not 
specified  in  which  of  these  two  meanings 
he  used  the  word.  “  Peter,”  who  desired 
to  be  enlightened  on  this  point,  “then 
came  unto  Jesus,  and  said  :  How  often 
shall  my  brother  offend  against  me,  and 
I  forgive  him  ?  Till  seven  times  ?  ”  This 
mode  of  interrogation  shows  by  inference 
that  he  thought  it  should  be  less  rather 

( s )  That  is  to  say,  treat  him  as  you,  who  are 
Jews,  treat  Publicans,  and  not  as  Publicans  deserve 
to  be  treated.  The  Jews  excluded  them  from  their 
religious  assemblies,  just  as  they  exclude  Pagans. 
The  exclusion  of  the  latter  was  just;  but  that  of 
the  Publicans  was  not.  Their  profession,  which 
was  necessary  for  the  State,  is  not  condemned  by 
religion.  John  the  Baptist  does  not  oblige  them 
to  renounce  it;  he  is  satisfied  with  saying  to  them : 
“Do  nothing  more  than  that  which  is  appointed 
you.”  (St.  Luke  iii.  13.) 

( 4 )  When  prayer  has  the  qualities  which  it 
ought  to  have,  it  is  of  faith  that  God  grants  it, 
either  by  giving  what  is  asked,  or  giving  what  is 
better.  This  something  better  is  sometimes  the 
contrary  of  what  we  ask:  “You  know  not  what 
you  ask.”  (St.  Matthew  xx.  22.)  But  God  well 
knows  what  is  necessary  for  you.  Ever  pray,  and 
leave  him  to  act. 


648  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

than  more  than  that  number.  He  must 

falling  down,  besought. him,  saying:  Have 

have  been  highly  surprised  when  Jesus 

patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all. 

said  to  him:  “I  say  not  to  thee  seven 

He  would  not,  but  went  and  cast  him  into 

times,  but  till  seventy  times  seven  times  ;  ” 

prison  till  he  paid  his  debt.  Now  his 

which  undoubtedly  signifies  that  we  must 

fellow-servants,  seeing  what  was  done, 

pardon  injuries  without  end,  and  as  often 

were  very  much  grieved,  and  they  came 

as  we  have  been  offended.  Therefore, 

and  told  their  lord  all  that  was  done.  Then 

added  he,  to  make  them  feel  how  justly 

his  lord  called  him,  and  said  to  him  :  Thou 

G-od  requires  this  pardon  from  us,  and  with 

wicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  the 

what  injustice  and  inhumanity  we  refuse 

debt,  because  thou  besoughtest  me  ; 

it,  “  Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven 

shouldst  not  thou  then  have  had  compas- 

likened  to  a  king  who  would  take  an  ac- 

sion  on  thy  fellow-servant,  even  as  I  had 

count  of  his  servants.1  And  when  he  had 

compassion  on  thee  ?  And  his  lord,  being 

begun  to  take  the  account,  one  was 

angry,  delivered  him  to  the  torturers,2 

brought  to  him  that  owed  him  ten  thou- 

until  he  paid  all  the  debt.  So  also  shall 

sand  talents.  As  he  had  not  wherewith 

my  heavenly  Father  do  to  you  if  you  for- 

to  pay  it,  his  lord  commanded  that  he 

give  not  every  one  his  brother  from  your 

should  be  sold,  and  his  wife  and  children, 

hearts.” 

and  all  that  he  had,  and  payment  to  be 

“Now  the  Jews’  feast3  of  Tabernacles 

made.  That  servant,  falling  down,  be- 

was  at  hand.  The  brethren  of  Jesus  said 

sought  him,  saying  :  Have  patience  with 

to  him  :  Pass  from  hence  and  go  into  Ju- 

me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all.  Then  the 

dea,  that  thy  disciples  also  may  see  thy 

lord  of  that  servant,  being  moved  with 

works  which  thou  dost ;  for  there  is  no 

pity,  let  him  go  and  forgave  him  the  debt. 

man  that  doth  anything  in  secret,  and  he 

But  wdien  that  servant  was  gone  out,  he 

himself  seeketh  to  be  known  openly.  If 

found  one  of  his  fellow-servants,  that 

thou  do  these  things,  manifest  thyself  to 

owed  him  an  hundred  pence  ;  and  laying 

the  world.” 

hold  of  him,  he  throttled  him,  saying: 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  relatives  of 

Pay  what  thou  owest.  His  fellow-servant, 

Jesus  should  desire  him  to  show  himself 

( 1 )  It  is,  properly,  neither  the  Church  nor 

which  the  meekness  of  the  Gospel  seems  to  have 

Heaven.  By  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  understood 

abolished  everywhere. 

the  conduct  which  God  pursues  in  the  administra- 

( ’ )  This  was  one  of  the  principal  feasts  of  the 

tion  of  the  world ;  it  is  as  if  it  were  said :  Behold 

Jews.  It  has  been  instituted  in  remembrance  of 

in  what  manner  God,  who  is  the  king  of  the  uni- 

the  tabernacles  or  tents  under  which  the  Israelites 

verse,  acts  in  regard  to  men,  who  are  his  creatures 

had  encamped  in  the  desert  during  forty  years.  It 

and  subjects. 

lasted  eight  days,  and  commenced  the  fifteenth  day 

( 3 )  Creditors  at  that  period  were  not  satisfied 

of  the  seventh  month  of  the  Jewish  year.  The 

with  thrusting  their  debtors  into  prison ;  they 

Jews  at  the  present  day  celebrate  it  on  the  15th  of 

made  them  there  endure  scourging  and  tortures 

September,  raising  in  an  open  space  a  hut  embel- 

until  they  satisfied  their  creditors — a  cruel  policy, 

lished  and  covered  with  foliage. 

Or  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


in  the  capital.  The  glory  which  he  might 
there  acquire  must  have  reflected  "back  on 
them.  It  was  natural  that  they  should 
not  be  insensible  to  this  at  a  time  when 
we  see  that  the  apostles  themselves  were 
not  altogether  exempt  from  ambition.  But 
that  which  does  appear  surprising  is,  that 
they  should  have  had  the  boldness  to  re¬ 
proach  the  Saviour  with  the  alleged  incon¬ 
sistency  of  his  conduct,  and  the  presump¬ 
tion  to  think  that  he  could  be  in  want  of 
their  advice.  The  evangelist  explains  the 
reason  of  this.  “  For  neither  did  his 
brethren  believe  in  him  :  ”  not  that  they 
did  not  believe  him  to  have  the  power  of 
working  miracles — what  they  have  just 
said  evidently  supposes  that  they  had  this 
faith  ;  but  they  doubted,  at  least,  whether 
he  was  the  Messias,  and  that  the  Messias 
should  be  the  only  Son  of  the  living  God 
— God  himself,  the  uncreated  and  incar¬ 
nate  wisdom.  He  who  did  not  usurp 
equality  with  the  Most  High,  but  who  pos¬ 
sesses  it  in  right  of  his  eternal  generation, 
did  not  disdain  to  give  them  a  reason  for 
his  conduct  ;  and  instead  of  reproaching 
them  with  their  indiscreet  temerity,  “  then 
Jesus  said  to  them,”  with  his  usual  mode¬ 
ration  :  “My  time  is  not  yet  come  ;  but 
your  time  is  always  ready.  The  world  ” 
with  whom  you  have  no  cause  of  quarrel 
“  cannot  hate  you.  But  me  it  hateth  :  be¬ 
cause  I  give  testimony  of  it  that  the  works 

( 1 )  In  the  Greek :  “  I  do  not  go  as  yet ;  ”  which 
removes  all  difficulty  in  reconciling  the  conduct 
of  Jesus  Christ  with  his  words.  Among  the  an¬ 
cient  Greek  manuscripts,  some  have :  “I  do  not  go 
there,  as  yet;  ”  others  read  simply,  as  in  the  Vul¬ 
gate  :  “I  go  not  up.”  The  Fathers  and  the  an- 

83 


649 


thereof  are  evil  and  its  hatred  obliges 
me  to  take  precautions  which  are  not  ne¬ 
cessary  for  those  who  have  nothing  to  fear. 
“  Go,”  therefore,  “  you  up  to  this  festival 
day.  But  I  go  not  up  to  this  festival  day,1 
because  my  time  is  not  accomplished.”  It 
was  not  long  before  it  was  accomplished, 
for  the  delay  alluded  to  here  was  only  of 
very  few  days’  duration  ;  “  and  after  his 
brethren  were  gone  up.  Jesus  also  went 
up  to  the  feast,  not  openly,  but,  as  it  were, 
in  secret.”  (St.  John  vii.  2-11,  25,  26.) 

There  is  in  all  this  neither  levity  nor 
want  of  sincerity  in  his  words,  as  the  en¬ 
emies  of  Christianity  in  early  times  re¬ 
proached  him.  If  he  says  that  he  will 
not  go  up  to  the  festival,  he  immediately 
adds  that  the  reason  is  because  his  time 
is  not  yet  come  ;  which  implies  that  when 
his  time  shall  come  he  can  go  there,  and 
that  in  going  he  shall  neither  act  against 
his  word  nor  against  his  first  resolutions. 
It  appears  certain  that  his  enemies  had 
formed  a  plot  to  take  away  his  life  during 
this  festival,  which  they  felt  certain  he 
would  attend.  We  shall  shortly  read  that 
“  the  Jews  sought  him  on  the  festival 
day  ;  ”  and  we  shall  see  the  surprise  of 
those  wfio,  aware  of  the  plot  without  par¬ 
ticipating  in  it,  said:  “Is  not  this  he 
whom  they  seek  to  kill?  Behold,  he 
speaketli  openly,  and  they  say  nothing  to 
him.”  But  should  not  the  cause  which 

cient  commentators  have  read  the  text,  some  in  one 
way,  some  in  another.  What  follows  these  expres¬ 
sions  seemed  to  me  sufficient  to  fix  the  sense  of  “  I 
do  not  go,”  to  that  of  “  I  do  not  go  as  yet,”  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  continuation  of  our  text. 


650  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

hindered  him  from  being  there,  or  at  least 

“Jesus”  therefore  “would  not  walk” 

showing  himself,  on  the  first  days,  hinder 

publicly*  “  in  Judea,  because  the  Jews 

him  also  from  showing  himself  there  on 

sought  to  kill  him.”  (St.  John  vii.  1.)  It 

the  following  days  ?  Yes,  had  he  been  an 

was  not  so  in  the  province  where  he  usu- 

ordinary  man,  because  then  he  would  not 

ally  resided.  Although  there  he  had  to 

have  known  what  day  the  plot  would  sue- 

encounter  opposition,  yet  hatred  and  fury 

ceed,  and  on  what  day  it  would  fail ;  and 

were  not  such  as  to  prompt  attempts  on 

this  ignorance  would  have  obliged  him  not 

his  life.  Wherefore,  reserving  .precau- 

to  come  to  Jerusalem,  or  to  remain  con- 

tions  for  the  moment  when  he  should  enter 

cealed  there  during  the  whole  feast.  But 

Judea,  in  “  going  to  Jerusalem,  he  passed  ” 

he,  who  was  ignorant  of  nothing,  knew 

publicly  “  through  the  midst  of  Samaria 

that  the  plot  would  have  succeeded  dur- 

and  Galilee.  And  as  he  entered  into  a 

ing  the  first  days,  and  would  fail  on  the 

certain  town,  there  met  him  ten  men  that 

following  days.  This  statement  alone 

were  lepers,  who  stood  afar  off,”  to  obey 

would  suffice  to  explain  all,  except  that  it 

the  law,  which  forbade  them  all  commerce 

might  be  asked  whether  it  was  not  easy 

with  men.  Obliged  to  raise  their  voice, 

for  our  Saviour  to  baffle  by  a  miracle  all 

so  as  to  make  themselves  heard,  they 

the  efforts  of  his  enemies  ?  Who  doubts 

“lifted  up  their  voice,  saying:  Jesus, 

it  ?  But  he  did  not  choose  to  employ  mir- 

Master,  have  mercy  on  us.  Whom  when  ” 

acles  except  when  human  means  were  in- 

this  good  Master  “  saw,  he  said  :  Go, 

•sufficient.  To  act  otherwise  is  tempting 

show  yourselves  to  the  priests.”  This 

God,  as  he  himself  said  to  Satan.  He 

implied  a  promise  that  they  should  be 

was  indeed  incapable  of  this  fault,  not 

cured  before  thev  arrived  there,  since  this 

only  because  he  was  impeccable,  but  also 

ceremony  was  merely  the  judicial  verifi- 

because  it  cannot  be  said  that  Gfod  could 

cation  of  their  cure.  They  believed  him, 

be  tempted  by  him  who,  being  God  him- 

and  set  off  at  once.  Their  faith,  joined 

self,  disposes  as  supreme  ruler  of  all  na- 

with  this  prompt  obedience,  soon  produced 

ture.  But  he  wished  to  instruct  his  disci- 

its  effect.  “  As  they  went  they  were 

pies,  and  teach  them,  by  his  example,  that 

made  clean.  And  one  of  them,  when  he 

it  is  only  when  all  natural  means  fail,  that 

saw  that  he  was  made  clean,  went  back, 

rational  confidence  can  rely  on  miracles. 

with  a  loud  voice  glorifying  God.1  And 

( 1 )  Leprosy  is  the  figure  of  sin  ;  and  what 

passion.  Jesus  Christ,  who  can  cure  him  in  an  in- 

passes  here  is  the  natural  image  of  penance,  which 

stant,  and  by  himself  alone,  sends  him  to  the 

is  its  remedy.  The  man  infected  with  this  spiritual 

priests,  whose  rights  he  wishes  to  be  recognized, 

leprosy  keeps  himself,  out  of  respect,  at  a  distance 

and  their  ministry  honored.  The  dispositions  are 

from  Jesus  Christ.  His  humility  lessens  in  naught 

sometimes  so  perfect,  that  the  sinner  is  justified 

his  confidence.  From  the  bottom  of  his  heart  he 

before  he  presents  himself  before  the  minister. 

utters  a  cry  to  the  supreme  physician,  which  obliges 

Still  he  must  observe  the  law ;  but  he  must  be  ex- 

the  God  of  mercy  to  cast  upon  him  a  glance  of  com- 

ceedingly  cautious  not  to  forget  his  benefactor,  and 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


651 


he  fell  on  his  face  before  Jesus’  feet,  giv¬ 
ing  thanks  :  and  this  was  a  Samaritan. 
Then  Jesus,  answering,  said:  Were  not 
ten  made  clean  ?  And  where  are  the 
nine  ?  There  is  no  one  found  to  return 
and  give  glory  to  God  but  this  stranger. 
Afterwards  he  said  to  him  :  Arise,  go  thy 
wa}r ;  for  thy  faith  hath  made  tliee  whole.” 
(St.  Luke  xvii.  11-19.)  This  must  be  un¬ 


derstood  of  the  salvation  of  the  soul ;  for 
the  faith  of  the  others  had. procured  for 
them  also  the  cure  of  the  body.  But  the 
faith  of  this  latter  being  more  lively^,  more 
durable,  and,  above  all,  more  grateful, 
merited  for  him  this  second  favor,  infi¬ 
nitely  more  precious  than  the  first, 
which  is  little  more  than  the  shade  and 
figure. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

JESUS  SHOWS  HIMSELF  AT  THE  FEAST  OF  TABERNACLES.— HE  PREACHES  EN  THE  TEMPLE. — 
VARIOUS  OPINIONS  CONCERNING  HIM — MINISTERS  SENT  TO  APPREHEND  HIM. 


IX  the  meantime,  Jesus  continued  his 
journey,  and  arrived  at  Jerusalem. 
But  whether  it  be  that  he  was  not  present 
at  the  commencement  of  the  solemnity  of 
the  Tabernacles,  or  perhaps  that  at  first  he 
kept  himself  concealed  there,  which  was 
not  difficult  amongst  so  vast  a  multitude  ; 

the  sinner,  when  truly  and  deeply  contrite,  does 
not  forget  him.  The  more  bitter  the  grief  he  has 
felt  for  his  sin,  the  more  lively  is  his  gratitude  for 
the  grace.  He  cannot  be  silent  on  the  mercies  of 
the  Lord ;  he  publishes  them  aloud  ;  he  recounts 
them  all  to  the  universe.  “  Come,”  saith  he  with 
the  prophet,  “come  and  hear  what  great  things  the 
Lord  hath  done  for  my  soul.”  (Ps.  lxv.  16.)  He 
then  ventures  to  approach  the  Saviour,  and  is  only 
the  more  humble.  He  casts  himself  at  his  feet, 
the  ordinary  asylum  of  all  true  penitents,  the  asy¬ 
lum  of  Magdalen,  whom  we  always  find  there  after 
her  conversion.  Let  those  who  imitate  her  tell  of 
the  sweets  which  he  makes  them  relish  when  em- 


“  the  Jews”  of  Jerusalem,  who  expected 
to  see  him  there,  “  sought  him  on  the  festi¬ 
val-day,  and  said:  Where  is  he?  And 
there  was  much  murmuring  among  the 
multitude  concerning  him.  For  some 
said,  He  is  a  good  man  :  and  others  said, 
Xo,  but  he  seduceth  the  people.1  Yet  no 


bracing  his  sacred  feet ;  let  them  tell  us  whether 
all  the  joys  of  the  world  are  worth  one  of  the  tears 
with  which  they  bathe  them. 

( 1 )  It  is  thus,  remarks  Saint  Augustine,  that 
men  speak  every  day  of  his  servants.  If  any  one 
appear  gifted  with  some  extraordinary  grace,  or  if 
he  make  considerable  progress  in  virtue,  some  say : 
He  is  a  worthy  man ;  others :  He  is  a  deceiver. 
But,  adds  this  Father,  those  who  praise  him,  do  so 
in  a  whisper ;  and  those  who  blame  him  shout  out. 
There  are  several  reasons  for  this  difference.  First, 
esteem  and  affection,  naturally,  make  less  noise 
than  hatred;  and  criticism  is  always  more  shrill 
than  praise.  Moreover,  when  the  wicked  rise  up 


652 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


man,”  of  those  who  had  espoused  his  side, 
“spoke  openly  of  him,  for  fear  of  the  Jews. 
Now  about  the  midst  of  the  feast  Jesus 
went  up  into  the  temple,  and  taught.” 
Wisdom  and  science  flowed  like  a  mighty 
stream  from  his  divine  lips.  The  admira¬ 
tion  which  seized  his  audience  suspended 
for  the  moment  all  other  sentiments. 
“  The  Jews  wondered,  saying  :  How  doth 
this  man  know  letters,  having  never 
learned  ?  ”  Jesus  explains  this  mystery,  by 
informing  them  from  whom  this  knowledge 
came  which  surprised  them  so.  “My  doc¬ 
trine,”  he  answered  them,  “  is  not  mine, 
but  his  that  sent  me,”  that  is  to  say,  it  is 
from  God.  The  Jews  believed  not,  be¬ 
cause  they  did  not  see  ;  and  they  did  not 
see,  because  they  did  not  wish  to  see. 
Their  incredulity  came  from  the  darkness 
in  which  they  were,  and  that  darkness 
came  from  the  evil  dispositions  of  their 
hearts.  That  saying  of  the  Psalmist, 
which  we  every  day  see  fulfilled  before 
our  eyes,  was  then  fulfilled  in  them :  “  He 
would  not  understand,  that  he  might  do 
well.”  (Ps.  xxxv.  4.)  For,  adds  our  Sa¬ 
viour,  “  if  any  man  will  do  the  will  of  him, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it 
be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself.” 

He  has  just  explained  to  them  the  source 

against  those  whom  men  of  worth  esteem,  they 
know  that  there  is  nothing  to  apprehend  from  the 
latter:  whereas  good  men,  on  the  contrary,  have 
everything  to  apprehend  from  the  wicked,  if  they 
venture  at  all  to  declare  in  favor  of  those  whom 
they  persecute.  We  may  also  add,  that  good  men 
are  silent  from  delicacy  towards  the  just  man  who 
is  persecuted.  The  hatred  against  him  is  enven¬ 
omed  by  contradiction  ;  and  the  more  partisans  it 
gees  in  favor  of  the  just,  the  more  frantic  it  is  for 


of  their  incredulity.  What  follows  gives 
them,  if  not  an  infallible  proof,  at  least  a 
reasonable  presumption,  of  the  truth  of 
his  doctrine,  and  of  the  divinity  of  his 
mission  :  “  He  that  speaketh  of  himself, 
seeketh  his  own  glory  ;  but  he  that  seeketh 
the  glory  of  him  that  sent  Mm,  he  is  true, 
and  there  is  no  injustice  in  him.”  Jesus 
Christ  cannot,  therefore,  be  suspected  of 
fraud  and  of  lying,  which  are  here  ex¬ 
pressed  by  the  term  “injustice,”  because 
it  is  evident  to  any  one  who  pays  attention, 
that,  in  all  his  words  and  in  all  his  actions, 
he  has  only  in  view  the  glory  of  God, 
whom  lying  offends,  and  whom  truth  alone 
honors.  Still,  it  is  not  absolutely  impos¬ 
sible  that  a  good  man,  who  has  only  in 
view  the  glory  of  God,  should  state  things 
contrary  to  truth.  For  this  reason  we 
have  said  that  this  was  here  rather  a  rea¬ 
sonable  presumption,  than  an  infallible 
proof  of  the  truth  of  his  doctrine.  A 
man  of  this  character  may  in  that  case  be 
mistaken,  but  does  not  wish  to  deceive  :  it 
is  in  him  a  mistake,  but  neither  fraud  nor 
lying.  He  admits  it  readily  if  his  error 
is  shown  him.  He  submits  immediately, 
and  subscribes  without  resistance  the 
judgment  which  condemns  him  :  whereas, 
he  that  seeketh  his  own  glory  cannot  bear 

his  ruin.  Hatred,  therefore,  alone  speaks  out :  at 
all  events,  it  alone  makes  itself  heard.  This  should 
be  carefully  noticed ;  for  those  who  have  merely 
ears,  imagine  that  the  hatred  is  universal,  because 
they  hear  nothing  but  the  yell  of  hatred :  they  are 
deceived.  People  of  worth,  who  love  the  virtuous, 
aud  who  honor  them  even  to  veneration,  but  who 
do  not  make  themselves  heard,  are  sometimes  a 
hundred  to  one. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


C53 


such  a  humiliation  ;  he  is  soured,  he  grows 
violent,  he  judges  his  judges,  and  con¬ 
demns  his  pastors. 

It  would  be  useless  to  add,  that  this  is 
inapplicable  to  the  Man-God.  Incapable 
of  falsehood,  he  is  equally  incapable  of 
error.  If  the  thing  be  evident  to  any  one 
who  recognizes  his  divinity,  even  those 
who  do  not  as  yet  acknowledge  it  can  in 
no  way  doubt  it  in  view  of  his  miracles, 
the  seal,  as  it  were,  with  which  God  con¬ 
firmed  the  truth  of  all  his  words.  But  as 
he  then  had  in  view  to  convince  the  Jews 
rather  by  reason  than  by  prodigies,  he 
proceeds  to  show  them,  by  their  own  con¬ 
duct,  that  what  they  regarded  in  him  as  a 
capital  crime,  was  a  less  infraction  of  the 
law  than  what  they  permitted  to  them¬ 
selves  without  scruple.  For  it  still  turned 
on  the  violation  of  the  sabbath  ;  and  if 
envy  was  the  true  cause  of  the  plots 
formed  against  our  Saviour’s  life,  the  cure 
of  a  paralytic,  wrought  miraculously  on 
the  sabbath-day,  was  the  pretext  on  which 
they  acted.  Eighteen  months  had  passed 
since  this  event,  which  had  been  fully  jus¬ 
tified  at  the  time  when  it  occurred.  But 
they  had  forgotten  the  justification,  and 
always  bore  in  mind  the  pretended  crime. 
Hear,  then,  what  Jesus  Christ  again  said 
to  them  on  this  subject :  “Did  not  Moses 
give  you  the  law  ?  And  yet  none  of  you 
keepeth  the  law,”  if  it  be  true,  as  you  say, 
that  I  have  broken  it.  “  Why  seek  you  to 
kill  me  ?  The  multitude  answered  and 
said  :  Thou  hast  a  devil :  who  seeketh  to 
kill  thee?”  We  perceive  in  these  wrath¬ 
ful  words  the  hatred  which  had  conceived 
the  crime,  now  wrought  up  to  a  furious 


height  on  hearing  this  just  reproach.  “  Je¬ 
sus,”  without  evincing  any  emotion,  con¬ 
tinued  his  discourse,  and  “  said  to  them  : 
One  work  I  have  done,  and  you  all  won¬ 
der.  Yet  Moses  gave  you  circumcision 
(not  because  it  is  ”  originally  “  of  Moses, 
but  of  the  leathers),  and  on  the  sabbath- 
day  you  circumcise  a  man,”  when  it  hap¬ 
pens  to  be  the  eighth  day  after  his  birth. 

“  If  a  man  receive  circumcision  on  a  sab¬ 
bath-day,  that  the  law  of  Moses  may  not 
be  broken,  are  you  angry  with  me  because 
I  have  healed  the  whole  man  on  the  sab¬ 
bath-day?  Judge  not  according  to  the 
appearance,  but  judge  just  judgment.” 

This  last  expression  reminded  the  Jews 
of  another  law  of  Moses  which  they  were 
actually  infringing,  that  of  Deuteronomy, 
which  admonishes  them,  almost  in  the 
same  terms,  to  judge  according  to  what  is 
just  in  itself,  without  regard  to  persons. 
Now,  on  this  ‘occasion,  they  judged  the 
action  of  Jesus  not  according  to  what  it 
was  in  itself,  but  by  its  author,  whose  per¬ 
son  was  odious  to  them.  Hence  they  pro¬ 
nounced  as  criminal  that  which  in  reality 
was  a  less  infraction  of  the  sabbath  than 
circumcision.  For  the  natural  law,  which 
obliges  us  to  succor  the  unfortunate,  is  su¬ 
perior  to  the  law  of  circumcision,  which 
is  merelv  a  directory  law.  To  wound  a 
man,  supposing  there  be  a  law  that  en¬ 
joins  it,  is  always  a  less  good  than  to  cure 
another  man  ;  and  if  we  wish  to  carry  out 
the  comparison  of  the  two  actions,  circum¬ 
cision  being  a  manual  operation,  which 
entails  the  necessity  of  dressing  the  wound, 
is  a  much  more  servile  work  than  the 
simple  word  used,  which  alone  Jesus  em- 


654 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


ployed  in  restoring  health  to  the  paralytic. 
However,  those  who  were  aware  of  the 
conspiracy  which  the  principal  men  of  the 
nation  had  formed  against  our  Saviour, 
were  surprised,  indeed,  to  hear  him  speak 
so  publicly  and  so  fearlessly.  “Some, 
therefore,  of  Jerusalem,  said  :  Is  not  this 
he  whom  they  seek  to  kill  ?  And  behold, 
he  speaketh  openly  and  they  say  nothing 
to  him.  Have  the  rulers  known  for  a 
truth  that  this  is  the  Christ?  But,”  they 
added,  “we  know  this  man  whence  he  is  ; 
but  when  the  Christ  cometh,  no  man 
knoweth  whence  he  is.” 

We  know  not  how  they  had  conceived 
this  idea,  that  when  the  Christ  did  come, 
no  one  should  know  his  origin  ;  and  it 
is  conjectured,  with  sufficient  probability, 
that  the  error  arose  from  this  text  of 
Isaias  :  “Who  shall  declare  his  genera¬ 
tion  ?  ”  (Is.  liii.  8.)  The  prophet  under¬ 
stood  this  of  his  eternal  generation,  not  as 
of  a  thing  which  was  to  be  unknown,  but  as 
an  ineffable  mystery.  These  persons,  who 
were,  undoubtedly,  the  most  ignorant  of 
the  people,  for  we  shall  soon  hear  others 
speak  who  were  better  informed,  these,  I 
say,  explained  the  text  as  referring  to  the 
temporal  birth,  and  seemed  to  believe  that 
the  Messias  was  to  appear  suddenly,  with¬ 
out  it  being  known  whence  he  came,  or 
who  were  his  parents.  Jesus  was  aware 
of  their  discourse,  whether  he  was  or  was 
not  near  enough  to  hear.  “Jesus,  there¬ 


( 1 )  Ab  ipso  sum,  I  am  from  him — which  signi¬ 
fies  properly :  I  draw  my  existence  from  him. 

( a )  He  performs  an  infinite  number  of  miracles, 
in  order  to  prove  that  he  is  the  Christ:  he  is,  there¬ 


fore,  cried  out  in  the  temple,  teaching  and 
saying  :  You  both  know  me  and  you  know 
whence  I  am.  I  am  not  come  of  myself, 
but  he  that  sent  me  is  true,  whom  you 
know  not.”  You  do  not,  therefore,  know 
in  fact  whence  I  am  ;  and  this  character 
of  the  Messias,  if  indeed  it  be  one,  you  can¬ 
not  deny  that  I  have.  “  I  know  him,  be¬ 
cause  I  am  from  him,1  and  he  hath  sent  me.” 

The  first  of  these  last  expressions  al¬ 
ludes  to  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son 
of  Grod,  and  the  second  to  his  birth  in 
time.  The  Jews  must  then  have  under¬ 
stood  the  sense  of  the  words,  since  it  is 
said,  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  what  he 
had  been  saying,  that  “they  sought  to  ap¬ 
prehend  him  ;  ”  and  we  have  elsewhere 
seen  that  one  of  the  principal  reasons  for 
which  they  sought  to  kill  him,  was  because 
“he  said  Grod  was  his  father,  making  him¬ 
self  equal  to  G-od.”  (St.  John  v.  18.) 
“But  no  man  laid  hands  on  him,  because 
his  hour  was  not  yet  come.”  In  the  mean¬ 
time  “  of  the  people  many  believed  in  him 
and  said  :  When  the  Christ  cometh,  shall 
he  do  more  miracles  than  these  which  this 
man  doth  ?  ”  2 

Those  who  were  friendly  towards  our 
Saviour  did  not  venture,  as  we  have  said, 
to  testify  it  openly  ;  but  nothing  escapes 
passion.  “The  Pharisees  heard”  that 
portion  of  “  the  people  murmuring  these 
things  concerning  him.”  They  grew  ap¬ 
prehensive  of  the  consequences,  and  began 


fore,  such  in  fact.  Common  sense  led  them  directly 
to  this  consequence.  Subtlety  kept  others  aloof. 
Good  sense  and  subtlety  are  two  very  different 
things,  and  often  widely  opposed  to  each  other. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


655 


to  fear,  lest  what  they  termed  seduction 
might  in  a  short  time  captivate  the  minds 
of  all.  To  check  its  course  “  the  rulers 
and  Pharisees  sent  ministers  to  appre¬ 
hend”  Jesus.  We  cannot  say  whether 
Jesus  was  yet  there  when  the  latter  ar¬ 
rived,  or  if  it  was  to  them,  or  to  the 
people  who  were  still  listening,  that  he 
addressed  the  following  words,  apparently 
that  they  might  be  repeated:  “Jesus 
therefore  said  to  them  :  Yet  a  little  while 
I  am  with  you,  and  then  I  go  to  him  that 
sent  me.  You  shall  seek  me  and  shall  not 
find  me  ;  and  where  I  am,* 1  thither  you  can¬ 
not  come.”  Thus  he  declared  to  them  the 
futility  of  the  projects  which  they  formed 
against  his  person,  until  the  moment  when 
he  should  permit  them  to  do  what  he  had 
resolved  to  permit  them  to  do.  That 
moment  was  not  far  distant :  but  it  was  to 


( » )  In  the  text  we  find  the  present  tense,  Where 

I  am,  ubi  ego  sum.  Some  render  it  “  where  I  am 
to  go ;  ”  others,  “  where  I  shall  be,”  in  the  future, 
because,  in  point  of  fact.  Jesus  Christ  speaks  of  a 
time  to  come.  We  adhere  to  the  present,  because 
it  comprises  a  truth  which  disappears  when  the 
future  is  substituted.  In  reality  J esus  Christ  was 
already  there,  where  he  was  to  go  ;  that  is  to  say, 
in  heaven,  where  he  was  always  present  by  his  im- 


be  followed  immediately  by  his  ascension, 
and  his  entrance  into  heaven,  whither  they 
could  not  follow  him,  because  they  them¬ 
selves  should  have  closed  it.  Thence  he 
was  to  behold  them  occupied  with  useless 
and  disheartening  care,  seeking  among  the 
false  Messias  the  true  one  whom  they  had 
already  disowned.  Those  who  believed 
in  him  received  afterwards  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  these  mysteries.  But  whilst 
the  first  words  he  uttered  were  then 
understood,  the  latter  were  not.  “  The 
Jews,  therefore,  said  among  themselves  : 
Whither  will  he  go  that  we  shall  not  find 
him?  Will  he  go  unto  the  dispersed  among 
the  Gentiles,  and  teach  the  Gentiles  ? 
What  is  this  saying  that  he  hath  said  : 
You  shall  seek  me,  and  shall  not  find  me  ; 
and  where  I  am  you  cannot  come  ?  ”  (St. 
John  vii.  11-36.) 

mensity.  The  present  had,  therefore,  with  respect 
to  him,  its  proper  signification,  which  it  would  not 
have  had  if  Christ  were  purely  man.  We  know 
that  Saint  John,  when  writing  his  Gospel,  chiefly 
sought  to  manifest  the  divinity  of  our  Saviour. 
Everything  which  refers  to  this  should  be  pre¬ 
sumed  to  have  been  written  with  this  design,  and 
must  be  retained. 


656 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

A  MYSTIC  WATER. _ EFFUSION  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST. — THE  JEWS  DIVIDED  AMONGST  THEM¬ 

SELVES.— COUNCIL  OF  THE  PRIESTS.— OPPOSITION  OF  NICODEMUS.— THE  WOMAN  TAKEN  IN 
ADULTERY. 


A  RELIGIOUS  ceremony  which  the 
Jews  practised  during  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles  may  have  given  occasion  for 
the  last  words  which  our  Saviour  ad¬ 
dressed  to  them  during  this  solemnity. 
They  used  to  go  and  draw  water  from  the 
fountain  of  Siloe,  and  then  pour  it  upon 
the  altar,  asking  of  God  an  abundance  of 
the  fruits  of  the  earth.  To  all  appear¬ 
ance  it  was  taking  occasion  from  this 
water  that  he  spoke  to  them,  as  to  the  Sa¬ 
maritan  woman,  of  a  more  wondrous  and 
more  desirable  water.  “  On  the  last  and 
greatest  day  of  the  festivity,  Jesus  stood, 
and  cried,  saying  :  If  any  man  thirst,  let 
him  come  to  me,  and  drink.  He  that  be- 
lieveth  in  me,”  this  explains  the  word 
“drink,”  “as  the  Scripture  saith,  out  of 
his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  wa¬ 
ter.  Now  this  he  said  of  the  Spirit  which 
they  should  receive  who  believed  in  him  ; 
for  as  yet  the  Spirit  was  not  given,  be¬ 
cause  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified.”  1 

“  Of  that  multitude,  therefore,  when 

thev  had  heard  these  words  of  his,  some 
%/ 

said  :  This  is  the  prophet  indeed.  Others 

( ' )  The  Holy  Ghost  had  been  given  to  the  holy 
old  man  Simeon,  to  Zachary,  to  John  the  Baptist, 
and  to  some  others  ;  but  few  in  number.  It  was  not 
until  after  the  Lord  Jesus  had  been  fully  glorified, 
that  is  to  say,  after  his  ascension,  and  upon  Pente- 


said  :  This  is  the  Christ.  But  some  said  : 
Doth  the  Christ  come  out  of  Galilee  ? 
Doth  not  the  Scripture  say  that  Christ 
cometh  of  the  seed  of  David,  and  from 
Bethlehem,  the  town  where  David  was  ?  So 
there  arose  a  dissension  among  the  people, 
because  of  him  ;  and  some  of  them  would 
have  apprehended  him.  But  no  man  laid 
hands  upon  him.” 

These  were  the  priests’  ministers  or 
officers,  who  had  come  hoping  to  execute 
on  that  day  what  they  were  unable  to  ac¬ 
complish  on  the  preceding  days.  His 
divine  eloquence  was  the  charm  which 
enchained  their  hands.  “The  ministers, 
therefore,  came  to  the  chief  priests  and  the 
Pharisees.  And  they  said  to  them  :  Why 
have  you  not  brought  him  ?  The  ministers 
answered  :  Never  did  man  speak  like  this 
man.  The  Pharisees  answered  them  :  Are 
you  also  seduced  ?  Hath  any  one  of  the 
rulers  believed  in  him,  or  of  the  Pharisees? 
But  this  multitude  that  knoweth  not  the 
law  are  accursed  ”  of  God.  “  Nicodemus, 
he  that  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  who  was 
one  of  them,  said  to  them  :  Doth  our  law 

cost-day,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given  to  all  the 
disciples,  and  in  such  fulness  as  served  to  diffuse  it 
over  all  the  earth.  This  effusion,  proceeding  from 
this  fulness,  is  signified  by  the  preceding  words : 
“  Out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water.” 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


657 


judge  any  man  unless  it  first  hear  him,  and 
know  what  he  doth  ?  ”  It  was  easy  for 
them  to  answer  :  When  we  have  him  in 
our  power  we  shall  interrogate,  and  lieai 
him.  There  is,  therefore,  every  reason  to 
believe  that  their  design  was  to  put  our 
Saviour  to  death  without  any  form  of  trial, 
because,  instead  of  making  this  answer, 
which  would  have  silenced  Nicodemus, 
they  had  no  alternative  but  to  insult  him : 
“They  answered  and  said  to  him:  Ait 
thou  also  a  Galilean?1  Search  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  and  see  that  out  of  Galilee  a  pro¬ 
phet  riseth  not.  And  every  man  returned 
to  his  own  house.”  2  (St.  John  vii.  37-53.) 

It  is  true  that  we  do  not  find  in  Scrip¬ 
ture  any  prophet  who  came  forth  from 
Galilee  ;  but  much  less  do  we  find  it  said 
that  there  never  should  be  one  from  thence. 
What,  then,  was  there  to  prevent  God 
from  raising  up  one  in  that  country  as  in 
others ?  Thus,  without  cavilling  about 
country,  the  only  thing  to  be  done  was  to 
examine  whether  this  was  or  was  not  a 
,  prophet.  Yet  this  reason,  so  bad  that  a 
man’s  contenting  himself  with  it  was  an 


avowal  that  he  rejected  Jesus  Christ  with¬ 
out  any  reason,  this  reason,  I  say,  was 
more  than  sufficient  for  hearts  blinded  by 
passion  5  and  in  this  regard  no  difference 
can  be  drawn  between  the  enlightened 
man  and  the  most  gross.  Those  who  al¬ 
leged  this  were,  beyond  contradiction,  the 
most  polished  and  learned  class  in  the  na¬ 
tion.  Yet,  of  all  who  refused  to  acknow¬ 
ledge  our  Saviour,  they  are  the  very  men 
who  give  the  most  evidently  absurd  reason 
for  their  refusal,  one,  in  fact,  that  a  child 
could  refute.  For  that  ignorant  populace, 
who  maintained  that  it  was  not  known 
whence  the  Messias  should  come,  appear  to 
have  thought  so  on  the  faith  of  sundry 
texts  of  Scripture,  which  seemed,  at  first 
sight,  to  present  this  meaning  to  the  mind. 
Those  who  said  that  he  should  spring  from 
the  race  of  David,  and  be  born  at  Bethle¬ 
hem,  spoke  the  truth  ;  and  they  only  erred 
in  thinking  that  the  second  of  these  two 
marks  did  not  belong  to  Jesus  Christ:  an 
error  against  which  they  could  secure  them¬ 
selves  only  by  a  minute  research  into  the  en¬ 
tire  life  of  our  Saviour,  who,  being  removed 


( > )  They  all  start  from  this  proposition :  He  is 
a  Galilean.  The  Jews,  properly  speaking,  that  is 
to  say,  those  of  the  province  of  Judea,  especia  y 
those  of  Jerusalem,  despised  the  Galileans  grea  y. 
Hence  the  enemies  of  our  Saviour  affected  y  styled 
him  by  this  name,  convinced,  and  m  this  they 
argued  well,  that  a  contemptuous  name  is  the 
shortest  and  surest  means  of  lowering  in  P°l™  ai 
estimation  even  the  most  respectable  persons.  The 
Jews  continued  long  after  to  designate  Jesus 
Christ  by  this  name,  and  from  them  it  was  or 
rowed  by  Julian  the  Apostate,  probably  the  mos 
disordered  brain  which  was  ever  encircled  with  a 
diadem,  let  his  panegyrists  say  what  they  wi  ,  ant 

QQ 


they  could  become  his  panegyrists  only  by  being 
as  mad  as  he. 

( 5 )  A  good  man  in  the  council  of  the  wicked  will 
never  reclaim  them  to  reason  and  equity  ;  but,  by 
presenting  reason  and  equity  to  them  m  so  clear  a 
lio-ht  that  they  cannot  elude  the  evidence,  he  ba  es 
or  at  least  retards  for  a  time  their  projects.  In¬ 
justice  is  disarmed  when  stripped  of  all  color  of 
justice.  He  cannot  always  succeed  m  securing 
this  result;  but  whenever  he  can,  he  ought  to  do 
so-  and  the  apprehension,  or  even  the  certainty, 
of  encountering  their  hatred,  does  not  excuse  him 
from  doing  so. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


658 


from  Bethlehem  to  Egypt  immediately 
after  his  birth,  and  brought  thence  into 
G-alilee,  where  he  dwelt  after  his  return 
from  Egypt  until  the  commencement  of  his 
mission,  gave  ground  for  thinking  that  he 
was  a  native  o'f  that  province.  They  de¬ 
ceived  themselves,  therefore  ;  and  what 
rendered  their  error  inexcusable  beTore 
God  is,  that’  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ 
obliged  them  to  subscribe  to  the-  truth  of 
all  he  advanced  concerning  himself,  and 
forced  them  to  seek  in  him  the  characters 
of  the  Messias,  which  were  not  at  once  per¬ 
ceptible,  but  which  could  not  escape  a 
close  scrutiny.  But,  after  all,  their  error 
was  not  without  some  appearance  of  rea¬ 
son,  while  that  of  the  Pharisees  had  not 
the  slightest  ground;  for,  to  reject  Jesus 
Christ,  merely  because  no  prophets  had 
heretofore  appeared  in  Galilee,  was,  as 
we  have  already  said,  to  maintain  that 
God  could  not,  or  never  would,  raise  one 
from  that  country.  The  first  position  is 
notoriously  false  :  how  did  they  know  the 
second?  This  would  establish,  conse¬ 
quently,  that  they  should  reject  as  false 
prophets  all  those  who  were  the  first  pro¬ 
phets  of  their  country.  What  could  be 
more  absurd?  Yet  this  is  the  groundwork 
on  which  the  masters  and  doctors  in  Israel 
based  their  opposition  :  which  shows,  as 
we  have  already  remarked,  that  even  by 
the  most  enlightened  persons,  when,  un¬ 
happily,  they  have  allowed  themselves  to 
be  biased,  the  most  palpable  false  reason- 

( 1 )  This  narrative  is  wanting  in  most  Greek 
manuscripts  ;  yet  it  is  found  in  some  of  very  great 
antiquity,  and  in  almost  all  the  ancient  Latin  manu¬ 
scripts.  If  we  consult  merely  the  rules  of  criticism, 


ing  takes  the  place  of  reasoning  and  is 
converted  into  demonstration  ;  for  the  re¬ 
proach  of  ignorance  flung  at  Nicodemus 
springs  solely  from  the  fact  that  he  cannot 
feel  as  they  do  the  force  of  this  reasoning  : 
There  never  was  a  prophet  of  Galilee  ; 
therefore  there  never  shall  be. 

“In  the  meantime,”  as  it  grew  late, 

“  Jesus  went  unto  Mount  Olivet,”  so  called 
on  account  of  an  olive  grove  with  which  it 
was  covered.  It  lies  beyond  the  torrent  of 
Cedron,  east  of  Jerusalem,  and  as  far  distant 
from  that  city  as  a  mau  was  allowed  to 
travel  on  the  sabbath-day,  that  is  to  say, 
two  Italian  miles.  When  Jesus  sojourned 
at  Jerusalem,  he  was  accustomed  to  pass 
the  night  there  in  prayer,  and  the  traitor 
Judas  knew  this  but  too  well.  Near  at 
hand  was  Betliania,  where  Mary  and  Mar¬ 
tha  resided,  with  their  brother  Lazarus. 
We  know  how  dear  this  family  was  to  our 
Saviour,  and  their  vicinity  may,  indeed, 
have  been  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  pref¬ 
erence  which  he  had  given  to  this  district. 
After  having  passed  the  night  there,  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  custom,  “  early  in  the 
morning  he  came  again  into  the  temple, 
and  all  the  people  came  to  him,  and  sitting 
down,  he  taught  them,”  when  he  was  inter¬ 
rupted  by  a  new  machination,  which  his 
enemies  set  in  motion  against  him,  but 
which  he  easily  turned  against  themselves, 
as  we  are  about  to  see. 

“The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  bring  unto 
him  a  woman  taken  in  adultery,1  and  they 

it  would  be  questionable  enough  whether  or  not  the 
passage  is  part  of  the  Scripture.  Calvin  thinks  he 
recognizes  here  the  spirit  of  God,  but  Beza  does 
not,  leaving  it  to  their  disciples  to  believe  with 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESTJS  CHRIST. 


659 


set  lier  in  the  midst”  of  the  assembly, 

“  and  said  to  him :  Master,  this  woman 
was  even  now  taken  in  adultery.  Now, 
Moses,  in  the  law,  commanded  us  to  stone 
such  a  one.  But  what  sayst  thou?  This 
they  said,  tempting  him,  that  they  might 
accuse  him  ”  either  of  prevarication,  if  he 
undertook  to  moderate  the  rigor  of  the 
law,  or  of  self-contradiction,  if  he  advised 
them  to  enforce  the  extreme  rigor  of  the 
law,  he  who  hitherto  had  always  evinced 
the  greatest  indulgence  and  compassion  for 
sinners.  Jesus,  who  knew  their  designs, 
and  who  did  not  wish  to*  answer  them,  did 
at  first  what  is  customary  whenever  any 
one  wishes  to  elude  an  importunate  or  cap¬ 
tious  question  :  we  seem  inattentive,  as  if 
the  mind  were  occupied  by  some  other 
thought.  It  was,  therefore,  with  this  in¬ 
tention,  that  “  Jesus  bowing  himself  down, 
wrote  with  his  finger  on  the  ground.”1 
His  enemies  either  did  not  comprehend 
him,  or  wished  to  force  from  him  the  an¬ 
swer  which  should  furnish  matter  for  their 
calumny,  whilst  his  goodness  was  seeking 
to  save  them  from  confusion.  “  When, 

whichever  of  the  two  they  like  best.  Not  so  with 
Catholics.  The  Church  has  fixed  their  belief  upon 
this  point,  by  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
which  makes  it  obligatory  to  receive  as  books  ot 
Scripture  all  those  that  the  Council  enumerates, 
and  to  receive  them  in  all  their  parts,  just  as  they 
are  found  in  the  ancient  Vulgate.  Now,  the  Gospel 
of  Saint  John  is  one  of  these  books;  and  m  the 
Vulgate  the  narrative  referring  to  the  adulteress 
constitutes  part  of  the  Gospel  of  Saint  John.  We 
know,  then,  what  we  are  to  believe,  because  we 

know  whom  we  are  to  believe. 

(' 1 )  It  is  not  known  what  he  wrote.  We  scarcely 
know  whether  he  formed  characters,  or  whether  he 
merely  traced  lines,  although  the  first  conjecture  is 


therefore,  they  continued  asking  him,  he 
lifted  up  his  head,  and  said  to  them  .  He 
that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him  fust 
cast  a  stone  fit  her.  And  again  stooping 
down,  he  wrote  on  the  ground.”  This  stroke 
told,  and  this  expression,  together  with 
the  light  by  which  he  discovered  to  these 
false  zealots  all  the  crimes  of  their  impure 
conscience,  produced  its  effect  upon  the 
spot.  “  They,  hearing  this,  went  out  one 
by  one,  beginning  at  the  eldest,”  as  more 
shrewd  or  perhaps  more  criminal,  “  so  that 
Jesus  alone  remained,  and  the  woman 
standing  in  the  midst.  Then  Jesus,  lifting 
up  himself,  said  to  her:  Woman,  where 
are  they  that  accuse  thee  ?  Hath  no  man 
condemned  thee?  She  said:  No  man, 
Lord.  Jesus  said  :  N either  will  I  con¬ 
demn  thee.  Gro,  and  now  sin  no  more.” 
(St.  John  viii.  1-11.)  Thus,  by  the  vir¬ 
tue  of  one  single  word,  we  see  all  at 
once  mercy  exercised  and  the  law  re¬ 
spected,  the  sinful  woman  rescued  and  her 
liberator  justified,  hypocrisy  unmasked  and 
malice  confounded,  Jesus  victorious,  and 
his  enemies  put  to  flight. 

most  probable,  because  it, is  said  that  “he  wrote.” 
Nevertheless,  some  have  asserted  not  only  that  he 
did  write,  but  even  what  he  wrote.  Some  declare 
that  he  wrote  the  secret  sins  of  the  accusers  of  the 
adulteress.  Where  have  they  learned  this  ?  They 
add,  that  it  was  this  disclosure  which  obliged  these 
sinners  when  thus  unmasked  to  take  flight  one 
after  the  other.  This  seems  false;  for  the  evan¬ 
gelist  does  not  say  that  they  withdrew  after  having 
seen  what  Jesus  wrote,  but  after  having  heard 
what  he  said.  Other  commentators  think  that 
our  Saviour  wrote  merely  some  short,  energetic 
sentence,  calculated  to  confound  these  rash  accus¬ 
ers,  for  instance,  these  words  of  Jeremias  xxn.  29, 
30:  “0  earth,  earth,  earth,  hear  the  word  of  the 


660 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

ANOTHER  DISCOURSE  OP  JESUS  CHRIST  TO  THE  JEWS.— HE  GIVES  TESTIMONY  TO  HIMSELF, 
DYING  IN  SIN.— SLAVERY  OP  SEN.— THE  SON  ALONE  CAN  SET  US  FREE. 


DELIVERED  from  these  importunate 
men,  “Jesus  again  spoke  to  the 
people,  saying :  I  am  the  light  of  the 
world.  He  that  follow eth  me,  walketh 
not  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light 
of  life.” 1  (St.  John  viii.  12.) 

It  is  conceded  that  these  magnificent 
statements  should  not  be  advanced  without 
proof ;  and  it  must  also  be  conceded  that 
whatever  proved,  in  a  general  way,  the 
divinity  of  onr  Saviour’s  mission,  proved, 
at  .the  same  time,  the  truth  of  all  his 
words.  But  who  ever  required  proof  by 
witnesses  of  an  extraordinary  and  divine 
mission?  God  himself  must  attest  this, 
and  if  he  does  not,  the  testimony  of  all 
men  would  be  insufficient.  By  this  mark 
the  Jews  had  recognized  all  the  pro¬ 
phets,  commencing  with  Moses.  God 
had  stamped  their  mission  with  the 
seal  of  his  omnipotence :  this  was  quite 
enough,  and  the  Jews  had  never  enter¬ 
tained  the  notion  of  asking  from  them  any¬ 
thing  further.  And,  in  fact,  we  cannot 
but  feel  how  absurd  it  would  have  been  to 

Lord.  Thus  saith  the  Lord;  Write  this  man 
barren.”  Or  else  these  words,  which  lie  had  already 
pronounced  upon  another  occasion  (Matthew  vii. 
5) :  “  Thou  hypocrite,  cast  out  first  the  beam  out 
of  thy  own  eye,  and  then  shalt  thou  see  to  cast  out 
the  mote  out  of  thy  brother’s  eye.”  One  thing  alone 
ia  certain,  that  we  do  not  really  know  what  he  wrote. 


have  asked  Moses,  after  he  had  divided 
the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea,  to  prove  the 
divinity  of  his  mission  by  two  witnesses. 
Jesus  Christ,  after  so  many  miracles,  was 
at  least  in  the  same  position.  Yet,  his 
enemies  were  not  ashamed  to  meet  him 
with  this  wretched  quibble.  “The  Phar¬ 
isees  therefore  said  to  him  :  Thou  givest 
testimony  of  thyself :  thy  testimony  is  not 
true.  Jesus  answered  and  said  to  them  : 
Although  I  give  testimony  of  myself,  my 
testimony  is  true  ;  for  I  know  whence  I 
come  and  whither  I  go.  But  you  know 
not  whence  I  come,  or  whither  I  go.”  (St. 
John  viii.  13,  14.) 

He  came  from  heaven,  and  thither  he 
was  to  return  ;  this  is  what  he,  at  least, 
insinuates  by  these  words.  But  he  shows 
them,  at  the  same  time,  that  his  testimony 
can  come  from  heaven  alone ;  that  we 
must  not,  therefore,  pause  to  seek  witnesses 
for  it  on  earth,  because  those  who  dwell 
on  earth  see  at  most  only  what  is  within 
the  compass  of  their  sight,  and  that,  as 
heavenly  things  are  so  far  above  their 

( 1 )  So  called  because  it  leads  to  the  life  of  glory, 
or  rather  because  even  in  the  present  time  it  con¬ 
fers  life  and  grace.  Both  interpretations  are  true, 
and  it  may  be  understood  in  both,  neither  of 
which  excludes  the  other. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


661 


senses,  they  are  not  in  a  position  to  attest 
their  existence,  and  therefore  incapable  of 
bearing  certain  testimony.  This  is  signified 
more  expressly  by  the  following  words : 
“You”  men  “judge  according  to  the 
flesh,”  which  can  only  judge  of  what  falls 
under  the  carnal  senses.  “I,”  said  he, 
“judge  not  any  man”  (St.  John  viii.  15) ; 
which  does  not  mean  that  he  had  no  dis¬ 
cernment  of  men’s  guilt,  he  who,  by  divine 
light,  “knew”  thoroughly  “what  was  in 
man”  (St.  John  ii.  25)  ;  but  this  discern¬ 
ment  was  all  interior,  and  Jesus  Christ 
did  not  display  it,  in  exterior  judgment, 
which  he  always  had  the  right  to  pro¬ 
nounce,  but  which  he  has  reserved  for  his 
second  coming,  in  conformity  with  what 
he  himself  said,  speaking  of  the  first  com¬ 
ber  :  “  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world 
to°judge  the  world,  but  that  the  world  may 
be  saved  by  him.”  (St.  John  m.  17.) 
-And,”  added  he,  “if  I  do  judge,  my 
judgment  is  true,  because  I  am  not  alone  ; 
but°I  and  the  Father  that  sent  me  :  and 
in  your  law  it  is  written  that  the  testimony 
of  two  men  is  true.  I  am  one  that  give 
testimony  of  myself ;  and  the  Father  that 
sent  me  giveth  testimony  of  me.’  (St. 
John  viii.  16-18.) 

However,  he  who  is  the  subject  of  t  ie 
testimony  cannot  be  one  of  the  witnesses  ; 
and  according  to  the  prescription  of  the 
law,  these  two  witnesses  merely  constituted 
one.  That  is  true  in  ordinary  cases  ;  but 
this  was  visibly  an  exception  ;  for  here 


the  subject  of  the  deposition  commenced 
by  proving  beyond  all  doubt,  that  all  he 
should  depose  of  himself  must  be  conform¬ 
able  to  truth.  In  this  case,  which  was  that 
of  all  God’s  envoys,  a  man  might  render 
testimony  of  himself,  and  he  ought  to  be 
believed,  because  he  proves  in  advance 
that  he  will  tell  the  truth.  It  is  needless 
to  repeat  that  no  one  had  had  this  advan¬ 
tage  in  so  sensible  a  manner,  nor  in  so 
eminent  a  degree,  as  Jesus  Christ.  And, 
indeed,  at  this  moment,  the  Jews,  despite 
themselves,  must  have  felt  this  truth,  since, 
instead  of  objecting  to  him,  as  it  was  na¬ 
tural  for  them  to  do,  that  the  party  inter¬ 
ested  cannot  bear  testimony  in  his  own 
cause,  and  that  he  must  seek  for  another 
witness,  if  he  wished  to  produce  two, 
“they,”  as  if  not  knowing  well  what  to 
answer,  “  therefore  said  to  him  :  Where  is 
thy  Father  ?  ”  Jesus  had  said  quite  enough 
to  make  his  Father  known  to  all  upright 
and  unprejudiced  minds,  and  he  did  not 
choose  to  make  him  further  known  to 
those  who  only  sought  to  make  him  speak 
in  order  to  find  in  his  words  matter  tor 
new  calumnies.  Thus,  without  farther  ex¬ 
plaining  himself  he  answered:  “Neither 
me  do  you  know,  nor  my  Father.  If  you 
did  know  me,  perhaps  you  would  know 
my  Father  also.”1  (St.  John  viii.  19.) 
“  These  words  Jesus  spoke  in  the  treasury, 
teaching  in  the  temple.”  This  was  the 
most  frequented  part  of  it,  where  he  ran 
the  greatest  risk  in  speaking,  because  it 


( 1 )  If  you  acknowledge  that  I  am  the  Messias 
and  the  Christ,  perhaps  you  will  come  to  know 
and  believe  that  God  is  my  Father,  and  that  fro 
all  eternity  I  am  the  Son  of  the  Eternal.  -  pa  son 


may  absolutely  believe  the  first  and  not  believe  the 
second,  as,  for  example,  the  Ariaus  and  Socimans. 
With  reference  to  the  “perhaps,”  see  note  4,  page 

501. 


-*•  - 

1 

662  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

was  the  easiest  place  to  arrest  him.  How- 

terms,  the  place  whither  he  was  to  return, 

ever,  “  no  man  laid  hands  on  him,  because 

and  the  reason  why  they  could  not  follow 

his  hour  was  not  yet  come.” 

him  thither.  “You,”  he  said  to  them, 

-His  enemies  did  not  withal  abandon  the 

“  you  are  from  beneath,  I  am  from  above  ; 

design.  They  were  always  seeking  the 

you  are  of  this  world,  I  am  not  of  this 

means  of  seizing  his  person.  The  knowl- 

world.”  He  neither  was  so  by  origin  nor 

edge  which  he  had  that  they  were  think- 

by  affection,  and  the  Jews  were  so  in  both 

ing  of  this  scheme  at  the  very  moment  he 

these  ways ;  and  as  it  is  natural  for  every- 

was  speaking  to  them,  was  apparently  the 

thing  to  return  to  the  place  whence  it 

reason  why  he  repeated  those  words  which 

hath  its  origin,  and  to  which  it  naturally 

he  had  already  said  when  they  sent  mes- 

tends,  their  term  should  therefore  be  the 

sengers  to  apprehend  him  :  “  Again, 

centre  of  the  earth,  and  his,  the  sublimity 

therefore,  Jesus  said  to  them:  I  go,  and 

of  the  highest  heaven.  Now,  between 

you  shall  seek  me  ;  ”  to  which  he  adds  this 

these  two  points  there  lies  an  immense 

'  threat,  which  he  had  not  as  yet  made: 

chaos,  forming  an  insurmountable  barrier. 

“  And  you  shall  die  in  your  sin.  Whither 

But,  in  order  that  they  may  not  be  igno- 

I  go,”  said  he  further,  “  you  cannot  come.” 

rant  of  the  cause  of  the  fearful  evil  with 

These  hardened  men  appeared  only  to 

which  they  are  threatened,  Jesus  resumes, 

pay  attention  to  these  latter  words,  to 

and  continues  thus  :  “Therefore  I  said  to 

which  they  gave  a  meaning  that  suited 

you  that  you  shall  die  in  your  sins  ;  for  if 

the  sanguinary  disposition  in  which  they 

you  believe  not  that  I  am  he,”  who  I  am 

then  were.  “The  Jews,  therefore,  said: 

in  reality,  “you  shall  die  in  your  sin.1 

Will  he  kill  himself?  because  he  said : 

They  said,  therefore,  to  him  :  Who  art 

Whither  I  go  you  cannot  come.”  Jesus 

thou  ?  Jesus  said  to  them  :  The  beginning, 

• 

discarded  this  gloomy  interpretation,  by 

who  also  speak  unto  you.” 2  Although  now 

declaring  to  them,  although  in  mysterious 

I  only  reproach  you  with  one  sin,  “  Many 

( 1 )  When  Jesus  Christ  says  :  “  You  shall  die  in 

attend  to  what  I  say  to  you.  A  fair  volume  might 

your  sin,”  the  particular  sin  he  speaks  of  is  that 

be  made  of  the  reasons  upon  which  these  different 

of  infidelity.  To  die  in  this  sin,  is  to  die  in  all 

interpretations  are  grounded,  and  the  difficulties 

others;  because,  as  there  can  be  neither  justifica- 

which  they  present ;  and,  after  a  thorough  investi- 

tion  nor  remission  without  faith,  so,  whilst  infidel- 

gation  of  the  matter,  the  inquirer  would  still  re- 

ity  remains,  the  others  remain.  Hence  Christ 

main  undecided  as  to  which  construction  to  give 

might  say  either:  “You  shall  die  in  your  sins,”  or 

the  pi’eference.  This  has  led  me  to  give  the  very 

“  You  shall  die  in  your  sin.” 

words,  without  struggling  to  dissipate  the  mysterious 

( * )  This  is  the  text  translated  literally.  There 

darkness  in  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  shroud  it. 

are  various  explanations.  According  to  some, 

Yet,  as  nothing  is  useless  in  Scripture,  it  is  natural 

Christ  replies :  I  am  the  beginning  of  all  things, 

to  believe  that  God  discovers  therein,  to  the  pious 

I,  who  also  speak  to  you.  According  to  others,  he 

souls  who  meditate  on  the  passage,  meanings  which 

said :  I  am  what  I  told  you  from  the  beginning. 

he  is  pleased  to  hide  from  learned  commentators. 

This  explanation  is  more  conformable  to  the  Greek 

God,  who  wishes  that  men  should  be  instructed  by 

text.  Others  construe  it  thus :  Above  all  things, 

1  _  4  * 

men,  still  reserves  to  himself  the  right  of  teaching, 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


GG3 


things  I  have  to  speak  and  to  judge  of 
you.  But  he  that  sent  me  is  true,  and  the 
things  I  have  heard  of  him,  these  same  I 
speak  in  the  world.”  You,  therefore, 
ought  to  receive  m}r  words  as  if  he  himself 
spoke  to  you.  “  And  they  understood  not 
that  he  called  God  his  Father.” 

Then,  reverting  to  the  question  which 
they  had  just  put  to  him,  he  gave  them  to 
understand  that  he  did  not  wish  to  give 
them  at  that  time  a  more  distinct  knowl¬ 
edge  of  what  he  was  than  he  had  already 
given  in  the  preceding  words,  inasmuch 
as  he  reserved  the  giving  of  it  for  a  future 
time.  He  therefore  said  to  them  :  “  When 
you  shall  have  lifted  up  the  Son  of  man, 
then  shall  you  know  that  I  am  he,  and 
that  I  do  nothing  of  myself ;  but  as  the 
Father  hath  taught  me  these  things  I 
speak.  He  that  sent  me  is  with  me,  and 
he  hath  not  left  me  alone,  for  I  do  always 
the  things  that  please  him.”  1  The  exalta¬ 
tion  of  which  he  has  just  spoken  expresses 
the  kind  of  death  which  he  was  to  under¬ 
go.  It  was  followed,  as  he  had  foretold, 
by  the  conversion  of  a  considerable  part 
of  the  nation  ;  and  the  effect  was  so 
prompt,  that  he  had  scarcely  expired, 
and  was  still  hanging  on  the  cross,  when 
many  of  the  spectators  struck  their 

through  himself,  those  truths  which  men  cannot 

teach  them,  and  which,  in  certain  respects,  render 
the  disciples  more  learned  than  their  masters. 
This  is  the  hidden  manna  which  is  known  only  to 
those  who  afe  nourished  by  it,  and  the  accomplish¬ 
ment  of  those  words  of  the  Psalmist:  I  have 
understood  more  than  all  my  teachers.  (Psalm 
civiil  99.)  See  note  6,  page  506,  with  reference  to 

the  obscure  texts. 

(»)  Unity  of  nature  renders  the  Father  in¬ 


breasts,  and  confessed  that  he  was  truly 
the  Son  of  God.  It  was  principally  in 
this  quality  that  they  were  to  recognize 
him,  and  the  cross  forced  them  to  do 
so  by  an  incomprehensible  miracle  of 
God’s  omnipotence,  which  drew  from  the 
shades  of  death  the  light  which  was  to 
illumine  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  his 
Son  from  the  infamy  of  an  ignominious 
death.  It  seems  that  the  virtue  of  the 
cross  operated  by  anticipation  ;  for  when 
he  spoke  these  things,  many  believed  in 
him.”  We  may,  perhaps,  feel  surprised 
at  this,  considering  the  almost  impene¬ 
trable  depth  of  his  words.  We  can 
scarcely  understand  them  when  reading 
and  studying  them,  we,  who  may  be  said 
to  have  the  key  in  the  distinct  knowledge 
which  we  otherwise  have  of  the  principles 
of  Christianity.  How  could  they  com¬ 
prehend  them,  who  as  yet  had  no  idea  of 
those  truths  which  we  have  here  such  dif¬ 
ficulty  in  tracing?  This  has  induced  a 
belief,  and  a  well-grounded  one,  that 
Jesus  Christ,  in  order  to  place  his  instruc¬ 
tions  within  reach  of  his  hearers,  gave 
them  much  more  amply  than  they  are  re¬ 
ported  in  the  sacred  text,  and  that  what 
we  have  of  them  is  only  a  summary.  Thus 
we  can  conceive  that  what  is  obscure  to 

separable  from  the  Son ;  but  God  unites  himself 

inseparably  with  those  who  always  do  what  is 
pleasing  to  him ;  and,  for  this  reason  alone,  he 
would  have  been  inseparable  from  Jesus  Christ. 
This  is  what  our  Saviour  here  teaches  to  all  the 
just,  who  should,  therefore,  derive  inexpressible 
consolation  and  a  courage  superior  to  every  emer¬ 
gency  from  this  consoling  reflection:  God  is  with 
me,  and  he  will  never  desert  me  so  long  as  I  en- 
I  deavor  to  do  what  is  pleasing  to  him. 


664 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


us  may  have  been  clear  to  tliose  who 
heard  him  :  and  we  can  thus  account  for 
the  faith  of  those  who  believed.  Although, 
even  in  the  supposition  that  our  Saviour’s 
words  might  not  have  been  understood, 
there  would  still  be  reason  to  believe  that 
he  left  no  excuse  for  the  infidelity  of  those 
who  did  not  believe.  His  miracles,  as  we 
have  already  said,  obliged  men  to  believe 
him,  even  without  understanding. 

But  it  was  necessary  to  instruct  and 
confirm  the  new  proselytes.  “Jesus  said 
to  those  Jews  who  believed  him:  If  you 
continue  in  my  word,  you  shall  be  my 
disciples  indeed.”  For  you  are  not  estab¬ 
lished  as  such  by  a  mere  transient  ac¬ 
quiescence  :  you  must  act  on  a  clear  and 
settled  conviction.  If  to  that  end  you  are 
called  upon  to  make  many  sacrifices,  they 
shall  not  be  without  their  reward.  Intel¬ 
ligence  shall  follow  faith  ;  and  because  you 
have  commenced  by  believing,  as  a  pre¬ 
mium  for  this  humble  and  prompt  docility, 
“  You  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free.” 

The  children  of  the  patriarchs  took  of- 


( 1 )  The  apostle  Saint  Peter  assigns  the  reason. 
« By  whom  a  man  is  overcome,  of  the  same  also 
he  is  the  slave.”  (2  Pet.  ii.  19.)  In  these  words, 
as  in  those  of  Christ,  sin  is,  as  it  were,  per¬ 
sonified  and  represented,  first,  as  an  enemy  with 
whom  we  are  at  warfare;  and  then  as  a  master,  or 
rather  as  a  tyrant  after  victory.  We  are  its  slave 
in  many  different  ways:  1st.  By  the  enslavement 
to  sin  itself.  The  will  retains  scarcely  any  force 
to  resist  sin,  and  the  habit  of  committing  it  be¬ 
comes  a  kind  of  necessity.  2d.  By  subjection  to 
the  demon,  the  father  of  sin  and  the  tyrant  of  all 
sinners,  over  whom  he  acquires  rights  which  he 
begins  to  exercise  in  this  life,  and  which  shall 


fence  at  the  terms  “  make  you  free.” 

“  They  answered  him:  We  are  the  seed 
of  Abraham,  and  we  have  never  been 
slaves  to  any  man.  How  sayst  thou,  You 
shall  be  free  ?  ”  They  would  have  spoken 
with  more  truth,  had  they  spoken  with 
more  modesty.  These  men,  so  proud  of 
their  liberty,  had  been  slaves  in  Egypt 
and  in  Babylon,  and  they  were  then  ac¬ 
tually  in  bondage  to  the  Romans.  But 
Jesus  wished  to  teach  them  that  there 
is  a  slavery  more  shameful  still  than 
that  exterior  and  transient  slavery  which 
is  not  incompatible  with  the  liberty  of 
the  children  of  God.  It  was,  therefore, 
to  inculcate  more  deeply  this  important 
truth,  and  to  let  it  make  more  impression 
on  their  minds,  that  “Jesus  answered 
them,”  with  a  sort  of  adjuration  :  “  Amen, 
amen,  I  say  unto  you  :  that  whosoever 
committetli  sin1  is  the  servant  of  sin.  Now, 
the  servant  abideth  not  in  the  house  for¬ 
ever,  but  the  Son  abideth  forever.  If, 
therefore,  the  Son  shall  make  you  free, 
you  shall  be  free  indeed.”2  (St.  John  viii. 
20-36.) 


render  him  eternally  the  master  and  the  execu¬ 
tioner  of  their  souls  and  bodies.  3d.  We  are 
enslaved  by  sin,  and  we  are,  in  a  certain  sense, 
its  eternal  slave,  by  the  absolute  impossibility  of 
bursting  its  chains,  as  all  the  strength  of  crea¬ 
tures  is  insufficient,  and  God  alone  can  do  it 
by  the  omnipotence  of  his  grace.  Oh,  sinner; 
even  though  you  he  a  freeman,  were  you, even  the 
master  of  all  mankind,  you  are  withal  naught  but 
a  vile  slave,  and  the  last  of  slaves,  if  you  be  the 
greatest  of  sinners. 

( 2 )  Neither  Abraham,  nor  Moses,  nor  the 
prophets  had  possessed  power  to  free  them.  These 
great  men  themselves  could  only  have  been  made 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


665 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE  DISCOURSE.-JEWS  CHILDREN  OF  ABRAHAM,  ACCORDING  TO  THE  FLESH  ; 
"  CHILDREN  OF  THE  DEVIL,  BY  IMITATION.-JESUS  CHRIST  BEFORE  ABRAHAM.-THE  JEWS  SEEK 
TO  STONE  HIM. 


WHAT  precedes  was  addressed,  at  j 
least  in  part,  to  those  who  had 
believed  in  our  Saviour  ;  not  so  with  the 
words  which  immediately  follow.  Al¬ 
though  it  does  not  appear  that  Christ 
interrupted  his  discourse,  yet  he  here 
treats  his  hearers  as  murderers  and  chil¬ 
dren  of  the  devil.  We  cannot  conceive 
how  such  reproaches  could  apply  to  these 
new  believers  ;  it  can  only  be  explained 
in  one  or  other  of  these  two  ways.  Either 
the  faithful  were  mixed  up  with  the  crowd 
of  unbelievers,  where  the  eye  of  Jesus 
knew  well  to  distinguish  them,  although 
there  was  no  outward  mark  whereby  men 
could  know  them.  In  this  supposition, 
the  beginning  of  this  discourse  might  have 
been  addressed  to  them,  and  the  sequel  to 
others.  Or  else  these  converts  of  a  mo¬ 
ment,  irritated  at  his  seeming  to  treat 
them  as  slaves,  had  passed  suddenly  from 
faith  in  his  doctrine  to  hatred  towards  his 
person,  and  to  the  design  of  attempting 
his  life.  This  will  not  appear  impossible 

free  by  the  Son.  Of  slaves  he  had  made  them 
children,  by  associating  them  through  grace  in  the 
divine  filiation  which  he  alone  possesses  by  nature. 
By  this  title  they  and  all  the  just  who  have  been 
or  who  shall  be,  before  or  after  the  Incarnation, 
shall  dwell  eternally  in  the  house;  that  is  to  say, 
in  alliance  with  God,  from  which  the  incredulous 
Jews  are  already  visibly  excluded;  and  from  which 

84 


to  those  who  know  the  temper  of  the 
mob,  and  the  strange  revolutions  that  a 
single  word,  misunderstood,  may  biing 
about  amongst  them  in  an  instant.  How¬ 
ever,  the  former  of  these  two  explana¬ 
tions  is  the  most  natural  and  the  most 
probable.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Jesus  con¬ 
tinued  to  speak  thus  :  “I  know  that  you 
are  the  children  of  Abraham  ;  but  you 
seek  to  kill  me,  because  my  word  hath  no 
place  in  you.  I  speak  that  which  I  have 
seen  with  my  Father  ;  and  you  do  the 
things  which  you  have  seen  with  your  fa¬ 
ther.”  (St.  John  viii.  37,  38.) 

He  gives  them  to  understand  that  be¬ 
sides  Abraham,  who  was  their  father  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  flesh,  and  who  was  also  his, 
there  was,  on  either  side,  another  father, 
whose  spirit  they  assumed,  and  whose 
works  they  copied.  G-od,  who  is  the  Fa¬ 
ther  of  Jesus  Christ  by  nature,  was  also 
his  Father  in  the  sense  we  have  just  men¬ 
tioned.  It  is  easy  to  guess  whose  children 
these  perverse  men  were  by  imitation  and 

impenitent  sinners  are  invisibly  excluded  at  the 
moment  of  death;  and  both  one  and  the  other 
shall  be  visibly  excluded,  and  in  the  most  conspic¬ 
uous  manner,  at  the  day  of  judgment,  that  day 
when  the  last  and  universal  discrimination  between 
the  children  and  the  slaves  shall  be  made  in  the 
presence  of  all  creatures. 


6015 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


resemblance.  But,  as  they  were  then 
thinking  of  Abraham  only,  “  they  an¬ 
swered  him,  and  said,”  a  second  time: 

“  Abraham  is  our  father.  If  you  be  the 
children  of  Abraham,  saith  Jesus  to  them, 
do,”  therefore,  “  the  works  of  Abraham. 
But  now  you  seek  to  kill  me,  a  man  who 
have  spoken  the  truth  to  you,  which  I 
have  heard  of  God.  This  Abraham  did 
not.  You  do  the  works  of  your  father.” 

Then  they  at  last  understood  that  the 
question  was  not  of  carnal  filiation,  but  of 
that  which  is  according  to  the  spirit.  As 
they  were  more  disposed  to  glory  in  the 
latter  than  the  former,  therefore,  “they 
said  to  him,”  proudly  :  “  We  are  not  born 
of  fornication  :  we  have  one  father,  even 
God.”  (St.  John  viii.  41.) 

The  word  fornication  is  so  often  employ¬ 
ed  in  Scripture  to  signify  idolatry,  that 
apparently  they  wished  to  repudiate  the 
charge  of  being  idolaters,  since  they  ad¬ 
duce  this  as  a  proof  that  God  alone  is 
their  father.  But  the  belief  in  one  God 
is  not  sufficient.  The  Jews  of  the  present 
time,  the  impious  men  whom  we  name 
Deists,  the  very  demons,  acknowledge 
only  one  God,  and  yet,  for  all  that,  aie 
not  his  children.  No  one  can  ever  be 
such  except  by  adding  love  to  knowledge, 
and  to  faith  in  one  God,  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  his  son  and  envoy.  True  faith, 
faith  which  justifies,  and  gives  children  to 

( 1 )  When  he  persuaded  the  first  man  to  eat  the 
fruit,  of  which  it  had  been  said :  “  What  day  so¬ 
ever  thou  shalt  eat  of  it,  thou  shalt  die  the  death. 
This  blow  was  mortal  to  all  mankind ;  and,  by 
striking  it,  the  demon  slew  all  men  without  ex¬ 
ception.  He  is,  therefore,  pre-eminently  a  mur- 


God,  rests  entirely  on  this  double  founda¬ 
tion,  as  Jesus  Christ  says  elsewheie,  and 
as  he  proceeds  to  declare  to  them  at  this 
time.  “Jesus,  therefore,  said  to  them: 

If  God  were  your  father,  you  would,  in¬ 
deed,  love  me  ;  for  from  God  I  proceeded 
and  came.  For  I  came  not  of  myself,  but 
he  sent  me.  Why,”  therefore,  “do  you 
not  know  my  speech  ?  Because  you  can¬ 
not  hear  my  word.” 

Jesus  Christ  had  given  them,  in  fact,  all 
the  proofs  which  reasonable  minds  could 
require.  All  show  of  reason  was  taken 
away  from  their  incredulity,  leaving  it 
naught  but  the  furious  and  envenomed 
hatred  which  they  bore  him.  It  alone  had 
closed  the  ears  of  these  “  deaf  asps,”  so 
that  they  will  not  hear  the  sweet  accents 
of  his  voice  which  charmeth  wisely 
(Psalms  Ivii.  5,  6) ;  and  truth  was  odious 
to  them  solely  because  they  could  not  en¬ 
dure  him  who  spoke  it  to  them.  Although 
it  be  not  rare  to  find  among  men  examples 
of  similar  malignity,  it  seems,  nevertheless, 
to  be  more  natural  to  the  devils.  This  it  was 
that  our  Saviour  had  endeavored  to  show 
them  up  to  that  time,  but  with  the  caution 
that  we  can  notice  ;  but  at  last  he  speaks 
openly  and  says  to  them,  without  reserve  : 
“You  are  of  your  father,  the  devil ;  and 
the  desires  of  your  father  you  will  do.  He 
was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,1  and 
he  stood  not  in  the  truth  :  because  truth 

derer,  and  in  this  sense  the  only  murderer, 
inasmuch  as  other  murderers  only  accelerate  the 
inevitable  effect  of  the  blow  which  he  has  struck. 
The  latter,  nevertheless,  are  justly  styled  his*  chil¬ 
dren,  because  they  imitate  his  wickedness,  aud  in 
the  same  class  do  all  the  evil  in  their  power.  But 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


667 


is  not  in  him.1  When  he  speaketh  a  lie, 
he  speaketh  of  his  own,  for  he  is  a  liar, 
and  the  father  thereof.  But  if  I  say  the 
truth,  you  believe  me  not.” 2 

This  opposition  to  truth  is  the  second 
feature  of  resemblance  which  they  have  to 
him  whom  he  has  just  called  their  fathei. 
Murder  is  the  first,  and  he  had  alieadj 
reproached  them  with  it,  when  he  made 
known  to  them  that  he  was  not  ignorant 
of  their  design  to  put  him  to  death.  But 
to  complete  the  evidence  of  this  tiuth,  to * (*) 

this  title  was  still  more  applicable  to  the  Jews,  be¬ 
cause,  by  seeking  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  they 
sought,  as  far  as  it  lay  in  their  power,  and  as  Saint 
Peter  reproached  them  for  doing,  to  destroy  the 
author  of  life,  he  who,  by  resuscitating  all  men, 
would  fully  repair  the  evil  which  Satan  has  done. 

It  is  true  that  this  great  good  was  to  be  the  fruit 
of  his  death;  but  they  knew  it  not;  and  their 
malice  would  not  have  been  less  fatal  to  mankind 
than  that  of  Satan,  if,  whilst  they  deprived  the 
Saviour  of  life,  they  could  also  have  stripped  him 
of  his  power. 

( *)  lie  is  no  longer  inclined  to  state  the  truth, 
which  was  a  consequence  of  the  original  rectitude 
in  which  he  was  created.  “  He  stood  not  in  the 
truth ;  ”  therefore  he  once  had  the  truth.  The 
Fathers  availed  themselves  of  this  expression,  to 
prove  to  the  Manicheans  that  the  devil  is  not  es¬ 
sentially  and  of  his  very  nature,  bad,  since  he  has 
not  always  been  so:  and  if  it  be  said:  “When  he 
speaketh  a  lie  he  speaketh  of  his  own,”  the  mean- 
ing  is,  of  his  nature,  depraved  and  vitiated  by  him- 
seff.  He  is  the.  father  of  lies,  inasmuch  as  he  is 
the  first  who  lied,  and  who  taught  lying  either  to 
men  or  to  the  wicked  angels.  There  is  no  truth  in 
him ;  for  he  either  speaks  falsely,  or,  if  he  some¬ 
times  happens  to  speak  the  truth,  he  always  does 
so  with  intent  to  deceive,  which  comprises  all  the 
malice  of  lying.  We  except  some  rare  cases, 
wherein  the  omnipotence  of  God  forces  him  to  tell 
useful  truths  ;  but  the  rage  which  then  seizes  upon 


which  they  opposed  a  diabolical  obstinacy, 
“which  of  you,”  said  he,  “  shall  convince 
me  of  sin  ?  ”  It  was  in  order  to  convince 
them  that  he  defied  them  ;  for  it  is  evi¬ 
dent  that  they  had  accused  him  long  be¬ 
fore  he  had  thus  defied  them  to  prove  the 
accusation.  But  they  had  accused  him 
without  proof,  and  although  persuaded  in 
the  bottom  of  their  hearts  that  they  ac¬ 
cused  him  unjustly.  Wherefore  they  had 
nothing  to  answer,  and  the  silence  to 

which  this  word  reduced  them  left  Jesus 

•  _ _ 

him  proves  his  determined  opposition  to  the  truth, 
and  the  implacable  hatred  which  he  bears  it. 

( 2 )  We  read  in  the  Greek :  “  Because  I  say  the 
truth,  you  believe  me  not.”  The  si  of  the  Vulgate 
appears  to.  have  the  sense  of  “because.”  This  Raises 
a  difficulty  here.  It  would  seem  that  to  disbelieve 
any  one  because  he  says  the  truth,  is  tantamount 
to  not  believing  him  because  we  do  believe  him ; 
because  being  once  persuaded  that  he  says  the 
•  truth,  we  must  actually  have  believed  him,  which 
would  make  a  manifest  contradiction  in  the  propo¬ 
sition  of  our  Saviour.  It  is  thus  explained :  Jesus 
Christ  had  spoken  of  them  and  of  himself  ;  he  had 
made  them  humiliating  reproaches,  and  he  had 
rendered  glorious  testimony  to  himself.  They 
could  not  disown  the  truth  of  the  former,  for  they 
had  proof  in  their  own  conscience ;  but  these  re¬ 
proaches  had  produced  upon  them  the  effect 
which  charitable  correction  usually  produces  upon 
distorted  minds:  it  had  rendered  the  admomsher 
odious,  and  all  the  more  odious  that  the  reproaches 
were  well  grounded.  Thenceforward  they  would 
no  longer  believe  what  he  said  of  himself,  and  the 
more  advantageous  to  himself  the  truths  which  he 
advanced,  the  less  were  they  inclined  to  believe 
him.  Thus  it  is  that  they  believed  him  not,  be¬ 
cause  he  said  the  truth  to  them ;  that  is  to  say, 
that  they  believed  not  the  truths  which  were  ad¬ 
vantageous  to  him,  because  they  were  irritated  at 
what  he  had  told  them  of  themselves,  truths  which 
had  humbled  and  confounded  them. 


6G8 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


Christ  that  right  which  a  spotless  and 
irreproachable  life  gives  to  the  just  man, 
that  of  being  believed  upon  his  word. 

He  resumes,  therefore  ;  and,  using  the 
advantage  which  their  tacit  avowal^gave 
him,  he  said  to  them  further:  “If  I  say 
the  truth  to  you,  why  do  you  not  believe 
me?”  He  himself  answers  his  question, 
and  his  answer  is  well  calculated  to  make 
those  tremble  who  have  neither  attention 
nor  docility  for  the  divine  word:  “He,” 
saith  he,  “that  is  of  God  heareth  the 
words  of  God.  Therefore  you  hear  them 
not,  because  you  are  not”  children  “of 
God.” 

The  word  of  God  is,  therefore,  well  re¬ 
ceived  by  those  only  who  listen  to  it  with 
that  tender  and  respectful  attention  with 
which  dutiful  children  always  hear  the 
words  of  therr  father.  How  could  they 
bear  it  whose  father  was  the  capital  enemy 
of  God?  Hence  they  rejected  it  with 
aversion  ;  for  they  could  not  oppose  it 
with  any  reason.  He  who  announced  it 
was  the  most  irreproachable  of  all  men, 
as  they  themselves  had  just  admitted  by 
their  silence.  His  doctrine  was  all-pure 
and  all-holy,  and  it  was  proved  by  mil- 

( 1 )  Jesus  Christ  formally  denies  the  charge  of 
being  a  demoniac.  As  to  the  reproach  of  his  being  a 
Samaritan,  we  may  say  that  he  replies  and  does  not 
reply  to  it.  It  was  both  the  name  of  a  people  and 
the  name  of  a  sect.  As  the  name  of  a  sect,  and  a 
superstitious  and  reprobate  sect,  he  seems  to  an¬ 
swer  when  he  says:  “I  honor  my  Father,”  which 
the  Samaritans  did  not  do.  As  the  name  of  a 
people,  he  could  not  consider  it  a  reproach,  he 
who  was  shortly  to  unite  all  people  under  the 
same  law,  and  make  but  one  people  of  Jew,  Samar¬ 
itan,  and  Gentile.  Besides,  generally  speaking, 


lions  of  miracles,  to  which  no  rational 
mind  could  raise  any  objection.  What, 
therefore,  could  they  oppose  to  it  but  in¬ 
sult,  the  only  resource  of  obstinacy  driven 
to  its  last  hold,  and  the  most  energetic 
avowal  of  the  extremity  to  which  reason 
has  reduced  it?  “The  Jews,  therefore, 
answered  him  :  Do  not  we  say  well,  that 
thou  art  a  Samaritan,  and  hast  a  devil? 
Jesus  answered:  I  have  not  a  devil,1  but 
I  honor  my  Father  ;  and  you  have  dis¬ 
honored  me.  And  I  seek  not  my  own 
glory  ;  there  is  one  that  seeketh  and 
judgeth.” 

After  this  grave  and  modest  reply,  the 
Lamb  of  God,  so  cruelly  insulted,  conde¬ 
scended,  moreover,  to  announce  to  this 
furious  people  truths  more  agreeable  than 
those  which  they  had  hitherto  forced  him 
to  speak  to  them.  One  among  the 
rest  was  to  make  them  feel  the  infinite 
difference  which  there  was  between  him 
and  the  arch-murderer,  by  whom  they  ac¬ 
cused  him  of  being  possessed.  He  de¬ 
clared  it  to  them  in  these  terms  :  “Amen, 
amen,  I  say  to  you,  if  any  man  keep  my 
word,  he  shall  not  see  death  forever.” 2 

When  hearts  are  once  perverted,  they 

the  ground  of  just  reproaches  is  not  the  nation, 
but  the  morals;  and  “in  every  nation,  he  that 
feareth  God  and  worketh  justice  is  acceptable  to 
him.”  (Acts  x.  35. ) 

( 3 )  He  shall  be  preserved  from  eternal  death. 
This  is  the  common  interpretation.  Thus  these 
words,  “  He  shall  not'  see  death  forever,  signify  . 
He  shall  receive,  by  the  resurrection,  a  life  which 
shall  never  again  be  followed  by  death.  Others  un¬ 
derstand  it  of  the  life  of  grace,  a  life  eternal  in  its 
nature,  as  we  have  said  elsewhere,  and  which  can 
never  be  lost  except  through  the  fault  of  him  who 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


669 


turn  everything  into  poison.  This  magnifi¬ 
cent  promise  only  irritated  them  the 
more  ;  and,  because  they  did  not  compre¬ 
hend  its  mysterious  meaning,  they  treated 
it  as  absurd  or  blasphemous.  “  Now  we 
know,”  say  they,  “  that  thou  hast  a  devil. 
Abraham  is  dead,  and  the  prophets  :  and 
thou  sayst:  If  any  man  keep  my  word,  he 
shall  not  taste  death  forever.  Art  thou 
greater  than  our  father  Abraham,  who  is 
dead  ?  And  the  prophets  are  dead  :  whom 

dost  thou  make  thyself?” 

He  is  about  to  announce  himself  what 
he  really  is,  that  is  to  say,  the  Eternal 
One.  But  he  first  recalls  to  their  minds 
the  proofs  of  his  mission  ;  and,  repeating 
what  he  had.  said  upon  another  occasion, 
that,  if  he  bore  testimony  to  himself,  his 
testimony  would  not  be  legitimate,  but 
that  there  was  another  who  bore  testimony 
unto  him,  “Jesus  answered,”  still  m  the 
same  sense:  “If  I  glorify  myself,  my 
glory  is  nothing.  It  is  my  Father  that 
glorifieth  me,  of  whom  you  say,  that  he  is 
your  God.  And  you  have  not  known 

which  confers  the  right  to  that  immortal  life 
which  shall  follow  the  resurrection,  we  have  both 
explanations  in  one. 

( 1  )  They  had  a  speculative  knowledge  of  Lot  , 
but  they  did  not  know  him,  or,  rather,  disowned 
him  in  practice.  For,  not  to  execute  his  will  is 
to  disown  his  authority  and  his  rights,  and  take 
part  with  those  “who  profess  that  they  know  God 
but  in  their  vVorks  they  deny  him.”  (Titus  1.  16.) 
There  was,  therefore,  one  sense  in  which  they  could 
not  say  with  truth  that  they  knew  God;  further¬ 
more,  it  is  in  this  sense  that  Saint  John  hath  said 
(1  Ep.  ii.  4) :  “  He  who  saith  that  he  knoweth 
him,  and  keepeth  not  his  commandments,  is  a  liar, 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  him.” 


him,1  but  I  know  him  :  and  if  I  shall  say 
that  I  know  him  not,  I  shall  be  like  to  you, 
a  liar.  But  I  do  know  him,  and  do  keep 
his  word.” 

Then  returning  to  Abraham,  whom  they 
regarded  as  the  greatest  of  human  beings, 
he  declares  in  these  words  his  own  infinite 
superiority  over  that  patriarch  :  Abia- 
ham,  your  father,  rejoiced,  that  he  might 
see  my  day  ;  he  saw  it,2  and  was  glad. 
The  Jews,  therefore,  said  to  him:  Thou  art 
not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  hast  thou  seen 
Abraham?3  Jesus  said  to  them:  Amen, 
amen,  I  say  to  you,  before  Abraham  was 
made,  I  am.”  They  began  to  see  in  these 
few  words  the  equality  with  God  which 
Jesus  Christ  attributed  to  himself ;  and,  as 
if  he  had  blasphemed,  “  they  took  up 
stones,  therefore,  to  cast  at  him  ;  but 
Jesus  hid  himself,4  and  went  out  of  the 
temple.”  (St,  John  viii.  42-59.) 

Although  his  words  then  produced  such 
strange  effects,  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised 
that  he  should  have  uttered  them.  Thence¬ 
forth  they  were  not  useless  to  all,  since 

(’)  Either  in  life,  by  a  prophetic  light  which 
enabled  him  to  know,  by  anticipation,  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation ;  or  in  Limbo,  by  the  revelation 
made  at  the  moment  when  the  Word  became  m- 
;  carnate. 

L  ( 3 )  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  common 

3  opinion,  had  not  yet  completed  his  thirty-third 

3  year.  Those  who  prolong  the  farthest  the  years 

of  his  mortal  life  agree  that  he  was  not  forty. 
)  We  do  not  know  for  certain  the  reason  which 
1  made  the  Jews  speak  as  if  he  had  approached  his 
fiftieth  year. 

a  (*■)  He  rendered  himself  invisible,  or  else  he 

h  mingled  in  the  crowd  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  be 
[•,  perceptible  to  these  infuriated  men. 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


670 


we  have  already  seen  that  several  believed 
in  him  ;  but,  moreover,  Jesus  knew  that 
what  he  said  would  subsequently  be 
written,  and  that  these  same  expressions, 
which  excited  against  him  the  fury  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  should  one  day  insure  to 
him  the  adoration  of  all  nations. 

But  if  it  is  never  impossible  for  ob¬ 
stinate  minds  to  elude  the  force  of  truth, 
and  resist  all  arguments,  there  are  yet 
proofs  so  certain  and  palpable,  that  we 


must  either  yield  to  them,  or  acknowledge 
that  we  will  yield  to  nothing.  Jesus 
Christ,  before  leaving  Jerusalem,  wished 
to  give  its  inhabitants  a  proof  of  this  kind. 
Here  is  the  recital,  or  rather  the  picture, 
drawn  in  such  natural  and  lively  colors, 
that  we  have  not  sought  to  add  anything 
extrinsic,  convinced  that  anything  which 
might  be  added,  for  the  purpose  of  shed¬ 
ding  light  upon  it,  would  only  tarnish  it 
with  shades  and  spots. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE  MAN  BORN  BLIND.— JESUS  IS  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD. 


“  T  ESUS  passing  by,  saw  a  man  who 
was  blind  from  his  birth  ;  and  his 
disciples  asked  him :  Rabbi,  who  hath 


( 1 )  Temporal  evils  may  be  the  punishment  of 
the  sins  of  parents.  “I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 
mighty,  jealous,  visiting  the  iniquities  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation.”  (Exodus  xx.  5.)  It  is  not 
surprising,  then,  that  the  disciples  should  inquire 
■whether  the  blindness  which  this  man  had  from 
his  mother’s  womb,  was  not  a  punishment  of  the 
sins  of  his  parents ;  but  we  do  not  know  what 
could  have  been  in  their  minds  when  they  inquired 
whether  his  own  sins  were  not  the  cause  of  his 
blindness.  Did  they  believe  in  the  pre-existence 
of  souls,  and  could  this  Platonic  notion  have 
been  conveyed  to  the  Jews  of  Judea  by  those  who 
were  called  Hellenists,  that  is  to  say,  who  lived 
among  the  Greeks  ?  Or  did  they  think  that  God 
punished  in  advance  the  sins  which  he  foresaw 


sinned,  this  man  or  his  parents,  that  he 
should  be  born  blind  ?*  Jesus  answered  : 
Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his 


would  be  committed  at  a  subsequent  period  ?  Or, 
finally,  could  their  question  have  had  the  meaning 
which  several  commentators  give  it :  This  individ¬ 
ual,  not  having  deserved  his  blindness  by  any  per¬ 
sonal  sin,  inasmuch  as  no  man  sins  before  he  is 
born,  is  it  then  caused  by  the  sin  of  his  parents  ? 
We  may  choose  for  ourselves  amongst  these  several 
conjectures  which  divide  the  learned.  Two  things 
are  certain :  one,  that  the  disciples  did  not  attribute 
this  poor  man’s  state  to  original  sin;  could  they 
think  that  all  men  should  be  born  blind,  or  de¬ 
prived  of  some  of  their  senses?  The  other  cer¬ 
tainty  is,  that  they  were  persuaded  there  was  no 
affliction  in  this  life  which  was  not  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  some  sin,  in  which  they  were  mistaken, 
as  we  see  by  our  Saviour’s  answer. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


671 


parents  ; 1  but  that  the  works  of  God 
should  be  made  manifest  in.  him.2  I  must 
work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me 
whilst  it  is  day  :  the  night  cometli  when 
no  man  can  work.  As  long  as  I  am  in 


( 1 )  They  had  sinned,  the  blind  man,  his  father, 
and  his  mother  ;  but  none  of  their  sins  was  the 
cause  of  this  blindness.  This  is  what  our  Saviour’s 
answer  means;  whence  it  manifestly  follows  that  all 
the  pains  of  this  life  are  not  caused  by  sin,  and 
that  there  are  afflictions  which  are  not  punish¬ 
ments.  Such  were  those  of  the  Mother  of  God, 
who  was  conceived  without  sin,  and  preserved  fiom 
all  actual  sin,  without  exception,  and  who,  never¬ 
theless,  was  transpierced  with  a  sword  of  sorrow. 
And  without  citing  so  great  an  example,  such  are  . 
the  pains  which  baptized  children  suffer  before 
they  can  have  committed  any  sin.  These  pains 
are,  indeed,  the  consequences  of  original  sin ;  but 
they  are  no  longer  its  chastisement:  they  do  not 
punish  it,  and  they  punish  nothing  in  them,  be¬ 
cause  there  is  no  longer  anything  to  punish  in 
them ;  for  there  is  no  longer  anything  to  punish, 
if  there  is  nothing  to  expiate.  Now,  it  is  the  belief 
of  the  Church,  that  in  little  children  who  die  after 
baptism,  there  is  nothing  to  retard  their  entry  into 
heaven.  Thus  the  Council  of  Trent  expresses  itself. 
It  believes,  then,  that  there  is  no  longer  anything 
in  them  to  expiate.  Whence  it  further  ensues 
that,  supposing  there  were  no  original  sin,  these 
pains  might  still  exist,  inasmuch  as  they  exist  m 
those  to  whom  this  sin  is  entirely  remitted,  both 

as  to  the  fault  and  the  penalty. 

-  (  3 )  Christ  informs  us  that,  independent  of  sm, 

the  manifestation  of  the  works  of  God  is  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  evils  of  this  life.  The  trial  of 
the  just  is  another:  “Because  thou  wast  accept¬ 
able  to  God,”  said  the  angel  to  Tobias,  “it  was 
necessary  that  temptation”  that  is  to  say,  by 

affliction,  “should  prove  thee:”  (Tob.  xii.  13.)  We 

cannot  see  to  what  end  the  sufferings  of  little 
children  may  tend.  But  to  whom  have  all  the 
divine  secrets  been  revealed  ?  Who  knows  whether 
God  doth  not  count  them  in  their  favor:  and 


the  world,  I  am  the  light  of  the  world. 
When  he  had  said  these  things,  he  spat 
on  the  ground,  and  made  clay  of  the 
spittle,  and  spread  the  clay  upon  his 
eyes,4  and  said  to  him  :  Go,  wash  in  the 

whether,  by  a  purely  gratuitous  mercy,  he  does  not 
glorify  those  most  in  whom  he  finds,  more  than  in 
others,  the  image  of  the  sufferings  of  his  beloved 
Son?  This  conjecture  is  not  entirely  without 
foundation.  The  Church  seems  to  recognize  in  the 
children  massacred  for  the  sake  of  religion,  a 
sanctity  superior  to  that  of  other  children ;  yet  the 
will  of  the  former  has  no  more  part  in  their  mar¬ 
tyrdom,  than  the  will  of  the  second  has  in  their 
sufferings. 

( 3 )  Jesus  Christ  has  never  ceased  to  act.  He 
speaks  here  only  of  those  works  which  he  was  to 
perform  during  his  visible  sojourn  here  on  earth. 
The  following  words:  “The  night  cometh,  when 
no  man  can  work,”  comprise  a  general  maxim 
which  is  more  for  us  than  for  him.  What  he  adds, 
that  “he 'is  the  light  of  the  world,”  refers  to  the 
action  that  he  is  about  to  perform  ;  and  this  action 
which  is  the  re-establishment  of  corporal  sight,  is 
the  figure  of  the  spiritual  light  which  he  is  come 
to  pour  into  souls. 

( 4 )  This  means  being  better  calculated  to  de¬ 
prive  of  sight,  than  to  restore  it,  Jesus  Christ 
wished  to  show  that  all  means  are  equal  to  him, 
and  that  none  were  necessary  to  him.  Spittle  is 
employed  to  make  known  the  wondrous  properties 
of  his  adorable  body.  By  mixing  it  with  the 
earth,  he  discovers  to  us  the  hand  of  the  Creator, 
who,  after  having  formed  man  from  the  slime  of 
the  earth,  makes  the  same  matter  which  had  served 
for  the  composition  of  his  work  subservient  to  its 
reparation.  He  sends  the  blind  man  to  the  pool 
of  Siloe,  to  test  his  faith  and  obedience.  Both  one 
and  the  other  were  admirably  shewn ;  for  he  did 
not  reason,  as  Naaman  had  done,  when  the  prophet 
Eliseus  sent  him  to  bathe  in  the  Jordan.  He  re¬ 
ceived  the  order  and  executed  it  forthwith,  without 
a  single  word  in  opposition. 


672 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


pool  of  Siloe  (which  is  interpreted  Sent).”1 
The  blind  man  “  went,  therefore,  and 
washed,  and  he  came  seeing.  The  neigh¬ 
bors,  therefore,  and  they  who  had  seen  him 
before  that  he  was  a  beggar,  said  :  Is  not 
this  he  that  sat  and  begged  ?  Some  said  : 
This  is  he  ;  but  others  said  :  No,  but  he  is 
like  him.  But  he  said  :  I  am  he.  They 
said  therefore  to  him  :  How  were  thy  eyes 
opened  ?  He  answered  :  That  man  that  is 
called  Jesus,  made  clay,  and  anointed  my 
eyes,  and  said  to  me  :  Go  to  the  pool  of 
Siloe,  and  wash.  And  I  went,  I  washed, 
and  I  see.  And  they  said  to  him  :  Where 
is  he  ?  He  saith :  I  know  not.  They 
bring  him  that  had  been  blind  to  the  Pha¬ 
risees.  Now  it  was  the  sabbath  when 
Jesus  made  the  clay,  and  opened  his  eyes. 
Again,  therefore,  the  Pharisees  asked  him 
how  he  had  received  his  sight,  but  he  said 
to  them  :  He  put  clay  upon  my  eyes,  and 
I  washed,  and  I  see.  Some,  therefore,  of 
the  Pharisees  said:  This  man  is  not  of 
God,  who  keepeth  not  the  sabbath.  But 
others  said  :  How  can  a  man  that  is  a 
sinner  do  such  miracles  ?  And  there  was 
a  division  amongst  them.  They  say,  there¬ 
fore,  to  the  blind  man  again  :  What  sayst 
thou  of  him  that  hath  opened  thy  eyes  ? 
And  he  said :  He  is  a  prophet.  The 
Jews  then  did  not  believe  concerning 
him,  that  he  had  been  blind,  and  had  re¬ 
ceived  his  sight,  until  they  called  the 
parents  of  him  that  had  received  his  sight, 
and  asked  them,  saying  :  Is  this  your  son, 

(  1 )  In  the  application  of  clay  to  the  eyes,  Saint 
Augustine  recognizes  the  unction  of  the  catechu¬ 
mens  ;  and  in  the  bath,  baptism  and  its  miracu¬ 
lous  effect.  All  here  is  mysterious,  even  the  very 


who  you  say  was  born  blind  ?  How  then 
doth  he  now  see  ?  His  parents  answered 
them,  and  said  :  We  know  that  this  is  our 
son,  and  that  he  was  born  blind  ;  but 
how  he  now  seetli,  we  know  not  ;  or  who 
hath  opened  his  eyes,  we  know  not.  Ask 
himself:  he  is  of  age,  let  him  speak  for 
himself.  These  things  his  parents  said, 
because  they  feared  the  Jews.  For  the 
Jews  had  already  agreed  amongst  them¬ 
selves,  that  if  any  man  should  confess” 
Jesus  “  to  be  Christ,  he  should  be  put  out 
of  the  synagogue  ;  therefore  did  his  parents 
say  :  He  is  of  age,  ask  him.” 

The  Jews,  “therefore,  called  the  man 
again  that  had  been  born  blind,  and  said 
to  him  :  Give  glory  to  God,  we  know  that 
this  man  is  a  sinner.  He  said,  therefore, 
to  them  :  If  he  be  a  sinner,  I  know  not ; 
one  thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was 
blind,  now  I  see.  They  said  then  to 
him  :  What  did  he  to  thee  ?  How  did  he 
open  thy  eyes?  He  answered  them:  I 
have  told  you  already,  and  you  have 
heard  ;  why  would  you  hear  it  again  ? 
Will  you  also  become  his  disciples  ?  They 
reviled  him,  therefore,  and  said  :  Be  thou 
his  disciple  ;  but  we  are  the  disciples  of 
Moses.  We  know  that  God  spoke  to 
Moses  ;  but  as  to  this  man,  we  know  not 
from  whence  he  is.  The  man  answered 
and  said  to  them  :  Why,  herein  is  a  won¬ 
derful  thing,  that  you  know  not  from 
whence  he  is,  and  he  hath  opened  my 
eyes.  Now  we  know  that  God  doth  not 

name  of  the  fountain.  It  teaches  us  that  the  only 
true  baptism,  that  baptism  of  which  the  others 
could  have  been  only  figurative,  is  the  baptism  of 
Jesus  Christ;  him  who  is  permanently  sent. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


673 


hear  sinners  ; 1  but  if  a  man  be  a  server 
of  God,  and  doth  his  will,  him  he  heareth. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  world,  it  hath 
not  been  heard,  that  any  man  hath  opened 
the  eyes  of  one  born  blind.  Unless  this 
man  were  of  God,  he  could  not  do  any¬ 
thing.  They  answered  and  said  to  him  : 
Thou  wast  wholly  born  in  sins,  and  dost 
thou  teach  us  ?  And  they  cast  him  out. 
Jesus  heard  that  they  had  cast  him  out, 
and  when  he  had  found  him,  he  said  to 
him :  Dost  thou  believe  in  the  Son  of 
God  ?  He  answered  and  said  :  Who  is  he, 
Lord,  that  I  may  believe  in  him  ?  And 

(‘)  God  may  hearken  to  sinners,  even  when 
they  ask  miracles.  “  Many  will  say  to  me  in  that 
day :  Lord,  Lord,  have  not  we  prophesied  in  thy 
name,  and  cast  out  devils  in  thy  name,  and  done 
many  miracles  in  thy  name?  And  then  will  I 
profess  unto  them:  I  never  knew  you;  depart  from 
me,  you  that  work  iniquity.”  (Matt.  vii.  22.)  The 
proposition  of  the  blind  man  was  not,  therefore, 
utterly  without  its  exception.  Yet  it  had  a  general 
truth  sufficient  to  make  it  pass  for  a  proverb.  And, 
if  we  confine  it  to  miracles,  we  may  say  that,  when 
the  blind  man  spoke,  it  was  true  to  its  full  extent, 
inasmuch  as  we  do  not  find  a  single  miracle  in  the 
Old  Testament  which  had  ever  been  wrought  by 
an  individual  that  was  not  recognized  to  be  a 
just  and  holy  man.  Those  which  God  has  since 
wrought,  by  the  ministry  of  vicious  men,  besides 
being  very  rare,  proved  satisfactorily  the  sanctity 
of  the  doctrine  which  they  preached,  and  not  that 
of  the  preachers  themselves.  Generally  speaking, 
when  miracles  are  wrought  in  confirmation  of  the 
faith,  they  constitute  a  strong  presumption  of  the 
holiness  of  him  who  operates  them,  but  they  are 
not  an  infallible  proof. 

(* )  We  also  call  judgments  of  God  certain  ways 
of  his  providence,  the  secret  of  which  has  not  been 
revealed  to  us.  It  is  of  these  judgments  that  we 
usually  say  that  we  must  adore  without  seeking  to 
fathom  them.  Saint  Paul  spoke  of  them,  when  he 

85 


Jesus  said  to  him  :  Thou  hast  both  seen 
him  and  it  is  he  that  talketh  with  thee. 
And  he  said  :  I  believe,  Lord :  and, 
falling  down  he  adored  him.” 

The  faith  of  this  man,  compared  with 
the  incredulity  of  the  others,  gave  occa¬ 
sion  to  the  Saviour  to  announce  two  prod¬ 
igies,  the  former  of  which  was  to  be  the 
fruit  of  his  mission,  and  the  latter  a  con¬ 
sequence.  “  For  judgment,” 8  said  he,  “  I 
am  come  into  this  world  ;  that  they  who 
see  not,  may  see  ;  and  they  who  see,  may 
become  blind.”3  These  words  alluded  to 
the  miracle  which  he  had  just  wrought. 

said  that  “How  incomprehensible  are  his  judg¬ 
ments,  and  how  unsearchable  his  ways.”  (Rom. 
xi.  33.) 

( 8 )  This  is  not  to  say  that  their  blindness  was  one  . 
of  the  objects  of  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  but, 
as  has  been  already  stated,  it  was  the  result.  This 
is  the  entire  signification  of  the  particle  “  that, 
which,  according  to  the  usage  of  holy  writ,  often 
means  nothing  more  than  that  one  thing  is  the  oc¬ 
casion  of  another,  or  merely  preceded  it.  If  the 
imperfect  light  of  the  law  was  a  means  of  arriving 
at  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  we  may  also  say 
that,  in  one  sense,  it  was  an  obstacle  thereto.  Men 
fancy  that  they  see  all,  when  they  really  see  but  the 
-  half;  and  because  what  they  have  is  good,  they  reject 
as  destructive  thereof  what  is  better,  and  what  makes 
perfect.  This  is  what  occurred  to  the  Pharisees ; 
and  enlightened  as  they  were,  blinded  them.  On 
the  contrary,  the  absurdities  of  paganism  were  no 
slight  aid  to  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles ;  im¬ 
mersed  in  such  palpable  errors,  they  did  not  believe 
they  possessed  the  truth,  or  saw  the  daylight  in  the 
midst  of  such  profound  darkness.  Hence,  when 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  appeared,  these  benighted 
pagans,  being  thoroughly  convinced  of  their  blind¬ 
ness,  opened  their  eyes,  and  were  enlightened. 

The  Mahometan  must  always  experience  more 
difficulty  in  his  conversion  than  the  idolatei,  and 
the  Jew  than  the  Mahometan,  because  the  Maho- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


67  1 


But  the  vision  and  the  blindness  which 
the}r  expressed  must  be  understood  in  a 
spiritual  sense.  In  point  of  fact,  they 
were  taken  in  this  sense:  for  “some  of 
the  Pharisees  who  were  with  him  heard, 
and  they  said  unto  him  :  Are  we  also 
blind?  Jesus  said  to  them:  If  you 
were  blind,  you  should  not  have  sin ; 
but  now  you  say :  We  see.  Your  sin 
remaineth  ”  (St.  John  i-x.  1-41.),  without 
excuse. 

This  sin  is  the  sin  of  incredulity,  excus¬ 
able  in  those  who  have  none  of  the  knowl¬ 
edge  necessary  in  order  to  believe,  but 
inexcusable  when  a  person  has  sufficient 
light  to  reach  the  clear  day  of  faith,  suppos¬ 
ing  he  wished  to  avail  himself  of  it.  Such 
were  the  Pharisees,  who  had  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  that  which  should  have  led  them  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  Messias,  if  they 
had  sought  it  with  an  upright  heart.  And 
to  declare  as  they  did,  that  they  had  that 
knowledge,  was  equivalent  to  a  confession 
that  they  did  not  sin  through  ignorance, 
and  that  if  they  saw  not,  it  was  because 
they  did  not  wish  to  see. 

All  agree  that  what  follows  was  pro¬ 
nounced  by  Jesus  Christ  immediately  after 
the  preceding  ;  yet  we  do  not  see  dis¬ 
tinctly  the  connection  between  the  one  and 
the  other.  Among  the  various  ways  of 
explaining  it,  this  appears  the  most  satis¬ 
factory.  Our  Saviour  had  just  received 
the  man  born  blind,  whom  the  Pharisees 


metan  acknowledges  one  God,  and  tlie  Jew  also 
acknowledges  a  revelation. 

Incredulity  seems  to  be  the  natural  fruit  of  light 
mingled  with  shadows,  and  imperfect  knowledge; 


had  expelled  from  the  synagogue.  The 
latter  had  no  doubt  but  that,  by  this 
species  of  excommunication,  they  had  cut 
him  off  from  the  society  of  the  children  of 
G-od.  It  was  just  the  contrary  :  admitted 
by  Jesus  Christ,  he  had  entered  it,  be¬ 
cause  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  gate.  The 
Pharisees,  who  refused  to  enter  by  this 
one  gate  of  the  sheepfold  of  the  Lord, 
could,  therefore,  no  longer  form  a  part 
of  the  flock:  this  is  easy  to  conclude. 
Much  less  could  they  be  the  shepherds,  al¬ 
though  they  arrogated  to  themselves  that 
title  and  its  functions.  This  is  the  point 
on  which  our  Saviour  insists  ;  and  it  was 
of  extreme  importance  at  the  moment 
when  he  spoke.  Many  of  the  Jews,  at¬ 
tracted  by  the  lustre  of  his  miracles,  and 
checked,  at  the  same  time,  by  the  authoi- 
ity  of  their  ancient  masters,  knew  not  to 
whom  they  should  give  the  preference, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  tell  them.  He 
said,  then,  in  that  affirmative  tone  which 
he  took  when  he  wished  to  secure  greater 
attention  :  “  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  you, 
he  that  entereth  not  by  the  door  into  the 
sheepfold,  but  clirabeth  up  another  way, 
the  same  is  a  thief  and  a  robber.  But  he 
that  entereth  in  by  the  door,  is  the  shep¬ 
herd  of  the  sheep.  To  him  the  porter 
openeth,  and  the  sheep  hear  his  voice. 
And  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name, 
and  leadeth  them  out  ;  and  when  he  hath 
led  out  his  own  sheep,  he  goeth  before 


and  perhaps  the  reason  why  the  times  we  live  in 
are  so  fertile  in  incredulity,  is  because  this,  more 
than  all  former  ages,  is  the  century  of  would-be 
scientific  men. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


675 


them,  and  the  sheep  follow  him,  because  ie,  as  the  Father  knoweth  me,  and  I 


they  know  his  voice.  But  a  strauger  they  I  know  the  Father  ;  and  I  lay  down  my 

follow  not,  but  fly  from  him,  because  they  life  for  my  sheep.  And  other  sheep  1 

know  not  the  voice  of  strangers.  have  that  are  not  of  this  fold  :  them  also 

“This  proverb  Jesus  spoke  to  them;  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my 

but  they  understood  not  what  he  spoke  to  voice,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold,  and 

them.”  Not  that  his  words  lacked  clear-  one  shepherd.” 

ness,  but  that  the  application  was  not  Did  any  one  ever  behold  a  more  tender 
equally  clear,  especially  to  those  who  charity,  or  a  more  generous  love  ?  But, 
were  to  put  a  false  construction  on  them.  instead  of  the  admiration  and  the  grati- 
“  Jesus,  therefore,  said  to  them  again  :  tude  which  are  due  to  them,  who  knows 

Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  yon,  I  am  the  door  but  that  these  mercenary  souls  beheld 

of  the  sheep.  All  others,  as  many  as  only  simplicity  and  folly  in  that  heroic 

have  come,  are  thieves  and  robbers,  and  disinterestedness  which  goes  to  the  length 

the  sheep  heard  them  not.  I  am  the  of  sacrificing  life  for  others  ?  It  might 

door.  By  me,  if  any  man  enter  in,  ho  happen,  too,  that  his  death,  which  was  to 

shall  be  saved.  And  he  shall  go  in,  and  be  a  violent  one,  might  not  appear  to  be 

go  out,  and  shall  find  pastures.  The  thief  voluntary,  and  that  the  wor  d  might  no 


co me tli  not  but  for  to  steal,  and  to  kill, 
and  to  destroy.  I  am  come  that  they 
may  have  life,  and  may  have  it  more 
abundantly.” 


These  last  words  lead  naturally  to  an¬ 
other  figure,  under  which  our  Saviour  is 
also  going  to  represent  himself.  This  one, 
more  tender  than  the  first,  is  perhaps  the 
most  affecting  image  that  he  himself  could 
have  given  us  of  his  charity  towards  men. 
He  continues,  therefore,  thus  :  “I  am  the 
good  shepherd.  The  good  shepherd  giv- 
eth  his  life  for  his  sheep.  But  the  hire¬ 
ling  and  he  that  is  not  the  shepherd, 
whose  own  the  sheep  are  not,  seeth  the 
wolf  coming,  and  leaveth  the  sheep  and 
flietli.  And  the  wolf  catcheth,  and  seat- 
tereth  the  sheep.  And  the  hireling  flieth, 
because  he  is  a  hireling,  and  he  hath  no 
care  for  the  sheep.  I  am  the  good  shep¬ 
herd  :  and  I  know  mine,  and  mine  know 


be  thoroughly  persuaded  that  he  had 
given  for  his  sheep  a  life  which  had  been 
taken  from  him  by  force.  To  prevent 
these  errors,  he  declares  two  things  : 
one,  that  in  dying,  he  shall  accomplish 
the  wishes  of  his  Father,  ever  dictated  by 
infinite  wisdom ;  the  other,  that  he  is 
master  of  his  own  life,  to  lay  it  down  or 
not  lay  it  down  at  his  pleasure,  and  to 
resume  it  after  having  given  it  up  :  which 
proves  the  perfect  liberty  of  his  sacrifice, 
and  shows  forth,  in  the  most  favorable 
light  the  immense  bounty  of  the  Father, 
who  delivers  up  his  only  bon  ;  and  that 
of  the  Son,  who  delivers  himself  for  un¬ 
fortunate  creatures,  from  whom  he  had 
nothing  to  expect,  and  to  whom  he  owed 
nothing  but  chastisement.  He  concludes, 
therefore,  by  these  words:  “Therefore 
doth  the  Father  love  me,  because  I  lay 
down  my  life  that  I  may  take  it  again. 


676 


HISTORY  OF 


THE  LIFE  OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


No  man  taketh  it  away  from  me  ;  but  I 
lay  it  down  of  myself.  And  I  have  power 
to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take 
it  up  again.  This  commandment  have  I 

received  of  my  Father. 

“A  dissension  arose  again  among  the 


Jews  for  these  words.  And  many  of  them 
said :  He  hath  a  devil,  and  is  mad :  why 
hear  ye  him  ?  Others  said  :  These  are  not 
the  words  of  one  who  hath  a  devil.  Can 
a  devil  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind?  (St. 

I  John  x.  1-21.) 


END  OF  PART  1. 


PART  II. 


peom  the  sending  out  oe  the  seventy-two  disciples  until  the  ascension 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


YOKE  IS  SWEET  AND  HIS  BURDEN  LIGHT.-LOYE  OF  GOD  AND  OF  OUR  NEIGH  ■ 
GOOD  SAMARITAN. — MARTHA  AND  MARY. 


IT  is  commonly  believed  that  Jesus 
then  departed  from  Jerusalem  to  re¬ 
turn  into  Galilee.  Either  before  his  de¬ 
parture,  or  after  his  arrival,  for  we  find 
nothing  to  decide  the  point,  nor  whether 
the  new  mission  which  he  set  on  foot  at 
that  time  was  for  Judea  or  for  Galilee, 
however  the  matter  may  be,  it  is  written 
that  “  after  these  things  the  Lord  appointed 
also  other  seventy-two,  and  he  sent  them 
two  and  two  before  his  face  into  every 
city  and  place  whither  he  was  to  come  ;x 
and  he  said  to  them,”  as  he  said  to  the * (*) 


( 1 )  He  was  soon  to  follow  them  in  person.  At 
present,  also,  he  follows  them,  hut  by  his  grace. 
For,  in  the  ordinary  conduct  of  God,  preaching,  as 
Saint  Gregory  says,  goes  in  advance,  and  the  Lord 
comes  to  dwell  in  our  souls  after  the  sacred  wor 
has  prepared  the  way.  Thus  all  preachers  may  be 
called  the  precursors  of  Jesus  Christ. 

( * )  This  discourse  of  our  Saviour  is  merely  the 
repetition  of  the  first  part  of  that  which  he  made 
to  the  apostles,  (see  page  590,  and  the  following, 


apostles  when  he  sent  them  to  exercise 
the  same  ministry  :  “The  harvest  indeed 
is  great,  but  the  laborers  are  few.  Pray 
ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest, 
that  he  send  laborers  into  - the  harvest. 
Go,”  he  further  added,  “behold,  I  send 
you  as  lambs  among  the  wolves.  Carry 
neither  purse,  nor  scrip,  nor  shoes,  and 
salute  no  man  by  the  way.2  Into  whatso¬ 
ever  house  you  enter,  first  say :  Peace  be 
to  this  house  ;  and  if  the  son  of  peace  be 
there,  your  peace  shall  rest  upon  him  ; 
but  if  not,  it  shall  return  to  yon.  And  in 


to  which  we  refer  for  explanations).  However, 
there  is  some  slight  difference.  These  words, 
for  instance:  “Salute  no  man  by  the  way,”  are 
found  only  in  this  passage.  They  merely  interdict 
those  civilities  which  might  cause  considerable 
delay ;  but  not  a  passing  salute,  without  stopping. 
It  is  as  if  we  were  to  say  :  If  you  meet  any  of  your 
acquaintance,  do  not  tarry  to  pay  long  compliments 

to  him. 


678  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

the  same  house  remain,  eating  and  drink¬ 
ing  such  things  as  they  have  :  for  the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  Remove 
not  from  house  to  house  ;  and  into  what 
city  soever  you  enter,  and  they  receive 
you,  eat  such  things  as  are  set  before 
you.1  And  heal  the  sick  that  are  therein, 
and  say  to  them  :  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
come  nigh  unto  you.  But  into  whatsoever 
city  you  enter,  and  they  receive  you  not, 
going  forth  into  the  streets  thereof,  say  : 
Even  the  very  dust  of  your  city3  that 

cleaveth  to  us,  we  wipe  off  against  you. 

Yet  know  this,”  you  must  yet  say  when 
quitting  them,  “that  the  kingdom  of 

God  is  at  hand.  I  say  to  you,  it  shall  be 
more  tolerable  at  that  day  for  Sodom  than 
for  that  city.”  (St.  Luke  x.  1-12.) 

“Then  began  he  to  upbraid  the  cities 
wherein  were  done  the  most  of  his  mira¬ 
cles,  for  that  they  had  not  done  penance. 

Wo  to  thee,  Corozain  !  Wo  to  thee,  Betli- 
saida!  for  if  in  Tyre  and  Sidon3  had 
been  wrought  the  miracles  that  have  been 

( 1 )  One  of  our  wits,  whom  religion  will  never 
reckon  amongst  its  panegyrists,  has  asserted,  how¬ 
ever,  that  Christianity  is  full  of  good  sense.  He 
says  well,  if  he  does  not  imagine  he  has  made  a 
discovery.  To  apply  the  assertion  to  the  passage 
before  us,  nothing  could  be  more  rational  than  this 
order  given  to  the  disciples:  “Eat  what  is  set  be¬ 
fore  you.”  If  the  repast  be  good,  partake  of  it 
with  thanksgiving:  if  it  be  not  good,  with  resigna¬ 
tion.  It  would  be  a  bad  example  for  an  apostle  to 
appear  too  fastidious  about  his  food:  hut,  supposing 
he  restricts  himself  within  the  limits  of  sobriety, 
he  would  display  too  great  scrupulosity,  in  declin¬ 
ing  as  too  delicate  the  viands  which  are  served  up 
to  him.  The  apostleship  is  like  war-time,  when  a 
soldier  sometimes  fares  well,  and  sometimes  badly. 
We  must  know  how,  like  Saint  Paul,  to  avail  our¬ 
selves  of  abundance  when  it  is  offered  to  us,  and 
to  endure  want.  One  day  repairs  the  other,  and 
enables  us  to  retain  the  strength  which  is  necessary 
in  order  to  endure  the  painful  toils  of  the  ministry. 
Another  reason  is,  that  were  we  to  abstain  from 
touching  the  viands  laid  before  us,  we  would  grieve 
the  charitable  hosts,  who  deem  it  a  religious  duty 
to  treat  in  their  best  style  those  who  preach  for 
them  with  so  much  exertion  and  hardships.  I 
question  whether  this  reason  alone  would  not  have 
sufficed  to  prevent  Jesus  from  fasting  at  the  table 
of  Martha  and  Mary. 

( 8 )  Elsewhere,  Part  I.,  page  591,  note  2,  this 
dust  is  shaken  off  the  feet  in  testimony  against 

the  inhabitants.  Here  the  act  is  a  sign  of  detesta¬ 
tion.  By  shaking  off  the  dust  the  disciples  declare 
that  they  wish  to  carry  off  nothing  from  their  ac¬ 
cursed  city,  lest  the  malediction  which  it  has 
drawn  upon  itself  should  remain  in  the  very  dust 
which  they  might  carry  off  with  them,  and  pur¬ 
sue  them  even  beyond  its  boundaries. 

( 8 )  Why  did  not  Jesus  Christ  confer  upon  those 
who  would  have  profited  by  them  those  abundant 
graces  which  he  lavished  upon  those  who  abused 
them?  This  is  one  of  those  judgments  of  God, 
the  depth  of  which  we  must  adore  without  endeav¬ 
oring  to  fathom.  This  much,  however,  we  are 
bound  to  believe:  1st.  That  the  inhabitants  of 

Tyre  and  of  Sidon  were  not  predestined,  since  God 
had  not  conferred  upon  fhem  the  graces  which 
would  have  certainly  saved  them.  2d.  Although 
they  had  not  received  those  graces,  the  effect  of 
which  is  certain,  yet  they  shall  be  justly  con¬ 
demned,  inasmuch  as  they  have  received  the  suc¬ 
cors  which  were  necessary  and  sufficient,  in  order 
to  enable  them  to  abstain  from  those  crimes  which 
shall  justly  be  the  cause  of  their  condemnation. 

3d.  Those  who  have  received  superabundant  grace 
shall  be  judged  with  more  rigor  than  those  who 
have  received  merely  sufficient  grace;  the  hell  of 
the  Christian  will,  therefore,  be  more  rigorous  .than 
that  of  the  idolater;  and,  generally  speaking,  the 
difference  shall  depend  less  upon  the  crimes  com¬ 
mitted,  than  upon  the  graces  which  have  been  de¬ 
spised  or  rejected ;  since,  with  greater  crimes,  such 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


G79 


wrought  in  you,  they  had  long  ago  done 
penance  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  But  I 
say  unto  you,  it  shall  be  more  tolerable 
for  Tyre  and  Sidon  in  the  day  of  judgment 
than  for  you.”  (St.  Matt.  xi.  20-23.)  And 
thou,  Capharnaum,  shalt  thou  be  exalted 
up  to  heaven  ?  Thou  shalt  go  down  even 
unto  hell.  For  if  in  Sodom  had  been 
wrought  the  miracles  that  have  been 
wrought  in  thee,  perhaps  it  had  remained 
unto  this  day.”  (St.  Matt.  xi.  23  ;  St. 
Luke  x.  15.)  The  reason  for  this  difference 
of  treatment  is  found  in  the  following 
words  which  the  Saviour  addressed  to  his 
disciples  :  “  He,”  saith  he  to  them,  “  that 
heareth  you  heareth  me  ;  and  he  that  de- 
spiseth  you  despiseth  me  ;  and  he  that 
despiseth  me  despiseth  him  that  sent  me, 
words  which  teach  us  that  to  despise  God  in 
the  person  of  his  ambassadors  is  the  great¬ 
est  of  all  crimes,  since  it  is  that  which  of 
all  shall  be  the  most  rigorously  punished. 

“And  the  seventy-two  returned  with 
joy,”  at  the  success  of  their  mission,  “  say¬ 
ing  :  Lord,  the  devils  also  are  subject  to 
us°in  thy  name.  And  Jesus  said  to  them  : 
I  saw  Satan  like  lightning  falling  from 
heaven.”  Commentators  do  not  agree  as 
to  the  meaning  of  this  mysterious  expres¬ 
sion.  Can  it  mean  that  when  the  disciples 
cast  out  the  demons  by  virtue  of  the  name 
of  Jesus,  our  Saviour  saw  the  chief  of  the 


infernal  legions  falling  from  the  upper 
region  of  the  air,  whence  he  exercised  his 
tyranny  over  the  human  race  ?  or  maj  he 
not  have  alluded  at  that  moment  to  the 
first  fall  of  Lucifer,  when,  in  punishment 
of  his  revolt,  that  proud  spirit  was  hurled 
from  the  height  of  heaven  to  the  bottom 
of  the  abyss  ?  If  the  first  of  these  two 
meanings  appears  the  most  natural,  the 
second  is  not  unlikely;  for.  although  the 
disciples  acknowledged  that  they  had  done 
nothing,  except  in  the  name  of  their  Mas¬ 
ter,  to  whom  they  referred  all  the  glory 
of  their  success,  they  might,  nevertheless, 
feel  a  secret  complacency.  Whilst  acknowl¬ 
edging  that  we  are  merely  the  instruments 
of  God,  we  may  still  pride  ourselves  on 
being  preferred  to  the  rest  of  human 
beings  to  serve  as  instruments  for  great 
things.  Thus,  in  order  to  repress  the 
rising  pride  of  his  disciples,  or  merely  to 
anticipate  its  growth,  the  example  of  Satan 
could  not  be  more  seasonably  introduced. 
What  follows  harmonizes  with  this  ex¬ 
planation.  “Behold,”  continues  our  Sa¬ 
viour,  “I  have  given  you  power  to  tread 
upon  serpents  and  scorpions,,  and  upon  all 
the  power  of  the  enemy:1 -and  nothing 
shall  hurt  you.  But  yet  rejoice  not  in 
this,  that  spirits  are  subject  unto  you  ; 
but  rejoice2  in  this,  that  your  names  are 
written  in  heaven.” 3 


as  were  those  of  Sodom,  and  with  lesser  graces, 
man  shall  be  less  severely  punished  than  with 

lesser  crimes  and  greater  graces.  ^ 

( i)  The  serpents  and  scorpions  are  called  “  the 
power  of  the  enemy,”  inasmuch  as  everything 
which  is  noxious  in  nature  is  instrumental  to  the 
demon  for  the  purpose  of  injuring  men. 


(*)  Rejoice  in  the  solid  rather  than  in  the 
showy,  in  the  durable  rather  than  the  fleeting,  in 
what  renders  us  agreeable  to  God  rather  than  in 
that  which  makes  us  appear  great  in  the  eyes  of 
men.  The  lowest  degree  of  virtue  is  more  valuable 

than  the  power  of  raising  the  dead. 

( *  j  Names  may  be  written  in  heaven,  either  by 


680 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


The  best  of  all  masters  could  not  be  in¬ 
sensible  to  the  progress  which  his  beloved 
disciples  were  making  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  things  of  heaven.  “  In  that  same  hour 
he  rejoiced  in  the  Holy  Grhost,  and  said  : 

I  confess  to  thee,  0  Father,  Lord  of  hea¬ 
ven  and  earth,  because  thou  hast  hidden 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
and  hast  revealed  them  to  little  ones.* 1 
Yea,  Father,”  thou  hast  done  so,  “for  so 
it  hath  seemed  good  in  thy  sight.”  2 

Jesus  spoke  thus  in  order  that  his  dis¬ 
ciples,  who  received  this  revelation  imme- 

predestination  or  by  actual  justice.  Written  in  the 
first  manner,  they  remain  there  forever,  because  the 
absolute  decrees  of  God  are  immutable.  Written  in 
the  second  way,  the  names  may  be  effaced,  because 
man  may  lose  the  justice  which  gave  him  a  right 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Now,  in  which  of  these 
two  methods  did  Jesus  Christ  say  to  the  disciples 
that  their  names  are  written  in  heaven  ?  We  know 
not ;  and  our  Saviour  not  having  explained  him¬ 
self  further,  we  should  be  rash  to  pronounce 
affirmatively  for  either  construction.  The  most 
probable  is,  that  he  only  informs  them  that  their 
names  are  written  in  heaven  by  the  title  of  justice. 
Had  he  declared  to  them  that  they  were  predes¬ 
tined,  this  favor,  one  of  the  greatest  which  Cod 
can  confer  in  this  world,  would  have  been  con¬ 
ferred  upon  the  disciples,  and  refused  to  the  apos¬ 
tles,  which  is  not  to  be  presumed.  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  latter  were  confirmed  in  grace,  and  that 
their  predestination  was  certain ;  but  they  them¬ 
selves  had  no  certainty  as  to  the  fact,  and  they  al¬ 
ways  believed  that  they  might  sin  and  be  lost. 
We  have  a  proof  of  this  in  Saint  Paul.  We  can 
have  no  reason  for  doubting  that  he  also  must 
have  received  this  precious  assurance,  if  such  had 
been  given  to  the  other  apostles.  And  yet  he  said: 
“  But  I  chastise  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  sub¬ 
jection,  lest  perhaps,  when  I  have  preached  to 
others,  I  myself  should  become  a  castaway.”  (1 
Cor.  ix.  27.)  Could  a  man  assured  of  his  predes- 


diately  from  him,  might  not  be  ignorant 
that  it  came  from  his  Father,  who  was  for 
this  reason  the  final  term  of  their  grati¬ 
tude.  But  this  truth  ought  not  to  conceal 
another,  that  the  Son,  as  well  as  the  Fa¬ 
ther,  has  this  revelation  at  his  disposal, 
and  that  in  communicating  it  always  in 
accordance  with  the  views  and  desires  of 
the  Father,  he,  nevertheless,  communicates 
it  with  equal  independence,  since  he  imparts 
it  to  those  only  whom  he  pleases  to  en¬ 
lighten.  Such  great  things  are  comprised 
in  these  short  words  :  “All  things  are  de¬ 

tonation  have  nsed  such  language  ?  He  that  shall 
overcome,  said  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Apocalypse,  iii. 
5,  I  will  not  blot  out  bis  name  out  of  the  book  of 
life.  Does  not  this  mode  of  expression  seem  to 
say  that  names  written  in  the  book  of  life  may  still 
be  effaced,  and  confirm  the  explanation  which  we 
have  stated  to  be  the  most  probable. 

( * )  Saint  Chrysostom  judiciously  remarks,  that 
Jesus  Christ  does  not  praise  his  Father  because 
those  things  are  hidden  from  the  wise,  but  because 
they  are  revealed  to  the  simple.  It  is  as  if  he  said  : 

I  bless  thee,  my  Father,  because  thou  hast  revealed 
to  the  simple  these  mysteries  of  which  thou  hast 
left  the  wise  in  ignorance.  To  hide  has  no  more 
extensive  signification  here.  In  this  sense  they 
have  been  hidden  from  the  wise,  who  have  not 
chosen  to  see  them,  and  revealed  to  the  simple,  who 
have  wished  them  only  because  God  has  given  them 
the  will.  It  is  justice  in  regard  to  the  former,  pure 
mercy  in  regard  to  the  latter  class.  “  To  the  right¬ 
eous  a  light  is  risen  up  in  darkness.”  Those 
who  are  not  righteous  have  not  descried  the  light. 
It  has  appeared  for  both  that  the  Lord  is  merciful, 
and  compassionate,  and  just.  (Psalm  cxi.) 

( 2 )  God  owes  it  to  himself  to  love  all  his  works 
“Thou  lovest  all  things  that  are,  and  hatest  none 
of  the  things  which  thou  hast  made.  (Wisdom  xi. 
25.)  But  •  he  owes  to  no  one  predilections  and 
special  graces,  of  which  we  should  seek  no  other 
cause  than  his  good  pleasure. 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  681 

livered  unto  me  by  my  Father ;  and  no 

“come  to  me,  all  you  that  labor,  and  are 

one  knoweth  who  the  Son  is,  but  the 

burdened,  and  I  will  refresh  you.  Take 

Father  ;  and  who  the  Father  is,  but  the 

up  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me, 

Son  ;  and  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal 

because  I  am  meek,  and  humble  of  heart,1 

him.” 

and  you  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls  ;  for 

“  Then  turning  to  his  disciples,  he  said,” 

my  yoke  is  sweet,  and  my  burden  is  light.” 

as  he  had  before  said  to  the  apostles  when 

(St.  Matthew  xi.  28-30.) 

he  explained  to  them  the  mysteries  of  the 

About  that  time  (it  appears  likely  that 

kingdom  of  God:  “Blessed  are  the  eyes 

this  fact  took  place  in  a  synagogue)  :  “A 

that  see  the  things  which  you  see  !  for  I 

certain  lawyer  stood  up  tempting”  Jesus, 

say  to  you,  that  many  prophets  and  kings 

and  “saying:  Master,  what  must  I  do  to 

have  desired  to  see  the  things  that  you 

possess  eternal  life  ?  Jesus  said  to  him  : 

see,  and  have  not  seen  them  :  and  to  hear 

What  is  written  in  the  law  ?  How  readest 

the  things  that  you  hear,  and  have  not 

thou  ?  He,  answering,  said  :  Thou  shalt 

heard  them.”  (St.  Luke  x.  16-24.) 

love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  th}r  whole 

Then  addressing  the  people  who 

heart,  and  with  thy  whole  soul,  and  with 

thronged  in  crowds  to  listen  to  him, 

all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind,2 

“  Come,”  said  this  charitable  Saviour, 

and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.”3  Jesus  “said  ■ 

( 1 )  And  you  shall  find  that  I  am  not  a  hard 

alone  can  thus  acquit  himself  towards  himself. 

and  haughty  master,  as  those  of  earth  usually  are, 

Yet  the  creature,  whilst  incapable  of  infinite  love, 

but  that  I  am  a  master  full  of  meekness  and 

should  at  least  love  God  without  any  other  limits 

affability.  Such  is  the  literal  meaning  of  these 

than  those  which  God  hath  given  to  his  capacity 

words.  But  it  is,  moreover,  so  evident  that  Jesus 

for  loving;  this  is  the  meaning  of  that  expression 

Christ  teaches  us,  by  his  example,  to  be  meek  and 

of  Saint  Bernard,  which  comprises  a  very  exact 

humble  of  heart,  and  experience  has  so  well  taught 

proposition:  “The  measure  of  loving  God  is  to 

that  only  in  the  practice  of  these  virtues  is  peace 

love  him  without  measure.” 

of  soul  found,  that  it  is  no  wonder  that  this  text  is 

To  think  that  we  love  God  as  much  as  he  de- 

usually  employed  to  express  both  these  truths. 

serves  to  be  loved,  is  not  to  know  God;  and  to  think 

( 8 )  To  love  God  with  all  one’s  heart,  with  all 

that  we  love  him  as  much  as  we  can  love  him,  is 

one’s  soul,  with  all  one’s  strength,  and  with  one’s 

not' to  know  ourselves. 

whole  mind,  is  tantamount  to  giving  to  God  all 

( 8 )  And  not  as  much  as  ourselves ;  for  we  have 

one’s  affection,  sensibilities,  thoughts,  and  works; 

a  right  to  the  preference,  and,  in  certain  circum- 

it  is,  in  a  word,  perfectly  loving  God.  This  per- 

stances,  are  bound  to  give  it  to  ourselves.  For 

feetion  is  not  attainable  in  this  life,  wherein  the 

instance,  we  are  bound  to  prefer  our  own  salvation 

gold  of  charity  is  never  without  alloy,  and  it  is 

to  the  salvation  of  any  other  persou,  and  even  to 

only  in  heaven  that  the  precept  has  its  full  ac- 

the  salvation  of  the  whole  world.  But  we  are 

complishment.  However,  as  .perfection  forms 

obliged  to  sacrifice  our  own  life,  if  necessary,  for  the 

part  of  it,  it  is  an  obligation  in  this  life  to  tend  in- 

eternal  salvation  of  a  single  man.  Those  who  in- 

cessantly  thereunto,  and  to  labor  to  increase  our 

quire  whether  we  must  sacrifice  our  own  perfection 

love,  until  it  engrosses  all  our  mind,  fills  all  our 

for  the  salvation  of  our  neighbor,  forget  that  to 

heart,  and  exhausts  all  our  strength.  We  should 

labor  for  the  salvation  of  one’s  neighbor  is  a  more 

infinitely  love  a  being  infinitely  amiable.  God 

80 

perfect  work  than  all  those  we  might  do  instead  of 

682 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


to  him  :  Thou  hast  answered  right :  this  do, 
and  thon  shalt  live.” 

By  giving  himself  the  answer  to  his 
own  question,  the  lawyer  showed  clearly 
enough  that  he  had  not  put  the  question 
with  the  design  of  obtaining  information. 
When  we  wish  to  learn  a  thing,  we  seek 
not  to  be  informed  of  what  we  already 
know.  He  had,  therefore,  some  other  in¬ 
tention,  which  could  not  have  been  a  good 
one :  the  bystanders  had  at  least  a  right 
to  suspect  him  of  some  evil  purpose. 
Whereupon,  “  willing  to  justify  himself,” 
he  put  another  question  still  more  difficult 
to  be  resolved,  especially  at  that  time, 
when  the  duties  of  charity  were  not  so 
clearly  known  as  they  have  been  since  the 
promulgation  of  the  Gospel.  “He  said,” 
therefore,  “  to  Jesus  :  And  who  is  my 
neighbor  ?  Jesus  answering,  said  :  A  cer¬ 

it.  With  regard  to  corporal  goods,  if  we  have  the 
right  to  prefer  ourselves  to  others,  we  are  not 
bound  to  do  so.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  highly 
perfect  charity  to  prefer  others  to  ourselves ;  and 
the  right  of  preferring  ourselves  to  others  arises 
only  when  the  same  wants  fall  on  both  parties. 
Thus,  I  am  entitled  by  right  not  to  yield  up  to  anoth¬ 
er  what  is  absolutely  necessary  for  my  own  life ;  but 

I  am  obliged  to  sacrifice  my  superfluity  for  the 
wants  of  another,  my  comforts  for  his  necessities, 
and,  to  convey  this  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  I 
can  keep  for  myself  the  morsel  of  bread  necessary 
for  my  sustenance,  and  the  only  tunic  I  have  to 
cover  myself;  but  if  I  have  a  whole  loaf,  I  should 
divide  it  with  him  who  is  hungry :  and  if  I  have 
two  tunics,  I  should  give  one  to  him  who  has  none. 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  who  treated  him  as  a  neigh¬ 
bor  ;  for  this  was  the  point  in  question.  The  word 
neighbor  is  a  relative  term :  If  I  be  your  neighbor, 
you  are  mine.  We  may,  therefore,  say,  I  am  your 
neighbor,  in  order  to  signify,  I  regard  you  as  my 
neighbor.  It  must  have  been  so  understood  by  the 


tain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho,  and  fell  among  robbers,  who 
stripped  him,  and  having  wounded  him, 
went  away,  leaving  him  half  dead.  And 
it  chanced  that  a  certain  priest  went  down 
the  same  way,  and  seeing  him,  passed  by : 
in  like  manner  also  a  Levite,  when  he  was 
near  the  place  and  saw  him,  passed  by  ;  but 
a  certain  Samaritan,  being  on  his  journej", 
came  near  him,  and  seeing  him,  was  moved 
with  compassion.  And  going  up  to  him, 
he  bound  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil  and 
wine  ;  and  setting  him  upon  his  own  beast, 
brought  him  to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of 
him.  And  the  next  day  he  took  out  two 
pence,  and  gave  to  the  host,  and  said : 
Take  care  of  him,  and  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  spend  over  and  above,  I  at  my  return 
will  repay  thee.  Which  of  these  three,  in 
thy  opinion,  was  neighbor *  1  to  him  that  fell 

Jews,  because  the  doctor  of  the  law,  a  man  belong¬ 
ing  to  a  quibbling  profession,  does  not  criticise 
the  terms.  This  account  teaches  us  three  things: 
1st,  that  the  quality  of  neighbor  extends  to  all 
men  without  exception,  since,  despite  national  an¬ 
tipathy  and  opposition  in  religion,  the  Samaritan 
is  neighbor  to  the  Jew,  and  the  Jew  to  the  Samar¬ 
itan  :  2d,  that  there  is  no  real  charity  in  regard  to 
our  neighbor,  except  what  is  proved  by  actions: 
3d,  that  simple  folk,  when  their  dispositions  are 
good,  know  their  duties  better  than  the  learned, 
since  it  is  a  Samaritan  who  here  gives  a  lesson  to 
Jews,  and  a  layman  to  priests  and  doctors. 

These  truths,  which  we  cannot  doubt  our  Sa¬ 
viour  wished  to  teach  the  doctor  by  the  example 
of  the  Samaritan,  are  perhaps  what  show  most 
conclusively,  that  this  is  a  real  statement,  and  not 
simply  a  parable.  A  parable  may  serve  to  de¬ 
velop  a  truth,  and  render  it  more  sensible ;  but  it 
is  only  a  real  fact,  and  not  a  supposition,  that  can 
be  given  as  an  example.  You  cannot  prove  to  a 
Christian  that  he  can  learn  from  a  Mahometan 


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thp  r;r~>nr'>  ^amarita 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  683 

- - ; - - - 0 - 


among  the  robbers  ?  But  he  said :  He 
that  showed  mercy  to  him.  And  Jesus 
said  to  him :  Gro,  and  do  thou  in  like 
manner.” 

Jesus  then  made  some  evangelical  mis¬ 
sions.  “Now  it  came  to  pass,  as  they 
went,  that  he  entered  into  a  town,  and  a 
certain  woman,  named  Martha,  received 
him  into  her  house.  She  had  a  sister 
called  Mary,  who,  sitting  also  at  the  Lord’s 
feet,  heard  his  word.”  At  the  same  time 
that  she  nourished  her  piety,  we  may  say 
that  she  fulfilled  a  dut}"  of  civility.  It  was 
becoming  that  whilst  they  were  waiting 
for  the  repast,  some  inmate  of  the  house 
should  entertain  so  distinguished  a  guest. 
“  But  Martha  was  busy  about  much  serv- 

charity  towards  one’s  neighbor,  by  pretending  that 
the  Mahometan  had  exercised  it  in  a  circumstance 
wherein  a  great  number  of  Christians  failed  to 
exercise  it.  But  if  this  Mahometan  has  really 
exercised  it,  his  example  is  proof,  and  no  further 
reply  can  be  made. 

( 1 )  Many  commentators  understand  this  of  a 
single  dish,  whence  they  conclude* that  our  Saviour 
here  reproved  Martha’s  superfluous  care  in  prepar¬ 
ing  several.  This  sense,  besides  conveying  a  moral, 
appears  to  flow  naturally  enough  from  the  text. 
However,  as  it  is  stated  that  Jesus  Christ  travelled 
with  his  disciples,  and  we  cannot  believe  but  that 
the  two  sisters  invited  them  with  their  Master,  a 
single  dish,  supposing  even  that  it  was  sufficient  in 
quantity,  could  not  be  becomingly  set  before  so 
numerous  a  company;  and  this  natural  con¬ 
struction  is  already  met  by  this  first  difficulty. 
Another  more  embarrassing  one  is,  that  it  appears, 
by  the  sequel  of  the  discourse,  that  our  Saviour 
here  opposes  occupation  to  occupation,  Mary’s  to 
Martha’s.  “  Mary,”  says  he,  “  hath  chosen  the  best 
part,”  which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  that  of 
Martha  is  less  good.  What,  then,  else  can  the  “one 
thing  necessary  ”  signify,  but  the  affair  of  salvation, 


ing  ;  who  stood  and  said  :  Lord,  hast  thou 
no  care  that  my  sister  hath  left  me  alone 
to  serve  ?  Speak  to  her,  therefore,  that 
she  help  me.  And  the  Lord  answered, 
and  said  to  her ;  Martha,  Martha,  thou 
art  careful  and  art  troubled  about  many 
things.  But  one  thing  is  necessary.1 
Mary  hath  chosen  the  best  part,  which 
shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her.”  2  (St. 
Luke  x.  25-42.)  By  this  short  answer  he 
apologized  for  those  who  give  to  the  re¬ 
pose  of  contemplation  all  the  time  which  is 
not  taken  from  their  duties  ;  and  he  vin¬ 
dicated  them  beforehand  from  the  impious 
railleries  made  by  libertines,  and  the  in¬ 
decent  annoyance  to  which  they  are  sub¬ 
jected  by  a  restless  or  contradictory  spirit. 

in  which  Mary  was  directly  occupied,  whilst  Mar¬ 
tha,  whose  occupation  was  not  incompatible  with 
it,  labored  only  indirectly  towards  it  ?  for  the 
direct  object  of  her  labor  was  bodily  refreshment, 
which  cannot  be  the  only  thing  necessary,  but 
which  may  tend  to  it,  and  which  actually  did, 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  Martha  stood. 
The  part  which  she  had  chosen  was,  therefore, 
good ;  but  that  of  Mary,  who  was  solely  occupied 
with  Jesus  Christ  and  his  words,  was  better. 

Contemplation  is  better  than  action,  which  is 
not  obligatory ;  but  if  the  action  were  obligatory, 
contemplation  substituted  in  its  stead  would  be 
but  an  illusion. 

The  union  of  both  constitutes  the  perfection  of 
this  life,  in  which  prayer  is  necessary,  and  labor 
indispensable. 

(2 )  Action,  which  presupposes  wants  and  mise¬ 
ries,  will  pass  away  with  this  life,  which  is  full  of 
them.  Contemplation  will  remain,  or  rather,  be 
more  perfect,  when,  instead  of  that  feeble  ray  of 
the  eternal  splendor  which  it  catches  but  a  glimpse 
of  here  below,  it  shall  see  that  light  in  its  source, 
and  the  divine  essence  in  itself. 


684  HISTOKY  OF  THE  LIFE 

CHAPTER  XL. 

THE  LORD’S  PRAYER,  ACCORDING  TO  SAINT  LTJKE. — PERSEVERANCE  IN  PRAYER.— GOD  GIVES 

WHAT  IS  NECESSARY.— THE  PURE  EYE.— THE  PHARISEES  CONDEMNED. 

A  A  s*ve  follo™g  ^ac^s  *n 

This  was  a  natural  opportunity  to  im- 

V  V  the  order  in  which  they  are  placed 

press  more  deeply  on  his  disciples  the 

by  one  of  the  evangelists.  It  is  impossible 

utility  and  efficacy  of  prayer.  Wherefore 

to  assign  them  precise  dates  as  to  time  and 

“  Jesus  said  to  them,”  making  use  of 

place.  Had  we  this  knowledge,  our  curi- 

figures  and  sensible  comparisons,  accord- 

osity  might  be  better  gratified  ;  but  should 

ing  to  his  usual  custom  :  “  Which  of  you 

we  be  more  edified,  or  receive  more  sa- 

shall  have  a  friend,  and  shall  go  to  him  at 

lutary  instruction?  We  shall  find  some 

midnight,  and  shall  say  to  him  :  Friend, 

discourses  of  our  Saviour  that  seem  to  be 

lend  me  three  loaves,  because  a  friend  of 

t 

only  a  repetition  of  others  which  we  have 

mine  is  come  off  his  journey  to  me,  and  I 

already  read.  So  they  are  in  fact,  not  be- 

have  not  what  to  set  before  him  ;  and  he 

cause  one  evangelist  repeats  what  another 

from  within  should  answer  and  say : 

evangelist  had  already  stated  (what  is  thus 

Trouble  me  not,  the  door  is  now  shut, 

repeated  is  only  once  given  in  this  work), 

and  my  children  are  with  me  in  bed  ;  I 

but  because  our  Saviour  himself  pronounced 

cannot  rise  and  give  thee.  Yet  if  he  shall 

them  more  than  once,  and  under  different 

continue  knocking,  I  say  to  you  :  Although 

circumstances.  Moreover,  as  it  seldom 

lie  will  not  rise  and  give  him  because  he 

happens  that  they  are  exactly  alike,  it  will 

is  a  friend,  yet  because  of  his  importunity 

not  be  considered  irksome  to  read  over 

he  will  rise,  and  give  him  as  many  as  he 

again  what  Jesus  Christ  has  not  deemed 

needeth.  And  I  say  unto  you  :  Ask,  and 

it  useless  to  repeat. 

it  shall  be  given  to  you.  Seek,  and  you 

“  It  came  to  pass  that  as  he  was  in  a 

shall  find.  Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened 

certain  place  praying,  when  he  ceased,  one 

to  you.  For  every  one  that  asketh,  re- 

of  his  disciples  said  to  him  :  Lord,  teach 

ceiveth  ;  and  he  that  seeketh,  findeth  ;  and 

us  to  pray,  as  John  also  taught  his  dis- 

to  him  that  knocketh,  it  shall  be  opened.” 

ciples.  He  said  to  them  :  When  you  pray, 

(St.  Luke  xi.  5-10.) 

say  :  Father,  hallowed  be  thy  name,  thy 

Thus,  provided  that  perseverance  be 

kingdom  come  :  give  us  this  day  our  daily 

joined  to  fervor,  it  is  certain,  we  should 

bread  :  forgive  us  our  sins,  for  we  also 

even  say  it  is  of  faith,  that  the  prayer 

forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us  : 

will  be  heard,  even  when  it  does  not  ap- 

and  lead  us  not  into  temptation.”  (St. 

pear  to  be  so.  For,  and  this  it  is  which 

Luke  xi.  1-4.) 

renders  this  faith  doubtful  and  vacillating, 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  685 

it  frequently  happens  that  prayer  has  the 

upon  a  candlestick,  that  they  that  come 

qualities  we  have  just  spoken  of,  and  yet 

in  may  see  the  light.1  The  light  of  thy 

we  do  not  see  it  followed  by  any  effect. 

body  is  thy  eye.  If  thy  eye  be  single, 

The  doubt  arises,  and  confidence  grows 

thy  whole  body  will  be  lightsome  ;  but  if 

weak.  It  is  because  we  do  not  consider 

it  be  evil,  thy  body  also  will  be  darksome. 

that  we  often  ask  for  that  as  salutary 

Take  heed,  therefore,  that  the  light  which 

which,  in  fact,  would  be  injurious  to  us. 

is  in  thee  be  not  darkness.  If,  then,  thy 

We  are  ignorant  of  the  real  nature  of 

whole  body  be  lightsome,  having  no  part 

what  we  ask,  and  this  is  the  reason  why 

of  darkness,  the  whole  shall  be  lightsome, 

we  ask  it.  God  knows  it,  and,  because  he 

and  as  a  bright  lamp  shall  enlighten  thee. 

knows  it,  he  refuses  it  to  us.  Shall  we 

“  And  as  Jesus  was  speaking,  a  certain 

call  this  rigor  or  unfaithfulness  on  his 

Pharisee  prayed  him  that  he  would  dine 

part  ?  But  his  goodness  does  not  stop 

with  him.  And  he  going  in,  sat  down  to 

here.  In  place  of  the  apparent  good  and 

eat.  And  the  Pharisee  began  to  say, 

real  evil  which  we  ask  for,  he  gives  us 

thinking  within  himself,  why  he  was  not 

, 

that  which  is  really  salutary,  what  we 

washed  before  dinner.  And  the  Lord  ” 

should  have  asked  for  by  name,  and  in 

who  saw  his  thoughts,  “said  to  him  ”  and 

preference  to  everything  else,  if  we  knew 

to  the  others  of  his  sect,  several  of  whom 

its  properties  as  he  does,  or  if  we  had 

had  been  invited  to  this  repast :  “Now, 

foreseen  its  consequences.  Thus  it  is  that 

you  Pharisees  make  clean  the  outside  of 

he  really  grants  while  appearing  to  refuse, 

the  cup  and  of  the  platter  ;  but  your  in- 

and  such  is  the  sense  concealed  under 

side  is  full  of  rapine  and  iniquity.” 

these  words  which  our  Saviour  adds  : 

Here  man  is  compared  to  a  vase,  of 

“  Which  of  you,  if  he  ask  his  father  for 

which  the  body  is  the  outside  of  this  ves- 

bread,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  ?  or  a  fish, 

sel,  and  the  soul  is  the  inside.  Now,  the 

will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent?  Or 

Pharisees,  who  were  very  exact  in  wash- 

if  he  shall  ask  an  egg,  will  he  reach  him  a 

ing  the  body,  but  gave  themselves  little 

scorpion  ?  If  you,  then,  being  evil,  know 

trouble  in  purifying  the  soul,  were  like  • 

how  to  give  good  gifts  to  }Tour  children, 

unto  him  who  should  take  pains  to  clean 

how  much  more  will  your  Father  from 

the  outside  of  a  vase,  whilst  he  left  the 

heaven  give  the  good  Spirit  to  them  that 

inside  full  of  filth.  A  servant  who  did  so 

ask  him.”  (St.  Luke  xi.  11-13.) 

would  be  deemed  a  fool  ;  wherefore  our 

The  following  maxims  had  been  already 

Saviour  does  not  spare  them,  and  profiting 

uttered  in  the  presence  of  the  apostles, 

by  this  occasion,  tells  (hem  to  their  faces 

but  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  greater 

what  they  but  too  well  deserved  to  hear. 

part  of  the  disciples  had  not  heard  them. 

“Ye  fools,”  said  he  to  them,  “did  not  he 

Jesus,  then,  repeats  them,  and  says  :  “No 

that  made  that  which  is  without,  make  also 

man  lighteth  a  candle,  and  putteth  it  in 

- - - - - . - 

a  hidden  place,  nor  under  a  bushel  :  but 

( 1 )  See  ante,  page  544. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


686 


that  which  is  within  ?  But  yet, ”  added  he,  for 
he  wished  merely  to  humble  them,  and  not 
to  drive  them  to  despair,  “  that  which  re¬ 
main  eth  give  alms  ;  and  behold  all  things 
are  clean  unto  you.”1  (St.  Luke  xi.  33-41.) 

To  neglect  alms-giving,  which  is  of  pre¬ 
cept,  in  order  to  attach  themselves  super- 
stitiously  to  usages  which  God  never  pre¬ 
scribed,  and  which  were  founded  merely 
on  human  traditions,  was  one  of  the  illu¬ 
sions  of  the  Pharisees.  Another  was,  to 
think  themselves  just,  because  they  scru¬ 
pulously  observed  the  smallest  precepts, 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  your  conscience  shall  be  puri¬ 
fied  :  thenceforth  all  shall  be  pure  before  God,  who 
knows  no  other  purity  or  impurity  than  that  of 
the  conscience.  Alms  do  not  purify  it  directly  and 
of  itself;  this  purification  can  be  the  effect  of  pen¬ 
ance  only ;  but  penance  is  conferred  upon  alms¬ 
giving,  which  we  thus  find  to  be  the  first  cause  of 
the  sinner’s  justification.  It  is  in  this  sense  that 
we  should  understand  the  texts  of  Scripture  which 
promise  to  alms-giving  the  remission  of  sins. 
These  promises  are  so  formal  that  we  venture  to 
give  assurance  that,  of  those  who  give  abundant 
alms,  very  few  are  reprobates,  if  there  are  any. 
We  may  doubt  it. 

( 2 )  Here  is  one  of  those  oracles  which  contain 
more  meanings  than  whole  volumes  can  contain. 

•  By  regulating  the  order  of  duties,  he  insures  the 
observation  of  all.  To  fail  in  the  principal  duties, 
whilst  we  scrupulously,  observe  the  minor  ones,  if 
not  the  effect  of  a  detestable  hypocrisy,  is  at  least 
the  grossest  of  illusions.  The  contrary  illusion, 
which  induces  us  to  spurn  trifling  duties,  and  value 
only  those  which  appear  important ;  this  illusion, 

I  say,  though  less  glaring,  is  only  the  more  dan¬ 
gerous;  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  more  common,  it 
proves,  too,  still  more  pernicious.  We  may  fail  in 
slight  duties,  and  we  often  do  fail,  from  surprise, 
from  inattention,  or  from  weakness.  But  to  fail  be¬ 
cause  we  imagine  that  God  does  not  require  them, 
is  to  contradict  his  word;  to  believe  that  he  does 


whilst  they  failed  in  .the  fundamental 
duties  of  religion  and  morality ;  this  is 
what  Jesus  Christ  anathematizes  in  these 
words  :  “Wo  to  you,  Pharisees,  because 
you  tithe  mint  and  rue,  and  every  herb, 
and  pass  over  judgment  and  the  charity  of 
God.  Now,  these  things  you  ought  to 
have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  un¬ 
done.”2  Then  he  strikes  at  their  pride, 
and  unmasks  their  hypocrisy  :  “Wo  to 
you,  Pharisees,”  said  he  again,  “  because 
you  love  the  uppermost  seats  in  the  syna¬ 
gogues,  and  salutations  in  the  market-place.3 

require  them,  and  yet  treat  them  insignificant,  is 
equivalentto  regardinghimself  insignificant.  To  say 
that  we  degrade  ourselves  by  accomplishing  them, 
is  elevating  ourselves  as  high  as  God,  or  lowering 
him  to  our  own  level;  it  is  at  least  ranking  him 
below  everything  which  we  respect  in  the  world  ; 
for  do  we  blush  to  render  the.  most  trivial  services 
to  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  ?  To  insult  those 
who  do  fulfill  them  is  outraging  the  saints,  and 
in  their  person  Him  whom  they  serve  with  that 
perfect  fidelity  which  is  made  the  cause  of  our 
unjust  contempt.  To  esteem  ourselves  more  than 
them,  because  we  do  not  stop,  as  it  is  said,  at  these 
trifles,  is  endeavoring  to  extract  glory  from  the 
baseness  of  our  own  motives.  For,  to  obey  God 
only  on  important  occasions,  and  when,  robed  in 
thunder,  he  threatens  disobedience  with  eternal 
chastisements,  is  acting  merely  from  the  motive  of 
servile  fear.  But  to  obey' him  when  we  might  dis¬ 
obey  him  without  crime,  to  do  his  will  when  he 
seems  to  entreat  rather  than  to  command,  is  to 
act  from  love ;  for  what  other  motive  can  sustain 
obedience,  when  there  is  neither  heaven  to  lose 
nor  hell  to  dread  ?  Yet  this  is  precisely  what  is 
termed  littleness  of  mind,  while  men  with  low  and 
grovelling  virtues  (if  even  this  be  not  too  much  to 
say)  class  themselves  as  enlightened  and  strong- 
minded. 

(s)  Could  we  believe,  if  we  did  not  hear  it 
from  the  mouth  of  him  who  is  truth  itself,  that 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST,  687 

Wo  to  you  !  because  you  are  as  sepulchres 
that  appear  not,1  and  men  that  walk  over 
are  not  aware.” 

Besides  the  Pharisees,  there  were  several 
doctors  of  the  law  at  this  entertainment. 
Jesus  had  not  addressed  them  ;  but  their 
morals  were  so  like  those  of  the  Pharisees, 
that  they  thought  they  recognized  them¬ 
selves  in  the  picture  which  our  Saviour 
had  drawn  of  the  latter.  “  One  of”  these 
“lawyers  answering,  saith  to  him:  Mas¬ 
ter,  in  saying  these  things,  thou  reproach- 
est  us  also.”  It  would  have  been  better 
for  him  to  say  that  he  did  .them  justice. 
But  he  was  not  mistaken  in  applying  to 
himself  and  those  of  his  profession  what 
he  had  just  heard.  Here  is  what  Jesus 
added  to  it,  addressing  his  speech  directly 
to  him.  “  He  said  ”  to  him,  therefore  : 
“Wo  to  you,  lawyers,  also,  because  you 
load  men  with  burdens  which  they  cannot 
bear,  and  you  yourselves  touch  not  the 
packs  with  one  of  your  fingers.2  Wo  to  you 
who  build  the  monuments  of  the  prophets  ; 
and  your  fathers  killed  them.  Truly  you 

bear  witness  that  you  consent  to  the  doings 
of  your  fathers  ;  for  they  indeed  killed 
them,  and  you  build  their  sepulchres.” 

In  fact,  to  render  these  honors  was  a 
recognition  that  those  whom  their  fathers 
put  to  death  were  truly  prophets  ;  and 
then  to  put  to  death  those  who  had  the 
same  character  of  prophets,  was  furnishing 
against  themselves,  bjr  these  honors,  an 
unanswerable  proof  that  they  were  mur¬ 
derers  of  prophets  ;  for  what  could  they 
reply  to  this :  Those  whom  you  have  mas¬ 
sacred  were  as  just  as  those  to  whom  you 
have  built  sepulchres  ? 

If  they  had  not  yet  done  so,  they  were 
going  forthwith  to  do  so,  as  Jesus  Christ 
had  foretold  :  for  it  is  of  himself,  that  is 
to  say,  of  the  Eternal  Wisdom,  that  he 
speaks  when  he  adds  this  prediction, 
which  he  repeated  again  at  the  approach 
of  his  passion:  “For  this  cause  also,  the 
wisdom  of  Gfod  said :  I  will  send  to  them 
prophets  and  apostles,  and  some  of  them 
they  will  kill  and  persecute,  that  the  blood 
of  all  the  prophets 3  which  was  shed  from 

the  immoderate  desire  for  distinctions  and  pre¬ 
eminence  is  sufficient  to  deserve  this  dreadful  male¬ 
diction. 

( 1 )  Covered  sepulchres,  concealed  vices ;  whit¬ 
ened  sepulchres,  vices  embellished  with  the  colors 
of  virtue. 

( ’ )  It  is  asserted,  and  with  reason,  that  the  saints 
are  severe  upon  themselves,  and  indulgent  in  re¬ 
gard  to  others.  Those  who  are  indulgent  to  them¬ 
selves  and  to  others,  are  generally  kind-hearted, 
yielding,  if  you  like,  and  too  easy.  He  who  is  at 
the  same  time  severe  towards  himself  and  towards 
others,  may  indeed  be  of  a  harsh  disposition ;  but 
inasmuch  as  he  does  not  spare  himself  more  than 
he  spares  others,  he  shows  that  he  acts  from  con¬ 
viction,  and  that  he  has  an  upright  heart.  But 

those  who  are  indulgent  towards  themselves  and 
severe  towards  others  are  necessarily  false  and 
wicked  persons.  They  cannot  believe  that  the 
severity  they  exercise  towards  others  is  an  obliga¬ 
tion,  since  they  do  not  exercise  it  towards  them¬ 
selves,  nor  that  their  indulgence  of  themselves  is 
permissible,  since  they  do  not  extend  it  to  others. 
Wherefore,  and  therein  consists  their  wickedness, 
their  indulgence  springs  from  corruption  and  their 
severity  from  cruelty.  And  they  are  both  false  and 
hypocritical,  inasmuch  as  they  endeavor  to  per¬ 
suade  the  world  that  they  practise  towards  them¬ 
selves  the  severity  which  they  display  towards  others. 

( 3 )  The  murder  of  all  the  prophets  was  a  nation¬ 
al  crime,  for  which  God  might  justly  impose  all  the 
temporal  penalty  upon  the  generation  that  crowned 

688  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

the  foundation  of  the  world  may  be  re¬ 
quired  of  this  generation,  from  the  blood 
of  Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  who 
was  slain  between  the  altar  and  the  temple. 
Yes,  I  say  to  you,  it  shall  be  required  of 
this  generation.” 

He  had  still  another  reproach  to  make 
these  false  doctors,  and,  in  their  person, 
those  who,  commissioned  to  show  the  peo¬ 
ple  the  right  road,  abuse  their  confidence 
in  order  to  lead  them  astray.  He  con¬ 
cludes,  therefore,  thus :  “Wo  to  you, 
lawyers!  for  you  have  taken  away  the 
key  of  knowledge  ; 1  you  yourselves  have 
not  entered  in,  and  those  that  were  enter¬ 
ing  in  you  have  hindered. 

“  As  he  was  saying  these  things  to  them, 
the  Pharisees  and  the  lawyers  began  ve¬ 
hemently  to  urge  him,  and  to  oppress  his 
mouth  about  many  things,  lying  in  wait 
for  him,  and  seeking  to  catch  something 
from  his  mouth,  that  they  might  accuse 
him.”2  (St.  Luke  xi.  42-54.)  It  is  true 
that  he  did  not  spare  them,  and  we  ma}r 

be  surprised  that  the  meekest  of  men,  he 
who  always  appeared  most  indulgent  with 
regard  to  sinners,  should  have  inveighed 
against  them  with  so  much  force,  and  have 
treated  them  with  so  little  indulgence. 
There  were  several  reasons  for  this  con¬ 
duct  ;  the  principal  of  which  is,  that  these 
sinners  believed  themselves  just.  For,  in¬ 
asmuch  as  they  deemed  themselyes  just, 
they  had  nothing  but  contempt  and  harsh¬ 
ness  for  sinners ;  and  on  that  account 
alone  they  deserved  to  be  treated  as  they 
treated  others.  But,  moreover,  because 
they  deemed  themselves  just,  they  ought 
not  to  have  been  treated  in  any  other 
manner  ;  and  this  was  the  only  tone  capa¬ 
ble  of  correcting  them.  Nothing  remains 
to  be  said  to  him  who  acknowledges  him¬ 
self  a  sinner,  and  who  knows  the  enormity 
of  his  sin  ;  or,  if  he  is  spoken  to,  it  is 
only  to  present  to  him  the  mercy  which 
invites  him  and  opens  its  arms  to  him. 

But  to  the  sinner  who  believes  himself 
just,  above  all,  if  he  make  his  justice  to 

the  enormity  by  the  murder  of  the  greatest  num¬ 
ber  of  prophets,  and  moreover  by  that  of  the  Lord 
of  prophets.  We  do  not  so  clearly  see  how  the 
murder  of  Abel  could  be  imputed  to  the  Jews, 
Cain  never  having  been  considered  as  of  that  peo¬ 
ple.  It  is  said  that  they  showed  themselves  to  be 
his  children  by  imitation,  in  the  same  sense  that 
they  are  called  by  our  Saviour  the  children  of  the 
devil.  Whatever  weight  there  may  be  in  this  rea¬ 
son,  it  is  certain  that,  as  they  imitated  him  in 
his  crime,  they  also  resembled  him  in  their  punish¬ 
ment.  Their  banishment  over  all  the  earth,  and 
the  character  of  reprobation  which  they  carry  en¬ 
graven  on  their  foreheads,  are  such  visible  features 
of  resemblance,  that  we  cannot  doubt  but  that 
God,  by  the  chastisement  of  the  fratricide,  purposed 

to  exhibit  the  chastisement  which  he  had  in  store 
for  the  deicides. 

( 1 )  The  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
Scriptures  they  were  commissioned  to  explain  to 
the  people.  They  were  unwilling  to  recognize  in 
these  the  Messias,  and  hindered  the  people  from 
recognizing  him.  Wo  to  the  people  who  were  se¬ 
duced!  but  wo  a  thousand  times  to  the  authors  of 
the  seduction !  Guilty  of  the  ruin  of  a  whole  na¬ 
tion,  they  shall  bear  the  penalty  of  a  whole  nation. 

(’)  It  is  not  stated  whether  they  then  found 
what  they  sought.  On  other  occasions  they  found 
it  either  by  malicious  lying,  interpreting  our  Sa¬ 
viour’s  words,  or  by  making  him  say  what  he  never 
uttered.  He  who  wishes  to  find  something  crimi¬ 
nal  can  always  find  it. 

OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  689 


consist  in  iniquity  itself,  it  is  necessary, 
no  matter  at  what  price,  to  make  known 
to  him  the  falsity  of  his  justice,  and  his 
grievous  sin.  We  must  tear  away  the 
bondage  wherewith  he  blindfolds  himself. 
We  must  sift  his  perverse  heart,  pluck 
out  of  it  the  vices  which  his  hypocrisy 
secretes  there,  paint  them  in  their  natural 
colors,  and  set  before  his  very  eyes  this 
hideous  portrait,  so  different  from  that 
which  he  had  formed  of  himself.  The 
enterprise  is  hazardous.  We  know  what 
it  cost  our  Saviour  and  many  of  his  in¬ 
trepid  ministers  who  have  been  in  this 
respect  imitators  of  his  zeal.  But  it  is 
necessary ;  and,  cost  what  it  may,  we 
must  courageously  unmask  these  hypo¬ 
crites,  or  otherwise  despair  of  their  con¬ 
version. 

Their  mischievous  doctrine  was  also  what 
authorized  our  Saviour  to  lower  their  re¬ 
putation  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  The 
wolf  should  be  exposed  when  he  appears 
in  the  skin  of  the  sheep  or  in  the  shep¬ 
herd’s  dress.  To  fail  in  this  duty  from  a 
mistaken  scruple,  would  rather  be  cruelty 
with  regard  to  the  public  than  charity  to 
the  individual.  It  was  on  this  account 

87 


that  “  when  great  multitudes  stood  about 
him,  so  that  they  trod  one  upon  the  other, 
he  began  to  say  to  his  disciples  :  Beware 
ye  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  which  is 
hypocrisy.  There  is  nothing  covered  that 
shall  not  be  revealed,  nor  hidden  that 
shall  not  be  known  :  for  whatsoever  things 
you  have  spoken  in  darkness  shall  be  pub¬ 
lished  in  the  light,  and  that  which  you 
have  spoken  in  the  ear  in  the  chambers 
shall  be  preached  on  the  house-tops.”  (St. 
Luke  xii.  1-3.) 

Thus  the  “  hope  of  the  hypocrite  shall 
perish.”  He  seeks  to  dazzle  the  eyes,  and 
to  gain  the  esteem  of  men  by  an  outward 
show  of  seeming  virtue ;  and  a  day  shall 
come  when  his  works  of  iniquity,  drawn 
from  the  darkness  wherein  he  vainly  hoped 
to  bury  them,  shall  deliver  him  over  to  the 
contempt  and  the  execration  of  all  crea¬ 
tures  ;  for  in  this  sense  must  these  words 
be  understood.  Elsewhere  they  signify 
the  glowing  publicity  soon  to  be  given  to 
that  doctrine  which  our  Saviour  then 
proposed  to  his  disciples  in  secret. 

What  follows  is  the  repetition  of  those 
instructions  which  he  wished  his  disciples 
to  keep  in  more  constant  remembrance.  I 

. 

•  I 

! 

i 

r 

1 


690 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


* 


% 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

INSTRUCTION  TO  THE  DISCIPLES.— GOD  ALONE  TO  BE  FEARED. — JESUS  REFUSES  TO  BE  THE 
ARBITER  BETWEEN  TWO  BROTHERS.— THE  RICH  MISER  CONDEMNED.— WE  ARE  NOT  TO  BE 
ANXIOUS  FOR  THE  MORROW.— GOOD  AND  BAD  SERVANTS. 


ISAY  to  you,  my  friends,  be  not 
afraid  of  them  who  kill 1  the  body,2 
and,  after  that,  have  no  more  that  they 
can  do  :  but  I  will  show  you  whom  you 
shall  fear.  Fear  ye  him  who,  after  he  hath 
killed,  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell.  Yea, 
I  say  to  you,  fear  him.  Are  not  five  spar¬ 
rows  sold  for  two  farthings  ?  and  not  one 
of  them  is  forgotten  before  God.  Yea, 
the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  numbered. 
Fear  not,  therefore  ;  you  are  of  more 
value  than  many  sparrows.  And  I  say 
to  you  :  Whosoever  shall  confess  me  be¬ 
fore  men,  him  shall  the  Son  of  man  also 
confess  before  the  angels  of  God.3  But  he 
that  shall  deny  me  before  men,  shall  be 
denied  before  the  angels  of  God.  Whoso¬ 
ever  speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son  of 
man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him  ;  but  to  him 
who  shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy 
Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven.4  And 


( 1 )  Not  to  fear  those  who  have  no  power  ex¬ 
cept  over  the  body,  is  on  our  Saviour’s  part  the 
advice  of  a  friend. 

If  authority  be  associated  with  this  power,  fear 
not  the  power,  but  fear,  that  is  to  say,  recognize 
and  respect  always,  authority,  although  you  should 
not  yield  to  it  when  you  cannot  do  so  without 
crime.  We  mean  by  authority  the  right  of  com¬ 
manding,  and  by  power  the  greater  strength. 
See  as  to  the  same  text,  note  2,  page  593,  of 
Parti. 


when  they  shall  bring  you  into  the  syna¬ 
gogues,  and  to  magistrates  and  powers,  be 
not  solicitous  how  or  what  you  shall  an¬ 
swer  :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  teach  you 
in  the  same  hour  what  you  must  say.” 5 

Whilst  Jesus  was  speaking  in  this  man¬ 
ner,  “one  of  the  multitude,”  who  thought 
that  no  one  would  dare  to  resist  the  au¬ 
thority  of  so  great  a  prophet,  “  said  to 
him  :  Master,  speak  to  my  brother,  that  he 
divide  the  inheritance  with  me.”  The 
King  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords,  to 
whom  all  power  had  been  given  in  heaven 
and  on  earth,  and  whom  the  Father  has 
established  sovereign  judge  of  the  living 
and  the  dead,  had  other  work  to  do  than 
deciding  such  questions  as  these.  Such 
was  not  the  object  of  his  mission,  and  he 
wished  to  teach  his  ministers  not  to  allow 
themselves  to  be  too  much  distracted  by 
affairs  of  this  sort,  with  which  they  should 

(а)  We  must  not  fear  to  lose  the  life  of  the 
body,  if  we  are  not  to  fear  those  who  take  away 
that  life.  We  necessarily  fear  those  who  do  the 
evil  when  we  fear  the  harm  which  they  can  do. 
For  the  same  reason,  we  must  say :  Fear  hell ;  for 
if  this  fear  were  not  to  exist,  Jesus  Christ  must 
have  here  said  without  any  reason :  Fear  him  who 
can  cast  into  hell. 

( 3 )  Part  I.,  p.  593. 

( 4 )  See  note  1,  p.  574. 

( б )  See  Chapter  xxiii. 


OF  OUR  LORD 


interfere  only  when  charity  obliges  them. 
Wherefore  “he  said  to  him  :  Man,  who 
hath  appointed  me  judge  or  divider  over 
you?”  This  man’s  right,  to  judge  of  it 
by  the  way  in  which  he  advanced  his 
claim,  was  legitimate  ;  but  what  prompted 
his  claim  was  an  excessive  attachment  to  the 
goods  of  the  earth.  Our  Saviour,  to  whom 
his  disposition  could  not  be  unknown,  prof¬ 
its  by  this  occasion  to  instruct  him  upon 
these  two  points,  most  suitable  to  make 
him  feel  how  worthy  of  contempt  riches 
are  :  one  is  their  utter  uselessness  as  to 
life,  which  they  do  not  render  either 
longer  or  happier  ;  the  other  is  the  uncer¬ 
tainty  of  their  possession,  of  which  death 
can  deprive  us  at  any  moment.  This 
moral  applies  to  all  men,  and  the  disciples 
themselves  still  required  that  it  should  be 
preached  to  them  also.  “  Jesus,”  therefore 
addressing  his  speech  to  the  whole  throng 
assembled  there,  “  said  to  them  :  Take 
heed,  and  beware  of  all  covetousness  ;  for * (*) 

( 1 )  The  steward,  whose  bad  conduct  reduced 
him  to  indigence,  likewise  said:  “What  shall  I 
do  ?  ”  Excessive  opulence  and  extreme  misery  ex¬ 
press  their  embarrassment  in  the  same  terms. 

( 8 )  Because  he  has  too  much  grain,  he  has  not 
sufficient  barns.  Abundance  produces  a  sort  of 
indigence.  If  he  had  had  less  wealth,  he  would 
have  had  fewer  wants. 

( 8 )  To  throw  down  his  barns  and  construct  new 
ones — what  embarrassment  and  trouble!  We  only 
toil  in  order  to  become  rich  :  do  we  not  enrich  our¬ 
selves  only  to  toil  further  ? 

(*)  This  language,  so  usual  amongst  men,  con¬ 
tains  nothing  which  would  surprise  us  if  it  were 
that  of  an  ox,  who  is  only  in  the  world  in  order  to 
graze  and  ruminate. 

(‘)  Death  deceived  him,  as  still  it  doth  deceive 
so  many  other  rich  men,  whom  it  carries  off  at  the 


JESUS  CHRIST.  691 


a  man’s  life  does  not  consist  in  the  abun¬ 
dance  of  things  which  he  possesses.  And 
he  spoke  a  similitude  to  them,  saying  : 
The  land  of  a  certain  rich  man  brought 
forth  plenty  of  fruits,  and  he  thought 
within  himself,  saying:  What  shall  I  do?1 
because  I  have  no  room  where  to  bestow 
my  fruits.8  And  he  said  :  This  will  I  do  : 
I  will  pull  down  my  barns,3  and  will  build 
greater :  and  into  them  will  I  gather  all 
things  that  are  grown  to  me,  and  my 
goods  ;  and  I  will  say  to  my  soul :  Soul, 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years ;  take  thy  rest,  eat,  drink,  make 
good  cheer.4  But  Grod  said  to  him  :  Thou 
fool,  this  night  do  they  require  thy  soul  of 
thee  :6  and  whose  shall  those  things  be 
which  thou  hast  provided  ?6  So  is  he  that 
layeth  up  treasure  for  himself,7  and  is  not 
rich  towards  G-od.” 

We  may  say,  perhaps,  that  he  might 
have  to  live  for  a  long  time  ;  and,  in  this 
supposition,  that  what  is  treated  as  folly, 

moment  when  they  hope  for  enjoyment.  But  if 
death  had  not  deceived  him,  he  would  have  de¬ 
ceived  himself.  Instead  of  tranquilly  enjoying 
his  abundance,  he  would  have  made  fresh  accumu¬ 
lations,  and  constructed  still  more  spacious  barns. 
Accumulated  treasures  have  never  cured  any  one 
of  the  lust  of  gain. 

( 6 )  Very  often  they  are  laid  up  for  a  prodigal, 
who  is  reckoned  a  fool,  whilst  the  rich  man  above- 
mentioned  is  regarded  as  a  wise  man.  Yet,  the 
folly  of  the  spendthrift  might  be  termed  wisdom, 
compared  to  that  of  the  amasser  of  riches. 

( T )  Because  he  amassed  for  himself,  he  finds 
out  that  he  has  not  amassed  for  himself:  others, 
not  himself,  enjoy  his  treasures.  He  would  have 
enjoyed  them  if  he  had  cast  them  into  the  bosom 
of  the  poor.  To  keep  all,  is  to  lose  all ;  to  give  all, 
is  to  save  all. 


% 

692  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

on  account  of  the  unexpected  event  of  his 

during*  those  glorious  days  of  the  early 

death,  might  be  regarded  as  a  wise  fore- 

Church,  when  the  faithful  brought  to  their 

sight.  No,  even  that  cannot  excuse  him, 

feet  the  price  of  their  inheritance,  reserv- 

because,  in  his  foresight,  there  was  an  ex- 

ing  no  other  fund  to  themselves  than  that 

cess  which  rendered  it  as  foolish  as  it  was 

of  Providence. 

criminal.  To  take  precautions  to  a  certain 

It  was  this  sublime  morality  which  the 

extent  for  a  futurity  which  may  or  may 

Saviour  taught  the  world  :‘when  he  said 

not  occur  is  well  enough.  But,  for  the 

to  his  disciples  :  Therefore  I  say  to  you, 

few  years  of  life  which  remain  to  us,  to 

be  not  solicitous  for  your  life,1  what  you 

amass  as  if  we  were  to  live  for  centuries, 

shall  eat ;  nor  for  your  body,  what  you 

to  accumulate  harvest  on  harvest,  as  if 

shall  put  on.  The  life  is  more  than  the 

the  earth,  condemned  to  eternal  sterility, 

meat,  and  the  body  is  more  than  the  rai- 

were  never  to  produce  any  more  ;  but,  at 

ment.”  Believe,  then,  that  God,  who  has 

the  same  time  that  the  mind  dwells  upon 

given  life  to  the  body,  will  give  what  is 

a  long  life,  to  forget  the  possibility  of 

necessary  for  the  preservation  of  both  one 

death  being  near  ;  to  dream,  if  we  may 

and  the  other.  “  Consider  the  ravens  :  for 

venture  so  to  speak,  that  we  shall  never 

they  sow  not ;  neither  do  they  reap ; 

die,  because  we  have  made  provision  for 

neither  have  they  store-house  nor  barn  ; 

not  dying  speedily  of  hunger,  this  is  the 

and  God  feedeth  them.  How  much  are 

point  of  view  in  which  this  man  was  a  fool, 

you  more  valuable  than  they?  And  which 

in  common  with  many  other  rich  misers 

of  you,  by  taking  thought,  can  add  to  his 

who  resemble  him.  There  is,  then,  a  meas- 

stature  one  cubit?  If,  then,  ye  be  not 

ure  of  foresight,  which  is  not  unreason- 

able  to  do  so  much  as  the  least  thing,  why 

able,  because  it  is  moderate,  and  which  is 

are  you  solicitous  for  the  rest  ?  Consider 

not  criminal  when  we  join  to  it  a  much 

the  lilies  how  they  grow  :  they  labor  not ; 

greater  confidence  in  Divine  Providence 

neither  do  they  spin  ;  but  I  say  to  you, 

than  in  all  our  own  precautions.  But  a 

not  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was 

much  more  excellent  disposition  is,  to  re- 

clothed  like  one  of  these.  Now,  if  God 

nounce  the  precautions  for  the  future,  and 

clothe  in  this  manner  the  grass  that  is  to- 

to  repose  solely  upon  the  Creator  and  pre- 

day  in  the  field,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into 

server  of  all  things.  The  apostles  were 

the  oven,  how  much  more  you,  0  ye  of 

called  to  this  perfection,  and  they  were  to 

little  faith  ?  And  seek  not  you  what  }^ou 

form  to  it  a  small  number  of  chosen  souls, 

shall  eat  nor  what  you  shall  drink  ;  be  not 

who  have  imitated  them  in  this  point  in 

lifted  up  on  high  ;  for  all  these  things  do 

every  succeeding  age,  but,  above  all, 

the  nations  of  the  world  2  seek,  and  your 

( ‘)  See  Chapter  xvii.,  Part  I. 

clusively  with  the  present.  Or,  if  we  understand 

( a )  According  to  others,  the  people  of  the 

it  of  the  Gentiles,  we  may  say  that  this  excessive 

' 

world,  those  who  are  called  worldlings,  because  by 

disquietude  about  the  wants  of  life  is  a  species  of 

forgetting  the  future,  they  occupy  themselves  ex- 

paganism:  if  it  is  not  an  utter  ignoring  of  God 

j 

- — - - - 

1 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


693 


Father  knoweth  that  you  have  need  of 
these  things.  But  seek  ye  first  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God  and  his  justice,  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.” 

It  is,  then,  this  eternal  kingdom  which 
was  henceforward  to  be  the  sole  object  of 
their  search.  What  can  they  renounce 
which  can  compare  with  it?  And  will 
God,  who  gives  them  so ,  great  a  gift,  re¬ 
fuse  to  them  a  morsel  of  bread  ?  Such  is 
the  indemnity  for  their  sacrifices,  and  the 
pledge  of  their  confidence,  which  our  Sa¬ 
viour  proposes  in  these  tender  words  : 
“Fear  not,  little  flock  ;  for  it  hath  pleased 
your  Father  to  give  you  a  kingdom.  Sell 
what  you  possess,  and  give  alms.1  Make 
to  yourselves  bags  which  grow  not  old  ;  a 
treasure  in  heaven  which  faileth  not : 
where  no  thief  approaeheth  nor  moth  cor- 

it  is  at  least  a  failing  to  understand  his  provi¬ 
dence. 

( 1 )  This  is  a  counsel  of  perfection.  Some  be¬ 
lieve  it  to  have  been  a  precept  enjoined  upon  the 
apostles. 

( 2  j  The  object  of  this  parable  is  to  show  that 
the  day  of  the  Lord,  that  is  to  say,  the  day  of 
death,  and  of  the  judgment  which  follows  it, 
being  always  uncertain,  the  only  M'ay  to  avoid 
being  taken  by  surprise,  is  to  be  always  prepared 
for  it.  Summing  up  the  general  sense,  the  fathers 
and  commentators  explain  the  different  parts 
variously.  According  to  most,  the  loins  girt  sig¬ 
nify  continence.  By  the  lamps  in  the  hands  are 
understood  good  works  and  the  light  of  good  ex¬ 
ample.  Watching  for  the  master  is  the  desire  to 
see  Jesus  Christ.  The  saints  sigh  for  his  coming: 
at  least  the  just  do  not  fear  it.  This  is  equivalent 
to  that  saying  of  Saint  Paul :  “  We  should  live 
soberly,  and  justly,  and  godly  in  this  world,  looking 
for  the  blessed  hope  and  coming  of  the  glory  of 
the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.” 
(Titus  ii.  12,  13.) . 


ruptetb.  For  where  your  treasure  is,  there 
will  your  heart  be  also.” 

The  vast  hoards  of  the  rich  miser  had 
prompted  the  lessons  which  Jesus  Christ 
had  just  given  to  his  disciples.  His  sud¬ 
den  and  unforeseen  death  constitutes  the 
subject  of  the  following  moral :  “  Let  your 
loins  be  girt,  and  lamps  burning  in  your 
hands,  and  you  yourselves  like  to  men 
who  wait  for  their  Lord,  when  he  shall  re¬ 
turn  from  the  wedding,  that  when  he  com- 
eth  and  knocketh,  they  may  open  to  him 
immediately.2  Blessed  are  those  servants 
whom  the  Lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find 
watching!  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  that  he 
will  gird  himself,  and  make  them  sit  down 
to  meat,  and,  passing,  will  minister  unto 
them.3  And  if  he  shall  come  in  the  second 
watch,  or  come  in  the  third  watch,4  and 

( 3 )  Earthly  masters  do  not.  Christ  does  not  do 
so  with  this  parade  of  servitude  which  is  here  set 
down  merely  to  give  accuracy  to  the  parable  ;  but 
he  does  so  really,  not  only  by  serving  personally, 
but,  if  we  may  venture  to  use  the  expression,  by 
serving  out  himself,  that  is  to  say,  by  giving  him¬ 
self  entirely  to  his  elect,  in  order  to  satiate  all  the 
desires  of  their  heart  in  the  possession  of  him. 

( 4 )  As  to  the  division  of  the  night  into  watches, 
see  note  1  page  600.  Here  the  four  watches  re¬ 
present  the  four  ages  of  life.  Jesus  Christ  speaks 
expressly  only  of  the  second  and  third,  which  cor¬ 
respond  with  youth  and  manhood,  the  two  ages 
when  we  think  least  of  death,  and  least  distrust 
its  approach.  He  says  nothing  of  infancy,  which 
is  incapable  of  preparation,  and  where  innocence 
supplies  its  place ;  nor  of  old  age,  which  cannot  be 
ignorant  that  death  draws  near,  unless  age  has 
utterly  lapsed  into  childishness;  in  that  case  it  is 
like  second  infancy,  at  least  as  to  preparation,  and 
would  to  God  it  resembled  it  in  its  innocence. 

When  a  man  is  attacked  by  a  dangerous  illness, 
we  warn  him  to  set  his  conscience  in  order.  We 


694 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


find  them  so,  blessed  are  those  servants. 
But  this  know  ye,  that  if  the  householder 
did  know  at  what  hour  the  thief  would 
come,  he  would  surely  watch,  and  would 
not  suffer  his  house  to  be  broken  open.  Be 
you,  then,  also  ready  ;  for  at  what  hour 
you  think  not,  the  Son  of  man  will 
come.” 

Then  “  Peter  said  to  him:  Lord,  dost 
thou  speak  this  parable  to  us,  or  likewise 
to  all  ?  ”  The  parable  was  applicable  to 
all,  but  the  inquiry  from  Peter  caused  it 
to  apply  to  him  personally,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  the  pastors  of  the  Church, 
under  the  figure  of  the  steward  who  is 
charged  with  the  entire  house.  “And  the 
Lord  said  to  him :  Who,  thinkest  thou,  is 
the  faithful  and  wise  steward,  whom  his 
lord  setteth  over  his  family,  to  give  them 
their  measure  of  wheat  in  due  season? 
Blessed  is  that  servant  whom  when  his 
lord  shall  come  he  shall  find  so  doing! 
Verily,  I  say  to  you,  he  will  set  him  over 
all  that  he  possesseth.  But  if  that  serv¬ 
ant  shall  say  in  his  heart :  My  lord  is  long 
a-coming,  and  shall  begin  to  strike  the 
men-servants  and  maid-servants,  and  to 

do  not  warn  him  when,  without  sickness,  reason 
begins  to  fail.  The  faculty  is  soon  utterly  lost, 
and  where  an  individual  survives  for  years,  the  lot 
of  the  soul  is  none  the  less  decided ;  it  shall  be  eter¬ 
nally  what  it  was  at  the  moment  when  reason  failed. 

Of  all  surprises,  there  is  none  against  which  it 
is  more  difficult  to  warn  him  who  does  not  warn 


eat,  and  to  drink,  and  be  drunk,  the 
lord  of  that  servant  will  come  in  the  day 
that  he  hopeth  not,  and  at  the  hour  that 
he  knoweth  not,  and  shall  separate  him, 
and  ”  although  he  be  only  guilty  of  mis¬ 
conduct,  “  shall  appoint  him  his  portion 
with  ”  the  servants  who  are  “  unbelievers.” 

This  treatment  is  as  just  as  it  is  severe. 
The  chief  servant,  he  who  has  the  ear  of 
his  master,  knows  his  wishes  better  than 
the  others,  who  are  informed  of  them  only 
through  him :  and  the  abuse  of  a  higher 
confidence  renders  the  delinquent  deserv¬ 
ing  of  higher  chastisement.  The  allusion 
to  the  pastors  is  constant  and  very  distinct, 
and  we  may  recognize  it  in  these  words 
by  which  the  Saviour  concludes  this  dis¬ 
course  :  “  That  servant  who  knew  the  will 
of  his  lord,  and  prepared  not  himself,  and 
did  not  according  to  his  will,  shall  be 
beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he  that 
knew  not,  and  did  things  worthy  of  stripes, 
shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes.1  And 
unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him 
much  shall  be  required  ;  and  to  whom  they 
have  committed  much,  of  him  they  will  de¬ 
mand  the  more.”  (St.  Luke  xii.  4-48.) 

himself ;  for  we  may  readily  say  to  a  sick  man  that 
he  is  very  ill ;  but  we  cannot  venture  to  tell  a  man 
in  health  that  he  is  losing  his  reason. 

( 1 )  The  punishment  shall  be  proportioned  to 
the  degree  of  light  and  of  knowledge.  For,  to  have 
known  or  not  known,  merely  signifies  here,  as  else¬ 
where,  to  have  had  more  or  less  knowledge. 


cezve, 


* 


■ 

■ 

•  i  • 


: 

- 


THE  TEMPTATION 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  695 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

NECESSITY  OF  PENANCE.— THE  BARREN  FIG-TREE.— THE  INFIRM  WOMAN  CURED  ON  THE  SAB- 

BATH-DAY.— SMALL  NUMBER  OF  THE  ELECT.- 

-NO  PROPHET  TO  PERISH  OUT  OF  JERUSALEM. 

'  |  \AKINCf  example  from  one  of  the 

the  father ;  the  mother  against  the 

A  evangelists,  we  shall  place  here  the 

daughter,  and  the  daughter  against  the 

following  truths,  which  have  no  connection 

mother  ;  the  mother-in-law  against  her 

with  the  preceding.  It  is  not  easy  to  con- 

daughter-in-law,  and  the  daughter-in-law 

nect  even  these  together,  and  it  is  very 

against  her  mother-in-law.”  (St.  Luke  xii. 

probable  that  they  are  detached  maxims 

49-53.) 

which  the  sacred  historians  relate  without 

“  There  were  present  at  that  very  time 

marking  either  time  or  circumstance  ;  we 

some  that  told  him  of  the  Galileans,  whose 

present  them  just  as  our  Saviour  uttered 

blood  Pilate  had  mingled  with  their  sacri- 

them  with  his  adorable  mouth. 

fices.  And  he  answering,  said  to  them  : 

“I  am  come  to  cast  fire  on  the  earth,1 

Think  you  that  these  G-alileans  were  sin- 

and  what  will  I  but  that  it  be  kindled  ? 

ners  above  all  the  men  of  Galilee,  because 

And  I  have  a  baptism,  wherewith  I  am  to 

they  suffered  such  things  ?  No,  I  say  to 

be  baptized  ; 2  and  how  am  I  straitened 

you  ;  but  unless  you  shall  do  penance,  you 

until  it  be  accomplished?  Think  ye  that 

shall  all  likewise  perish.  Or  those  eighteen 

I  am  come  to  give  peace  on  earth  ?  I  tell 

upon  whom  the  tower  fell  in  Siloe,  and 

you  no,  but  separation.3  For  there  shall 

slew  them  :  think  you  that  they  also  were 

be  from  henceforth  five  in  one  house 

debtors  above  all  the  men  that  dwelt  in 

divided  ;  three  against  two,  and  two 

Jerusalem?  No,  I  say  to  you;  but  ex- 

against  three  shall  they  be  divided  :  the 

cept^you  do  penance,  you  shall  all  likewise 

father  against  the  son,  and  the  son  against 

perish.” 

( 1 )  Some  maintain  that  this  fire  is  that  of  dm- 

upon  earth,  and  earnestly  wished  to  be  en- 

sion.  We  see  in  what  sense  they  thus  understood 

kindled. 

it,  and  this  sense  is  not  a  wrong  one.  The  major- 

( ’ )  By  this  baptism  all  understand  the  Passion. 

ity  prefer  to  explain  it  with  reference  to  the  fire  of 

Jesus  Christ  is  straitened,  not  by  fear,  as  some  ex- 

charity,  which  the  Holy  Ghost  infuses  into  all 

plain  it,  but  by  the  desire  of  seeing  it  accomplished. 

hearts.  We  ought  to  hold  to  this  interpretation, 

It  was  to  precede  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 

not  only  because  it  is  the  most  common,  but  also 

which  is  the  divine  fire  that  our  Saviour  desired  so 

because  it  is  that  of  the  Church,  which  says,  in  the 

earnestly  to  see  kindled  upon  earth.  This  made 

Mass  of  Saturday  in  Whitsun-week :  We  beseech, 

him  desire  that  bapfism  with  so  much  ardor.  We 

0  Lord,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  inflame  us 

can  thus  connect  this  text  Avith  the  preceding. 

with  that  fire  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  sent 

( * )  See  note  3,  page  593,  chapter  xxiii. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


696 


We  see  that  the  Jews  had  not  laid  aside 
the  old  prejudice  which  obtained  among 
them,  that  the  misfortunes  of  life  were  al¬ 
ways  the  punishment  of  crime,  and  that 
the  most  unfortunate  were  the  most  guilty. 
Those  just  spoken  of  were  indeed  guilty  ; 
but  they  were  not  more  so  than  those  who 
deemed  themselves  better  because  a  simi¬ 
lar  disaster  had  not  fallen  upon  them. 
The  justice  of  G-od  had  exercised  its 
rights  over  the  first  class  ;  his  patience 
still  waited  for  the  second.  But  this  pa¬ 
tience  had  a  limited  period,  after  which 
justice  was  to  burst  on  them  as  it  had 
already  on  the  other  offenders,  and  in¬ 
volve  them  in  similar  ruin.  Of  this  our 
Saviour  forewarned  them  ;  yet  it  should 
not  be  understood  as  if  all  to  whom  he 
addressed  his  words  were  to  perish  by  the 
sword  or  be  crushed  under  ruins.  These 
guilty  meu,  thus  surprised  by  death  before 
they  had  done  penance,  while  losing  tem¬ 
poral  life,  had  incurred  eternal  death,  and 
the  same  stroke  which  had  separated  their 
soul  from  their  body  had  hurled  them  for¬ 
ever  into  hell.  Behold  the  awful  chastise¬ 
ment  which  Jesus  Christ  denounces  against 
all  who  imitate  them  in  their  impenitence, 
and  in  which  too  they  shall  resemble  them. 
But  a  more  comprehensive  meaning  was 


( 1 )  This  vinedresser  gives  the  idea  of  an  ex¬ 
cellent  laborer  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  Three 
years  of  sterility  have  not  exhausted  his  patience. 
The  tree  is  not  his,  but  his  master’s :  yet  he  seems 
to  take  more  interest  in  its  preservation  than  the 
master  to  whom  it  belongs.  He  prays  as  if  he 
asked  a  favor  for  himself.  «He  promises  to  re¬ 
double  his  care,  as  if  he  were  in  fault,  and  that 
the  sterility  of  this  unhappy  tree  could  be  im¬ 


concealed  under  these  words,  “you  shall 
all  likewise  perish.”  Whilst  Jesus  Christ 
appeared  to  address  them,  only  to  those 
who  were  present,  he  addressed  them  to 
the  entire  nation,  foretelling  its  approach¬ 
ing  ruin,  and  the  tragical  death  of  those 
millions  of  men  and  women  who  should 
perish  not  only  by  the  sword  and  by  the 
falling  of  houses,  but  also  by  the  assem¬ 
blage  of  all  united  scourges,  fire,  pesti¬ 
lence,  and  famine.  Wo,  inevitably 
impending  over  them!  if  they  did  not 
struggle  to  avert  it  by  a  prompt  and  sin¬ 
cere  penance,  as  our  Saviour  warns  them 
in  the  following  words  ;  for,  pursuing  his 
discourse,  “he  spoke  also  this  parable  : 

‘  ‘  A  certain  man  had  a  fig-tree  planted 
in  his  vineyard,  and  he  came  seeking  fruit 
on  it,  and  he  found  none.  And  he  said  to 
the  dresser  of  the  vineyard  : 1  Behold,  for 
these  three  years  I  come  seeking  fruit  on 
this  fig-tree,  and  I  find  none.  Cut  it 
down,  therefore  ;  why  cumbereth  it”  use¬ 
lessly  “the  ground?  But  he,  answering, 
said  to  him:  Lord,  let  it  alone  this  year 
also,  until  I  dig  about  it  and  dung  it :  and 
if  happily  it  bear  fruit,  but  if  not,  then 
after  that  thou  shalt  cut  it  down.”  (St. 
Luke  xiii.  1-9.) 

We  easily  see  that  Judea  is  this  fig-tree  ; 


puted  to  negligent  cultivation;  in  which  he  ex¬ 
hibits  as  much  humility  as  zeal.  He  obtains  the 
delay  he  asks.  The  master  who  grants  it  desired 
it  more  than  he  ;  he  was  waiting  for  it  to  be  solici¬ 
ted,  and  he  complains  only  when  there  is  no  one 
to  place  a  barrier  between  him  and  the  earth,  or 
take  the  part  of  the  guilty  against  his  justice. 
(Ezech.  xxii.  30.) 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


697 


the  three  years  are  those  of  our  Saviour  s 
preaching,  which  should  have  made  it 
produce  fruit  in  abundance.  This  tree, 
still  barren,  despite  such  excellent  cultiva¬ 
tion,  thenceforth  justly  deserved  to  be  cut 
down  and  cast  into  the  fire.  It  is  allowed 
one  year  more,  the  time  of  the  preaching 
of  the  apostles.  After  the  expiration  of 
that  time  the  measure  shall  be  full,  the 
trunk  shall  be  cut  down,  it  shall  be  rooted 
up  ;  and  its  branches,  scattered  over  the 
face  of  the  earth,  shall  announce  to  all 
men  its  crime  and  its  misfortunes. 

Such,  then,  is  the  literal  sense  of  this 
parable,  which  is  also  applied  to  the 
hardened  sinner  for  whom  G-od  waits 
patiently  during  a  number  of  days  which 
are  reckoned.  Sometimes,  softened  by  the 
prayers  of  his  servants,  he  prolongs  this 
term  ;  but  if  a  man  does  not  profit  more 
from  this  last  delay  than  he  did  by  the 
others,  then  outraged  patience  is  turned 
into  wrath ;  justice  has  no  check,  and  the 
blow  which  it  deals  is  all  the  more  tenible 
from  having  been  long  suspended.  Thus 
the  conduct  of  God  towards  an  entiie 
people  is  the  figure  of  that  which  he 
evinces  towards  a  single  man,  as  his  treat¬ 
ment  of  a  single  man  is  sometimes  the 
figure  of  that  which  he  displays  in  the 
case  of  an  entire  people.  Although  with 
variations,  yet  it  is  substantially  the  same  ; 


( 1 )  This  spirit  was  Satan,  as  our  Saviour  says 
afterwards.  We  see  by  this  that  there  are  infirm¬ 
ities  which  have  no  natural  cause,  and  of  which 
the  devil  alone  is  the  author.  We  have  a  further 
proof  of  this  in  Job,  whose  example  proves  at  the 
same  time,  1st,  That  the  demon  can  bewitch 
bodies,  without  the  intervention  of  sorcerers  being 

88 


and  hence  it  is  very  reasonable  aud  proper 
for  those  who  are  commissioned  to  ex¬ 
pound  the  divine  Scriptures  to  the  people, 
to  apply  to  individuals  several  matters 
which,  in  the  direct  and  literal  meaning, 
regard  the  Jewish  or  some  other  nation. 

In  the  meantime,  Jesus  continued  to 
effect  by  his  preaching  and  by  his  miracles 
the  salvation  of  bodies  and  of  souls.  ‘  He 
was  teaching  in  their  synagogue  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  behold,  there  was  a  woman 
who  had  a  spirit  of  infirmity  eighteen 
years.”  1  We  know  not  whether  she  went 
there  to  pray  for  her  cure,  or  simply  to 
attend  the  public  instruction.  However 
that  might  be,  “whom  when  Jesus  saw” 
sensible  image  of  anticipating  grace!  “he 
called  her  unto  him,  and  said  to  her: 
Woman,  thou  art  delivered  from  thy  in¬ 
firmity.  And  he  laid  his  hands  upon  hex , 
and  immediately  she  was  made  straight, 
and  glorified  God.  The  ruler  of  the  syna¬ 
gogue,  being  angry  that  Jesus  had  healed 
on  the  sabbath,  answering,  said  to  the 
multitude  :  Six  days  there  are  wherein 
you  ought  to  work.  In  them,  therefore, 
come,  and  be  healed :  and  not  on  the 
sabbath-day.” 

This  apparent  zeal  was  the  veil  where¬ 
with  he  covered  his  low  jealousy  ;  and 
the  sort  of  consideration  with  which  he 
appeared  to  treat  our  Saviour,  to  whom 

necessary,  as  those  seem  to  believe  who  assert  that 
the  illness  of  the  woman  who  was  bowed  together 
was  the  effect  of  sorcery :  2d,  That  the  demon  who 
has  this  power  can  exercise  it  only  when  God  per¬ 
mits  him  to  do  so,  upon  whom  God  permits,  and 
as  long  as  God  permits  him  to  do  so.  Wherefore 
God  alone  is  to  be  dreaded. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


698 


he  did  not  venture  to  address  his  speech, 
sprang  less  from  any  respect  which  he 
entertained  for  him,  than  from  fear  of 
being  confounded  by  some  one  of  his  an¬ 
swers.  He  did  not  escape  it,  however, 
either  himself  or  those  of  the  audience 
who  thought  like  him.  Jesus  answered 
them  all  in  the  person  of  him  who  had  ad¬ 
dressed  to  others  the  personal  reproach 
which  he  levelled  against  him.  And  the 
Lord  answering  him,  said:  “Ye  hypo¬ 
crites,1  doth  not  every  one  of  you  on  the 
sabbath-day  loose  his  ox  or  his  ass  from 
the  manger,  and  lead  them  to  water  ?  And 
ought  not  this  daughter  of  Abraham,  whom 
Satan  hath  bound,  lo  !  these  eighteen  years, 
be  loosed  from  this  bond  on  the  sabbath- 
day  ?  And  when  he  said  these  things,  all  his 
adversaries  were  ashamed ;  and  all  the 
people  rejoiced  for  all  the  things  that  were 
gloriously  done  by  him.”  (St.  Luke  xiii. 
10-17.) 

At  that  time  “Jesus  went  through  the 
cities  aud  towns  teaching,  and  making  his 
journey  to  Jerusalem.  A  certain  man 

(*)  The  envious  never  says  he  is  envious;  he 
fears  nothing  so  much  as  that  it  should  appear  so. 
However,  there  must  be  some  apparent  motive  foi 
what  envy  makes  him  say  and  do :  religion,  equity, 
nay,  even  charity,  supply  the  motives ;  this  con¬ 
stitutes  his  hypocrisy.  A  man  can  be  a  hypocrite 
without  being  envious ;  but  he  cannot  be  envious 
without  being  a  hypocrite. 

(a)  Into  the  kingdom  of  God,  consummated, 
which  is  heaven.  But  they  cannot  do  so,  because 
they  did  not  wish  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God,  commenced,  which  is  the  Church.  The  dif¬ 
ference  between  the  two  is  that  between  the  vesti¬ 
bule  and  the  interior  of  the  palace. 

( * )  This  blot  shall  not  be  effaced  by  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  having  lived  with  Christ,  of  having  drank 


said  to  him :  Lord,  are  they  few  that  are 
saved  ?  ”  This  question  may  have  origi¬ 
nated  in  curiosity.  Jesus,  who  never 
sought  to  gratify  it,  takes  occasion  there¬ 
from,  according  to  his  custom,  to  edify 
and  instruct.  He  accordingly  turns  from 
the  individual  who  had  just  questioned 
him,  and,  addressing  his  words  to  the 
whole  audience,  “  he  said  to  them:  Strive 
to  enter  by  the  narrow  gate  ;  for  many,  I 
say  to  you,  shall  seek  to  enter,  and  shall 
not  be  able.2  But  when  the  master  of  the 
house  shall  be  gone  in,  and  shall  shut  to 
the  door,  you  shall  begin  to  stand  with¬ 
out,  and  knock  at  the  door,  saying  :  Lord, 
open  to  us  ;  and  he  answering  shall  say 
to  you  :  I  know  you  not  whence  you  are. 
Then  you  shall  begin  to  say:  We  have 
eaten  and  drunk  in  thy  presence,  and  thou 
hast  taught  in  our  streets.  And  he  shall 
say  to  you :  I  know  you  not  whence  you 
are  :  depart  from  me,  all  ye  workers  of 
iniquity.3  There  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth,  when  you  shall  see 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  all 

and  eaten  with  him ;  it  shall  not  be  effaced  by 
kindred,  and  if  it  could  have  been  found  in  his 
mother,  would  not  be  effaced  by  her  maternity. 
In  the  eyes  of  God  the  works  of  justice  or  iniquity 
alone  decide  whether  favor  or  disgrace  be  due. 
Without  regard  to  persons,  or  to  anything  which 
the  world  values  or  despises,  he  crowns  virtue 
alone,  and  reproves  only  vice.  I  recognize  God  by 
this  feature ;  and  one  of  the  most  divine  charac¬ 
teristics  of  the  Christian  religion  is,  that  intrepid 
tone  with  which  it  ventures  to  say  to  the  masters 
of  the  world:  If  you  do  the  works  of  iniquity, 
you  shall  be  eternally  tormented  in  the  depth  of 
the  abyss,  whilst  the  lowest  of  your  slaves,  if  he 
die  in  justice,  shall  reign  above  the  stars. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


699 


the  prophets  of  the  kingdom  of  G-od,  and 
you  yourselves  thrust  out.  There  shall 
come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  the 
north  and  the  south  ;  and  shall  sit  down 
in  the  kingdom  of  Gfod.  And  behold,  they 
are  last  that  shall  be  first,  and  they  are 
first  that  shall  be  last.” 1  (St.  Luke  xiii. 
22-30.) 

This  answer  was  addressed  personally 
to  the  Jews.  It  teaches  them  that  the 
number  of  those  who  will  be  saved  shall 
be  very  great,  since  it  shall  comprise  in¬ 
dividuals  from  all  parts  of  the  earth  ;  but 
the  number  amongst  their  own  nation  shall 
be  very  small,  because  what  is  here  termed 
the  narrow  gate  is  in  their  case  the  Gospel 
law,  which  few  of  them  were  to  embrace. 
What  should  render  this  gate  still  nar¬ 
rower  was  the  small  number  even  of  those 
who  were  to  enter.  Hence  it  followed 
that  those  who  would  not  enter  should 
constitute  the  majority.  The  last  exceed- 
in°r  the  former  in  numbers,  and  still  moie 
in  audacity,  would  turn  against  the  former, 
and,  by  their  fury  in  persecuting  them, 
render  it  more  difficult  for  them  to  enter 
that  gate,  already  so  difficult  in  itself. 
But  at  last  the  moment  should  arrive 
when,  although  they  might  desire  to  enter 
the  heavenly  kingdom  from  which  they 
should  have  thus  excluded  themselves, 
they  shall  no  longer  find  entrance..  There, 
upon  the  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth, 
when  they  shall  behold  this  small  number 
of  their  brethren,  the  former  objects  of 
their  contempt  and  their  hatred,  when 

( ‘ )  Down  to  this  time  the  Jews  had  been  pre¬ 
ferred  to  the  Gentiles ;  the  Gentiles  shall  shortly 
be  preferred  to  the  Jews.  These  who  were  the 


they  shall  behold  them,  I  say,  in  the  com¬ 
pany  of  patriarchs  and  prophets,  enjoying 
that  ineffable  happiness,  the  privation  of 
which  is  not  less  bitter  than  its  enjoy¬ 
ment  is  delightful.  But  what  shall  re¬ 
double  their  rage  is,  to  see  that  there 
were  places  for  all,  and  that  theirs  shall 
be  filled  by  men  who  formerly  were 
strangers  to  the  covenant,  and  have  been 
admitted  in  the  place  of  the  disinherited 
children.  For  they  were  to  come  in 
crowds  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  ; 
and  this  is  the  sense  in  which  J esus  Christ 
declares  that  the  number  of  the  elect 
taken  by  itself  shall  be  very  great,  al¬ 
though  amongst  the  Jews  it  should  be  very 
small,  when  compared  with  the  bulk  of 
the  nation. 

You  may  here  inquire,  with  reference 
to  this  subject,  whether  amongst  the  faith¬ 
ful  themselves  the  number  of  the  elect 
shall  be  the  majority  or  the  minority? 
An  idle  query  from  the  lips  of  most  of 
those  who  put  it,  since  each  one  must  be 
judged  according  to  his  works,  and  no  one 
shall  be  saved  for  the  reason  that  there 
shall,  be  a  great  number  of  elect,  as  no 
one  shall  be  condemned,  precisely  because 
there  shall  be  a  great  number  of  repro¬ 
bates.  Let  us  then  not  consider  others, 
but  let  each  one  of  us  think  of  himself ; 
persuaded  that  if  he  preserve  his  inno¬ 
cence,  or  if  he  recover  it  by  sincere  pen¬ 
ance,  should  but  one  man  be  saved,  he 
shall  be  the  man  ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
he  shall  be  a  reprobate,  were  there  but 

first  shall  be  the  last,  which  does  not  mean  that 
they  shall  have  the  last  places  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  but  that  they  shall  be  utterly  excluded  from  it. 


700 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


one,  if,  after  having  sinned,  he  dies  in  his 
impenitence. 

“  The  same  day  there  came  some  of  the 
Pharisees,  saying  to  Jesns  :  Depart  and 
get  thee  hence,  for  Herod  hath  a  mind  to 
kill  thee.”  The  statement  was  true,  al¬ 
though  given  out  of  envy,  and  not  from 
charity.  Perhaps  Herod  himself  caused 
it  to  be  given.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
divine  the  reason  ;  however,  the  thing  is 
not  improbable,  inasmuch  as  our  Saviour 
sends  back  his  reply  to  this  prince 
through  those  who  came  to  speak  to  him. 
“  Go,  he  said  to  them,  and  tell  that  fox  : 1 
Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and  do  cures  to¬ 
day,  and  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I 
am  consummated.  Nevertheless,  I  must 
walk  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and  the  day 
following,2  because  it  cannot  be  that  a 
prophet  perish  out  of  Jerusalem.”3 

His  heart  shudders  when  pronouncing 


( 1 )  So  called  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  perhaps  gen¬ 
erally  so  styled  on  account  of  his  cunning.  Be¬ 
sides  being  naturally  cunning,  his  situation  might 
further  contribute  to  render  him  such.  He  had  to 
please  the  Romans,  hy  whom  alone  he  reigned,  and 
he  did  not  wish  to  displease  his  subjects,  who 
could  not  endure  the  Romans.  'What  cunning  is 
not  needed  to  reconcile  such  opposing  ideas,  when 
an  individual  has  not  sufficient  probity  to  effect  his 
purpose  by  righteous  conduct,  the.  best  of  all  means 
to  succeed,  and  the  only  means  by  which  any  one 
can  constantly  succeed! 

( a )  These  three  days  signify  the  short  time 
which  Jesus  Christ  had  to  remain  upon  earth. 
This  answer  is  full  of  magnanimity ;  it  is  as  if  he 
said :  I  do  what  I  will :  I  dread  no  one,  and  I  shall 
not  die  except  at  the  time  and  on  the  spot  which 
I  have  resolved  to  die.  The  just  man  can  say  with 
the  same  intrepidity :  I  do  what  God  wills  :  I  fear 
him  alone,  and  I  shall  not  die  except  at  the  time 


the  name  of  this  unfortunate  city,  and  he 
cannot  refrain  from  addressing  it  this 
reproach  which  compassion  draws  forth 
from  the  very  depth  of  his  fatherly  bosom  : 
“  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  that  killest  the 
prophets,  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent 
to  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  as  the  bird  doth  her  brood 
under  her  wings,  and  thou  wouldst  not?4 
Behold  your  house  shall  be  left  to  you 
desolate.  And  I  say  to  you,  that  you 
shall  not  see  me  till  the  time  come,  when 
you  shall  say :  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord.”  (St.  Luke  xiii. 
31-35.) 

So  exclaimed  the  children  when  he 
made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem. 
Yet,  this  is  not  what  our  Saviour  had 
here  in  view.  He  was  to  go  again  to 
Jerusalem  for  the  feast  of  the  Dedication 
before  the  last  journey,  when  this  acclama- 


and  on  the  spot  where  he  has  resolved  that  I  shall 
die. 

(s)  That  is  to  say,  it  is  not  suitable  that  a 
prophet  should  suffer  death  out  of  Jerusalem. 
The  reason  given  by  some  is,  because  the  judgment 
of  a  prophet  was  reserved  to  the  great  Sanhedrim. 
Others  think  that  Jesus  Christ  spoke  thus  because 
the  majority  of  the  prophets  who  were  put  to 
death  had  been  deprived  of  life  at  Jerusalem, 
whence  it  might  very  possibly  happen,  as  is  also 
thought,  that  what  Jesus  here  says  had  passed 
into  a  proverb. 

( 4 )  God  so  wished  it,  and  Jerusalem  wished  it 
not :  what  God  would  have,  did  not  come  to  pass. 
Wherefore  there  are,  without  prejudice  to  divine 
omnipotence,  wishes  of  God  that  have  not  the'.r 
accomplishment.  Theologians  explain  this  mys¬ 
tery  in  various  ways ;  but  whatever  explanation  be 
adopted,  Jesus  Christ  has  said  it,  and  we  must 
believe  it. 


IBMM 


7xn  ml'-iijjii 1  Ai  L1  Vyi-'_LLLi  L!= 


•  1\V  vS®'-' 


McMenamy,  H 


6c  Co..  New  Y orw 


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OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  701 

tion  was  to  be  uttered  ;  and  after  it  had 
been  uttered,  he  again  said  to  the  Jews: 

“  You  shall  not  see  me  till  the  time  come, 
when  you  shall  say :  Blessed  is  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.”  An 
evident  mark  that  this  first  acclamation 
was  not  that  of  which  he  then  spoke.  A 
deeper  meaning  was  concealed  beneath 
these  words :  they  announced  the  conver¬ 
sion  of  the  Jews,  who,  reclaimed  from 
their  prejudices,  should  turn  at  length  to¬ 
wards  him,  and  hasten  by  their  ardent 
invocations  the  second  coming  of  the  Mes- 

sias,  whom  their  fathers  had  rejected. 

Jesus  Christ  said  that  before  this  period 
they  should  see  him  no  more,  because  he 
had  only  a  few  days  further  to  pass 
amongst  them  ;  after  which  these  wilfully 
blinded  people,  who  disowned  him  in  per¬ 
son,  should  obstinately  deny  him,  even 
until  the  consummation  of  ages,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  establishment  of  his  Church 
and  the  accomplishment  of  the  prophecies, 
although  these  signs  had  been  more  than 
sufficient  to  force  him  to  be  recognized  by 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

CHAPTE 

A  MAN  CURED  OP  THE  DROPSY  ON  THE  SABBAr 
EST  PLACE.— INVITING  THE  POOR.— PARABLE 
COMING  TO  THE  SUPPER.— WE  MUST  PREFER 

“  T  T  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  went  into 
-L  the  house  of  one  of  the  chief  of  the 
Pharisees  on  the  sabbath-day  to  eat  bread, 
that  they  watched  him,”  for  the  purpose  of 
criticising  his  actions,  “and  behold,  there 
was  a  certain  man  before  him  that  had  the 
dropsy.  Jesus  answering,  spoke  to  the 
lawyers  and  Pharisees,  saying  :  Is  it  law¬ 
ful  to  heal  on  the  sabbath-day?1  But  they 

R  XLIII. 

rH-DAY.— WE  ARE  ALWAYS  TO  TAKE  THE  LOW- 
OF  THOSE  WHO  EXCUSE  THEMSELVES  FROM 
JESUS  CHRIST  BEFORE  ALL  THINGS. 

held  their  peace.  He  taking  him  ”  that 
had  the  dropsy,  “  healed  him,  and  sent 
him  away.  And  answering  them,”  their 
very  thoughts,  “he  said:  Which  of  you 
shall  have  an  ass  or  an  ox  fall  into  a 
pit,  and  will  not  immediately  draw  him 
out  on  the  sabbath-day  ?  And  they  could 
not  answer  him  to  these  things.” 

But  after  having  been  observed,  Christ 

( 1 )  We  have  seen  in  note  1,  page  53S,  chapter 
xv.,  Part  I.,  that  the  rabbis  were  still  more  scrupu¬ 
lous  than  the  Pharisees  in  observing  the  sabbath. 
With  all  that,  they  do  not  yet  consider  that  it  is 
kept  strictly  enough ;  some  of  them  are  even  of 
opinion  that  it  is  this  which  retards  the  coming  of 

the  Messias,  who  shall  appear  as  soon  as  the  sab¬ 
bath  is  perfectly  observed ;  he  awaits  only  that. 

Any  practice,  however  holy  it  may  be  in  its  in¬ 
stitution,  will  always  turn  to  superstition  and 
fanaticism,  when  men  would  fain  reduce  all  re¬ 
ligion  to  it  alone. 

702 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


observed  them  in  liis  turn ;  and  not  con¬ 
tent  with  having  made  them  feel  that  he 
had  nothing  to  dread  from  their  criticism, 
he  further  informed  them  that  they  needed 
his  instructions.  “  And  he  spoke  a  para¬ 
ble  also  to  them  that  were  invited,  mark¬ 
ing  how  they  chose  the  first  seats  at  the 
table,  saying  to  them  :  When  thou  art  in¬ 
vited  to  a  wedding,  sit  not  down  in  the 
first  place,1  lest  perhaps  one  more  honor¬ 
able  than  thou  be  invited  by  him  ;  and  he 
that  invited  thee  and  him,  come  and  say 
to  thee,  Give  this  man  place  ;  and  then 
thou  begin  with  shame  to  take  the  lowest 
place.  But  when  thou  art  invited,  go,  and 
sit  down  in  the  lowest  place  :  that  when 
he  that  invited  thee  cometh,  he  may  say 
to  thee  :  Friend,  go  up  higher.  Then  shalt 
thou  have  glory  before  them  that  sit  at 
table  with  thee.  Because  every  one  that 
exalteth  himself  shall  be  humbled  :  and 
he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.” 

The  refinement  of  our  manners  gives 
but  little  room  for  the  application  of  this 
moral,  especially  in  the  form  proposed. 
It  very  rarely  occurs  amongst  us  that  the 
least  honorable  of  the  company  should  go 
and  take  the  first  place  at  table  ;  or,  if 
he  ventured  to  do  it,  most  likely  he  would 
be  left  to  endure  the  shame  of  remaining 
there  rather  than  be  affronted  by  being- 
displaced.  It  is  done,  however,  in  other 
circumstances,  which  generally  are  those 

( 1 )  Pagan  philosophers  had  taught  this  lesson 
before  Christ.  Ignorant  of  humility,  they  enjoined 
the  semblance  of  it.  Instinct  tendered  this  hom¬ 
age  to  it,  and  it  was  honored  almost  as  the  un¬ 
known  God,  whose  altar  Saint  Paul  found  at 
Athens.  But  should  not  men  have  seen  that  the 


where  the  degrees  of  rank  are  regulated, 
and  perhaps  this  was  the  case  at  feasts 
among  the  Jews.  Sincere  humility  should 
always  be  the  motive  inducing  us  to  station 
ourselves  rather  below  than  above  the 
rank  due  us.  To  do  this  with  a  view  of 
being  told  to  “go  up  higher,”  would  be 
merely  substituting  for  that  coarse  pride 
which  seizes  upon  the  first  seat,  the  more 
refined  pride  which  desires  to  obtain  it 
through  deference.  Moreover,  we  should 
discard  the  notion  that  the  latter  is  that 
which  Christ  sought  to  teach  the  Pharisees. 
Incapable  as  they  were  of  adopting  senti¬ 
ments  of  profound  humility,  he  accommo¬ 
dates  himself  to  their  weakness,  contenting 
himself,  as  a  first  lesson,  with  showing 
them  the  humiliating  blunders  of  pride, 
which  really  ends  in  shame  by  the  very 
course  it  deemed  conducive  to  glory, 
whilst  glory  pursues  the  humility  that 
shuns  it.  We  see  this  happen  every  day 
in  the  world,  where  men,  imitating  on  this 
point  the  sentiments  and  the  conduct  of 
God,  resist  the  proud  man  who  would  fain 
possess  himself  by  force  of  their  esteem 
and  their  respect,  which  they  lavish  upon 
the  humble  man  who  declines  them.  But 
what  men  sometimes  do  in  this  world  is 
but  a  faint  image  of  what  God  will  do  in 
the  other  world,  where,  by  an  irrevocable 
decree,  the  effect  of  which  shall  be  eternal, 
he  will  perfectly  accomplish  the  word  he 

semblance  without  the  reality  is  mere  hypocrisy, 
and  that  if  it  be  incumbent  upon  us  to  appear 
modest,  we  should  consequently  be  really  humble  ? 
This  reasoning  is  extremely  simple ;  yet  the 
world  existed  four  thousand  years  without  see¬ 
ing  it. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


703 


has  just  uttered  :  “  Every  one  that  exalt- 
eth  himself  shall  be  humbled,  and  he  that 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.”  For 
the  instruction  which  he  has  just  given 
amounts  to  this,  and  this  renders  the  in¬ 
struction  so  highly  important. 

It  was  addressed  directly  to  the  guests, 
although  it  applied  to  all.  But  it  seems 
that  the  master  of  the  feast  well  deserved 
to  have  his  own  apart.  Our  Saviour  ad¬ 
monishes  him  to  substitute  charitable  in¬ 
vitations  for  those  which  were  ostentatious 
and  interested.  “And  he  said  to  him 


( 1 )  Christ  does  not  forbid  us  to  invite  our 
friends  and  our  kindred  who  are  rich ;  the  negative 
particle  signifies  iu  this  passage,  invite  rather  the 
poor,  etc.,  than  those  among  your  kindred  who  are 
rich.  We  do  precisely  the  contrary ;  for  we  invite 
the  rich  from  the  fact  of  their  being  rich,  and  we  do 
not  invite  the  poor  from  the  fact  that  they  are  poor. 

( -i )  Supposing  that  they  were  invited  from  this 
motive.  For  we  may  do  so  from  laudable  motives, 
such  as  are  those  of  observing  certain  indispensable 
courtesies,  manifesting  friendship  or  gratitude, 
fostering  union  among  families;  and  God,  who 
approves  these  motives,  will  reward  them.  There¬ 
fore  the  recompense  will  be  according  to  the  mo¬ 
tive;  if  virtuous,  the  recompense  will  be  received 
on  the  day  of  resurrection ;  but  if  we  invite  for 
the  purpose  of  being  invited  in  our  turn,  we  shall 
be  invited,  and  an  entertainment  shall  be  the  re¬ 
ward  of  an  entertainment.  If  the  motive  be  the 
possible  honor  of  keeping  a  lavish  board,  we  shall 
have  that  honor,  and  no  more ;  if  the  motive  be  to 
be  amused  by  good  company,  perhaps  we  may  have 
this  amusement;  and  this  perhaps  applies  to 
other  rewards  of  the  kind ;  for  what  we  do  in 
order  to  be  loved,  admired,  amused,  sometimes 
ends  iu  our  being  envied,  mocked,  and  annoyed. 

( s )  This  is  not  an  injunction  to  make  them  eat 
at  his  table;  it  is  a  counsel  which  the  saints  have 
followed  to  the  letter.  Those  among  them  who 


also  that  had  invited  him :  When  thou 
makest  a  dinner  or  a  supper,  call  not  thy 
friends,  nor  thy  brethren,  nor  thy  kins¬ 
men,  nor  thy  neighbors  who  are  rich,1  lest 
perhaps  they  also  invite  thee  again,  and 
a  recompense  be  made  to  thee.2  But 
when  thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the  poor, 
the  maimed,  the  lame,  and  the  blind  ;3 
and  thou  shalt  be  blessed,  because  they 
have  not  wherewith  to  make  thee  re¬ 
compense  :  for  recompense  shall  be  made 
thee  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just.” 

“When  one  of  them  who  sat  at  table 


were  the  greatest  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  have 
most  distinguished  themselves  in  this.  They 
deemed  themselves  honored  by  eating  with  those 
who  represented  before  them  the  King  of  kings 
and  the  Lord  of  lords.  Several  of  them  were 
even  so  imbued  with  this  truth,  that,  not  daiing 
to  sit  down  at  the  same  table  with  them,  they 
served  them  on  bended  knees.  These  saints  com¬ 
prehended  perfectly  what  the  fathers  have  called 
the  sacrament  of  the  poor,  that  is,  they  recognized 
Jesus  Christ  under  the  poor  man’s  rags,  as  faith 
recognizes  him  under  the  sacramental  species. 
This  is  perfection ;  but  the  precept  consists  in  giv¬ 
ing  food  to  those  who  are  hungry;  and  among 
those  who  disregard  this  precept,  none  shall  he 
more  inexcusable  than  those  who  give  food  to  that 
class  who  are  not  in  hunger.  For,  since  they  pos¬ 
sess  means  to  regale  the  rich,  can  they  assert  that 
they  have  none  to  solace  the  poor  ? 

Has  not  Jesus  Christ  who  promises  to  make  us 
one  day  sit  at  his  table,  a  right  to  sit  at  ours  in  the 
person  of  the  poor  ?  But  the  poor  man  is  disgust¬ 
ing.  Cleanse  him,  answers  Saint  Chrysostom.  His 
clothes  are  soiled;  give  him  clean  ones.  If  your 
delicacy  can  still  hardly  endure  him,  make  him  eat 
with  your  domestics,  or  else  send  him  what  you 
have  not  the  courage  to  serve  up  to  him.  It  is 
useless  to  raise  difficulties  in  this  matter ;  the 
saints  find  an  answer  for  them  all. 


704 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


with  him  had  heard  these  things,  he  said 
to  him  :  Blessed  is  he  that  shall  eat  bread 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.” 

He  undoubtedly  said  well ;  but  he 
might  have  added:  Unhappy  are  those 
who  shall  be  excluded  from  this  heavenly 
banquet !  and  doubly  unhappy,  inasmuch 
as  they  shall  be  excluded  by  their  own 
fault.  For  it  is  not  God’s  fault  if  they 
have  no  part  in  these  unspeakable  delights. 
He  had  prepared  it  for  them ;  he  had 
called  them  by  repeated  invitations. 
Fettered  by  ties  of  flesh  and  blood,  they 
despised  his  gifts  and  repulsed  his  ad¬ 
vances.  They  shall  be  forever  banished 
from  his  table,  and  others  shall  occupy 
their  places  ;  an  awful  truth  which  Christ 
had  already  announced  to  them,  and 
which  he  is  going  to  repeat  to  them  again. 
For,  taking  occasion  from  what  this  man 
had  just  said,  he,  in  his  turn,  “said  to 
him  :  A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper, 
and  invited  many.  And  he  sent  his 
servant  at  the  hour  of  supper  to  say  to 
them  that  were  invited,  that  they  should 
come,  for  now  all  things  are  ready.  They 
began  all  at  once  to  make  excuse.  The 
first  said  to  him  :  I  have  bought  a  farm, 
and  I  must  needs  go  out  and  see  it ;  I 

( 1 )  True  zeal  embraces  equally  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  and  it  succeeds  much  oftener  with  the  poor 
than  with  the  rich.  We  have  an  example  of  the 
first  of  these  truths  in  the  conduct  of  this  good 
servant,  and  we  have  a  proof  of  the  second  in  the 
different  success  he  meets  with. 

( 2 )  Entreat  them,  press  them  earnestly,  be 
urgent  with  them ;  but  do  not  (strictly  speaking) 
employ  force .  Force  is  not  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Gospel ;  the  Gospel  must  be  estab¬ 
lished  by  persuasion,  as  the  Koran  is  by  the 


pray  thee  hold  me  excused.  Another 
said  :  I  have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and 
I  go  to  try  them  ;  I  pray  thee,  hold  me 
excused.  Another  said  :  I  have  married 
a  wife,  and  therefore  I  cannot  come.  The 
servant  returning  told  these  things  to  his 
master.  Then  the  master  of  the  house, 
being  angry,  said  to  his  servant :  Go  out 
quickly  into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the 
city,  and  bring  in  hither  the  poor  and  the 
feeble,  and  the  blind  and  the  lame.  And 
the  servant  said :  Lord,  it  is  done  as  thou 
hast  commanded,  and  yet  there  is  room.1 
The  lord  said  to  the  servant :  Go  out  into 
the  highways  and  the  hedges,  and  compel 
them  to  come  in,2  that  my  house  may  be 
filled  ;  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  none  of 
those  men  that  were  invited  shall  taste  of 
my  supper.” 

Jesus  was  then  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem. 
“There  went  a  great  multitude  with  him, 
and  turning,  he  said  to  them  :  If  any  man 
come  to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father,  and 
mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and  breth¬ 
ren,  and  sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also, 
he  cannot  be  my  disciple.”3-  (St.  Luke 
xiv.  1-26.) 

It  was  only  to  his  disciples,  properly 
speaking,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  apostles 

sword.  These  are  their  distinctive  characters,  and 
the  distinction  must  be  kept  up. 

( 3 )  We  have  already  seen  that  the  vocation  of 
the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles  to  the  faith  was  the  direct 
object  of  this  parable.  However,  preachers  apply 
it  also  to  the  eucharistic  banquet  to  which  Jesus 
Christ  invites  us  in  so  engaging  a  manner.  This 
second  application  seems  to  harmonize  with  the 
intention  of  the  Church,  which  assigns  this 
Gospel  to  the  Sunday  within  the  octave  of 
Corpus  Christi,  and  has  inserted  words  in  the 


OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


705 


and  the  seventy-two,  that  our  Saviour  pro¬ 
posed,  at  least  in  part,  this  truth,  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  which,  so  painful  to  nature,  is, 
nevertheless,  indispensable  to  any  one  who 
professes  to  belong  to  him.  The  proposing 
it,  as  he  does,  to  the  whole  people,  makes 
it  a  general  law  for  all  Christians.  Where¬ 
fore  to  all  it  is  said  that  the  love  of  Jesus 
Christ  should  have  the  mastery  over  all 
other  love  without  exception,  for  the  word 
to  hate  only  means  here  this  preference. 
It  is  due  to  Christ,  who  cannot,  without 
derogating  from  what  he  owes  himself, 
fail  to  exact  it  from  us  ;  for,  since  he  is 
God,  he  should  be  loved  above  all  things  ; 
and  if  he  permitted  us  to  love  any  other 
thing  whatsoever  in  preference  to  himself, 
he  would  disavow  his  own  divinity,  which 
this  text,  and  some  others  like  it,  serve  to 
prove,  but  thence  it  further  follows  that 
Jesus  Christ  makes  this  preference  a  first 
principle,  which  serves  as  the  basis  to  all 
Christianity.  Not  to  prefer  Jesus  Christ 
to  all  things,  if  an  individual  contents  him¬ 
self  really  and  in  fact  refusing  him  this 
preference,  is  to  be  in  heart  without 


office  of  the  same  day  which  refer  entirely  to 
this  sacrament. 


Christianity  ;  but  if  that  man  go  so  far  as 
to  deny  that  it  is  due  to  him,  he  has  not 
even  Christianity  in  conviction ;  or  if, 
notwithstanding,  he  pretend  to  have  this, 
he  falls  into  manifest  inconsistency  and 
palpable  absurdity,  as  our  Saviour  clearly 
shows  by  the  two  following  comparisons  : 
“For,”  added  he,  “which  of  you  having 
a  mind  to  build  a  tower,  doth  not  first  sit 
down  and  reckon  the  charges  that  are  ne¬ 
cessary,  whether  he  have  wherewithal  to 
finish  it ;  lest,  after  he  hath  laid  the  foun¬ 
dation,  and  is  not  able  to  finish  it,  all 
that  see  it  begin  to  mock  him,  saying  : 
This  man  began  to  build,  and  was  not 
able  to  finish?  Or  what  king  about  to  go 
to  make  war  against  another  king,  doth  not 
first  sit  down  and  think  whether  he  be 
able  with  ten  thousand  to  meet  him  that 
with  twenty  thousand  cometh  against  him  ? 
Or  else,  whilst  the  other  is  yet  afar  off, 
sending  an  embassy,  he  desireth  conditions 
of  peace.  So  likewise  every  one  of  you 
that  doth  not  renounce  all  that  he  pos- 
sesseth,  cannot  be  my  disciple”  (St.  Luke 
xiv.  28),  at  least  in  heart  and  in  affection, 
and  with  a  disposition  to  renounce  it  in 
point  of  fact,  whenever  it  shall  be  requisite 
for  my  service,  “  he  cannot  be  my  disciple. 


706  HISTORY  OF 

THE  LIFE 

CHAPTER  XLTV. 

FEAST  OF  THE  DEDICATION.— JESUS  SPEAKS  OF  HIS  OWN  SHEEP.— HE  AND  HIS  FATHER  ARE 

ONE.— THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  LOST  SHEEP  AND  THE  LOST  GROAT.— THE  PRODIGAL  SON.— 

PARABLE  OF  THE  STEWARD.— TO  MAKE  FRIENDS  FOR  OURSELVES  BY  WEALTH  UNJUSTLY  AC- 

QUIRED.— THE  WICKED  RICH  MAN  AND  THE  GOOD  POOR  MAN.— THE  FIRST  COMING  OF  THE 

MESSIAS  DEVOID  OF  LUSTRE. 

“  T  T  was  the  feast  of  the  dedication  at 

hostile  declaration  against  the  Roman 

_L  Jerusalem,”  that  is,  of  the  altar 

domination  ;  and  this  single  statement,  “  I 

formerly  profaned  by  Antiochus,  and 

am  he,”  became  a  crime  against  the  State. 

consecrated  anew  by  Judas  Machabeus 

On  the  other  hand,  not  to  advance  it,  was 

(I.  Mach.  iv.  59).  This  solemnitj’-  had  been 

authorizing  the  incredulity  of  the  Jews, 

fixed  for  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  month 

which  appeared  only  to  await  his  announce- 

which  the  Jews  called  Casleu,  which  cor- 

ment  of  himself  in  order  to  yield.  Here 

responds  to  our  month  of  December.  “  It 

human  prudence  might  have  found  itself 

was  winter,  and  Jesus  walked  in  the  tem- 

at  fault ;  but  he  who  is  the  uncreated  wis- 

pie  in  Solomon’s  porch.  The  Jews,  there- 

dom  experienced  no  difficulty  in  rending 

fore,  came  round  about  him,  and  said  to 

this  spider’s  web  spun  by  their  malice. 

him  :  How  long  dost  thou  hold  our  souls 

Whilst  he  declined  saying  what  thej^ 

in  suspense  ?  If  thou  be  the  Christ  tell 

sought  to  hear,  he  well  knew  ho.w  to  show 

us  plainly.” 

them  what  they  were  bound,  and  yet  re- 

He  had  already  declared  this  truth  to 

fused  to  believe;  which  he  accomplished 

them  so  often  and  so  clearly  ;  they  cared 

in  a  manner  so  urgent,  that,  in  default  of 

so  little  to  know  it ;  they  were  even  so 

reasons,  they  were  reduced  to  take  up 

resolved  not  to  believe  the  fact,  they  who 

stones  :  thereupon  “  Jesus  answered  them  : 

had  declared  to  him  that  they  did  not  re- 

I  speak  to  you,  and  you  believe  not.”  If 

gard  as  legitimate  the  testimony  which  he 

the  reason  is  because  the  testimony  of  my 

rendered  of  himself,  that  it  was  easy  to 

words  appear  to  you  insufficient,  “  :he 

see  that  bad  faith  prompted  this  question. 

works  that  I  do  in  the  name  of  my  Father, 

But  the  real  motive  which  inspired  it  was 

they  give  testimony  of  me.”  But  the 

hatred  alone,  and  the  desire  of  ruining 

cause  of  your  incredulity  is  not  in  me, 

him  to  whom  they  addressed  it.  Preju- 

nor  in  my  silence ;  your  incredulity 

diced  as  they  all  were  with  the  notion  of 

springs  from  yourselves  and  from  your 

the  Messias’  temporal  kingdom,  the  plain 

own  wilful  deafness.  “You  do  not  be- 

declaration  that  he  was  the  Messias  was  a 

lieve,  because  you  are  not  of  ray  sheep.1 

( 1 )  It  may  be  asked  whether  those  whom  Christ 

here  calls  his  sheep  consist  of  all  the  faithful  who 

_  _  ^ 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


707 


My  sheep  hear  my  voice  ;  I  know  them, 
and  they  follow  me.”  Judge  of  what  I  am 
by  the  reward  which  I  reserve  for  their 
docility.  “  And  I  give  them  life  ever¬ 
lasting,  and  they  shall  not  perish  forever.” 

A  view  of  the  efforts  which  the  world  and 
hell  were  to  make  in  the  future  to  wrest 
them  from  him,  makes  him  add  :  “  No 
man  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand. 
That  which  my  Father  hath  given  me  is 
greater  than  all,* 1  and  no  man  can  snatch 
them  out  of  the  hand  of  my  Father.”  Now 
“  I  and  the  Father  are  one.” 

believe  in  his  word,  or  whether  they  are  only  the 
elect  properly  speaking.  Saint  Augustine  takes 
the  expression  to  be  confined  to  the  latter,  and  the 
sequel  gives  much  weight  to  his  explanation. 
Jesus  Christ  declares  that  he  will  give  eternal  life 
to  his  sheep,  that  they  shall  never  perish,  that  no 
one  shall  snatch  them  from  his  hands:  all  this, 
taken  to  the  letter,  is  applicable  to  the  elect  alone. 
Those  who  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  sheep 
indicate  all  the  faithful,  generally  ground  their 
opinion  on  the  following  reasons.  Christ  tells  the 
Jews  that  they  do  not  believe  him,  because  they 
are  not  his  sheep  ;  therefore  those  who  belie\e  aie 
his  sheep,  conclude  these  commentators.  Our  Sa¬ 
viour  adds :  My  sheep  hear  my  voice,  I  know  them, 
and  they  follow  me  j  all  which  is  applicable  to  the 
faithful  who  are  in  the  state  of  actual  justice,  even 
if  they  be  not  predestined.  Moreover,  is  it  credible 
that,  amongst  these  Jews  who  then  were  far  from 
being  his  sheep,  there  were  none  who  believed  sub¬ 
sequently  in  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  and 
whose  faith  wrought  out  their  salvation  ?  Here, 
then,  we  have  some  elect,  who  were  not  of  the 
sheep,  and,  consequently,  there  may  also  have  been 
sheep  who  were  not  of  the  elect.  As  to  what  out 
Saviour  says  further,  that  he  will  give  eternal  life 
to  his  sheep,  that  they  shall  never  perish,  and  that 
no  one  shall  snatch  them  from  his  hand,  etc.,  this 
is  explained  as  referring  to  the  light  of  grace,  a 
life  immortal  in  its  nature,  which  no  created 


“  The  Jews  then  took  up  stones  to  stone 
him.”  A  certain  proof  that  the  unity 
which  he  here  spoke  of  was  understood  to 
be  the  unity  of  the  divine  nature,  which 
he  declared  to  be  common  to  the  Father 
and  to  him,  and  not  of  that  species  of 
moral  unity  which  results  from  conformity 
of  sentiments  and  wishes.  The  Arians 
would  not  understand  except  in  the  latter 
sense.  We  are  surprised  that  they  should 
have  been  followed  in  this  construction  by 
some  Catholic  interpreters,  who  have  pre¬ 
ferred  rather  to  copy  such  bad  authors 

power  shall  be  ever  capable  of  wresting  from  the 
man  who  possesses  it,  and  which  shall  preserve  him 
from  death  for  all  eternity,  provided,  nevertheless, 
that  he  does  not  voluntarily  deprive  himself  of  it. 
See  note  1,  page  606. 

( i )  Is  above  all  things.  This  expression  is  not 
to  be  understood  of  the  elect,  although  they  are 
the  greatest  and  most  precious  objects  in  the  uni¬ 
verse,  and  this  meaning  is  the  first  which  occurs 
to  the  mind.  This  would  not  be  a  reason  to  al¬ 
lege  why  they  shall  never  be  wrested  from  Jesus 
Christ.  What  renders  it  impossible  to  wrest  a 
thing  from  the  hand  is  not  the  value  and  excel¬ 
lence  of  the  thing,  but  the  power  of  the  hand 
which  holds  it.  Christ  speaks  therefoie  of  the 
divine  nature  which,  as  God,  he  received  from  his 
Father  from  all  eternity,  by  the  eternal  generation, 
and  received  as  man  in  time,  by  the  hypostatic 
union.  In  this  explanation  we  have  the  reason 
why  no  man  shall  wrest  the  elect  out  of  the  hands 
of  Christ.  For  who  could  wrest  them  out  of  the 
bauds  of  the  Almighty  ?  And  the  same  thing  is 
further  proved  by  the  following  words:  No  one 
can  snatch  them  out  of  the  hand  of  my  Father. 
For  the  Father  and  Sou  being  but  one,  and  the 
power  (signified  by  the  hand)  of  the  one  being 
substantially  the  power  of  the  other,  it  evidently 
follows  that  what  cannot  be  wrested  from  the  hand 
of  the  Father  can  neither  be  wrested  from  the  hand 
of  the  Son. 


> 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


708 


than  hold  to  the  common  explanation,  led 
by  that  relish  for  singularity,  which,  when 
carried  to  excess,  produces  heretics,  and, 
even  when  restricted  within  certain  limits, 
always  makes  rash  and  dangerous  theolo¬ 
gians.  To  return  to  the  Jews  :  Jesus 
wished  them  to  declare  distinctly  and  by 
word  of  mouth  what  they  already  clearly 
manifested  by  the  stones  with  which  their 
hands  were  armed  ;  and  suspending,  by 
his  omnipotence,  the  effects  of  their  fury, 
of  which  he  did  not  yet  choose  to  become 
the  victim,  “  Jesus  answered  them  :  Many 
good  works  I  have  showed  you  from  my 
Father  ;  for  which  of  those  works  do  you 
stone  me  ?  The  Jews  answered  him  :  For 
a  good  work  we  stone  thee  not,  but  for 
blaspheming  ;  and  because  that  thou,  be¬ 
ing  a  man,  makest  thyself  God.”  (St. 
John  x.  22-33.) 

“When  the  Jews  sent  from  Jerusalem 
priests  and  Levites  to  him,”  John  the  Bap¬ 
tist,  “  to  ask  him  :  Who  art  thou  ?  He 
confessed,  and  did  not  deny  ;  and  he  con¬ 
fessed  :  I  am  not  the  Christ.”  (St.  John  i. 
19,-  20.)  If  Jesus  Christ  was  not  God,  he 
would  have  been  bound  to  confess  in  a 
more  open  manner,  if  it  were  possible, 
and  still  more  explicitly,  that  he  was  not 

(  1 )  These  words  are  found  in  the  81st  Psalm. 
The  term  Law  applies  more  particularly  to  the 
books  of  Moses;  .but  we  see  by  this  example,  and 
by  some  others,  that  it  was  also  given  to  the  whole 
collection  of  the  Old  Testament. 

( a )  God  thus  denominates  the  judges,  because 
the  power  of  judging  with  which  they  are  invested 
is  an  emanation  from  divine  authority.  The  sequel 
shows  that  they  were  bad  judges.  However,  they 
are  not  the  less  called  judges ;  their  vices, 
therefore,  are  no  reason  for  refusing  them  the  re- 


God,  and  that  they  had  misunderstood  the 
meaning  of  his  words.  But  this  he  does 
not  do,  and  he  leaves  this  meaning  still 
impressed  on  the  minds  of  his  hearers. 

For  if  he  adds  nothing  to  what  he 
has  said,  much  less  does  he  correct  it  by 
telling  them,  as  he  is  about  to  do,  that  the 
name  of  God  belongs  to  him  in  a  much 
more  excellent  manner  than  to  all  those  to 
whom  that  name  is  given  in  Scripture ; 
which  favors  rather  than  disavows  the  in¬ 
terpretation  which  they  had  given  to  his 
words,  and,  without  saying  positively,  I 
am  God,  intends  that  they  should  believe 
it.  What  enormous  prevarication,  if  it 
were  not  true  that  he  was  God !  And,  in 
conclusion,  since  he  does  not  undeceive 
the  Jews  when  they  believe  that  he  makes 
himself  pass  for  God,  we  must  admit  one 
of  these  two  consequences,  either  he  pos¬ 
sesses  divinity,  or  he  wishes  to  usurp  it. 
Those  who  deny  him  to  be  God,  and  who 
acknowledge  at  the  same  time  that  he  was 
incapable  of  falsehood,  cannot  escape  from 
this  dilemma.  This,  then,  is  what  “  Jesus 
answered  them  ;  Is  it  not  written  in  your 
law,1 1  said  you  are  gods  ? a  If  he  called 
them  gods  to  whom  the  word  of  God  was 
spoken,  and  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken, 

spect  and  the  sort  of  worship  that  is  due  them 
on  account  of  this  title.  But  it  is  announced  to 
them  that  they  shall  die,  and  that  the  God  of  gods 
is  their  judge,  in  order  that  they  may  know  that 
their  prevarications  shall  not  go  unpunished.  The 
indocility  of  the  nations  and  the  iniquity  of  wicked 
judges  have  no  more  potent  corrective  than  these 
two  words,  issued  from  the  mouth  of  the  sovereign 
judge:  “You  are  gods,  ....  but  you  like  men 
shall  die.”  (Ps.  lxxxi.  6-7.) 


OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  709 


do  you  say  of  him  whom  the  Father  hath 
sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world  :  Thou 
blaspheinest,  because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son 
of  God  ?  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my 
Father,  believe  me  not.  But  if  I  do, 
though  you  will  not  believe  me,  believe 
the  works,  that  you  may  know  aud  believe 
that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  the  Fa¬ 
ther.”  (St.  Johnx.  34.) 

These  last  words  recalled  those  previ¬ 
ously  spoken,  “  I  and  the  Father  are  one,” 
and  justly  appeared  to  have  the  same 
sense.  Although  justified  by  reasons 
wholly  unanswerable,  they  rekindled  the 
fury  which  had  merely  been  suspended. 
Respect  for  the  temple  hindered  them  from 
gratifying  it  on  the  spot  which  formed  part 
of  its  precincts.  “They  sought,  therefore, 
to  take  Jesus.”  But  whether  he  rendered 
himself  invisible,  or  that  he  struck  them 
motionless,  “he  escaped  out  of  their 
hands.  And  he  went  again  beyond  the 
Jordan,  into  that  place  where  John  was 
baptizing  first,  and  there  he  abode.”  This 
place  was  called  Bethania,  otherwise  Beth- 
abara.  Jesus  knew  that  his  presence, 
joined  to  the  recollection  of  the  testimony 
which  John  had  there  rendered  to  him  as 
Son  of  God,  was  to  work  there  the  sal¬ 
vation  of  many.  In  fact,  as  soon  as  his 

( 1 )  His  mission  was  sufficiently  authorized  by 
his  miraculous  birth,  and  by  the  still  more  miracu¬ 
lous  sauctity  of  his  life.  It  was  further  proved  by 
the  very  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ.  These  mira¬ 
cles,  by  proving  that  Jesus  was  the  Messias,  proved 
that  he  who  had  declared  him  to  be  such  before  he 
had  begun  to  work  miracles,  was  truly  a  prophet. 
This  is  the  first  reason  why  God  had  not  conferred 
upon  John  the  gift  of  miracles;  he  could  fulfil  his 
mission  without  them.  We  may  add,  that  Christ 


arrival  became  known,  “  many  resorted  to 
him,  and  they  said  :  John  indeed  did  no 
sign.1  But  all  things  whatsoever  John 
said  of  this  man  were  true.  And  many 
believed  in  him.”  (St.  John  x.  40-42.) 

As  Jesus  communicated  himself  to  all 
with  equal  goodness  :  “  Now  the  publicans 
and  sinners  drew  near  unto  him  to  hear 
him.”  The  most  perverse  of  all  sinners, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  most  incorrigi¬ 
ble,  inasmuch  as  they  deemed  themselves 
saints,  “the  Pharisees  and  the  Scribes, 
murmured  ”  at  this,  “  saying  :  This  man 
receiveth  sinners,  and  eateth  with  them.” 
It  was  easy  for  our  Saviour  to  repress  the 
pride  of  these  proud  censors,  and  con¬ 
found  them  by  a  single  word,  as  he  had 
done  in  the  case  of  the  adulteress.  He 
preferred  this  time  to  give  them  reasons 
for  that  compassionate  meekness  which 
characterizes  true  justice,  as  false  justice  is 
recognized  by  fierce  and  disdainful  intol¬ 
erance.  Nothing  is  so  tender  as  the  im¬ 
ages  which  he  is  going  to  trace  of  his  good¬ 
ness,  and  it  is  hardly  conceivable,  when 
we  consider  them,  how  men  can  still  be 
tempted  to  despair. 

“He  spoke”  therefore  “to  them  this 
parable,”  which  he  proposed  in  the  form 
of  interrogation  :  “  What  man  of  you  that 

wished  to  reserve  to  himself  this  striking  charac¬ 
teristic  of  strength  and  of  power,  which  evidently 
marked  his  superiority  over  John,  and  disabused 
the  people  of  the  idea  which  from  time  to  time 
prevailed  of  mistaking  the  servant  for  the  Master. 
The  greatest  of  mankind  never  wrought  miracles; 
we  are  even  allowed  to  believe  that  Mary,  the 
holiest  of  creatures,  never  wrought  one  during  the 
whole  course  of  her  mortal  life.  Virtue,  alone, 
not  prodigies,  constitute  the  saint. 


710 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


hath  an  hundred  sheep,  and  that  he  lose 
one  of  them,  doth  not  leave  the  ninety- 
nine  in  the  desert,  and  go  after  that  which 
was  lost,  until  he  find  it  ?  And  when  he 
hath  found  it,  lay  it  upon  his  shoulders  re¬ 
joicing  ;  and  coming  home,  call  together 
his  friends  and  neighbors,  saying  to  them  : 
Rejoice  with  me,  because  I  have  found  my 
sheep  that  was  lost  ?  I  say  to  you,1  that 
even  so  there  shall  be  joy  in  heaven  upon 
one  sinner  that  doth  penance,  more  than 
upon  ninety-nine  just,  who  need  no  pen¬ 
ance.  Or  what  woman  having  ten  groats, 
if  she  lose  one  groat,  doth  not  light  a  can¬ 
dle,  and  sweep  ' the  house,  and  seek  dili¬ 
gently  until  she  find  it  ?  And  when  she 
hath  found  it,  call  together  her  friends  and 
neighbors,  saying  :  Rejoice  with  me,  be¬ 
cause  I  have  found  the  groat  which  I  had 
lost.  So  I  say  to  you,  there  shall  be  joy 
before  the  angels  of  God  upon  one  sinner 
doing  penance.”  (St.  Luke  xv.  3-10.) 

The  second  parable  contains  the  same 
meaning  as  the  first,  and  the  same  truth 
is  presented  under  two  different  images. 
It  cannot  be  forgotten  that  our  Saviour 
had  already  proposed  to  his  disciples 
that  of  the  Good  Shepherd.  If  he  re¬ 
peats  it  here,  he  does  so  for  the  consola¬ 
tion  of  these  poor  sinners  who  came  to  him 
with  so  much  confidence,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  instructed  those  harsh  and  haughty 
men  whose  whole  religion  consisted  in  repel- 

( 1 )  See  note  2,  page  645. 

( 9 )  The  earlier  writers  universally  believed  that 
the  Jews  were  figured  by  the  elder  of  these  two 
sons,  and  the  Gentiles  by  the  younger.  Subse¬ 
quently  it  was  advanced  that  the  two  brothers 
represent  the  just  man  and  the  sinner,  and  this 


ling  them.  He  adds,  whilst  repeating  it, 
the  circumstance  of  the  joy  of  the  angels 
of  heaven,  for  whom  the  day  of  the  conver¬ 
sion  of  a  sinner  is  more  particularly  a 
festal  and  a  joyful  day.  Those  on  earth, 
the  truly  just,  should  share  this  joy,  and, 
in  fact,  share  it  with  them  :  those  princi¬ 
pally  whom  God  deigns  to  associate  with 
him  in  the  work  of  his  mercy,  and  many 
of  them  can  vouch  that  the  moments  when 
they  have  seen  the  tears  of  repentance 
flowing  at  their  feet,  have  been  the  most 
delightful  moments  of  their  life. 

But  if  a  good  shepherd  tenderty  loves 
his  sheep,  if  a  poor  woman  is  strongly 
attached  to  some  pieces  of  mone3r,  the 
fruit  of  her  labor,  the  support  of  her  life, 
and  the  only  treasure  which  she  possesses, 
it  will  be  admitted  that  these  affections  do 
not  even  deserve  to  bear  that  name,  if 
compared  with  paternal  love,  the  deepest, 
if  we  may  venture  to  use  the  expression, 
of  all  loves  ;  whilst  at  the  same  time  it  is 
the  most  tender  of  all.  Such  is  the  love 
by  which  Jesus  Christ  wishes  us  to  judge 
of  his  love  for  the  greatest  sinners,  not 
such  love  as  exists  in  ordinary  fathers, 
but  such  as  can  hardly  be  found  even  in 
the  best  and  most  indulgent  of  all  fathers. 
This  is  the  image  which  he  himself  had 
traced  with  his  divine  hand. 

“A  certain  man  had  two  sons.2  The 
younger  of  them  said  to  his  father :  Fa- 

lias  become  the  most  common  interpretation. 
Saint  Jerome,  who  excludes  neither  of  these  two 
applications,  is  apparently  the  one  who  has 
reached  the  best  solution.  Firstly,  the  parable  is 
suitable  to  sinners  in  general.  This  conclusion  is 
I  evident,  from  the  circumstance  in  which  Christ 


OP  OTJR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  711 

ther,  give  me  the  portion  of  substance 
that  falleth  to  me  :  and  he  divided  unto 
them  his  substance.1  Not  many  days  after, 
the  younger  son,  gathering  all  together, 
went  abroad  into  a  far  country,  and  there 
wasted  his  substance,  living  riotously.2 
And  after  he  had  spent  all,  there  came  a 
mighty  famine  in  that  country,  and  he  be¬ 
gan  to  be  in  want.  And  he  went  and 
cleaved  to  one  of  the  citizens  of  that  coun¬ 
try  ;  and  he  sent  him  into  his  farm  to  feed 
swine ;  and  he  would  fain  have  filled 

his  belly  with  the  husks  the  swine  did 
eat,  and  no  man  gave  unto  him.  Return¬ 
ing  to  himself,  he  said  : 3  How  many  hired 
servants  in  my  father’s  house  abound  with 
bread,  and  I  here  perish  with  hunger.  I 
will  arise,  and  will  go  to  my  father,  and 
say  to  him :  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven,  and  before  thee  ;  I  am  not  now 
worthy  to  be  called  thy  son  :  make  me  as 
one  of  thy  hired  servants.4  And  rising 
up,  he  came  to  his  father.  When  he  was 
yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw  him, 

proposes  it.  The  Pharisees  murmured  because  he 
received  publicans  and  other  sinners,  who  were  in 
all  cases  Jews.  Thus,  by  justifying  his  conduct 
with  regard  to  them,  Jesus  Christ  has  first  in  view 
sinners  generally,  without  distinction  of  Jew  or 
Gentile.  But  he  foresaw  the  murmurs  which 
would  arise  amongst  the  converted  Jews  when  the 
apostles  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
admitted  them  to  baptism,  and  the  reply  to  these 
murmurs  was  supplied  for  them  in  advance  by  this 
parable.  It  applies,  then,  to  both,  as  we  have  just 
said,  notwithstanding  certain  difficulties,  which, 
according  to  the  different  impressions  which  they 
have  made  upon  men,  have  induced  them  to  ex¬ 
clude  one  meaning  or  the  other.  But  it  is  easy  to 
resolve  them,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  remarks  that 
we  shall  make  upon  the  passages  which  have  occa¬ 
sioned  them. 

( * )  The  younger  son’s  share  could  not  have 
been  set  off  without  determining,  at  the  same  time, 
the  elder  son’s  share ;  but  the  latter  did  not  take 
his  away. 

( s )  The  chief  object  of  the  parable  is  to  make 
known  the  whole  extent  of  the  mercy  which  God 
exercises  towards  the  sinner  who  returns  to  him  in 
the  bitterness  and  sincerity  of  his  heart.  The 
youngest  of  these  two  sons  shows  the  path  by 
which  man  abandons  God,  and  that  by  which  he 
should  return  to  him.  The  eldest  is  to  telch  us 
that,  far  from  repining,  we  should  rejoice  at  the 
welcome  which  our  common  father  gives  to  our 

brethren  when  they  return  from  their  wanderings. 

All  may  be  reduced  to  this  ;  and  the  other  person¬ 
ages,  as  well  as  the  other  circumstances,  may  well 
be  deemed  merely  accessory.  However,  commen¬ 
tators  have  sought  for  moral  significations.  Those 
ordinarily  given  are  these :  the  squandering  of  the 
paternal  estate  is  the  abuse  which  the  sinner  makes 
of  the  natural  and  supernatural  gifts  which  he  has 
received  from  God.  Famine  and  indigence  re¬ 
present  that  immense  void  which  is  formed  in  a 
soul  created  for  God  alone,  the  soul  beiug  destitute 
of  everything,  even  in  the  midst  of  abundance, 
when  destitute  of  God.  The  master  to  whom  the 
prodigal  gives  himself  is  the  devil.  To  what  a 
servitude  was  he  not  reduced  by  a  false  freedom, 
in  place  of  the  sweet  liberty  which  is  to  be  fouud 
in  the  servitude  of  the  children  of  God !  The 
swine  are  those  infamous  passions  of  which  he  be¬ 
came  the  vile  slave,  and  the  husks  those  miserable 
pleasures  to  which  he  sacrificed  all,  pleasures  which 
often  mock  his  desires,  and  which  are  at  all  times 
incapable  of  satisfying  them. 

( * )  There  is  not  a  sinner  but  sighs  when  he  com¬ 
pares  the  misery  of  his  guilt  with  the  happiness  of 
his  virtuous  years.  Why  does  he  not  then  add : 

Let  me  be  happy  again  ! 

( 4 )  He  said :  I  wi’l  arise,  and  he  arose ;  I  will 
go,  and  he  went  without  hesitation  and  without 
delay.  How  many  sinners  say  like  him:  I  will 
arise,  and  I  will  go!  Some  go  at  once;  others 
defer  it.  This  is  the  reason  why  there  are  peni- 

712 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


and  was  moved  with  compassion,  and 
running  to  him,  fell  upon  his  neck  and 
kissed  him.  And  the  son  said  to  him: 
Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven,1 
and  before  thee  ;2  I  am  not  now  worthy  to 
be  called  thy  son.”  He  did  not  finish, 
whether  it  was  that  his  father  did  not 
give  him  time,  or  that  he  felt,  in  so  sweet 
an  embrace,  that  he  had  already  obtained 
more  than  what  he  scarcely  ventured  to 
ask.  This  good  father,  more  eager  to  grant 
the  favor  than  the  son  was  to  obtain  it, 
“said”  immediately  “to  his  servants: 
Bring  forth  quickly  the  first  robe,  and  put 

tents  and  impenitents;  elect,  who  have  sinned 
much,  and  reprobates,  who  a  thousand  times  re¬ 
solved  to  do  penance.  “Delay  not  to  be  converted 
to  the  Lord,  and  defer  it  not  from  day  to  day.” 
(Ecclus.  v.  8. ) 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  1st,  against  the  God  of 
Heaven.  This  word  by  itself  has  sometimes  this 
signification  in  the  sacred  language  and  in  several 
others ;  2d,  against  the  angels  and  the  saints  who 
inhabit  heaven.  They  feel  the  insult  offered  to 
God,  as  good  children  feel  a  wrong  done  to  their 
father;  and  faithful  subjects  that  done  their  king. 

( 1 )  What  injury,  then,  had  he  done  to  him  ? 
He  had  attacked  him  neither  in  honor,  nor  prop¬ 
erty,  nor  person.  Yet  every  one  sees  that  a  son 
who  misbehaves,  although  he  does  not  directly  at¬ 
tack  his  father,  offends  him,  nevertheless,  by  his 
bad  conduct.  But  it  is  surprising,  that  there  are 
men  who  cannot,  as  they  say,  conceive  how  God, 
who  is  not  injured  by  sin,  can  be  so  highly  offended 
at  it. 

The  profligate  son  who  says :  What  harm  does 
it  do  my  father  ?  is  an  insolent  creature,  who  adds 
outrage  to  injury ;  and  the  sinner  who  says :  What 
evil  does  my  sin  do  God  ?  is  an  impious  man,  who 
adds  iniquity  to  blasphemy. 

( a )  Mysterious  significations  have  been  also 
given  to  all  this.  The  precious  robe  is  baptismal 
innocence.  The  ring  is  the  pledge  of  the  return 


it  on  him.8  And  put  a  ring  on  his  hand, 
and  shoes  on  his  feet.  And  bring  hither 
the  fatted  calf,  and  kill  it :  and  let  us  eat 
and  make  merry,  because  this  my  son  was 
dead,  and  is  come  to  life  again :  was  lost, 
and  is  found  :  and  they  began  to  be  merry. 
Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field,  and 
when  he  came  and  drew  nigh  to  the  house, 
he  heard  music’  and  dancing.  And  he 
called  one  of  the  servants,  and  asked  what 
these  things  meant.  And  he  said  to  him  : 
Thy  brother  is  come,  and  thy  father  hath 
killed  the  fatted  calf,  because  he  hath  re¬ 
ceived  him  safe.  And  he  was  angry,4  and 

of  the  Holy  Ghost  into  a  heart  whence  he  had 
been  banished  by  sin,  and  into  which  he  had  just 
entered  with  the  fullness  of  his  gifts  and  of  his 
graces.  The  shoes  shield  the  feet  against  the 
stcnes  of  scandal,  and  defend  them  against  the  bite 
of  the  infernal  serpent.  All  commentators  under¬ 
stand  by  the  fatted  calf  the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ, 
given  to  the  penitent  in  sign  of  perfect  reconcilia¬ 
tion,  and  as  an  aliment  necessary  for  the  preserva¬ 
tion  of  the  spiritual  life  which  has  just  been 
mercifully  restored  to  him. 

( 4 )  Here  are  the  murmurs  of  the  Jews,  which 
are  spoken  of  in  the  11th  chapter  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  This  is  what  properly  decided  com¬ 
mentators  to  apply  the  parable  to  both  nations : 
this  sense,  however,  does  not  exclude  the  other. 
Just  men,  animated  by  a  too  ardent  zeal,  may  take 
a  sort  of  scandal  from  the  mercy  which  God  exer¬ 
cises  towards  the  greatest  sinners.  What  might 
even  now  occur  must  have  been  more  common  in 
the  early  days  of  Christianity.  The  meekness  of 
the  Gospel  was  not  then  so  well  known  as  it  has 
since  been.  Jesus  Christ  properly  began  to  make 
it  known,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  assume  its 
spirit  while  all  yet  breathed  naught  hut  the  rigor 
of  the  old  law.  Hence  this  lesson  which  our  Sa¬ 
viour  gave  to  the  two  sons  of  Thunder,  when  they 
wished  to  strike  with  thunderbolts  the  unfaithful 
city  which  had  refused  to  receive  him.  “  You 


T_* 5T URN  OF-  THE  PRODIGAL  SON 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  713 

would  not  go  in.  His  father,  therefore, 

take  a  faint  glimmering  for  the  sun  at  its 

coming  out,  began  to  entreat  him.  He 

meridian,  and  a  dew-drop  for  the  immen- 

answering,  said  to  his  father  :  Behold,  for 

sity  of  the  waters  of  ocean.  No  created 

so  mail}'  years  do  I  serve  thee,  and  I  have 

image  can  approach  it ;  and  Jesus  Christ 

never  transgressed  thy  commandment,  and 

only  avails  himself  of  such,  in  order  that  what 

yet  thou  hast  never  given  me  a  kid  to 

is  known  to  us  may  enable  us  to  form  some 

make  merry  with  my  friends  :  but  as  soon 

idea  of  what  we  can  neither  know  nor  im- 

*  as  this  thy  son  is  come,  who  hath  devoured 

agine.  However  incredible  we  may’  deem 

his  substance  with  harlots,  thou  hast  killed 

that  mercy  which  is  represented  under 

for  him  the  fatted  calf.  But,”  the  father 

these  figures,  there  is  not  one  which  our 

“said  to  him  :  Son,  thou  art  always  with 

Saviour  might  not  have  terminated  with 

me,  and  all  I  have  is  thine.1  But  it  was 

this  expression  :  The  mercy  of  God  is 

fit  that  we  should  make  merry  and  be 

such  as  I  have  just  described,  and  infi- 

glad,  for  this  thy  brother  was  dead,  and 

nitely  greater.  In  fact,  this  surprising 

is  come  to  life  again  ;  he  was  lost,  and  is 

goodness  of  the  prodigal’s  father,  which 

found.”2  (St.  Luke  xv.  11-32.) 

affects  us,  and  sometimes  melts  us  even  to 

To  a  portrait  so  affecting  we  shall  fur- 

tears,  exhibits  only  a  part  of  God’s  good- 

ther  add  this  reflection,  that  he  who  could 

ness,  and  that  part  is  the  smallest.  It  is 

think  that  the  goodness  of  God  is  repre- 

the  mercy  which  receives,  but  not  the 

sented  here  to  its  full  extent,  would  mis- 

grace  which  prevents  :  it  is  the  God  who 

know  not,”  lie  said  to  them,  “  to  what  spirit  you 

compared  to  the  Gentiles,  they  were  just  upon  the 

belong.”  Again  this  harsh  zeal  may  indeed  some- 

main  point,  which  was  the  knowledge  and  the 

times  be  only  an  imperfection  and  a  venial  fault, 

adoration  of  the  one  true  God.  Thus  the  different 

which  does  not  deprive  of  justice  those  who  follow 

senses  given  to  the  parable  are  equally  applicable 

its  impulses,  as  the  example  of  the  two  apostles 

to  it,  and  to  wish  to  restrict  it  to  one  sense  would 

proves.  But  it  is  objected  that  the  just  cannot  be 

be  in  opposition  to  at  least  the  presumed  iuten- 

represented  by  the  Pharisees,  who  were  as  sinful, 

tion  of  Jesus  Christ,  confining  it  within  narrower 

and  more  so,  than  the  others.  We  reply  that  these 

bounds  than  those  which  it  should  naturally  have. 

sinners  deemed  themselves  just,  and  that  our  Sa- 

( ' )  That  is  to  say,  everthing  here  is  at  your 

viour  addresses  them  according  to  the  estimate  in 

disposal ;  and  you  have  no  reason  to  reproach  me 

which  they  held  themselves :  the  argument  has  all 

for  not  having  given  you  what  I  have  left  you  at 

the  more  force  as  against  them ;  and  at  the  same 

liberty  to  take.  This  wrong,  supposing  it  to  be 

time  the  real  just,  who  would  be  capable  of  imita- 

one,  was  not  done  the  son  by  his  father.  But  when 

ting  to  a  certain  extent  their  harshness,  find  here 

a  person  is  in  ill  humor,  he  always  finds  out  cause 

the  instruction  suitable  to  them.  On  the  other 

for  complaint. 

hand,  it  may  be  objected  that  the  converted  Jews, 

( 4 )  The  prodigal  was  dead  in  the  sense  of  his 

who  were  previously  prevaricators  on  so  many 

being  lost;  and  he  is  resuscitated  in  the  sense  of 

points,  could  not  say  to  God,  as  the  eldest  son  said 

his  being  found.  With  reference  to  the  penitent 

to  his  father,  that  they  never  had  violated  his 

sinner,  these  two  words  bear  their  literal  significa- 

orders;  and,  consequently,  that  this  eldest  son 

tion.  Grace  or  habitual  justice  is  formally  the  life 

could  not  be  the  figure  of  those  Jews.  But  it  is 
sufficient,  in  order  to  justify  the  application,  that, 

90 

of  the  soul,  and  its  loss  is  its  death. 

714 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE  . 


pardons  the  penitent  sinner,  but  not  the 
God  who  seeks  the  ungrateful  and  obsti¬ 
nate  sinner.  To  make  the  image  complete, 
and  to  represent  God  entirely  therein,  it 
would  be  necessary  that  the  father  should 
follow  his  son  in  his  mad  career,  go  in 
search  of  him,  even  in  the  distant  climes 
whither  his  dissolute  course  had  misled 
him  j  that  he  should  present  himself  be¬ 
fore  him  in  the  midst  of  his  debaucheries, 
or  his  miseries,  less  to  reproach  him  with 
them  than  to  invite  him  to  return,  to  offer 
him  his  house,  his  ta'ble,  and  all  his  goods  ; 
to  implore,  to  urge  him,  to  accept  them. 
For  such,  properly  speaking,  is  the  grace 
which  is  termed  preventive  :  behold  it  rep¬ 
resented  in  every  feature.  But  this  is 
overmuch  for  any  earthly  father  •  and  the 
parable  carried  to  that  extent,  would 
shock  all  probability,  and,  perhaps,  even 
propriety.  Such  goodness  belongs  alone 
to  the  Heavenly  Father,  and  it  is  worthy 
of  it  to  signalize  itself  by  such  features  as 
are  far  beyond  all  the  ties  of  nature  and 
of  blood. 

We  must  be  pardoned  for  our  reluctance 
to  leave  so  interesting  a  theme.  I  shall, 
therefore,  again  say,  that,  in  reality,  we 
have  the  image  of  preventive  grace  in  the 
two  preceding  parables  of  the  Strayed 
Sheep  and  the  Lost  Groat.  We  think  we 
see  it  drawn  to  the  very  life  in  the  painful 
and  earnest  search  of  the  woman  and  of 
the  shepherd.  Let  us,  however,  be  care- 
lul  to  notice  that  there  is  always  an  essen¬ 
tial  difference  between  these  faint  copies 
and  their  divine  original.  It  is  because 
the  lost  groat  and  the  lost  sheep  are  a  real 
loss  to  their  owners,  who,  when  they  seek 


them,  seek  not  so  much  the  thing  lost  as 
themselves  and  their  own  advantage,  since 
the  joy  of  having  found  it  belongs  and  is  dif¬ 
fused  over  themselves  alone.  But  in  losing 
us,  God  loses  nothing.  His  existence  and 
his  happiness  do  not  depend  on  us.  Even 
his  exterior  glory,  that  which  results  from 
the  manifestation  of  his  divine  attributes, 
a  glory  which  can  add  nothing  to  his  feli¬ 
city,  and  which  he  well  knew  how  to  dis¬ 
pense  with  during  an  entire  eternity, 
would  have  been  no  less  satisfied,  had  he 
signalized  his  justice  by  the  punishment  of 
the  guilty,  than  his  clemency  by  the  par¬ 
don  which  he  deigns  to  offer  them.  But 
that,  notwithstanding  this,  he  should  come 
the  first  in  advance  to  meet  us,  that  he 
should  recall  us  with  never-ending  en¬ 
treaties,  that  he  should  seek  us  with  in¬ 
credible  care  and  anxiety,  that  he  should 
stretch  forth  his  hand  to  us,  and  open  to 
us  his  paternal  bosom,  that  he  should  in¬ 
vite  us — I  dare  say  more — that  he  should 
even  conjure  us  to  return  thither,  and  to 
receive  in  his  embrace  the  abolition  of  all 
our  crimes,  as  though  we  were  necessary 
to  him,  and  that  he  could  not  do  without 
us  ;  as  though  his  happiness  depended 
upon  ours,  or  that  our  salvation  was  his 
own  :  behold  the  miracle,  or  rather  the 
mystery  of  the  goodness  of  God,  which  no 
figure  could  represent,  which  no  created 
mind  can  comprehend,  the  depth  of  which 
we  must  adore,  like  that  of  the  most  im¬ 
penetrable  mysteries,  which  can  be  be¬ 
lieved  only  by  faith,  which  is  above  all 
hope,  and  which  should  inflame  us  with 
love  at  the  sight  of  goodness  too  great  to 
be  ever  comprehended  by  our  reason,  and 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  715 

for  which  our  heart  could  never  have 
dared  to  hope. 

The  following  parable,  or  rather  nar¬ 
rative,  is  no  longer  addressed  to  the 
Pharisees,  but  to  the  disciples.  The  for¬ 
mer,  who  were  within  hearing  distance, 
and  who  in  fact  heard  him,  were  those  for 
whom  it  was  most  necessary,  and  who  yet 
profited  the  least  by  it.  This  was  perhaps 
the  reason  which  led  our  Saviour  no  longer 
to  address  his  words  to  them,  that  he 
might  not  appear  to  have  subjected  the 
divine  word  to  the  derision  with  which 
they  treated  it,  and,  contrary  to  his  own 
maxim,  to  cast  pearls  before  swine.  What¬ 
ever  weight  there  may  be  in  this  reason, 
which  we  only  give  by  way  of  conjecture, 
Jesus,  continuing  to  speak,  “said  also  to 
his  disciples :  There  was  a  certain  rich 
man  who  had  a  steward,  and  the  same  was 
accused  unto  him,  that  he  had  wasted  his 
goods.”  However,  the  master,  a  just  and 
humane  man,  was  unwilling  to  condemn 
him,  until  he  had  proof  of  his  unfaithful¬ 
ness.  “He  called  him,  and  said  to  him  : 
How  is  it  that  I  hear  this  of  thee?  give 

me  an  account  of  thy  stewardship  ;  for,” 
if  what  they  have  told  me  is  true,  “now 
thou  canst  be  steward  no  longer.  And 
the  steward,”  who  was  not  able  to  give  a 
good  account,  “  said  within  himself:  What 
shall  I  do,  because  my  lord  taketh  away 
from  me  the  stewardship  ?  To  dig  I  am 
not  able  ;  to  beg  I  am  ashamed.  I  know 
what  I  will  do,  that,  when  I  shall  be  re¬ 
moved  from  the  stewardship,  they  may 
receive  me  into  their  houses.  Therefore, 
calling  together  every^  one  of  his  lord’s 
debtors,  he  said  to  the  first :  How  much 
dost  thou  owe  my  lord  ?  But  he  said  :  A 
hundred  barrels  of  oil.  The  steward  said 
to  him  :  Take  thy  bill,  and  sit  down  quick¬ 
ly,  and  write  fifty.  Then  he  said  to  ano¬ 
ther  :  And  how  much  dost  thou  owe  ?  who 
said:  A  hundred  quarters  of  wheat.  And 
he  said  to  him  :  Take  thy  bill,  and  write 
eighty.  And  the  lord  commended  the  un¬ 
just  steward,  forasmuch  as  he  had  done 
wisely.  For  the  children  of  this  world 
are  wiser  in  their  generation1  than  the 
children  of  light.2  And  I  say  to  you,” 
concludes  the  Saviour,  for  that  was  pro.- 

( 1 )  We  cannot  conclude  that  men  are  consti¬ 
tuted  in  a  particular  way,  because  we  may  have 
supposed  that  one  man  may  have  held  a  certain 
line  of  conduct.  The  conclusion  may  be  drawn, 
if  it  be  true  that  he  has  held  the  line  of  conduct 
attributed  to  him.  In  a  word,  a  fact  is  fairly  dedu- 
cible  only  from  a  fact.  Wherefore  this  is  no  fic¬ 
tion,  but  a  true  narrative. 

( 1 )  Prudence  consists  in  the  judicious  choice  of 
the  means  whereby  we  seek  to  attain  a  reasonable 
end.  The  children  of  the  world  excel  the  children 
of  light  in  the  choice  of  the  means  which  they 
employ ;  the  children  of  light  excel  with  reference 
to  the  end  which  they  propose  to  themselves. 

Nothing  can  equal  the  industry  and  the  activity 
of  the  former;  but  whither  do  they  tend?  To 
goods  which  death  shall  wrest  from  them  to-mor¬ 
row,  to  give  them  stripped  and  naked  to  rottenness 
and  worms.  What  toil  and  industry  lost !  The 
latter  labor  for  infinite  and  eternal  goods;  but, 
less  eagerly  bent  than  the  first  on  the  object  of 
their  labors,  they  do  not  equally  excel  in  the  choice 
and  the  application  of  the  means.  The  former 
may  be  compared  to  an  architect  who  should  em¬ 
ploy  all  the  resources  of  his  art  in  building  castles 
with  cards,  which  a  breath  of  air  would  level  in  an 
instant;  and  the  latter  to  him  who,  with  moderate 
talents,  occupied  himself  in  constructing,  with  solid 

HISTOKY  OF  THE  LIFE 


716 


cisely  what  he  had  in  view,  “make  unto 
you  friends  of  the  mammon  of  iniquity,1 
that  when  they  shall  fail,  they  may  receive 
you  into  everlasting  dwellings.”3  (St.  Luke 
xvi.  1-9.) 

Thus,  what  at  first  sight  might  appear 
to  be  the  apology  of  fraud  and  of  injus¬ 
tice,  becomes,  by  this  conclusion,  an  ex¬ 
materials,  habitable  dwellings.  The  latter,  though 
not  a  great  man,  would  yet  be  a  sensible  man  :  the 
other,  with  all  his  ability,  would  be  a  fool.  In  the 
arts  the  union  of  both  constitutes  the  great  man, 
and  in  morality  it  constitutes  the  great  saint. 

( 1 )  If  possessed  unjustly,  and  those  to  whom 
they  belong  are  known,  it  is  not  lawful  to  give 
them  in  alms :  they  must  be  restored.  If  it  be  im¬ 
possible  to  know  those  to  whom  restitution  should 
be  made,  then  it  is  an  obligation  of  justice  to  re¬ 
store  to  the  poor ;  and,  in  this  sense,  the  order  here 
issued  by  our  Saviour  is  literally  executed.  But 
mammon  is  here  termed  “  of  iniquity,”  in  a  more 
extensive  signification.  1st.  Because  it  frequently 
occurs,  even  without  our  knowledge,  that  we  pos¬ 
sess  riches  unjustly  according  to  this  expression  of 
Saint  Jerome:  Every  rich  man  is  unjust,  or  the 
heir  of  an  unjust  man.  2d.  Because  they  are  to 
their  possessors  the  cause  and  the  instrument  of  a 
thousand  iniquities.  3d.  And  this  sense  comes 
nearer  to  that  of  the  parable,  because  we  are  but 
too  prone  to  deem  ourselves  the  masters  and  pro¬ 
prietors  of  them,  a  quality  which  belongs  essen¬ 
tially  to  God  alone,  who  has  made  us  merely  stew¬ 
ards  of  them,  who  has  given  them  to  us  in  trust, 
and  will  demand  a  strict  account  from  us.  This 
latter  exposition  is  taken  from  Saint  Augustine. 

( a )  The  rich  are  in  this  world  the  benefactors 
of  the  poor :  the  poor  are  in  the  other  world  the 
benefactors  ot  the  rich.  The  former  give  bread, 
the  latter  confer  heaven.  You  rich  shall  never 
obtain  it,  if  they  do  not  confer  it  upon  you.  Is  it, 
therefore,  enough  to  say  to  you  :  Do  good  to  them? 
Would  it  not  be  more  advisable  to  say:  Pay  court 
to  them  ? 

(*  * )  This  is  said  according  to  common  opinion. 


cellent  lesson  of  charity,  which  the  divine 
Master  further  corroborates  by  the  follow¬ 
ing  maxims  :  “  He  that  is  faithful  in  that 
which  is  least,  is  faithful  also  in  that  which 
is  greater  ; 8  and  he  that  is  unjust  in  that 
which  is  little,  is  unjust  also  in  that  which 
is  greater.  If,  then,  you  have  not  been 
faithful  in  the  unjust  mammon,4  who  will 

A  man  will  not  confide  a  treasure  to  him  whom  he 
has  found  unfaithful  even  in  trifles;  he  would 
rather  confide  it  to  him  who  is  faithful  even  in  the 
smallest  things.  A  man  may  be  deceived,  yet  he 
acts  prudently ;  and  he  acts  imprudently,  suppos¬ 
ing  even  it  should  turn  out  that  he  was  not  de¬ 
ceived,  should  he  have  preferred  the  first  to  the 
second. 

( * )  Others  translate  deceitful  in  opposition  to 
real.  They  understand  by  the  latter  the  riches  of 
eternity,  the  only  riches  which  truly  deserve  this 
name.  Our  Saviour  further  says  of  the  former, 
that  they  belong  to  another,  in  the  sense  that  they 
are  merely  lent  to  us,  and  that  we  are  merely  stew¬ 
ards  of  them  ;  whereas  those  of  the  other  life  shall 
be  given  to  us  as  full  and  perpetual  owners.  They 
never  shall  be  taken  from  us,  and  we  shall  never  be 
called  upon  to  account  for  them.  This  is  the  ex¬ 
planation  given  by  commentators.  It  ha,s  been 
recently  fancied  that  this  was  an  exhortation  here 
to  the  disciples  alone,  to  sell  their  property  and 
distribute  the  price  among  the  poor,  and  this  for 
two  reasons.  One  is,  that  if  it  were  noticed  that 
they  retained  that  property  which  has  attached  to 
it,  like  all  worldly  goods,  the  general  suspicion  of 
injustice,  the  faithful  would  not  willingly  confide 
to  them  the  alms  which  they  might  intend  to  give 
out  of  their  legitimate  property :  this  is  what  they 
understand  by  the  “  unjust  ”  and  the  “  true  mam¬ 
mon.”  The  other  reason  is,  that  if  the  disciples 
keep  these  goods,  which  may  be  suspected  of  be¬ 
longing  to  another,  as  long  as  they  shall  be  sus¬ 
pected  of  being  ill-gotten,  the  faithful  would  feel 
repugnance  in  paying  them  their  lawful  dues  for 
ministerial  functions,  that  is  to  say,  apparen  ly, 
tithes  and  the  fees.  And  this  is  the  sense  in  which 


OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


717 


trust  you  in  that  which  is  the  true  ?  And 
if  you  have  not  been  faithful  in  that  which 
is  another’s,  who  will  give  you  that  which 
is  properly  your  own?  No  servant  can 
serve  two  masters,  for  either  he  will  hate 
the  one,  and  love  the  other,  or  he  will 
hold  to  the  one,  and  despise  the  other. 
You  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon.”1 
(St.  Luke  xvi.  11-13.) 

The  miser,  the  most  absurd  of  all  men, 
considers  nothing  so  ridiculous  as  that 
which  is  the  noblest  quality  in  man,  the 
contempt  of  riches.  We  cannot,  then, 
wonder  that  these  maxims  of  disinterest¬ 
edness  were  ill  received  by  a  portion  of 
his  hearers.  Our  Saviour,  as  we  have 
said,  addressed  them  to  the  disciples  alone. 
But  “  the  Pharisees,  who  were  covetous, 
heard  all  these  things,  and  they  derided 
him.” 

These  were  gross  hypocrites,  whose  ap¬ 
parent  austerity  cloaked  an  insatiable  ava¬ 
rice,  as  usually  happens  with  men  of  this 
character.  For  avarice,  which  displays 
no  prominent  vices,  possesses  in  an  emi¬ 
nent  degree  all  the  economical  and  lucra¬ 
tive  virtues  with  which  it  is  easy  to  make 
up  a  mask  of  sanctity.  Men  who  only  see 
the  surface  are  often  its  dupes  ;  but  no  one 
could  impose  upon  Him  whose  e}Te  pene¬ 
trates  to  the  inmost  recesses  of  hearts,  and 


the  later  expositors  have  construed  “another’s” 
and  “your  own.”  This  has  appeared  very  fine, 
because  it  is  novel.  However,  nothing  is  more  un¬ 
reasonable.  Tor,  in  the  first  place,  the  apostles, 
very  far  from  desiring  to  be  burthened  with  the 
distribution  of  alms,  released  themselves  from  that 
office  as  soon  as  they  could,  in  which  they  seem  to 
have  followed  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In 


he  knew  well  how  to  make  them  sensible 
of  this  by  those  strong  expressions  where¬ 
with  he  opposed  their  malicious  taunts  : 
“  And  he  said  to  them  :  You  are  they  who 
justify  yourselves  before  men  :  but  God 
knoweth  your  hearts.  For  that  which  is 
high  to  men  is  an  abomination  before  God.” 

They  might  object  to  this,  and  perhaps 
they  did  so  internally,  that  those  temporal 
riches,  the  contempt  of  which  he  preached, 
were  the  recompense  promised  by  the  law 
to  its  observers.  Jesus  knowing  their 
thoughts,  or  anticipating  them,  answers  : 
“  The  law  and  the  prophets  were  until 
John.  From  that  time  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  preached,  and  every  one  useth  vio¬ 
lence  towards  it.” 

This  violence  consists  in  mortifying  the 
passions  which  the  law  promised  to  satiate, 
and  of  which  the  Gospel,  signified  by  the 
kingdom  of  God,  requires  the  sacrifice. 
Does  the  Gospel,  therefore,  annihilate  the 
law  ?  the  Pharisees  might  further  say. 
No,  it  perfects  it,  by  offering  infinite  and 
eternal  goods  of  which  the  temporal  goods 
promised  by  the  law  were  merely  the 
shadow  and  figure  ;  for  such  is  the  mean¬ 
ing  of  that  declaration  which  our  Saviour 
immediately  adds  :  “  It  is  easier  for  heaven 
and  earth  to  pass,  than  one  tittle  of  the 
law  to  fall.”  (St.  Luke  xvi.  14-17.) 


the  second  place,  to  ascribe  to  them  as  a  disinter¬ 
ested  motive  such  an  interested  view  as  that  of 
securing  their  salaries,  would  be  to  suppose  them 
-of  very  grovelling  dispositions,  even  at  the  time 
when  they  were  still  imperfect.  And  what  idea 
must  have  been  formed  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  per¬ 
son  who  makes  him  the  proposer  of  such  a  motive  F 
( 3 )  See  note  1,  page  558. 


1 

718  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

It  is  true  that  the  goods  of  this  world 
were  the  incentive  which  God  employed 
to  induce  these  stubborn  and  carnal  men 
to  observe  his  law.  Yet,  he  did  not  wish 
to  leave  them  in  ignorance  of  the  rewards 
and  chastisements  of  the  future  life.  We 
see  them  presented  in  a  thousand  passages 
of  Scripture,  as  the  main  object  for  their 
fear  and  hope  ;  and,  that  this  truth  might 
be  felt  more  deeply,  God  had  been  mind¬ 
ful  to  make,  from  time  to  time,  exceptions 
to  the  general  system  of  the  old  law.  It 
was  with  this  view  that  he  had  tried  some 
of  the  just  of  the  highest  order,  such  as 
Tobias  was,  by  the  most  cruel  adversities, 
whilst  the  wicked  were  seen  passing  their 
days  in  glory  and  in  opulence.  Since  it 
is  impossible  that  a  just  God  should  leave 
virtue  without  reward,  and  crime  without 
punishment,  it  is  easy  to  conclude  that  it 
was  in  the  other  life  that  men  were  to  find 
those  real  penalties  and  joys,  of  which 
those  of  this  life  could  only  be  a  feeble 
image,  and  a  very  imperfect  foretaste.  But, 
for  those  earthly  souls,  the  present  was  all 
and  the  future  nothing.  Every  prosperity 
was  called  a  blessing,  and  ever}7-  adversity 
a  malediction.  Illusion  even  went  so  far 
as  to  make  the  former  a  proof  of  virtue, 
and  the  latter  evidence  of  crime,  and  to 

their  eyes  the  fortunate  man  was  just,  and 
the  unfortunate  man  was  always  guilty.  In 
order,  therefore,  to  reclaim  them  from  so 
gross  an  error,  to  the  important  truth  which 
they  overlooked,  Christ  proposes  to  them 
the  parable  of  the  rich  glutton,  and  of  the 
virtuous  poor  man,  where  virtue  followed 
bjr  eternal  happiness  is  found  associated 
with  the  alleged  curse  of  misfortune  ;  whilst, 
notwithstanding  the  apparent  blessing  of 
temporal  prosperity,  vice,  happy  in  this 
world,  has  for  its  ultimate  lot  the  fire 
which  is  never  quenched.  For  this  was 
apparently  the  chief  subject ;  but  this  does 
not  prevent  us  from  recognizing  that  our 
Saviour  had  another  intention,  to  complete 
the  instruction  which  he  had  commenced 
upon  alms-deeds,  by  showing  the  merciless 
rich  man  buried  in  the  pit  of  hell.  After 
having  shown  the  heavens  opening,  in  order 
to  receive  the  beneficent  and  charitable 
rich,  he  continues  thus  : 1 

“  There  was  a  certain  rich  man,  who 
was  clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and 
feasted  sumptuously  every  day.  And 
there  was  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus, 
who  lay  at  his  gate,  full  of  sores,  desiring 
to  be  filled  with  the  crumbs  that  fell  from 
the  rich  man’s  table,  and  no  one  did  give 
him:  moreover,  the  dogs,”2  less  inhuman 

( 1 )  Here,  too,  the  question  has  been  raised 
whether  this  was  a  parable  or  a  real  occurrence: 
the  latter  is  the  prevalent  opinion.  This  is  founded 
principally  upon  the  fact  of  Lazarus  being  named, 
which  is  not  done  in  parables.  If  tfie  wicked  rich 
man  is  not  named,  the  reason  is  because  it  would’ 
be  a  blot  upon  his  name  and  upon  his  family. 
However,  our  Saviour  might  have  given  him  a 
name  as  well  as  Lazarus,  if  the  name  of  the  latter 
had  been  a  name  made  purposely  to  represent  the 

state  in  which  he  described  him ;  for  Lazarus,  in 
Hebrew,  signifies  helpless,  if  it  be  not  an  abbrevia¬ 
tion  of  Eleazar,  which  signifies,  on  the  contrary, 

“  the  help  of  God.”  Be  that  as  it  may,  in  the  fact 
that  the  rich  man  is  not  named,  while  the  poor  man 
is,  we  see  a  further  reason  for  believing  that  the 
name  of  the  latter  is  the  name  of  a  person  who 
really  existed.  How  come  difficulties.  We  shall 
answer  them  as  they  occur. 

( 3 )  It  was  they  who  ate  the  crumbs  that  fell 

LAZARUS  AT  THE  RICH  MAN’S  GATE, 


I 

1 

III 

Mi 

i 

WJmm 

■KiiiP 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  719 

than  their  master,  “came  and  licked  his 

Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  me,  and 

sores.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  beggar 

send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of 

died,  and  was  carried  by  the  angels  into 

his  finger  in  water,  to  cool  my  tongue  ; 3 

Abraham’s  bosom.1  The  rich  man  also 

for  I  am  tormented  in  this  flame.4  And 

died,  and  he  was  buried  in  hell.2  And 

Abraham  said  to  him :  Son,  remember 

lifting  up  his  eyes  when  he  was  in  tor- 

that  thou  didst  receive  good  things  in  thy 

ments,  he  saw  Abraham  afar  off,  and  La- 

lifetime,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things  ;5 

zarus  in  his  bosom,  and  he  cried  and  said  : 

but  now  he  is  comforted,  and  thou  art 

from  the  table.  Their  condition  was  better  than  his. 

repose  which  Lazarus  there  enjoyed.  2d.  That, 

The  poor  have  been  heard  to  express,  by  bitter  com- 

notwithstanding  the  distance  of  places,  these  two 

plaints,  how  much  they  envied  the  dogs.  If  he  who 

souls  (that  of  Abraham  and  that  of  the  rich  glut- 

regales  the  rich  shall  be  inexcusable  for  not  having 

ton)  may  have  been  enabled  to  communicate  to 

appeased  the  hunger  of  the  poor,  what  shall  be  the 

each  other  their  thoughts  and  desires.  3d.  That 

excuse  of  those  who  might  have  fed  whole  families. 

the  soul  of  the  rich  man  may  have  felt  heat  simi- 

with  the  money  spent  in  feeding  a  pack  of  ani- 

lar  to  that  which  would  be  felt  by  a  man  whose 

mals,  which  only  minister  to  luxury  and  to  pleasure  ? 

body  was  in  the  midst  of  a  burning  furnace,  and 

( ‘)  The  souls  of  the  just  are  carried  to  heaven 

may  have  desired  a  solace  similar  to  what  would 

by  the  angels  :  so  the  Church  believes.  In  the  com- 

be  afforded  by  a  drop  of  fresh  water  upon  the  tip 

mendation  of  a  departing  soul  she  says :  “  Com- 

of  his  tongue.  4th.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the 

mand,  0  Lord,  that  the  holy  angels  of  God  meet 

wicked  rich  man  may  have  been  ignorant  that  he 

his  soul,  and  bring  her  into  the  city  of  the  hea- 

could  not  obtain  what  he  asked,  or  that,  aware  of 

venly  Jerusalem.”  For  the  contrary  reason  it  is 

the  fact,  the  agony  of  pain  wrung  from  him  this 

thought  that  the  demons  carry  off  to  hell  the  souls 

useless  prayer.  Now,  as  it  is  the  alleged  impos- 

of  the  reprobate. 

sibility  of  all  these  matters  which  made  some  treat 

( 8 )  A  sensual  and  ostentatious  life,  especially  if 

it  as  a  parable,  we  may  still  hold  to  its  being  a 

accompanied  with  harshness  towards  the  poor,  is 

narrative. 

a  life  manifestly  deserving  of  damnation :  if  not 

( 4 )  This  expression  has  given  rise  to  two  op- 

more  criminal,  at  least  more  dangerous  than  a 

posite  errors :  one,  that  the  soul  is  material ;  the 

profligate  life.  If  it  has  not  all  the  vices  of  the 

other,  that  the  fire  of  hell  is  not.  God  can  make 

latter,  neither  has  it  the  same  remorse. 

material  fire  act  upon  spiritual  souls  when  sepa- 

( 8 )  Souls  separated  from  bodies  have  neither 

rated  from  the  bodies,  as  he  can  make  it  act  on 

tongues  nor  fingers,  neither  do  they  desire  water, 

them  while  still  within  the  bodies ;  because  in  both 

nor  can  they  give  water.  Moreover,  those  who  are 

cases  it  is  always  matter  acting  upon  spirit. 

reprobate  have  no  communication  with  those  who 

( 6 )  Prosperity  in  this  world,  presumption  of 

are  in  the  abode  of  bliss ;  they  would  not  dream 

future  unhappiness,  I  say  presumption,  aud  not 

of  asking  from  them  a  solace  which  they  well  know 

proof;  for  here  exceptions  occur.  Wherefore  let 

that  they  never  can  obtain.  These  are  those  diffi- 

not  the  poor  be  too  exultant,  and  let  not  the  rich 

culties  which  have  made  some  believe  this  a  par- 

despair.  It  is  the  rich  Abraham  who  received  the 

able,  and  others  think  that  the  commencement 

predestined  soul  into  his  bosom,  and  many  poor 

was  historical,  and  that  the  parable  commenced 

burn  side  by  side  with  the  wicked  rich  man.  Char- 

here.  However,  God  might  permit,  1st.  That  the 

ity  or  harshness,  in  the  former,  patience,  or  impa- 

rich  glutton,  at  the  moment  of  his  entry  into  hell, 

tience,  in  the  latter  class,  make  all  the  difference 

should  have  a  view,  or,  if  some  prefer  the  term,  a 

between  them.  However,  since  the  presumption 

vision  of  Abraham’s  bosom,  and  of  the  delicious 

is  against  the  former,  and  in  favor  of  the  latter 

720  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

tormented.  Besides  all  this,  between  us 
and  you  there  is  fixed  a  great  chaos,  so 
that  they  who  would  pass  from  hence  to 
you  cannot,  nor  from  thence  come  hither. 
And  he  said  :  Then,  father,  I  beseech  thee 
that  tliou  wouldst  send  him  to  my  father’s 
house  (for  I  have  five  brethren),  that  he 
may  testify  unto  them,  lest  they  also  come 
unto  this  place  of  torments.1  And  Abra¬ 
ham  said  to  him  :  They  have  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  let  them  hear  them.  But 
he  said  :  No,  father  Abraham,  but  if  one 
went  to  them  from  the  dead,  they  will  do 
penance.”  But  Abraham  “said  to  him: 
If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  they  believe  if  one  rise  again 
from  the  dead.8”  (St.  Luke  xvi.  19-31.) 

We  need  not  remark  that  our  Saviour 
spoke  often  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
Jews  never  understood  it  except  of  the 

temporal  kingdom  of  the  Messias  here  on 
earth.  This  was  the  object  of  all  their  de¬ 
sires,  and  it  was  very  natural  that  they 
should  be  impatient  to  know  when  it  was 
to  come.  But  that  which  they  longed  for 
was  never  to  come,  and  that  which  they 
did  not  desire  had  already  come,  as  Christ 
informed  them.  For,  “  being  asked  by 
the  Pharisees  when  the  kingdom  of  God 
should  come,  he  answered  them  :  The 
kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observa¬ 
tion,3  neither  shall  they  say  :  Behold  here, 
or  behold  there  :  for  lo,  the  kingdom  of 

God  is  within  you.”  (St.  Luke  xvii. 
20-22.) 

Dissatisfied  with  an  answer  which  did 
not  tell  what  they  longed  to  know,  and 
which  told  too  plainly  what  they  wished 
not  to  know,  the  Pharisees  ceased  to  inter¬ 
rogate  him.  “  Jesus,”  pursuing  his  dis- 

class,  it  must  be  the  fact  that  it  is  more  common 
for  the  rich  to  lack  charity,  than  the  poor  patience. 

( 1 )  Another  reason  for  assuming  this  to  be  a 
parable.  The  reprobate  in  hell  have  no  zeal  for 
the  salvation  of  souls.  All  that  can  be  inferred 
from  this  is,  that  the  rich  man  may  have  spoken 
from  some  other  motive.  Many,  more  or  less 
probable,  have  been  suggested;  but  suppose  none 
could  be  found,  this  general  reason  suffices,  that 
Christ  could  not  make  him  speak,  even  in  a  para¬ 
ble,  as  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  reprobate  to 
speak.  This  would  militate  against  all  probability, 
and  be  at  variance  with  the  primary  rule  of  parables. 

(a)  Notwithstanding,  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
has  been  followed  by  the  faith  of  the  entire  world. 
But  a  distinction  must  be  made  between  those  who 
have  not  as  yet  sufficient  proofs  in  order  to 
believe,  and  those  who  have.  Those  who  have  not 
will  believe  at  the  sight  of  a  dead  man  raised  to 
life,  and  those  who  have,  generally  speaking,  will 
noi  believe.  Thus,  miracles  which  would  convert 

an  idolatrous  nation  will  not  convert  an  hereti¬ 
cal  nation,  and  those  which  would  convert 
heretics,  who  are  such  from  education  and  from 
prejudice,  will  not  convert  Christians  who  have  be¬ 
come  infidels  from  profligacy.  Nothing  ever  satis¬ 
fies  those  who  do  not  wish  to  believe.  A  dead 
man  raised  to  life  would  not  convert  the  sinners 
whom  this  narrative  did  not  convert.  What  could 
he  say  more  certain  or  more  forcible  ? 

( 8 )  It  will  not  appear  with  such  dazzling  lustre 
that  it  would  be  impossible  not  to  perceive  it. 

Such  was,  in  fact,  his  first  coming.  It  was  neces¬ 
sary  then  to  seek  out  the  Messias  in  order  to  find 
him,  and  to  study  him  in  order  to  know  him.  At 
his  second  coming  he  shall  be  more  visible  than 
the  sun  in  the  splendor  of  noonday.  In  one  he  is 
evident  to  those  who  seek  him,  in  the  other  he  shall 
be  evident  to  those  even  who  do  not  seek  him. 

Whence  it  follows  that  it  is  meritorious  to  recog¬ 
nize  him  in  his  first  coming,  and  that  there  shall  be 
no  merit  in  recognizing  him  at  his  second. 

- - - 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


course,  “  said  to  his  disciples  :  The  days 
will  come  when  you  shall  desire  to  see  one 
day  of  the  Son  of  man  ;  and  you  shall  not 
see  it ;  ”  as  if  he  had  said  to  them  ;  I  shall 
soon  disappear  from  your  eyes,  and  my 
absence  shall  be  exceedingly  painful  to 
you  ;  for  he  foretold  them  the  time  when, 
exhausted  with  fatigue,  exposed  without 
defence  to  the  rage  of  their  enemies,  they 
would  in  vain  desire  his  sensible  presence, 
which  was  to  them  an  inexhaustible  source 
of  light  and  consolation.  The  love  which 
he  entertained  for  them  prompted  him  to 
speak  in  this  way.  But,  lest  the  too  ar¬ 
dent  desire  of  seeing  him  again  might 
make  them,  together  with  their  first  disci¬ 
ples,  fall  into  the  snares  which  the  false 
Messias  would  lay  for  their  faith,  he  warns 
them  that  before  his  return,  which  he  at 
the  same  time  foretells,  several  of  those 
false  Messias  should  appear :  They  ap¬ 
peared,  in  fact,  before  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  of  which  they  were,  so  to  say, 


721 


the  forerunners,  which  circumstance  gave 
our  Lord  occasion  to  foretell  it  with  the 
other  signs  by  which  it  shall  be  preceded. 
From  thence,  glancing  forward  to  the  most 
remote  futurity,  he  announces  the  awful 
signs  which  shall  precede  the  destruction 
of  the  whole  world,  of  which  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  Jerusalem  was  to  be  merely  the  fig¬ 
ure,  mingling  one  with  the  other,  and  yet 
keeping  them  so  distinct  that  they  cannot 
be  confounded.  This  instruction,  necessa¬ 
ry  for  those  who  witnessed  the  first  of 
these  two  events,  and  also  for  those  who 
shall  witness  the  second,  is  not  useless  to 
those  who,  placed  between  the  two,  have 
neither  seen  the  one  nor  shall  see  the 
other.  Assured  of  the  accomplishment  of 
the  first,  they  cannot  question  the  truth  of 
the  prophecy  which  announces  the  second. 
But  as  Christ  speaks  still  more  in  detail  a 
short  time  previous  to  his  death,  we  shall 
give  in  another  chapter  a  more  extensive 
•  and  a  more  complete  picture. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

WE  MUST  ALWAYS  PRAY.— THE  PHARISEE  AND  THE  PUBLICAN.— MARRIAGE  INDISSOLUBLE.— 
VIRGINITY  TO  BE  PREFERRED. — LITTLE  CHILDREN  BLESSED. — THE  YOUNG  MAN  CALLED  TO 
PERFECTION.— SALVATION  DIFFICULT  TO  THE  RICH.— ALL  MUST  BE  RELINQUISHED  TO  FOL¬ 
LOW  CHRIST.— PROMISES  ATTACHED  TO  THIS  RENUNCIATION.— THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  LABOR¬ 
ERS  IN  THE  VINEYARD. 


ON  another  occasion  Jesus  “  spoke  also 
a  parable  to  his  disciples,  that  we 
ought  always  to  pray,1  and  not  to  faint, 

( 1 )  We  pray  always,  when,  at  the  time  when  we 

91 


saying  :  There  was  a  judge  in  a  certain 
city,  who  feared  not  Cod,  nor  regarded 
man.  And  there  was  a  certain  widow  in 

cannot  pray,  we  recall,  as  well  as  we  can,  the 


722 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


that  city,  and  she  came  to  him,  saying  : 
Avenge  me  of  my  adversary.  He  would 
not  for  a  long  time.  But  afterwards  he 
said  within  himself :  Although  I  fear  not 
God  nor  regard  man,  yet,  because  this 
widow  is  troublesome  to  me,  I  will  avenge 
her,  lest,  continually  coming,  she  weary  me. 
And  the  Lord  said  :  Hear  what  the  unjust 
judge  saitk.”  He  cannot,  iniquitous 
though  he  be,  resist  a  persevering  prayer. 

“  And  will  not  God  revenge  his  elect  who 
cry  to  him  day  and  night,1  and  will  he  have 
patience  in  their  regard  ?  I  say  to  you 
that  he  will  quickly  revenge  them.” 2  (St. 
Luke  xviii.  1-8.) 

But  few  are  avenged  or  delivered  from 
oppression,  because  few  persevere  in  pray¬ 
er,  according  to  this  expression  :  “  He 
that  shall  persevere  unto  the  end  he  shall 
be  saved.”  (St.  Matt.  x.  22.)  But  whence 
comes  the  want  of  perseverance,  but  from 
the  feeble  faith  ?  Wonder  not  then  if 
Christ,  when  he  appears  in  his  majesty  to  • 

thought  of  God’s  presence,  and  offer  him  the  action 
in  which  we  are  then  engaged.  In  this  way  there 
is  no  one  who  cannot  always  pray,  as  God  exhorts 
us  to  do  in  several  passages  of  Scripture.  Yet  this 
is  not  the  sense  in  which  it  is  here  said  that  we 
must  pray  always  :  what  Jesus  Christ  has  directly 
in  view  is,  to  teach  us  not  to  he  disheartened  when 
God  defers  hearing  us,  being  persuaded  that  a  per¬ 
severing  prayer  shall  infallibly  be  heard.  This  sec¬ 
ond  sense  is  clearly  determined  by  the  parable. 

God  seems  to  postpone,  because  he  does  not  listen 
to  us  at  the  very  time  when  we  desire  to  be  heard. 
Iteally,  and  in  fact,  he  does  not  postpone,  because 
he  grants  it  at  the  time  when  it  is  most  advantage¬ 
ous  for  us  to  be  heard.  If  he  communicated  his 
secret  to  us,  we  should  thank  him  for  his  very  de¬ 
lays  ;  but  he  prefers  to  leave  us  in  ignorance  of  it, 
because  this  ignorance  is  also  the  best  for  us.  I 


avenge  all  his  elect,  finds  so  few  who  de¬ 
serve  to  experience  his  powerful  protec¬ 
tion.  In  those  days  of  seduction  and 
apostasy,  the  true  faithful  shall  be  reduced 
to  so  few,  that  he  who  reckoned  them  be¬ 
forehand  asks  with  apparent  surprise:3 
“  But  yet  the  Son  of  man,  when  he  com- 
eth,  shall  he  find,  think  you,  faith  on 
earth  ?  ”  (St.  Luke  xviii.  8.) 

Though  this  was  addressed  to  the  disci¬ 
ples,  there  is  every  reason  to  think  that 
Jesus  Christ  had  also  other  hearers,  among 
them  some  Pharisees.  The  weakness  of 
the  former  made  it  necessary  to  exhort 
them  to  a  lively  and  persevering  trust. 
Another  lesson  was  required  for  the  latter, 
whose  pride  appeared  in  the  humblest  of 
all  actions,  prayer.  Their  prayer  was 
rather  a  satire  upon  mankind  than  the 
avowal  of  their  own  miseries,  and  the}^ 
used  it  far  less  to  praise  God  than 
themselves.  It  is  to  them  the  evangelist 
alludes  when  he  says  that  “  to  some  who 

(')  The  just  request  that  God  would  deliver 
them  from  oppression,  not  by  destroying  the  wick¬ 
ed  who  oppress  them,  but  by  depriving  the  wicked 
of  the  desire  or  the  means  of  oppressing.  Save  us, 
0  Lord :  do  still  more,  save  them  with  us.  Such  a 
prayer  is  truly  a  Christian  prayer. 

( a)  This  life  is  so  short,  and  that  which  follows 
so  long,  that  it  is  true  to  say  that  God  does  not  de¬ 
lay,  when  he  delays  vengeance  until  the  other  life. 
If  a  thousand  years,  compared  to  eternity,  are  but 
a  day,  what  are  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years,  hours,  or 
minutes  ? 

(3)  We  follow  the  common  interpretation,  to 
connect  these  words  with  the  preceding.  If  the 
connection  does  not  appear  natural,  we  may  be¬ 
lieve  it  one  of  the  detached  facts  sometimes  found 
in  the  Gospels. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  723 


trusted  in  themselves  as  just,  and  despised 
others,  Jesus  spoke  also  this  parable. 

“  Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to 
pray  :  the  one  a  Pharisee,  and  the  other  a 
publican.  The  Pharisee,  standing,  prayed 
thus  with  himself :  0  God,  I  give  thee 
thanks  that  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of  men,1 
extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,  as  also  is 
this  publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the  week  : 2 
I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  possess.  And 
the  publican,  standing  afar  off,  would  not 
so  much  as  lift  up  his  eyes  towards  heaven, 
but  struck  his  breast,  saying  :  0  God,  be 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner.3  I  say  to  you, 
this  man  went  down  into  his  house  justi¬ 
fied,  rather  than  the  other.  Because  every 
one  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  hum¬ 
bled,  and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall 
be  exalted.”  (St.  Luke  xviii.  9-14.) 

“  When  Jesus  had  ended  these  words, 
he  departed  from  Galilee,  and  came  into 


(  )  No  saint  has  ever  yet  said :  “  Thanks  be  to 
God,  I  am  a  saint.”  “  I  have  sinned  much,  I  still 
sin  every  day ;  and,  if  God  did  not  support  me  with 
his  almighty  hand,  I  would  commit  enormous 
crimes.”  This  is  what  the  saints  say,  and  they  say 
truly. 

An  apostle  says :  “In  many  things  we  all  offend:  ” 
and  he  says  of  himself  what  he  states  of  others. 
The  saints  perceive  distinctly  the  slightest  sins 
which  we  do  not  perceive,  and  commit  by  thou¬ 
sands.  They  regard  sin  in  contrast  with  the  infi¬ 
nite  purity  of  God,  known  to  these  saints,  and  not 
known  to  us ;  these  specks  of  sin  appear  monsters 
to  them;  and  such  are  in  fact.  The  saints  con¬ 
sider  nothing  in  themselves  but  their  faults  and 
sins  ;  in  others,  nothing  but  their  virtues  and  good 
works.  They  deem  others  better  than  themselves ; 
a  conclusion  as  evident  to  them  as  virtues  are  bet¬ 
ter  than  faults.  An  attempt  was  once  made  to 
perplex  one  of  these  saints,  who  was  an  angel  in 


tbe  coasts  of  Judea  beyond  ”  “  the  Jordan. 
And  the  multitudes  flock  to  him,”  “  and  he 
healed  them  there,”  “and,  as  he  was  ac¬ 
customed,  he  taught  them.”  “  And  there 
came  to  him  the  Pharisees  tempting  him.” 
So  they  proposed  to  him  a  question  which 
was  then  much  debated  :  “  Is  it  lawful  for 
a  man  ”  “to  put  away  his  wife  for  every 
cause  ?  ” 

The  manner  in  which  they  speak  reveals 
sufficiently  that  they  considered  it  right  to 
divorce  for  very  slight  causes,  and  often 
with  none,  but  from  mere  caprice.  This 
liberty  was  precious  to  men  ;  and  by  at¬ 
tacking  it,  Christ  must  offend  them  greatly. 
Now,  he  could  not  approve  of  it  without 
becoming  odious  to  all  women.  This  was 
the  snare  laid  for  him,  besides  the  hope  of 
detecting  him  in  contradiction  to  the  law 
of  Moses.  Jesus  seized  the  opportunity 
to  declare  the  reform  he  came  to  intro- 


the  flesh,  by  inquiring  from  him  if  he  could  think 
himself  as  wicked  as  a  robber  notorious  all  over 
the  country  for  his  murders  and  robberies.  Yet 
liis  humility  found  this  reply  :  “  If  he  had  had  the 
graces  which  I  hare  had,  he  would  be  a  better  man 
than  I  am.”  If  such  are  the  sentiments  and  lan¬ 
guage  of  saints,  those  of  a  contrary  character  prove 
the  reverse  of  sanctity.  This  is  also  inferred  from 
the  parable. 

( 2 )  This  language  is  so  natural,  that  it  is  some¬ 
times  found  in  the  mouths  of  penitents  whose 
confession  is  only,  like  the  prayer  of  the  Pharisee, 
the  mere  declaration  of  their  own  virtues,  and  the 
accusation  of  others’  sins. 

( ’ )  This  word,  coming  from  the  bottom  of  the 
heart,  can  in  a  moment  convert  the  greatest  sinner 
into  a  just  man  ;  and  millions  of  sinners,  who  have 
had  years  to  speak  it,  are  eternally  reprobate  for 
not  having  spoken  it.  Let  him  who  can,  under¬ 
stand  this  prodigy  of  stupidity  or  madness. 


724 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


duce  into  marriage  ;  and  wishing  at  the 
same  time  to  make  known  his  motives,  “  he 
answering,  saith  to  them  :  What  did  Moses 
command  you?  who  said  :  Moses  permitted 
to  write  a  bill  of  divorce,  and  to  put  her 
away.  To  whom  Jesus  answering,  said  : 
Because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts 
he  wrote  you  that  precept.”1  “Have  you 
not  read  that  he  who  made  man  from  the 
beginning,  made  them  male  and  female  ? 
And  he  said  :2  For  this  cause  shall  a  man 
leave  father  and  mother,  and  cleave  to  his 
wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  in  one  flesh  ; 3 
therefore  now  they  are  not  two,  but  one 
flesh.4  What,  therefore,  Gk>d  hath  joined 
together,  let  no  man  put  asunder.”  (St. 
Matt.  xix.  1-6  ;  St.  Mark  x.  1-5.) 

In  fact,  if  Glod  had  intended  man  to 
have  several  wives,  by  polygamy,  or  by 
divorce,  he  would  have  created  more  than 
one  for  the  first  man.  But  his  design  was 
to  form  the  most  perfect  union  it  is  pos¬ 
sible  to  conceive,  by  making  two  different 
persons  one  heart,  one  soul,  and  one  flesh. 
Now  this  union  is  found  in  marriage, 
which  being  the  work  of  Gfod,  no  man  on 
earth  has  a  right  to  break,  because  no  one 
has  the  right  to  undo  what  Gfod  has  done. 

( 1 )  It  was,  then,  merely  toleration  on  the  part 
of  God.  Their  wickedness  rendered  it  necessary 
to  obviate  greater  evils.  God  deemed  it  more  ex¬ 
pedient  to  allow  them  to  leave  their  wives  and  to 
take  others,  than  to  expose  them  to  the  temptation, 
into  which  they  would  have  but  too  often  fallen, 
of  making  way  with  them  by  the  sword  or  poison. 
Some  have  thought  this  toleration  merely  civil, 
that  is  to  say,  that  while  it  did  not  decree  any  pen¬ 
alty  against  those  who  availed  themselves  of  it,  it 
still  left  the  sin  remain.  Others  have  thought, 
with  more  probability,  that  the  divorced  parties 


Gfod  alone,  master  of  his  own  work,  has 
this  right ;  and  he  exercised  it,  when,  for 
reasons  worthy  of  his  wisdom,  he  per¬ 
mitted  polygamy  and  divorce  ;  but  these 
reasons  having  ceased  by  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  more  perfect  law,  the  dispensa¬ 
tions  which  they  occasioned  can  no  longer 
exist.  All  marriages  are  to  become  similar 
to  the  first  which  Gfod  instituted,  in  order 
to  serve  as  a  model  to  others.  An  indis¬ 
soluble  and  perpetual  bond  shall  henceforth 
unite  all  the  married,  whose  union  shall 
henceforward  end  only  when  they  cease  to 
live  ;  and,  as  long  as  Gfod  preserves  them 
on  earth,  they  shall  be  so  subject  one  to 
another.  Thus  marriage  recovers  all  the 
purity  of  its  institution,  and  the  union  of 
our  first  parents  is  perfectly  represented 
by  those  of  their  descendants.  Another 
resemblance  was  soon  to  render  the  union 
more  sacred,  and  the  rights  more  invio¬ 
lable  :  that  which  it  was  to  have  to  the 
spiritual  marriage  of  Jesus  Christ  with 
his  Church.  But  it  was  not  yet  time  to 
propose  this  great  mystery  ;  and  our  Sa¬ 
viour  contented  himself  at  that  time  with 
again  insisting  upon  the  indissolubility  of 
marriage. 

could  conscientiously  use  the  right,  provided  it 
was  done  in  the  manner  and  form  prescribed. 

( 3 )  Adam  spoke  it  by  the  inspiration  of  God, 
who  revealed  to  him  the  nature  of  the  union  which 
was  to  exist  between  the  married,  and  of  that 
union  which  children  were  to  have  with  their 
parents,  which  Adam  could  know  only  by  revela¬ 
tion. 

( 3 )  This  decides  plainly  the  preference  due  to 
the  wife  as  to  society,  assistance  and  care.  The 
wife  owes  the  same  obligation  to  her  husband. 

(4 )  Saint  Paul  explains  this  (l  Cor.  vi.  16). 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  725 

\ 

Surprised  at  a  doctrine  so  contrary  to 
their  prejudices  and  their  passions,  the 
Pharisees  say  to  him:  “Why,  then,  did 
Moses  command  to  give  a  bill  of  divorce,1 
and  to  put  away?”  The  commandment 
applied  merely  to  the  act  of  divorce,  and 
not  to  the  divorce  itself,  though  they  ap¬ 
pear  to  apply  it  to  both.  To  teach  them 
this  distinction,  “Jesus  saith  to  them  :  Be¬ 
cause  Moses,  by  reason  of  the  hardness 
of  your  heart,  permitted  you  to  put  away 
your  wives  :  but  from  the  beginning  it 
was  not  so.  And  I  say  to  you,  that  who¬ 
soever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  except  it 
be2  for  fornication,3  and  shall  marry  an¬ 
other,  committeth  adultery  ;  and  he  that 
shall  marry  her  that  is  put  away,  com- 
mitteth  adultery.”  (St.  Matt.  xix.  7-9.) 

The  disciples  had  been  unwilling  to  in¬ 
terrupt  their  Master  ;  yet  they  doubted 
whether  such  severe  morality  should  be 
taken  to  the  letter.  To  have  the  light 
which  they  desired,  when  he  was  “in  the 

house  again  his  disciples  asked  him  con¬ 
cerning  the  same  thing.” 

Jesus  explained  what  he  had  said,  only 
by  repeating  it.  “  Whosoever,  he  saith  to 
them,  shall  put  away  his  wife  and  marry 
another,  committeth  adultery  against  her  ; 
and  if  the  wife  shall  put  away  her  hus¬ 
band,  and  be  married  to  another,  she  com¬ 
mitteth  adultery.”  (St.  Mark  x.  10-12.) 

“  His  disciples  say  unto  him  :  If  the  case 
of  a  man  with  his  wife  be  so,  it  is  not  ex¬ 
pedient  to  marry.” 

This  contained  a  deep  meaning,  which 
they  did  not  as  yet  comprehend,  wherefore 
“  Jesus  said  to  them  :  All  men  take  not 
this  word,  but  they  to  whom  it  is  given  ” 
from  on  high  ;  and,  to  begin  imparting  to 
them  its  meaning,  he  added  :  “  For  there 
are  eunuchs  who  were  born  so  from  their 
mother’s  womb  ;  and  there  are  eunuchs 
who  were  made  so  by  men  ;  and  there  are 
eunuchs  who  have  made  themselves 
eunuchs  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.4  He 

( 1 )  See  note  1,  page  548. 

( 'i )  Adultery  excuses  tlie  dismissal  of  the  wife, 
and  not  the  subsequent  marriage.  It  is  as  if  we 
read :  Whoever  shall  dismiss  his  wife  (whom  it  is 
not  allowable  to  dismiss  except  in  case  of  adultery) 
and  shall  marry  another,  shall  be  an  adulterer. 
The  Church  has  always  so  understood  it,  and 
Christ  himself  shows  it,  when  he  says  absolutely 
to  his  disciples  :  “  Whoever  shall  put  away  his  wife 
and  marry  another,  committeth  adultery.”  Prot¬ 
estants,  however,  hold  that  the  exception  in  case 
of  adultery  applies  to  what  follows  as  well  as  to 
what  precedes ;  and  that  this  case,  which  justifies 
divorce,  justifies  equally  the  marriage  with  another 
woman.  Let  them  speak  sincerely.  Marriage, 
such  as  Jesus  Christ  re-established  it,  displeased 
them.  They  wished  to  substitute  for  it  anew  the 
Jewish  marriage  condemned  by  Christ.  For,  did  they 

follow  his  word,  they  would  not  allow  another  wife 
except  in  the  case  of  adultery,  since  it  is  evident 
that  Christ  either  excepts  this  case  only  or  excepts 
none.  But  we  know  that  they  have  added  those 
of  long  absence,  obstinate  separation,  and  others 
still,  which  multiply  to  an  amazing  degree,  these 
second  marriages.  It  is  well  that  this  legislation 
has  not  added  to  the  Jewish  divorce  Mahometan 
polygamy,  approved,  at  least  tolerated,  in  the  per¬ 
son  of  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  by  Luther,  and 
those  who,  with  him,  were  the  chief  leaders  of  the 
Eeformation. 

( 3 )  As  to  the  other  causes  of  separation,  see 
note  2,  page  548. 

( 4 )  To  secure  and  merit  a  richer  crown.  They 
make  themselves  eunuchs,  not  by  mutilating  their 
own  persons,  which  the  Church  has  always  detested, 
but  by  resolution,  or,  what  is  better,  by  vow  made  to 

726  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

that  can  take,  let  him  take  it.”  (St.  Matt, 
xix.  10-12.) 

While  out*  Saviour  was  treating  these  ques¬ 
tions,  “  there  were  little  children  presented 
to  him,  that  he  should  impose  hands  upon 
them  and  pray.  And  the  disciples”  “re¬ 
buked  them  ”  that  “  brought  them.  Whom, 
when  Jesus  saw,  he  was  much  displeased,” 
“and  calling”  the  children  “together, 
said  :  Suffer  the  little  children  ”  “  to  come 
unto  me,”  “  and  forbid  them  not  -,1  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  for  such.”  “  Amen 

I  say  to  you  :  Whosoever  shall  not  receive 

the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child,  shall 
not  enter  into  it  ;  and  embracing  them, 
when  he  had  imposed  hands  upon  them,  he 
blessed  them,”  “  and  he  departed  from 
thence.”  (St.  Matthew  xix.  13-15  ;  St. 

Luke  xviii.  16,  17  ;  St.  Mark  x.  13-16.) 

“  When  he  was  gone  forth  into  the  way, 
a  certain”  “ruler,”  “running  up,  and 
kneeling  before  him,  asked  him :  Good 
Master,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may  receive 
life  everlasting  ?  And  Jesus  said  to  him  :  ” 

“  Why  askest  thou  me  concerning  good,” 
and  “  why  dost  thou  call  me  good?2  None 

God  of  living  in  perpetual  virginity.  It  is  of  faith 
that  this  state  is  more  perfect  than  marriage.  Pro¬ 
testants  have  opposed  it  with  all  their  might.  This 
is  nowise  surprising  in  those  who  approve  divorce, 
and  permit  polygamy.  Moreover,  we  are  not  igno¬ 
rant  of  the  fact,  that  their  leaders  were  for  the 
most  part  priests  and  religious,  tired  of  celibacy,  who 
wished  not  to  be  suspected  of  having  embraced  the 
Reformation  rather  from  the  desire  of  marriage, 
than  marriage  from  the  spirit  of  reform.  After 
them  appeared  those  who  preached  up  increase  of 
population.  If  we  had  leisure  to  treat  the  subject 
thoroughly,  we  should  not  want  reasons  to  refute 
them.  We  merely  adduce  this  reason,  which  is  of 
a  nature  to  make  an  impi'ession  upon  them :  the 
Christian  religion  is  of  all  others  the  most  favora¬ 
ble  to  population.  Here  is  the  proof  of  this  fact, 
drawn  from  its  principles  and  its  morality : 

1st.  Except  wherein  parties  are  legitimately 
married,  every  thing  is  criminal  where  purity  is 
concerned.  How  many  persons  who  have,  at 
the  same  time,  both  excitable  passions  and  a  timid 
conscience,  are,  as  it  were,  forced  into  marriage  by 
this  inflexible  severity !  2d.  Everything  is  crim¬ 
inal,  even  in  marriage,  which  is  opposed  to  the  end 
of  marriage,  the  generation  of  children.  How 
many  married  couples,  already  burdened  with  off¬ 
spring,  would  give  themselves  licentious  freedom, 
if  the  curb  of  religion  did  not  restrain  them !  3d. 

It  is  criminal  in  married  persons  to  refuse  each 

other,  unless  the  refusal  be  founded  upon  a  grave 
reason.  How  many  obstinate  refusals  and  concealed 
divorces  would  be  produced  by  certain  apprehen¬ 
sions.  If  religion  did  not  enforce,  by  terrible 
menaces,  a  right  on  one  part,  and  a  duty  on  the 
other !  And  it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  in  all 
these  ways  religion  gives  more  to  the  race  than  it 
takes  away  by  ecclesiastical  and  religious  celibacy. 

( 1 )  We  hinder  them  when  we  put  off  indefinitely 
the  first  communion  of  children.  The  Master  of 
the  feast  cries  out  in  vain  that  these  innocent 
souls  be  allowed  to  approach.  A  harsh  zeal  drives 
them  away.  The  respect  due  to  this  sovereign 

Lord  has  indeed  induced  the  Church  to  abolish 
the  custom  of  giving  communion  to  children  im¬ 
mediately  after  baptism  ;  but  if  the  Church  no 
longer  wishes  the  age  of  reason  to  be  anticipated, 
much  less  does  it  wish  reason  to  be  anticipated  by 
the  passions.  And  how  often  have  the  passions, 
when  unrestrained  by  the  powerful  check  which 
the  Eucharist  affords,  caused  errors  from  which 
the  soul  returns  with  such  difficulty,  and  so  late ! 

If  this  reason  does  not  suffice,  and  if  we  wish  to 
know  what  are  upon  this  point  our  Saviour’s  in¬ 
tentions,  we  have  no  fear  in  saying  that  he  will 
always  be  better  pleased  to  have  greater  innocence 
with  a  little  more  levity,  than  greater  sedateness 
with  corruption  already  commenced. 

(’)  This  might  really  be  translated:  “Why 
askest  thou  me,  calling  me  good  ?  ”  Then  Saint 

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CHRIST  BLESSING  LITTLE  CHILDREN. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


727 


is  good  but  God  alone.” 1  “  But,”  added  our 
Saviour,  “  if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep 
the  commandments.  He  said  to  him : 
Which  ?  ”  thinking,  perhaps,  that  the  new 
teacher  would  bring  new  commandments. 
“And  Jesus  said:”  “Thou  knowest  the 
commandments  :  ”  “  Thou  shalt  do  no  mur¬ 
der  ; 2  thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery  ;  thou 
shalt  not  steal  ;  thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  ;  ”  “  do  no  fraud  ;  ”  “  honor  thy  fa¬ 
ther  and  thy  mother;”  “and  thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  The  young 
man  saith  to  him  :  All  these  have  I  kept 
from  m}r  }Touth  ;  what  is  yet  wanting  to  me  ?  ” 
“  Which  when  Jesus  had  heard,”  “  looking 
on  him,  he  loved  him,”  “  he  said  to  him  : 
Yet  one  thing  is  wanting  to  thee.”  “  If  thou 
wilt  be  perfect,”  “go  sell  what  thou  hast, 
and  give  to  the  poor,3  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  in  heaven;4  and”  then  “come, 
follow  me.”  (St.  Mark  x.  17-21  ;  St.  Luke 
xviii.  18-22  ;  St.  Matt.  xix.  16-25.) 

Matthew  would  make  our  Saviour  say  only  what 
Saint  Mark  and  Saint  Luke  represent  him  as  say¬ 
ing,  which  is  not  unlikely,  nor  neither  is  it  im¬ 
probable  that  he  made  use  of  both  these  expressions 
here  ascribed  to  him. 

(  1 )  He  teaches  that  God  alone  is  essentially 
good,  and  that  nothing  is  good  except  by  the  com¬ 
munication  of  his  goodness.  The  Arians  grossly 
abused  this  text.  The  Fathers  refuted  them  by 
this  very  simple  reply :  This  young  man  is  not 
aware  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
speaks  to  him  according  to  his  ignorance. 

(’ )  The  commandments  of  the  second  table  are 
alone  mentioned,  which  regulate  our  duties  to¬ 
wards  our  neighbor.  That  does  not  imply  that 
there  exist  no  other  commandments,  or  that  the 
others  are  unimportant ;  but  if  we  observe  these,  we 
shall  observe  all  the  others.  Taken  by  themselves, 
they  are  not  the  whole  law ;  but  their  accomplish¬ 
ment  is  presumptive  proof  of  the  accomplishment 


He  called  him  to  evangelical  perfection. 
Inestimable  favor!  It  is  more  generally 
at  that  age  that  God  confers  this  favor, 
and  he  usually  confers  it  on  those  who, 
like  this  young  man,  have  passed  their 
first  years  in  innocence  :  happy  those  who 
know  how  to  profit  by  it  !  Whatever  it 
may  cost  them,  they  may  say  that  they 
have  chiefly  purchased  a  rich  treasure. 
But  all  have  not  the  courage  ;  and  too 
many  follow  his  cowardice.  “And  when 
the  young  man  had  heard  this  word  ”  of  our 
Saviour,  “being  struck  sad,”  “he  went 
away  sorrowful ;  for  he  had  great  posses¬ 
sions.”  “And  Jesus  seeing  him  become 
sorrowful,”  and  “looking  round  about, 
saith  to  his  disciples  :  How  hardly  shall 
they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God !  ”5  “  Amen  I  say  to  you,  that 
a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.”  “  And  the  disciples 
were  astonished  at  his  words.  But  Jesus, 

of  the  whole  law,  according  to  this  expression  of 
Saint  Paul  (Rom.  xiii. ) :  “He  that  loveth  his 
neighbor  hath  fulfilled  the  law.” 

( s )  Calvin,  who  deemed  marriage  better  than 
virginity,  also  asserted  that  it  is  better  to  retain 
property,  and  take  from  its  income  wherewith  to 
give  alms,  than  to  sell  all  at  once,  and  distribute 
the  price  to  the  poor.  While  the  Eustatheans, 
who  were  condemned  in  the  Council  of  Gangres, 
pretended  that  the  married  could  not  be  saved; 
and  some  Pelagians  advanced  that  there  was  no 
salvation  for  those  possessed  of  property.  Catholic 
truth  is  usually  to  be  found  between  two  opposite 
errors,  like  Christ  crucified  between  two  thieves, 
according  to  the  expression  of  Tertulliau. 

( 4 )  The  observance  of  the  precepts  will  be  re¬ 
warded  ;  that  of  the  counsels  more  richly.  A  pen¬ 
ny  is  promised  the  former,  a  treasure  to  the  latter. 

(*)  It  might  occur  to  us  that  this  counsel  was 
obligatory,  under  pain  of  being  excluded  from  the 


728 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


again  answering,  saith  to  them  :  Children, 
how  hard  is  it 1  for  them  that  trust  in 
riches  2  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  ! 
It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  pass  through  the 
eye  of  a  needle,3  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.”  “The 
disciples  wondered  the  more  when  they 
had  heard  this,  saying  among  themselves  : 
Who,  then,  can  be  saved?  And  Jesus 
looking  on  them,  saith  :  With  men  it  is 
impossible  ;  but  not  with  God  ;  for  all 
things  are  possible  with  God.” 4  (St.  Mark 
x.  22-27 ;  St.  Luke  xviii.  23,  24  ;  St. 
Matt.  xix.  22-25.) 

kingdom  of  God,  and,  therefore,  a  precept.  How¬ 
ever,  the  different  manner  of  proposing  them  proves 
evidently  that  this  was  merely  a  counsel.  Of 
precepts  Christ  says :  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life, 
keep  the  commandments;  whereas  he  says  here: 
If  thou  wilt  he  perfect,  go  sell,  etc.,  etc.  This 
marks  the  difference  between  perfection  and  duty, 
counsel  and  precept.  The  young  man’s  attach¬ 
ment  to  his  great  wealtli  merely  gave  our  Saviour 
an  occasion  for  declaring  the  extreme  difficulty 
the  rich  would  have  to  obtain  salvation.  Perhaps, 
too,  he  foresaw  that  this  one,  who  might  be  saved 
by  renouncing  his  riches,  would  be  lost  by  the 
abuse  he  would  make  of  them ;  but  their  posses¬ 
sion  then  was  to  be  the  occasion,  and  not  the 
cause  of  his  loss,  and  in  this  sense  it  is  true  to 
say  that,  while  he  incurred  reproof  for  not  follow¬ 
ing  our  Saviour’s  counsel,  he  did  not,  nevertheless, 
sin  by  not  following  it.  The  whole  bears  upon 
this  evident  maxim:  a  counsel  by  itself  is  not 
obligatory ;  and  if  it  were,  it  would  no  longer  be  a 
counsel,  but  a  precept. 

( 1 )  Christ  says  with  a  sort  of  surprise,  “  shall 
hardly.”  He  says  with  an  oath  :  “  Amen,  I  say  to 
you.”  He  says  it  even  three  times.  0  rich !  if  this 
thunder  doth  not  awaken  you,  you  do  not  sleep, 
vou  are  dead. 

•j 

( 2 )  To  place  confidence  in  riches  is  to  expect 
from  them  all  one’s  happiness ;  it  is,  therefore,  to 


But  whilst  the  disciples  were  engrossed 
by  the  startling  information  contained  in 
our  Saviour’s  last  words,  Peter  did  not 
forget  what  the  preceding  words  contained 
to  his  advantage.  He  was  one  of  those 
voluntary  poor  who  had  left  all  in  order 
to  follow  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  whom  our 
Saviour  had  made  such  magnificent  prom¬ 
ises.  “Then  Peter  answering,  said  to 
him,”  speaking  also  for  his  brethren  : 
“  Behold,  we  have  left  all  things 6  and 
have  followed  thee  ;  what,  therefore,  shall 
we  have?”  “And  Jesus,”  answering, 
“  said  to  them:  Amen  I  say  to  you,  that 

treasure  them  iu  our  heart  in  the  place  of  God, 
who  alone  can  render  us  happy.  Therefore,  is 
covetousness  termed  by  Saint  Paul  “a  serving  of 
idols  ”  (Ephes.  v.  5). 

( 3 )  A  proverb  with  the  Jews,  found  also  in  the 
Talmud. 

( 4 )  Ask  how  the  universe  could  be  drawn  forth 
from  nothing,  and  how  it  is  possible  that  a  rich 
man  can  be  saved,  the  answer  is  the  same  :  “  God 
is  almighty.” 

( 6 )  Those  who  would  make  little  of  the  sacrifice 
of  the  apostles,  because  they  abandoned  only  a 
bark  and  nets,  must  be  ignorant  that,  to  quit  all 
without  any  exception,  requires  an  incredible 
effort,  and  merits  an  inestimable  recompense.  The 
monarch  who  renounced  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  and  remained  attached  to  a  thing  as  value¬ 
less  as  Saint  Peter’s  net,  would  make  a  sacrifice 
incomparably  less  painful  to  nature  than  a  man 
who,  being  owner  of  this  net  alone,  sacrifices  it  ab¬ 
solutely.  Nothing  can  fill  the  heart  of  man  ;  but 
a  mere  nothing  is  sufficient  to  amuse  him.  Now, 
to  disengage  one’s  self  from  this  nothing,  so  to  say, 
in  order  to  cling  to  God  alone,  in  order  to  repose 
solely  in  God,  to  have  no  good,  no  hope,  no  sup¬ 
port  but  God,  who  is  he  who  can  do  this  ? 

The  widow  who  gave  the  two  pence  gave  more 
than  the  rich,  because  she  gave  all. 

The  sacrifice  of  a  moderate*  fortune  is  really 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


729 


you  who  have  followed  me,  in  the  regen¬ 
eration,1  when  the  Son  of  man  shall 
sit  on  the  seat  of  his  majesty,  you 
also  shall  sit  on  twelve  seats,  judging 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.2  And  every 
one  that  hath  left  house,  or  brethren, 


greater  than  that  of  a  greater  fortune,  because  an 
individual  sacrifices  more  comfort  and  repose. 

( « )  In  the  resurrection,  which  shall  be  like  a 
second  generation,  by  which  men  shall  be  born 
again  to  an  immortal  life. 

(  '■')  Christ  says  so  with  the  tacit  condition  that 
they  persevere  in  the  state  of  perfection  they  em¬ 
brace.  For  Judas  was  to  exclude  himself  by  his 
treachery.  Thus,  among  those  then  present,  only 
eleven  were  to  sit  upon  these  sublime  thrones.  On 
the  other  hand,  Saint  Matthias  was  to  he  chosen 
in  the  place  of  Judas.  Christ’s  mode  of  speaking 
amounts  to  this :  Each  of  you  (if  he  be  faithful  to 
his  engagements)  shall  be  seated  upon  a  throne 
whence  he  shall  judge,  etc.,  etc.  The  number 
twelve  should  not,  therefore,  be  taken  literally.  It 
comprises  universally  those  who  shall  judge  with 
Jesus  Christ,  just  as  the  whole  number  of  those 
who  shall  be  judged  is  expressed  by  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel.  “Know  you  not  that  we  shall 
judge  angels?”  says  Saint  Paul,  which  proves 
that  the  Jews  are  not  the  only  people  who  shall  be 
judged  by  the  apostles.  If  it  be  not  that,  seated 
with  Jesus  Christ,  they  shall  pronounce  judgment 
with  him,  and  like  him. 

( 3 )  We  have  seen  that  Christ  permits  divorce 
only  in  the  case  of  adultery.  Nevertheless,  an  indi¬ 
vidual  may  leave  his  wife  for  Christ’s  sake  in  several 
ways.  1st.  By  not  marrying,  and  then  leaving 
signifies  not  to  take.  2d.  By  leaving  a  married 
bride  before  the  consummation  of  the  marriage. 
Such  was  the  case  of  Saint  Alexis.  It  is  always 
allowable  to  imitate  him,  provided  this  be  done 
with  the  view  of  embracing  the  religious  state. 
The  marriage  which  has  been  celebrated,  although 
not  consummated,  is  dissolved  by  the  profession, 
which  restores  back  to  the  party  who  has  been 
relinquished  the  right  of  contracting  with  another. 

92 


or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or 
wife,3  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my 
name’s  sake,  shall  receive  a  hundred¬ 
fold,”  “now  in  this  present  time;4 
houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and 
mothers,  and  children,  and  lands,6  with * (*) 

If  any  one  dares  deny  this,  the  Council  of  Trent 
pronounces  anathema  on  him.  3d.  By  leaving  a 
heathen  wife,  when,  being  an  infidel,  one  becomes  a 
Christian,  the  wife  remaining  an  unbeliever.  4th. 
By  abstaining,  both  parties  consenting,  and  living 
together  like  brother  and  sister.  The  first  cen¬ 
turies  of  Christianity  furnish  thousands  of  ex¬ 
amples.  5th.  It  may  be  said  that  an  individual 
leaves  his  wife  for  Christ  and  the  Gospel,  when  he 
refuses  to  yield  to  her  criminal  wishes,  and  that  he 
is  disposed  to  endure  her  humors,  her  transports 
of  passion,  and,  if  necessary,  her  withdrawal  and 
her  separation,  rather  than  sin  from  undue  affec¬ 
tion.  Too  many  husbands,  since  Adam,  have 
been  put  to  this  trial,  and  have  sustained  it  no 
better  than  he. 

( * )  Although  many  think  so,  this  second  prom¬ 
ise  announces,  besides  eternal  life,  only  the  hun¬ 
dred-fold  of  this  life,  proportioned  to  the  extent 
and  the  perfection  of  the  sacrifices. 

(‘)  Since  we  do  not  see  these  hundreds  of 
mothers,  brethren,  sisters,  houses,  and  inheritances, 
commentators  have  perplexed  themselves  to  find 
them.  Those  who  advocate  the  millennium  seem 
least  embarrassed  about  the  matter.  But  are  they 
to  have  one  hundred  wives  for  one  whom  they  may 
have  left  ?  inquired  Saint  Jerome  of  these  vision¬ 
aries.  Other  ascetics  understood  the  text  with  re¬ 
ference  to  the  large  number  of  brethren,  sisters, 
houses,  and  possessions,  which  those  acquire  who 
embrace  the  religious  state,  wherein  there  exists 
community  of  property.  This  is  a  pious  illusion. 
This  hundred-fold  is  contentment,  which  is  of 
such  a  nature,  that  it  equals  or  surpasses  that 
which  could  be  afforded  by  a  hundred  mothers, 
brethren,  sisters,  houses,  and  patrimonies.  Christ 
is  a  substitute  for  all,  or  rather  he  replaoes  them 
with  an  immense  addition.  If  any  one,  said  he,  doth 


730 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


persecutions,1  and,  in  the  world  to  come, 
life  everlasting.  But,”  adds  our  Saviour, 
“  many  that  are  first  shall  be  last,  and 
the  last  first.”  (St.  Matt.  xix.  27-30  ; 
St.  Mark  x.  29-31  ;  St.  Luke  xviii. 
28-30.) 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  in  what 
sense  this  is  applicable  to  what  precedes. 
The  apostles,  dazzled  by  the  glory  which 
was  promised  to  them,  might  find  it  diffi¬ 
cult  to  believe  that  poor  sinners  like  them 
should  one  day  be  the  judges  of  all  men, 
without  distinction  of  rich  and  poor,  mon¬ 
arch  and  subject.  Christ  confirmed  them 
in  this  faith,  by  informing  them  that  the 
order  established  in  this  world  should  be 
subverted  in  the  other,  or  rather  that  the 
disorder  of  this  world  should  be  succeeded 
by  perfect  and  eternal  order.  Here  birth 
and  fortune  alone  make  the  great  and  the 
little  ;  there  ranks  shall  be  regulated  by 
merit  alone  :  the  lowest  of  men,  if  he  has 
been  the  most  virtuous,  shall  be  the  first  ; 
and  the  first,  if  he  has  been  the  most  vi¬ 
cious,  shall  be  the  last.  We  must  not 
then  be  any  longer  astonished  that  the 


the  will  of  my  Father,  he  shall  be  my  mother,  my 
brother,  and  my  sister.  He  is  to  us  all  that  he  has 
said  we  shall  be  to  him.  “Am  I  not  better  to 
thee  than  ten  children  ?  ”  said  Elcana  to  the  vir¬ 
tuous  Anna  (1  Kings  i.  8).  This  is  nearly  the 
same  language  which  our  Saviour  addresses  the 
soul  which  has  relinquished  all  for  him;  and  the 
union  which  he  contracts  with  her  is  so  intimate 
and  so  delicious,  that  all  the  ties  of  flesh  and  blood 
are  in  comparison  but  misery  and  affliction.  We 
are  so  assured  by  those  who  experience  it,  and  they 
alone  can  give  testimony. 

( 1 )  Persecutions  are  to  this  content  what 
water  is  when  cast  upon  a  blazing  furnace.  At 


highest  seats  there  are  to  be  filled  by  the 
poor,  whilst  the  majority  of  the  rich  and 
the  great,  cast  down  at  their  feet,  shall 
grovel  in  the  dust.  Perhaps  Christ  wished 
also  to  inculcate  on  his  disciples  that  what 
was  promised  was  not  yet  assured  to 
them  ;  that  they  might  still  lose  those 
thrones  which  were  prepared  for  them. 
This  sense,  which  comprises  the  great 
mystery  of  the  transfer  and  substitution 
of  graces,  was  so  literally  accomplished  in 
Judas,  that  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  our 
Saviour  had  him  in  view  when  he  uttered 
this  sentence.  But  these  same  words 
which  formed  the  conclusion  of  the  pre¬ 
ceding  discourse,  served,  at  the  same 
time,  to  introduce  to  the  following  para¬ 
ble,  where  they  express  the  perfect  inde¬ 
pendence  of  God  in  the  distribution  of  his 
graces.  Christ  continued  thus  :  “  The 
kingdom  of  God  is  like  to  a  householder,8 
who  went  out  early  in  the  morning  to  hire 
laborers  into  his  vineyard.  And  having 
agreed  with  the  laborers  for  a  penny  a 
day,  he  sent  them  into  his  vineyard.3  And 
going  out  about  the  third  hour,4  he  saw 


tbe  moment  when  poured  on,  it  abates  the  flame ; 
but  it  afterwards  renders  it  more  brisk  and  more 
durable.  “  I  exceedingly  abound  with  joy  in  all 
our  tribulation,”  said  Saint  Paul  (2  Cor.  vii.  4). 
He  was  no  longer  apprehensive  of  losing  this  joy, 
since  he  had  experienced  that  persecution  itself 
could  not  deprive  him  of  it. 

( a )  This  signifies  that  God,  in  the  administra¬ 
tion  of  his  kingdom,  which  is  his  Church,  demeans 
himself  nearly  like  a  father  of  a  family,  etc.,  etc. 

( * )  This  penny  weighed  perhaps  the  eighth  part 
of  an  ounce,  and  was  worth  about  fifteen  cents  of 
our  money.  It  was  the  pay  of  a  day  laborer. 

( 4 )  About  nine  o’clock  in  the  morning.  The 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


731 


others  standing  in  the  market-place  idle, 
and  he  said  to  them  :  Go  you  also  into  my 
vineyard,  and  I  will  give  you  what  shall 
be  just,  and  they  went  their  way.  And 
again  he  went  out  about  the  sixth  and  the 
ninth  hour,  and  did  in  like  manner.  But 
about  the  eleventh  hour  he  went  out  and 
found  others  standing,  and  he  saith  to 
them  :  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day 
idle  ?  They  sajT  to  him  :  Because  no  man 
hath  hired  us.  He  saith  to  them  :  Go  you 
also  into  my  vineyard.  And,  when  even¬ 
ing  was  come,  the  lord  of  the  vineyard 
saith  to  his  steward  :  Call  the  laborers, 
and  pay  them  their  hire,  beginning  from 
the  last  even  to  the  first.  When,  there¬ 
fore,  they  were  come  that  came  about  the 
eleventh  hour,  they  received  every  man  a 


Jews  reckoned  twelve  hours  in  the  day,  from  sun- 
l'ise  to  sunset.  These  hours 'were  unequal,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  length  of  the  day.  They  also  divided 
the  day  into  four  parts,  each  of  three  hours. 

(  1 )  The  last  come  were,  therefore,  first  paid.  In 
the  parable  this  circumstance  was  necessary,  in  or¬ 
der  that  the  others  might  see  that  these  received 
the  same  payment  as  themselves.  Since  the  first 
do  not  murmur  at  the  payment  being  first  made  to 
the  other  class,  this  species  of  priority  should  not 
apparently  be  deemed  a  favor,  merely  considering 
the  letter  of  the  parable;  but  not  so  with  the  ap¬ 
plication.  For  the  object  is  to  establish,  that  the 
last  shall  be  the  first,  and  the  first  shall  be  last. 
There  must  be  some  real  advantage  to  the  last  not 
enjoyed  by  the  first.  This  is  found  in  the  predi¬ 
lection  which  God  has  signally  shown  towards  the 
Gentiles,  who  became,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Jews, 
the  chosen  people.  It  is  also  shown  in  the  love 
which  he  lavishes  on  sinners  who,  though  late,  re¬ 
turn  sincerelv  to  him.  These  are  the  two  applica¬ 
tions  made  of  this  parable. 

(*  * )  By  virtue  of  the  agreement.  As  soon  as 


penny.1  But  when  the  first  also  came, 
they  thought  that  they  should  receive 
more  ;  and  they  also  received  every  man 
a  penny,  and  receiving  it,  they  murmured 
against  the  master  of  the  house,  saying  -. 
These  lasthave  worked ’’but  “one  hour,  and 
thou  hast  made  them  equal  to  us,  that  have 
borne  the  burden  of  the  day  and  the  heats. 
But  he  answering,  said  to  one  of  them  : 
Friend,  I  do  thee  no  wrong  ;  didst  thou 
not  agree  with  me  for  one  penny  ?  Take 
what  is  thine,8  and  go  thy  way  ;  I  will 
also  give  to  this  last  even  as  to  thee.  Or, 
is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will? 
Is  thy  eye  evil,  because  I  am  good  ?  So 
shall  the  last  be  first,  and  the  first  last ; 
for  many  are  called,  but  few  chosen.”3 
(St.  Matt.  xx.  1-16.) 


they  had  completed  their  engagement,  the  penny 
was  their  just  due.  It  was  gratuitous,  for  the 
householder  might  not  have  entered  into  any  en¬ 
gagement  with  them ;  he  might  employ  them  or 
pass  them  by  at  his  own  option.  On  the  other 
hand,  having  promised  wages  to  those  whom  he 
called  at  a  late  hour,  he  was  also  justly  indebted  to 
them.  Thus  justice  in  the  first  class  does  not  ex¬ 
clude  grace,  and  grace  in  the  second  class  does  not 
altogether  exclude  justice.  This  is  the  doctrine  of 
Saint  Paul.  (1  Cor.  xv.  10;  2  Tim.  iv.  8.) 

( * )  All  those  spoken  of  being  elect,  as  all  re¬ 
ceived  the  penny,  we  no  longer  see  how  this  con¬ 
clusion  refers  to  the  parable.  But  we  can  very 
easily  connect  it  with  those  words  which  go  imme¬ 
diately  before:  So  shall  the  last  be  first,  and  the 
first  last.  It  is  as  if  Christ  said  :  You  seem  sur¬ 
prised  at  hearing  me  state  that  the  first  called  shall 
be  sent  to  the  lowest  rank  ;  how  much  more  should 
you  wonder  that,  amongst  this  great  number  of 
men  who  have  been  called,  and  who  shall  yet  be 
called,  very  few  shall  have  the  reward. 


732  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE  > 


We  can,  then,  return  to  God  at  any  age, 
and  he  grants  to  those  who  give  themselves 
to  him  in  their  declining  days  the  same  re¬ 
ward  as  to  those  who  have  begun  to  serve 
him  even  from  early  youth.  The  reward 
is  the  same,  although  unequal  in  degree, 
in  proportion  to  the  time  which  the  indi¬ 
vidual  shall  have  spent  in  his  service  ;  al¬ 
though  it  may  also  happen,  that  those  who 
have  begun  late  equal  by  their  fervor,  or 
even  surpass  many  who  have  toiled  from 
the  morning  of  their  life.  Such  are  the 
consoling  truths  which  Christ  in  this  para¬ 
ble  proposes  to  sinners,  and  the  sense  in 
which  it  is  usually  expounded.  But  what 
of  the  murmuring  of  the  first  comers?  As 
all  are  rewarded,  they  are  all  just  and 
blessed  ;  and  it  is  certain  that  in  the  day 
of  retribution,  those  among  the  just  who 
have  been  least  favored,  far  from  reproach¬ 
ing  our  Lord  with  the  inequality  of  his 
favors,  will,  on  the  contrary,  bless  and 
applaud  him.  This  warrants  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  it  to  the  two  races.  The  Jews,  if 
you  compare  people  to  people,  had  been 
called  from  the  time  of  Abraham,  and  the 
Gentiles  were  called  only  by  the  apostles. 
Moreover,  if  we  compare  man  with  man, 
each  Jew  had  toiled  all  his  life  in  the  vine¬ 
yard  of  the  Lord.  Circumcised  from  his 
birth,  he  had  borne  the  yoke  of  the  law 
till  the  day  when  he  embraced  the  evan¬ 
gelical  law.  Then  he  received  in  baptism 
both  the  remission  of  his  sins  and  the 
quality  of  child  of  God  and  heir  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom.  But  a  Gentile  who 
became  converted,  received,  as  well  as  he, 
this  precious  penny.  From  the  midst  of 
pagan  horrors,  he  opened  his  eyes  to  the 


light  of  faith,  and  at  the  instant  became 
equal  to  the  children  of  the  promise. 
Murmurs  arose  amongst  the  Jews  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  this  equality  which  they  had 
never  anticipated,  and  could  not  behold 
without  envy.  Discontent  might  ulti¬ 
mately  have  driven  them  from  the  Church, 
or  prevented  their  entering  it,  if  these 
two  parables  had  not  prepared  them  ;  for 
both  have  the  same  object.  But  if  they 
tend  to  the  same  end,  they  do  so  by  dif¬ 
ferent  paths.  That  of  the  first  parable 
shows  the  paternal  love  which  God  enter¬ 
tains  towards  all  men,  without  excepting 
those  who  have  wandered  farthest  from 
his  ways.  The  second  shows  his  perfect 
independence  in  the  distribution  of  his 
graces,  with  no  reason  for  preference  but 
his  own  good  pleasure. 

This  occurred  in  Judea  beyond  the  Jor¬ 
dan,  where  Jesus  then  was.  He  was  on 
his  way  towards  Jerusalem  ;  but  as  it  was 
his  design  not  to  reach  the  city  until  the 
approach  of  the  feast  of  the  Pasch,  he 
proceeded  very  slowly,  teaching  on  the 
way,  and  curing  the  sick.  It  is  even  ap¬ 
parent  that  he  prolonged  his  stay  in  the 
places  in  which  he  had  resolved  to  diffuse 
still  more  light  and  grace,  when  on  a  sud¬ 
den  he  was  called  almost  to  the  walls  of 
the  capital,  by  the  sickness  and  death  of 
Lazarus,  whose  resurrection  must  be  re¬ 
garded  as  one  of  the  most  memorable 
events  of  this  history,  not  only  because  it 
was  the  greatest  miracle  which  Christ  per¬ 
formed  during  his  whole  life,  but  on  ac¬ 
count  of  its  consequences ;  for  we  may 
consider  it  as  the  proximate  cause  of  our 
Saviour’s  death.  Too  plain  to  leave  any 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


733 


room  for  their  wicked  subtleties,  this  mir¬ 
acle  drove  his  enemies  to  extremes,  and  to 
them  there  now  remained  no  course  ex¬ 


cept  either  to  adore  him  or  to  crucify  him. 
Between  these  two  extremes  envy  neypr 
hesitated. 


f  S;V/  ' 


v  • 

CHAPTER  XL VI. 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  LAZARUS.— FIRST  COUNCIL  AGAINST  JESUS  CHRIST.— CAIPHAS  PROPH¬ 
ESIES.— JESUS  RETIRES  TO  EPHREM. 


“  \  T  OW  there  was  a  certain  man  sick, 
named  Lazarus,  of  Bethania,  of 
the  town  of  Mary,  and  of  Martha,  her 
sister.  Mary  was  she  that  anointed  the 
Lord  with  ointment,1  and  wiped  his  feet 
with  her  hair,  whose  brother  Lazarus  was 
sick.  His  sister,  therefore,  sent  to  Jesus, 

(‘ )  The  Church,  in  the  Office  of  Saint  Magda¬ 
len,  makes  only  one  and  the  same  person  of  her 
whom  some  would  fain  make  two,  and  even  three 
different  persons.  On  both  sides  it  is  merely  an 
opinion  ;  but  we  may  say  that  the  opinion  of  those 
who  multiply  the  Marys  has  in  its  favor  neither  so 
decisive  a  reason,  nor  so  respectable  an  authority, 
as  the  authority  we  have  just  cited. 

( * )  This  is,  according  to  the  Fathers,  the  model 
of  perfect  prayer.  It  consists  in  the  simple  ex¬ 
pression  of  want,  accompanied  by  a  firm  confidence 
in  God.  This  confidence  is  based  on  the  knowl¬ 
edge  which  we  have  of  the  goodness,  power,  and 
wisdom  of  God.  By  his  goodness  he  wishes  well 
to  us;  by  his  power  he  is  enabled  to  do  us  good; 
by  his  wisdom  he  discerns  what  is  most  advan¬ 
tageous  to  us.  This  produces  resignation,  happen 
what  may,  because  he  knows  better  than  we  what 
is  necessary  for  us. 

(*  * )  Death  cuts  off  forever  from  the  society  of 
the  living.  That  of  Lazarus  was  not  to  have  this 
effect.  In  this  sense  his  sickness  is  not  unto  death. 


saying  :  Lord,  behold,  he  whom  thou  lov- 
est  is  sick.2  And  Jesus,  hearing  it,  said 
to  them  :  This  sickness  is  not  unto  death  ;8 
but  for  the  glory  of  God,  that  the  Son  of 
God  may  be  glorified  by  it.  Now  Jesus 
loved  Martha,  and  her  sister  Mary,  and 
Lazarus.4  When  he  had  heard,  therefore, 

(4)  Jesus  Christ,  as  God,  loved  men  from  all 
eternity :  as  man,  he  has  loved  them  from  the  in¬ 
stant  of  his  conception,  with  that  supernatural 
love  of  charity  which  has  God  alone  for  its  motive 
and  its  end.  It  is  known  that  he  had  these  two 
species  of  love  for  Martha,  her  sister  Mary,  and 
their  brother  Lazarus ;  and  that,  too,  with  the 
predilection  which  he  entertains  towards  the  saints 
and  the  predestined.  But  as  man,  he  might  enter¬ 
tain  various  other  sorts  of  love,  natural  love, 
founded  upon  kindred,  familiarity,  sympathy,  etc. ; 
love  of  esteem  and  complacency,  founded  upon 
upright  inclinations  and  virtuous  morals  ;  love  of 
gratitude,  founded  upon  the  attachment  evinced 
towards  him.  He  did  not  entertain  these  latter 
varieties  of  love  for  all  men ;  but  he  might  have 
entertained  them  towards  those  in  whom  he  found 
cause:  such  were  Lazarus  and  his  two  sisters.  We 
thus  have  the  sense  in  which  it  is  here  stated  that 
he  loved  them,  that  is  to  say,  that  he  entertained 
a  particular  friendship  for  them. 


1 

734  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

that  he  was  sick,  he  still  remained  in  the 

us  also  go,  that  we  may  die  with  him.5  So 

same  place  two  days  ;  then  after  that  he 

Jesus  came,6  and  found  that  he  had  been 

said  to  his  disciples  :  Let  us  go  into  Judea 

four  days  already  in  the  grave.7  Now, 

again.  The  disciples  say  to  him  :  Rabbi, 

Bethania  was  near  Jerusalem,  about  fifteen 

the  Jews  but  just  now  sought  to  stone 

furlongs  off;  and  many  of  the  Jews  were 

thee;  and  goest  thou  thither  again  ?  Je- 

come  to  Martha  and  Mary,  to  comfort 

sus  answered  :  Are  there  not  twelve  hours 

them  concerning  their  brother.  Martha, 

of  the  day  ?  If  a  man  walk  in  the  day, 

therefore,  as  soon  as  she  heard  that  Jesus 

he  stumbleth  not,1  because  he  seeth  the 

was  come,  went  to  meet  him  ;  but  Mart7- 

light  of  this  world  ;  but  if  he  walk  in  the 

sat  at  home.  Martha  said  to  Jesus  :  Lord, 

night,  he  stumbleth,  because  the  light  is 

if  thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had 

not  in  him.  These  things  he  said  ;  and 

not  died  ; 8  but  now  also  I  know  that  what- 

after  that  he  said  to  them  :  Lazarus,  our 

soever  thou  wilt  ask  of  G-od,  God  will  give 

friend,  sleepeth  ;  but  I  go,  that  I  may 

it  thee.  And  Jesus  saith  to  her  :  Thy 

awake  him  out  of  sleep.  His  disciples, 

brother  shall  rise  again.  Martha  said  to 

therefore,  said  :  Lord,  if  he  sleep,  he  shall 

him  :  I  know  that  he  shall  rise  again  in 

do  well.  But  Jesus  spoke  of  his  death, 

the  resurrection,  at  the  last  day.  Jesus 

and  they  thought  that  he  spoke  of  the  re- 

said  to  her  :  I  am  the  resurrection  and 

pose  of  sleep  ;  then,  therefore,  Jesus  said 

the  life;9  he  that  believeth  in  me,  al- 

to  them  plainly  :  Lazarus  is  dead,  and  I 

though  he  be  dead,  shall  live  ;10  and  every 

am  glad,  for  your  sake,2  that  I  was  not 

one  that  liveth,  and  believeth  in  me,  shall 

there,3  that  you  may  believe  ;  but  let  us 

not  die  forever.  Believest  thou  this  ?  She 

go  to  him.  Then  Thomas,  who  is  called 

saith  to  him  :  Yea,  Lord.  I  have  be- 

Didymus,4  said  to  his  fellow-disciples  :  Let 

lieved  that  thou  art  Christ,  the  Son 

( 1 )  It  is  a  figurative  mode  of  saying :  the  time 

come  from  a  greater  distance,  and  even  from  be- 

when  I  have  resolved  to  die  is  not  yet  come;  until 

yond  the  Jordan,  is  shown  by  this  expression:  “  Let 

then  I  have  nothing  to  fear  for  myself.  Thus  it 

us  go  into  Judea,”  for  one  who  was  in  Jericho  was 

was  that  Christ  sent  word  to  Herod:  “I  must 

in  Judea. 

walk  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and  the  day  follow- 

( ’ )  It  follows  from  this  that  Lazarus  had  been 

ing”  (St.  Luke  xiii.  33),  as  he  said  to  those  who 

interred  the  very  day  of  his  death. 

came  to  arrest  him  :  ‘‘This  is  your  hour  and  the 

( * )  Imperfect  faith.  Jesus  Christ,  from  a  dis- 

power  of  darkness.”  (St.  Luke  xxii.  53.) 

tance,  might  hinder  him  from  dying,  as  well  as  if 

( 2 )  That  you  may  be  confirmed  in  the  faith. 

near. 

( 8 )  He  was  there  as  God,  but  he  speaks  as 

( • )  He  raises  Martha  to  higher  thoughts  :  she 

man. 

believed  that  she  had  only  to  ask  in  order  to  ob- 

( 4 )  Thomas  in  Hebrew  signifies  Twin,  as  Did- 

tain.  He  informs  her  that  she  does  not  even 

ymus  does  in  Greek. 

require  to  ask. 

( 8 )  He  spoke  this  sincerely  and  from  his  heart, 

('")  He  who  is  dead  shall  live,  that  is  to  say, 

and  not  ironically,  as  some  injudiciously  assert. 

that  he  shall  recover  life  by  the  resurrection.  He 

( 8 )  After  two  days’  march.  He  was  not,  then, 

who  lives  shall  not  die  forever,  because  he  shall 

at  Jericho,  as  some  moderns  assert.  That  he  had 

die  only  in  order  to  rise  again. 

1 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


735 


of  the  living  God,  who  art  come  into  this 
world.1  And  when  she  had  said  these 
things,  she  went,  and  called  her  sister 
Mary  secretly,  saying :  The  Master  is 
come,  and  calleth  for  thee.  She,  as  soon 
as  she  heard  this,  riseth  quickly,  and 
cometh  to  him  ;  for  Jesus  was  not  yet 
come  into  the  town,  but  he  was  still  in 
that  place  where  Martha  had  met  him. 

“  The  Jews,  who  were  with  her2  in  the 
house,  and  comforted  her,  when  they  saw 
Mary  that  she  rose  up  speedily,  and  went 
out,  followed  her,  saying  :  She  goeth  to 
the  grave  to  weep  there.  When  Mary, 
therefore,  was  come  where  Jesus  was, 
seeing  him,  she  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and 
saith  to  him  :  Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been 
here,  my  brother  had  not  died.  When 
Jesus,  therefore,  saw  her  weeping,  and  the 
Jews  that  were  come  with  her  weeping, 
he  groaned  in  the  spirit,  and  troubled  him¬ 
self,  and  said  :  Where  have  you  laid  him  ? 
They  said  to  him  ;  Lord,  come  and  see. 
And  Jesus  wept.3  The  Jews,  therefore, 
said  :  Behold  how  lie  loved  him.  But 
some  of  them  said  :  Could  not  he  that 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  man  born  blind, 
have  caused  that  this  man  should  not  die  ? 
Jesus,  therefore,  again  groaning  in  him¬ 
self,  cometh  to  the  sepulchre  :  now,  it  was 


( 1  )  This  is  the  confession  of  Saint  Peter.  Mar¬ 
tha  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  woman  who  is 
known  to  have  made  it.  The  whole  faith  is  com¬ 
prised  in  it,  but  this  faith  was  not  as  yet  entirely 
developed. 

( * )  Mary  remained  in  the  company  of  those  who 
came  to  condole  with  her. 

( ’ )  To  weep  with  those  who  weep  is,  according 
to  Saint  Paul,  a  duty  of  charity.  Christ  might 


a  cave,  and  a  stone  was  laid  over  it.  Je¬ 
sus  saith  :  Take  away  the  stone.4  Martha, 
the  sister  of  him  that  was  dead,  saith 
unto  him  :  Lord,  by  this  time  he  stinketh, 
for  he  is  now  of  four  days.  Jesus  saith  to 
her  :  Did  not  I  say  to  thee,  that  if  thou 
wilt  believe,  thou  shalt  see  the  glory  of 
God  ?  They  took,  therefore,  the  stone 
away,  and  Jesus  lifting  up  his  eyes,  said  : 
Father,  I  give  thee  thanks  that  thou  hast 
heard  me.  And  I  knew  that  thou  hearest 
me  always,  but  because  of  the  people  who 
stand  about,  I  have  said  it,  that  they  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me.  When  he 
had  said  these  things,  he  cried  with  a  loud 
voice  :  Lazarus,  come  forth  !  And  pres¬ 
ently  he  that  had  been  dead  came  forth, 
bound  feet  and  hands  with  winding-bands, 
and  his  face  was  bound  about  with  a  nap¬ 
kin.  Jesus  said  to  them  :  Loose  him,  and 
let  him  go.  Many,  therefore,  of  the  Jews 
who  were  come  to  Mary  and  Martha,  and 
had  seen  the  things  that  Jesus  did,  be¬ 
lieved  in  him  :  but  some  of  them  went  to 
the  Pharisees,  and  told  them  the  things 
that  Jesus  had  done.”  (St.  John  xi.  1-46.) 

Did  these  Jews,  who  went  and  told  of  this 
prodigy,  belong  to  the  great  mass  of  those 
who  believed,  or  to  the  small  number  of  the 
unbelievers?  This  is  uncertain.  More 


also  weep  at  the  sight  of  human  miseries,  and  it 
was  not  unworthy  of  him  to  shed  tears  at  the 
death  of  his  friend. 

( 4 )  Christ  might  miraculously  raise  the  stone, 
but  he  did  not  wish  to  do  so ;  1st.  Because  human 
means  being  sufficient,  the  miracle  was  useless. 
2d.  Because  the  fetid  odor  from  the  corpse,  by 
making  his  death  indubitable,  prevented  all  doubt 
as  to  the  miraculous  character  of  the  resurrection. 


736  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


scandalized  at  this  resurrection  than  they 
would  have  been  if  they  had  received  in¬ 
formation  that  our  Saviour  had  just  com¬ 
mitted  a  murder,  “  the  chief  priests, 
therefore,  and  the  Pharisees  gathered  a 
council,  and  said  :  What  do  we,”  and  what 
are  we  thinking  about?  “this  man  doth 
many  miracles.”  Remark  that  they  do 
not  call  him  a  blasphemer,  nor  a  seducer 
of  the  people,  nor  rebellious  to  the  law 
or  to  the  authority  of  the  Caesars.  This 
was  all  well  enough  to  say  to  the  masses  ; 
but  they  knew  so  well  in  their  own  hearts 
that  such  charges  could  not  be  justly 
brought  against  our  Saviour,  that  to  use 
that  language  when  speaking  among  them¬ 
selves,  would  be  exposing  thtmselves  to 
be  considered  as  silly  as  the  populace 
upon  whom  they  sought  to  impose  it. 
“  For  this  man  doth  many  miracles  ” — 
behold  his  crime !  in  the  eyes  of  these 
proud  men.  This  makes  them  add  :  “If 
we  let  him  alone  so,  all  will  believe  in 
him.” 

Here  we  see  the  reason  why,  instead  of 
this  personal  interest  which  they  dared 
not  avow,  they  alleged  the  interest  of  the 
public,  and  the  state  threatened  with  im¬ 
pending  ruin,  if  an  opposition  were  not 
organized  against  the  progress  of  so  dan¬ 
gerous  a  man,  “  and  the  Romans  will 

( 1 )  This  is  the  prophecy  of  what  really  oc¬ 
curred  to  them  for  not  having  believed  in  Christ, 
and  for  having  put  him  to  death. 

(  5 )  Prophecy,  the  gift  of  pronouncing  oracles, 
is  attached  to  dignity,  and  not  to  merit.  It  became, 
the  wisdom  of  God  that  such  should  be  the  case, 
because  we  always  know  where  dignity  exists,  and 
we  can  never  be  sure  where  virtue  does.  (See 
Malachi  ii.  7.) 


come  and  take  away  our  place  and 
nation.” 1 

It  seems  then  that  they  exchanged 
glances,  and  that  by  these  looks  they 
asked  each  other  for  the  fatal  word, 
which  no  one  had  the  boldness  to  utter  ; 
when,  “  one  of  them,  named  Caiphas, 
being  the  high-priest  for  that  year,  said 
to  them :  You  know  nothing,  neither 
do  you  consider  that  it  is  expedient  for 
you  that  one  man  should  die  for  the  peo¬ 
ple,  and  that  the  whole  nation  perish  not.” 
(St.  John  xi.  47-50.) 

This  wicked  man  meant  only  that  we 
should  make  no  scruple  of  sacrificing  an 
innocent  man  to  our  own  interest ;  but 
his  words  also  contained  a  mysterious  and 
profound  meaning  which  he  did  not  under¬ 
stand,  that  is.  that  the  world  was  to  be 
saved  only  by  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  first  meaning  was  his  own  ;  the  second 
was  that  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  put  in 
his  mouth  words  which  enounced  this 
great  truth.  To  this  second  meaning  is  it 
said  that  “this  he  spoke  not  of  himself; 
but  being  the  high-priest  of  that  year,2  he 
prophesied  that  Jesus  should  die  for  the 
nation,  and  not  only  for  the  nation,  but  to 
gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God 
that  were  dispersed.”3 

But  the  murderous  meaning,  the  only 

( a )  In  order  to  gather  from  all  parts  of  earth 
into  one  Church  all  the  children  of  God;  they 
were  not  as  yet  the  children  of  God,  and  they 
only  became  such  when  they  received  the  char¬ 
acter  by  baptism.  Jesus  Christ  was  also  to  die  for 
those  who  did  not  receive  him,  since  he  was  to  die 
for  all  men.  But  allusion  is  made  here  to  those 
only  to  whom  the  fruits  of  his  death  were 
applied. 


OP  OTTR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  737 

one  then  understood,  was  universally 
adopted.  “From  that  day,  therefore,  they 
devised  to  put  Jesus  to  death.”  We  see 
how  to  regard  the  formality  which  they 
pretended  to  observe  when  they  had  him 
in  their  power.  If  they  called  witnesses, 
it  was  all  for  the  purpose  of  deluding  the 
world,  for,  in  reality,  he  was  already  judged 
and  condemned  to  death  :  the  sentence  had 
anticipated  the  trial. 

The  hour  was  approaching,  but  had  not 
yet  come.  Jesus,  who,  in  order  to  exhibit 
his  power,  had  just  braved  the  fury  of  his 
enemies,  wished  also  to  give  his  disciples 
the  example  of  a  wise  timidity  and  a 
prudent  flight.  “  Wherefore  Jesus  walked 

no  more  openly  among  the  Jews  ;  but  he 
went  into  a  countrv  near  the  desert,  unto 
a  city  that  is  called  Ephrem,  and  there  he 
abode  with  his  disciples.  And  the  pasch 
of  the  Jews  was  at  hand,  and  many  from 
the  country  went  up  to  Jerusalem  before 
the  pasch  to  purify  themselves.  They 
sought,  therefore,  for  Jesus,  and  they  dis¬ 
coursed  one  with  another,  standing  in  the 
temple  :  What  think  you  that  he  is  not 
come  to  the  festival-day  ?  And  the  chief 
priests  and  the  Pharisees  had  given  a 
commandment,  that  if  any  man  knew 
where  he  was,  he  should  tell,  that  they 
might  apprehend  him.”  (St,  John  xi. 
51-56.) 

CHAPTE1 

HE  RETURNS  TO  JERUSALEM.— ZEAL  OF  THE  T'' 

TOLD  WITH  ITS  CIRCUMSTANCES.— AMBITIOUS 
OF  THE  OTHER  DISCIPLES,  AND  THE  INSTRL 
CHO.— A  BLIND  MAN  CURED.— ZACHEUS.—PAI 

“  T  T  came  to  pass  when  the  days  of  his 

X  assumption  were  accomplishing,  that 
Jesus  steadfastly  set  his  face  to  go  to  Jeru¬ 
salem.  And  he  sent  messengers  before 
his  facB  ”  to  announce  his  arrival  in  the 
places  through  which  he  should  pass. 
“And  going,  they  entered  into  a  city  of 
the  Samaritans,  to  prepare  for  him  ”  what 
was  necessary.  But  “  they  received  him 
not,  because  his  face  was  of  one  going  to 
Jerusalem!”  Now,  going  towards  Jeru- 

I  XL  VII. 

VO  DISCIPLES  REPRESSED.— THE  PASSION  FORE- 

3  CLAIM  OF  THE  SONS  OF  ZEBEDEE.— MURMURS 

rCTION  GIVEN  THEM.— PASSAGE  THROUGH  JERI- 

tABLE  OF  THE  TEN  POUNDS.— TWO  BLIND  MEN. 

salem,  at  the  time  of  the  Pasch,  was  more 
than  ever  to  avow  himself  a  Jew  and  an 
anti-Samaritan.  “  When  his  disciples, 
James  and  John,  had  seen  this,”  unable  to 
endure  the  affront  cast  upon  their  Master, 
and  burning  with  the  desire  to  avenge 
him,  “  they  said  :  Lord,  wilt  thou  that  we 
command  fire  to  come  down  from  heaven, 
and  consume  them?  Jesus  turning,  re¬ 
buked  them,  saying  :  You  know  not  of  what 
spirit  you  are.1  The  Son  of  man  came  not 

(  1 )  They  did  not  yet  know  the  meek  spirit  of 

93 

the  Gospel,  and  they  speak  in  the  spirit  of  the  old 

3 

738  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

to  destroy  souls,1  but  to  save  ;  and  they  went 

The  disciples,  to  whom  Christ  repeated 

into  another  town.”  (St.  Luke  ix.  51-56.) 

this  prediction,  for  the  third  time,  “under- 

“  They  were  in  the  way  going  up  to  Je- 

stood  none  of  these  things,  this  word  was 

rusalem,  and  Jesus  went  before  them,  and 

hid  from  them,  and  they  understood  not 

they  were  astonished,  and  following,  were 

the  things  that  were  said.”  (St.  Luke  xviii. 

afraid.”  (St.  Mark  x.  32.)  The  animosity 

34.)  So  true  it  is  that  nothing  is  more 

of  the  Jews  made  the  disciples  always 

unintelligible  than  what  we  do  not  wish  to 

tremble  for  their  Master  and  themselves. 

understand,  nor  more  incredible  than  that 

The  conspiracies,  which  had  hitherto 

which  we  are  not  disposed  to  believe. 

failed,  might  at  length  succeed  ;  and  they 

But,  although  they  were  not  then  under- 

might  also  become  victims.  Jesus  Christ 

stood,  these  prophecies  were  not  useless. 

did  not  seek  to  dispel  this  fear.  He 

They  were  to  serve  in  diminishing  at  least 

would  rather  have  changed  it  into  certain- 

the  surprise  and  discouragement  of  the 

ty,  at  least  as  far  as  regarded  himself,  per- 

disciples  when  the  event  occurred,  and 

sonally,  had  they  been  capable  of  under- 

who  knows  but  it  was  this  that  sustained, 

standing  him.  For,  “  taking  unto  him  the 

or  revived,  the  courage  of  the  well-beloved 

twelve,  he  began  to  tell  them  the  things 

disciple  ?  Moreover,  the  prediction  of  his 

that  should  befall  him  :  Behold,  he  said  to 

death  was  a  certain  proof  that,  on  our 

them,  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  all 

Saviour’s  part,  his  death  was  perfectly 

things  shall  be  accomplished  which  were 

free  and  voluntary,  and  his  glory  required 

written  by  the  prophets  concerning  the 

that  there  should  be  no  doubt  as  to  it. 

Son  of  man.  He  shall  be  betrayed  to  the 

What  shows  clearly  that  the  disciples 

chief  priests,  to  the  scribes,  and  ancients. 

had  no  conception  of  the  meaning  of  their 

They  shall  condemn  him  to  death,  and  de- 

Master’s  discourse,  is  the  request  which 

liver  him  to  the  Gentiles.  They  shall 

two  of  the  most  cherished  had  the  bold- 

mock  him,2  and  spit  on  him,  and  scourge 

ness  to  make.  Even  at  this  very  juncture, 

him,  and  kill  him,  and  the  third  day  he 

when  he  had  just  closed  the  detail  of  his 

shall  rise  again.” 

future  humiliations,  in  a  manner  so  affect- 

law,  a  spirit  of  rigor.  However,  we  behold  in- 

or  bodies,  spoke  it  here  in  both  these  significa- 

stances  of  severity  under  the  G-ospel,  and  of  meek- 

tions. 

pess  under  the  old  law.  Peter,  by  his  word,  strikes 

( 2 )  They.  The  Gentiles  who  committed  the 

Ananias  and  Sapphira  dead  at  his  feet.  Eliseus 

greater  part  of  these  cruelties,  although  in  the  text 

sends  the  Syrians,  who  came  to  take  him,  back 

this  may  equally  and  justly  apply  to  the  Jews  also ; 

safe  and  sound,  after  providing  them  with  food. 

for  we  may  say  that  they  did  all  the  evil  which  they 

Thus  meekpess  is  only  the  predominant  quality 

caused.  They  scourged  our  Saviour,  and  crucified 

of  the  new  law,  as  rigor  was  that  of  the  old 

him  by  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles.  The  crime  of 

law. 

the  executioner  is  simple ;  he  is  only  guilty  of  the 

( 1 )  The  expression  “  to  destroy  souls,”  in  Scrip- 

execution.  That  of  the  author  is  double;  he  is 

ture,  refers  to  bodily  as  well  as  spiritual  life.  Jesus 

guilty  of  the  crime  which  he  commits  and  of  that 

Christ,  who  n^yer  did  aught  but  good  to  souls 

which  he  causes  to  be  committed. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  739 

ing,  and  so  capable  of  curing  them  of  all 
ambition,  “James  and  John,  the  sons  of 
Zebedee,  come  to  him,  saying  :  Master, 
we  desire  that  whatsoever  we  shall  ask 

thou  wouldst  do  it  for  us.  But  he  said  to 
them  :  What  would  you  that  I  should  do 
for  you  ?  And  they  said  :  Grant  to  us 
that  we  may  sit,  one  on  thy  right  hand, 
and  the  other  on  thy  left,1  in  thy  glory.” 
(St.  Mark  x.  35-37.)  Another  evangelist 
relates  the  transaction  in  a  different  way. 

“  Then  came  to  him  the  mother  of  the  sons 
of  Zebedee,  with  her  sons,  adoring,  and 
asking  something  of  him  :  who  said  to 
her  :  What  wilt  thou  ?  She  said  to  him  : 
Say  that  these,  my  two  sons,  may  sit,  the 
one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  the  other  on  thy 
left,  in  thy  kingdom.”  (St.  Matt.  xx.  20,  21.) 

The  request  is  the  same  ;  the  mother 
may  have  repeated  what  her  children  had 
said,  or  the  children  what  the  mother  had 
said  ;  or  else,  what  appears  most  likely, 

the  mother  alone  may  have  spoken,  in  the 
name  of  her  children.  In  the  same  way 
they  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  centurion  the 
prayer  which  his  messengers  made  in  his 
name,  to  ask  for  the  cure  of  his  servant. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  inasmuch  as  the  request 
regarded  the  two  brothers,  it  was  to  them 
that  Jesus  addressed  the  reply:  “You 
know  not,”  he  said  to  them,  “  what  you 
ask.  Can  you  drink  ot  the  chalice 2  that 

I  shall  drink,”  3  “or  be  baptized  where¬ 
with  I  am  baptized?”  We  can,4  “They 
say  to  him  :  We  can  :  He  saitli  to  them  : 

My  chalice  indeed  you  shall  drink,” 5 
“  and  with  the  baptism  wherewith  am  I 
baptized  you  shall  be  baptized  :  ”  “  but  to 
sit  on  my  right  hand  or  on  my  left  is  not 
mine  to  give,  but  to  them  for  whom  it  is 
prepared  by  my  Father.” 6  (St.  Matt.  xx. 
22-24  ;  St.  Mark  x.  38-40.) 

“  And  the  ten  hearing  it,  were  moved 
with  indignation  against  the  two  brethren,” 

( 1 )  Christ  had  promised  that  they  should  all  sit 
on  thrones  to  judge  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 
And  yet  these  poor  fishermen  were  not  yet  content. 
Being  promised  the  enjoyment  of  thrones,  each  of 
them  wished  to  have  the  first,  and  their  pride  was 
humbled  by  the  very  thought  that  they  might  see 
some  one  else  take  precedence  of  them.  Ambition  has 
no  limits.  It  always  ascends,  according  to  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  the  Psalmist.  'When  it  seems  to  confine  its 
pretensions  to  a  middle  rank,  the  reason  is  because 
this  rank  happens  to  be  the  only  -  one  within  its 
reach.  Ambition  is  ever  the  same,  as  strong  in  a  vil¬ 
lager  avIio  wishes  to  be  the  great  man  in  his  village, 
as  in  Caesar  desiring  to  rule  the  Roman  Empire. 

( a )  The  chalice  and  baptism  signify  the  passion 
of  our  Saviour.  In  Scripture,  the  word  chalice  is 
frequently  used  to  signify  sufferings.  Baptism,  in 
the  figurative  sense,  is  more  uncommon ;  it  is  sel¬ 
dom  appropriated  to  anything  but  the  passion,  in 

which  Jesus  Christ  was,  as  it  were,  bathed  in  waves 
of  his  own  blood. 

( * )  If  we  suffer  with  Christ,  says  Saint  Paul,  we 
shall  be  glorified  with  him.  It  is  in  this  sense 
above  all  others  that  they  did  not  know  what  they 
asked.  So  great  a  glory  could  not  be  conferred 
through  favor ;  it  could  only  be  the  reward  of  merit. 

( 4 )  That  is  to  say,  we  are  disposed  to  do  so.  It 
is  always  praiseworthy  to  make  good  resolutions, 
but  still  we  can  place  no  confidence  except  in  tried 
virtue. — (Ecclus.  xxxiv.  9.) 

( ‘ )  We  read  of  the  martyrdom  of  Saint  James 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Saint  John  died  a 
natural  death.  But  Domitian,  it  is  known,  caused 
him  to  be  plunged  into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil. 

He  came  forth  from  it  unharmed,  but  was  trans¬ 
ported  to  the  isle  of  Patmos,  where  he  suffered  a 
painful  exile. 

(‘)  Besides  that  these  places  shall  be  ad- 

740  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


“  James  and  John.”  This  furnished  an 
occasion  for  our  Saviour  to  give  to  them 
all  the  admirable  lesson  which  we  are 
about  to  hear.  “He  called  them  to  him, 
and  saith  to  them  :  You  know  that  the 
princes  of  the  G-entiles  lord  it  over  them  ; 
and  they  that  are  the  greater  exercise 
power  over  them.  It  shall  not  be  so 
among  you  :  but  whosoever  will  be  the 
greater  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minis¬ 
ter,  and  he  that  will  be  first  among  you, 
shall  be  your  servant ;  even  as  the  Son  of 
man  is  not  come  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a 
redemption  for  many.”  (St.  Matt.  xx. 
25-28  ;  St.  Mark  x.  42-45.) 

Jesus  had  already  more  than  once  de¬ 
clared  that  we  must  become  little  in  order 
to  become  great,  and  that  by  humility 
alone  can  we  attain  elevation.  This  les¬ 
son,  which  is  found  repeated  in  the  words 
which  he  has  just  pronounced,  is  not  the 
only  lesson  here  inculcated.  He  also  pre¬ 
sents  the  sole  motive  which  can  make  it 
lawful  to  desire  authority,  that  of  serving 
our  fellow-men  ;  and  the  noblest  use  which 
man  can  make  of  it  is  to  exhaust  himself, 
and,  if  necessary,  sacrifice  himself  utterly 
and  entirely  for  those  whom  he  has  a  right 
to  command.  Nothing,  perhaps,  could 
show  it  better  than  this  comparison,  had 
not  our  Saviour  made  us  sensible  of  it  by 
another  much  more  affecting  and  persua¬ 
sive  example,  his  own.  During  the  three 

judged  to  merit  only,  a  special  choice  on  the  part  of 
God  is  necessary,  in  order  to  be  called  to  this  merit 
to  which  they  shall  be  adjudged.  Prom  all  eter¬ 
nity  this  choice  is  made  and  recorded  in  the  coun¬ 
cils  of  the  Most  High.  The  Son  and  the  Holy 


years  which  he  passed  with  his  disciples, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  he  refused 
their  services,  and  tendered  them  his  own. 
Although  the  evangelists  furnish  us  with 
no  details,  they  yet  say  enough  to  give  us 
to  understand  that  such  was  the  case.  If 
the  washing  of  the  feet  is  one  of  the  most 
signal  instances,  it  is  far  from  being  the 
only  one  ;  and  are  not  all  the  details  com¬ 
prised  in  that  single  assertion :  I  am 
“  not  come  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister  ?  ”  The  holy  Pope  Saint  Clement 
relates  from  his  master,  Saint  Peter,  that, 
when  the  holy  apostle  beheld  any  one 
asleep,  the  tears  immediately  started  to 
his  eyes.  When  asked  the  reason,  he  re¬ 
plied,  that  this  sight  recalled  to  his  remem¬ 
brance  his  dear  Master,  who,  whilst  they 
all  slept,  watched  for  them  all  ;  and  if  it 
so  happened  that  any  of  them  got  uncov¬ 
ered  whilst  sleeping,  or  tossed  his  poor 
bed,  he  carefully  covered  him  again,  and 
replaced  what  had  been  disturbed.  It  is 
lawful  to  desire  authority,  when  the  desire 
springs  from  the  sole  motive  of  charity. 
This  is,  to  the  letter,  desiring,  not  the 
glory,  but  the  “  good  work  of  the  office  of 
bishop  ”  (St.  Paul,  1  Tim.  iii.  1) — the  only 
thing  in  it  which  charity  allows  us  to  de¬ 
sire,  because  “  chari ty  is  not  ambitious  ;” 
whereas  the  desires  of  ambition  point  ex¬ 
clusively  towards  the  titles  and  prerog¬ 
atives  of  authority,  because  ambition  is 
anything  but  charitable. 

Ghost  have  no  less  a  part  in  it  than  the  Father. 
However,  Jesus  Christ  attributes  it  more  particu¬ 
larly  to  the  Father,  who,  in  the  Trinity,  is  the  first 
principle. 


OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  741 

Ephrera,  whither  our  Saviour  retired 
after  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus,  is  north¬ 
east  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  frontiers  of 
Judea  and  Samaria,  on  the  former  con¬ 
fines  of  Ephraim  and  Benjamin.  In  pro¬ 
ceeding  to  the  capital,  one  could  not  pass 
through  Jericho  without  turning  aside  to¬ 
wards  the  east.  “It  came  to  pass,  when 
he  drew  nigh  to  Jericho,  that  a  certain 
blind  man  sat  by  the  wayside,  begging. 
And  when  he  heard  the  multitude  passing 
by,  he  asked  what  this  meant.  They  told 
him  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  passing 
by:  and  he  cried  out,  saying:  Jesus,  Son 
of  David,  have  mercy  on  me.  They  that 
went  before  rebuked  him,1  that  he  should 
hold  his  peace  ;  but  he  cried  out  much 
more  :  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me. 
Jesus  standing,  commanded  him  to  be 
brought  unto  him  :2  and  when  he  was 
come  near,  he  asked  him,  saying  :  What 
wilt  thou  that  I  do  to  thee  ?  But  he  said  : 
Lord,  that  I  may  see.  And  Jesus  said  to 
him  :  Receive  thy  sight ;  thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole.  And  immediately  he 
saw  and  followed  him,  glorifying  God  ; 
and  all  the  people,  when  they  saw  it, 

gave  praise  to  God.”  (St.  Luke  xviii. 
35-43.) 

“  And  entering  in,  Jesus  walked  through 
Jericho”  with  the  accumulating  throng 
which  the  cure  of  the  blind  man  had  gath¬ 
ered  around  him.  “  And  behold,  there 
was  a  man  named  Zacheus,  who  was  the 
chief  of  the  publicans,  and  he  was  rich. 

He  sought  to  see  Jesus,  who  he  was,  and 
he  could  not  for  the  crowd,  because  he 
was  low  of  stature.  And  running  before, 
he  climbed  up  into  a  sycamore  tree,  that 
he  might  see  him  :3  for  Jesus  was  to  pass 
that  way.  When  Jesus  was  come  to  the 
place,  looking  up,  he  saw  him,  and  said  to 
him  :  Zacheus,  make  haste  and  come  down, 
for  this  day  I  must  abide  in  thy  house.” 
Zacheus  “  made  haste  and  came  down, 
and  received  him  with  joy.  And  when 
all  saw  it,  they  murmured,  saying  that  he 
was  gone  to  be  a  guest  with  a  man  that 
was  a  sinner.”  Little  knew  they  that,  by 
the  invisible  operation  of  grace,  he  whom 
they  thought  a  sinner  was  already  a  saint. 

“  But  Zacheus  standing,  said  to  the  Lord  : 
Behold,  Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give 
to  the  poor  ;4  and  if  I  have  wronged  any 

( 1 )  There  are  two  classes  with  whom  we  never 
find  Christ  agree,  those  who  censure  and  those 
who  repulse.  Nothing  is  less  conformable  to  his 
benignity  than  the  malignity  of  the  former,  nor  to 
his  meekness  than  the  harshness  of  the  latter. 

( a )  If  he  had  ceased  to  cry  out,  perhaps  our 
Saviour  would  not  have  approached,  and  he  would 
nave  remained  blind.  Those  who  wish  to  approach 
God  must  despise  the  remonstrances  of  wordlings. 

( * )  It  was  with  Zacheus  nearly  as  it  was  with 
the  blind  man.  When  the  crowd  hindered  the 
former  from  seeing  our  Saviour,  he  did  not  cease 
to  desire  it,  as  the  blind  man  did  not  cease  to  cry 

out,  although  it  appeared  he  was  not  at  first  heard. 

The  latter  disregarded  those  who  sought  to  silence 
him ;  and  Zacheus  did  not  hesitate  to  ascend  the 
sycamore,  a  proceeding  which  must  have  appeared 
highly  strange  in  a  man  of  his  station,  and  which 
might  easily  have  excited  the  shouts  of  the  popu¬ 
lace.  Perseverance  in  desire,  despite  of  obstacles, 
and  disregard  of  what  people  will  say  saved  them 
both. 

( 4 )  That  is  to  say,  I  will  give ;  according  to  the 
common  interpretation,  which  is  that  which  we 
follow.  Many  understand  it  in  the  present  tense. 
According  to  them,  Zacheus,  in  order  to  reply  to 

742 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


man  of  anything,  I  restore  him1  four-fold.9 
Jesus  said  to  him:  This  day  is  salvation 
come  to  this  house,3  because  he  also  is  a 
son  of  Abraham  ;4  for  the  Son  of  man  is 
come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.”  (St.  Luke  xix.  1-10.) 

So  remarkable  a  step  seemed  to  presage 
great  things,  and  the  minds  of  all,  and  es¬ 
pecially  of  the  disciples,  were  in  a  won¬ 
derful  expectation  of  what  was  to  follow. 
Jesus  still  labored  to  disabuse  them  of 
the  false  and  flattering  ideas  which  they 
found  it  so  difficult  to  lay  aside.  “As 
they  were  hearing  these  things,  he  added 

the  murmuring  of  the  Jews,  by  stating  what  he 
was  accustomed  to  do,  shows  that  he  is  not  so  great 
a  sinner  as  they  allege.  In  fact,  a  man  who  is  in 
the  habit  of  giving  to  the  poor  half  his  wealth, 
and  of  making  a  four-fold  reparation  for  the 
wrongs  he  may  inadvertently  commit,  is  surely  a 
good  mau  ;  therefore  Christ  could  not  say  that  the 
day  was  to  that  house  a  day  of  salvation.  Hence 
the  majority  of  interpreters  regard  his  words  as 
the  announcement  of  what  he  proposed  to  do.  See 
the  Abbe  de  Saint  Reals  Exposition  of  our  Sa¬ 
viour’s  Words  to  Zacheus. 

( 1 )  Restitution,  of  all  proofs  of  conversion  the 
most  necessary,  the  least  equivocal,  and  would  to 
God  that  we  were  not  obliged  to  add,  the  most 
rare ! 

( 2 )  It  Zacheus  reckoned  correctly,  it  follows  from 
his  words  that  at  least  seven-eighths  of  his  wealth 
was  lawfully  his.  We  see  by  that,  that  this  pub¬ 
lican  could  not  be  termed  one  of  the  leeches  of 
the  State. 

(*  * )  Like  master  like  house  is  the  general  rule. 
No  doubt  Zacheus,  who  apparently  had  scan¬ 
dalized  his  house,  was  henceforth  instrumental  in 
sanctifying  it. 

(  )  A  son  ot  Abraham,  although  a  publican, 
supposing  him  to  have  been  a  Jew.  This  as  an 
answer  to  the  prejudice  against  the  publicans, 
whom  the  Jews  seemed  no  longer  to  recognize  as 


and  spoke  a  parable,  because  he  was  nigh 
to  Jerusalem,  and  because  they  thought 
that  the  kingdom  of  Gfod  should  imme¬ 
diately  be  manifested  :  he  said,  therefore  • 
A  certain  nobleman  went  into  a  far  coun¬ 
try,  to  receive  for  himself  a  kingdom,  and 
to  return.  And  calling  his  ten  servants, 
he  gave  them  ten  pounds,5  and  said  to 
them  :  Trade  till  I  come.  But  his  citizens 
hated  him,  and  they  sent  an  embassage 
after  him,  saying:  We  will  not  have  this 
man  to  reign  over  us.6  And  it  came  to 
pass  that  he  returned,  having  received  the 
kingdom,  and  he  commanded  his  servants 

brethren.  A  son  of  Abraham  according  to  the 
spirit,  supposing  that  he  were  a  Gentile,  which 
should  have  convinced  them  that  a  man  is  much 
more  the  son  of  Abraham  by  faith  than  by 
blood. 

( 6 )  Ten  Pounds.  In  the  original  mnas.  The 
Jewish  mna  was  worth  about  twenty-five  dollars. 

( * )  It  was  not  to  him  that  the  deputation  was 
sent;  for  had  it  been,  the  deputies  would  have 
said:  We  will  not  have  you  for  our  king,  and  not, 
We  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign  over  us.  To 
whom,  therefore,  was  the  embassy  addressed  ?  To 
the  prince  from  whose  hands  this  man  was  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  crown;  for  the  country  over  which  he 
was  to  rule  as  king  was  that  from  which  he  set  out. 
By  this  we  see  the  allusion  of  the  parable;  and 
without  it  we  are  utterly  at  a  loss  to  know  what  it 
means.  Now  this  figure  was  quite  familiar  to  the 
Jews.  Their  princes  usually  went  to  Rome  to 
solicit  the  investiture  of  the  States.  Herod  the 
Great  had  been  there;  after  him  Archelaus  and 
other  princes.  Suppose  a  part  of  the  nation  should 
send  a  deputation  to  the  emperor,  to  declare  that 
they  did  not  wish  him  as  king;  that,  notwithstand¬ 
ing,  the  candidate  prevails;  that  he  returns,  and 
that  he  revenges  himself  upon  those  who  had  op¬ 
posed  his  pretensions  ;  then  we  shall  no  longer  find 
any  diflSculty  in  understanding  the  literal  sense  of 
the  parable. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


743 


to  be  called,  to  whom  he  had  given  the 
money,  that  he  might  know  how  much 
every  man  had  gained  by  trading.  And 
the  first  came,  saying :  Lord,  thy  pound 
hath  gained  ten  pounds.  And  he  said  to 
him:  Well  done,  thou  good  servant:  be¬ 
cause  thou  hast  been  faithful  in  a  little, 
thou  shalt  have  power  over  ten  cities. 
And  the  second  came,  saying :  Lord,  thy 
pound  hath  gained  five  pounds.  Be  thou 
also,  he  said  to  him,  over  five  cities.  An¬ 
other  came,  saying  :  Lord,  behold,  here  is 
thy  pound,  which  I  have  kept  laid  up  in  a 
napkin,1  for  I  feared  thee,  because  thou 
art  an  austere  man  :  thou  takest  up  what 
thou  didst  not  lay  down,2  and  thou  reapest 
that  which  thou  didst  not  sow.  And  he 
saitli  to  him  :  out  of  thy  own  mouth  I 
judge  thee,  thou  wicked  servant.  Thou 
knewest  that  I  was  an  austere  man,  taking 
up  what  I  laid  not  down,  and  reaping  that 
which  I  did  not  sow.  Why,  then,  didst 

( 1 )  To  make  this  money  productive,  it  was  ne¬ 
cessary  to  expose  it  to  some  risk.  However,  this 
was  not  a  valid  reason  for  leaving  it  idle.  Where- 
foi-e,  speaking  in  a  general  way,  we  are  bound  to 
make  available  the  talent  which  God  confides  to 
us  for  the  public  good,  although  there  be  danger. 
Otherwise,  there  would  be  no  preachers,  confes¬ 
sors,  or  pastors.  Where  an  individual  discerns  a 
proximate  occasion  of  losing  his  soul,  he  must  pre¬ 
fer  his  own  salvation  to  that  of  the  entire  world, 
for  “  What  doth  it  avail  a  man  to  gain  ”  even  for 
God  “the  whole  world,  if  he  lose  his  own 
soul ?  ” 

( * )  We  do  not  find  that  the  owner  required 
anything  from  those  to  whom  he  had  confided  noth¬ 
ing.  ne  was  not,  therefore,  such  as  the  bad  servant 
represented.  Bad  Christians  refuse  to  render  to  God 
what  they  owe  to  him,  because  God,  say  they,  ex¬ 
acts  more  than  can  be  paid  him.  If  they  speak 


thou  not  give  my  money  into  the  bank, 
that  at  my  coming  I  might  have  exacted  it 
with  usury  ?  And  he  said  to  them  that  stood 
by  :  Take  the  pound  away  from  him,  and 
give  it  to  him  that  hath  ten  pounds.  They 
said  to  him  :  Lord,  be  hath  ten  pounds.8 
But  I  say  to  you,  that  to  every  one  that 
hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  abound  ; 
and  from  him  that  hath  not,  even  that 
which  he  hath  shall  be  taken  from  him. 
But  as  for  those  my  enemies,  who  would 
not  have  me  reign  over  them,  bring  them 
hither,  and  kill  them  before  me.”  (St. 
Luke  xix.  11-27.) 

Jesus  was  shortly  to  depart  from  this 
world,  in  order  to  receive  from  the  hands 
of  his  Father  sovereign  dominion  over  the 
whole  earth.  The  Jews,  who  were  to  have 
been  his  first  subjects,  but  who,  on  the 
contrary,  were  to  become  his  murderers, 
filled  up  the  measure  of  their  crimes  by 
persisting  in  their  refusal  to  have  him  over 

truth,  God  is  a  tyrant ;  but  if  they  speak  falsehood, 
they  are  impious  men,  who  add  blasphemy  to  pre¬ 
varication.  But  it  does  not  occur  to  them  that 
this  criminal  apology  only  renders  them  inexcus¬ 
able.  For  if  God  be  so  severe  that  he  exacts  from 
us  more  than  we  can  do,  why  have  they  not  done 
at  least  what  they  could?  If  he  shall  punish 
those  who  do  not  perform  what  is  impossible,  how 
will  he  treat  those  who  shall  have  omitted  what  is 
possible  ?  This  regards  those  who  do  nothing  be¬ 
cause  of  the  alleged  impossibility  of  doing  all. 

(*  * )  Since  the  ten  pounds  were  still  his  own,  the 
master  left  him,  therefore,  sole  owner  of  them ;  he 
made  his  servants  work  for  their  profit,  and  not 
his  own.  God  leaves  us  all  the  profit  of  the  good 
which  we  do,  and  only  reserves  the  glory  for  him¬ 
self.  Wo  to  him  who  would  usurp  this  share  which 
belongs  to  God !  he  would  thereby  lose  the  whole 
profit 


744 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


them.  His  apostles,  and  the  first  faithful 
whom  they  put  to  death,  should  be,  as  it 
were,  the  deputies  whom  they  sent  to 
heaven  to  declare  that  their  resolution 
was  taken,  and  that  they  would  not  receive 
him  as  king.  On  a  future  day  he  is  to  re¬ 
turn  in  all  his  glory,  and  with  all  the 
power  which  belongs  to  supreme  author¬ 
ity  ;  then  citing  to  his  tribunal  these 
hardened  culprits,  he  will  force  them  at 
last  to  recognize  his  rights,  and  deliver 
them  over  to  the  executioners  of  his  eter¬ 
nal  vengeance.  This  day  is  the  last  judg¬ 
ment,  which  was  to  be  prefigured  by  one 
other  day  yet  to  come.  That  other  was 
when,  delivered  up  to  the  Eomans,  mil¬ 
lions  were  to  perish  by  fire  and  sword. 
Behold  the  principal  object  of  this  pro¬ 
phetic  parable.  Even  previous  to  the 
event,  the  meaning  of  the  parable  was 
very  plain,  because  we  here  see  clearly 
the  departure  of  this  king — the  Messias — 
for  a  foreign  land,  his  long  absence  and 
his  return,  signalized  by  chastisements, 
which  an  obstinate  rebellion  had  so  justly 
deserved.  The  account  rendered  by  his 
servants  is  not,  therefore,  an  integral  part. 
It  contains,  however,  instruction  for  Chris¬ 
tians,  and  for  the  Jews.  Jesus  Christ  in¬ 
forms  us  that  his  justice  will  not  confine 
itself  to  the  wreaking  of  vengeance  on 
those  who  denied  him,  but  that  it  will  also 
require  from  those  who  recognized  him  an 
exact  account.  He  further  informs  us  how 
munificently  he  will  reward  those  who 


have  made  these  goods  available,  and 
with  what  severity  he  shall  treat  those 
who  have  not  derived  any  profit  there¬ 
from.  What,  then,  doth  he  reserve  for 
those  who  shall  have  dissipated  and  de¬ 
stroyed  them  ? 

The  following  account  is  identified  by 
some  with  a  previous  incident.  Every¬ 
thing  is  similar  except  two  circumstances. 
The  first  speaks  only  of  one  blind  man 
cured,  and  the  second  mentions  two. 
Christ  meets  the  first  blind  man  before  his 
entry  into  Jericho,  and  the  cure  of  the 
two  others  is  placed  as  he  leaves  it.  How¬ 
ever,  we  would  rather  repeat  than  omit. 
“And  having  said  these  things,  he  went 
before,  going  up  to  Jerusalem.  When 
they  went  out  from  Jericho,  a  great  mul¬ 
titude  followed  him.  Two  blind  men,  one 
of  whom  was  Bartimeus  the  blind  man, 
the  son  of  Timeus,  sitting  by  the  wa}7side, 
heard  that  Jesus  passed  by,  and  they  cried 
out,  saying  :  0  Lord,  thou  Son  of  David, 
have  mercy  on  us.  The  multitude  re¬ 
buked  them  that  they  should  hold  their 
peace  ;  but  they  cried  out  the  more  :  0 
Lord,  thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 
us.  Jesus  stood,  and  called  them,  and 
said  :  What  will  ye  that  I  do  to  you  ?  They 
say  to  him  :  Lord,  that  our  eyes  be  open¬ 
ed.  And  Jesus  having  compassion  on  them, 
touched  their  eyes.  Immediately  they 
saw,  and  followed  him.”  (St.  Luke  xix. 
28 ;  St.  Matthew  xx.  29-34 ;  St.  Mark 
x.  46.) 


' 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  745 

CHAPTER  XLVffl. 

MARY  POURS  PRECIOUS  OINTMENT  OYER  JESUS  CHRIST.— MURMURING  OF  JUDAS  AND  THE 

APOSTLES.— DESIGN  OF  KILLING  LAZARUS.— TRIUMPHANT  ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM.— VEXA- 

TION  OF  THE  PHARISEES.— CHRIST  WEEPS  OYER  JERUSALEM.— THE  ACCURSED  FIG-TREE.— 

SELLERS  DRIVEN  OUT  OF  THE  TEMPLE.— FAITH  ALL-POWERFUL.— THE  GRAIN  OF  WHEAT.— 

JESUS  TROUBLED.— A  VOICE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

T  N  the  mean  time  the  day  was  approach- 

of  the  Sabbath  had  begun,  he  rested  there. 

ing  when  the  Lamb  of  God  was  to 

Those  who  loved  him  joyfully  availed 

wash  out  with  his  blood  the  sins  of  the 

themselves  of  this  occasion  to  show  their 

world,  and  that  innocent  victim  advanced 

attachment.  “  They  made  him  a  supper 

towards  the  altar  whereon  he  was  to  be 

there”  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  leper,* 

immolated  by  the  hands  of  sinners.  Con- 

apparently  one  of  those  public  entertain- 

tinuing  his  journey  towards  Jerusalem,  he 

ments  at  which  women  were  not  present. 

“  came  to  Bethania,  where  Lazarus  had 

Thus,  “  Martha  served,  but  Lazarus  was 

been  dead,  whom  Jesus  raised  to  life.” 

one  of  them  that  were  at  table  with  him.” 

This  small  town,  which  lay  upon  his  road, 

As  for  Mary,  she  again  chose  the  better 

was  only  a  little  more  than  one  league 

part,  and  testified  her  love  in  a  manner 

from  the  capital.  Jesus  arrived  there 

that  was  peculiar  to  herself.  “  She  took  a 

“six  days  before  the  pasch,”1  not  includ- 

pound  of  ointment  of  right  spikenard,8  of 

ing  the  day  of  his  arrival,  nor  that  of  the 

great  price,  and  anointed  the  feet  of  Jesus, 

pasch,  therefore  on  a  Friday  ;  and  as  he 

and  wiped  his  feet  with  her  hair ;  and 

arrived  towards  evening,  when  the  repose 

breaking  the  alabaster  box,4  she  poured  it 

(  *)  Saint  Matthew  represents  Jesus  Christ  as 

than  Mary)  watered  our  Lord’s  feet  with  her  tears. 

saying  to  his  disciples:  You  know  that  after  two 

He  is  termed  Simon  the  leper,  perhaps  because 

days  shall  be  the  pasch.  Some  have  sought  to  in- 

Jesus  cured  him  of  it ;  for  he  was  not  then  labor- 

fer  from  thence  that  there  were  two  anointings — 

ing  under  it,  since  he  was  allowed  to  eat  in  their 

one  occurring  two  days  before  the  pasch,  and  the 

company.  Or,  perhaps  this  may  have  been  a  fam- 

other  six  days  previous,  as  Saint  John  states.  Saint 

ily  name,  derived  from  the  fact  of  some  one  of  his 

Matthew,  relating  the  betrayal  by  Judas,  which 

ancestors  having  been  a  leper. 

was  planned  two  days  before  the  pasch,  takes  up 

( ’ )  Right  in  the  text,  pistici.  It  means  pure 

the  anointing  which  suggested  the  design  to  the 

ointment.  Saint  Mark  says  spicati,  which  signifies 

traitor.  The  murmurings  of  Judas  and  the  disci- 

ointment  extracted  from  the  ear,  because  the  best 

pies,  and  our  Saviour’s  answer,  which  are  in  both 

ointment,  in  point  of  fact,  was  extracted  from  the 

instances  exactly  the  same,  identify  the  occur- 

ear  of  this  plant. 

rence. 

( 4 )  To  break  the  vase  so  as  to  pour  out  the  very 

(’)  By  some  identified  with  Simon  the  Phari- 

last  drop  was  the  highest  honor  which  could  be 

Bee,  at  whose  house  this  sinful  woman  (no  other 

tendered. 

746  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

out  upon  his  head 1  as  he  was  at  table,  and 
the  house  was  filled  with  the  odor  of  the 
ointment.  Then  one  of  his  disciples,  Ju¬ 
das  Iscariot,  he  that  was  about  to  betray 
him,  said  :  Why  was  not  this  ointment  sold 
for  three  hundred  pence,  and  given  to  the 
poor?  Now  he  said  this,  not  because  he 
cared  for  the  poor,  but  because  he  was  a 
thief,  and  having  the  purse,  carried  the 
things  that  were  put  therein.”  (St.  John 
xii.  1-6  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  3  ;  St.  Matthew 
xxvi.  7.)  However,  the  reason  was  spe¬ 
cious,  and  the  disciples,  who  believed  it  to 
be  sincere,  led  by  a  spirit  of  charity, 
made  the  same  objection.  “There  were 
some  had  indignation  within  themselves,” 
after  his  example,  “  and  said,”  like  him  : 

“  Why  was  this  waste  of  the  ointment 
made  ?  For  this  ointment  might  have 
been  sold  for  more  than  three  hundred 
pence,  and  given  to  the  poor  ;  and  they 
murmured  against  her.” 

She  acted  right,  and  they  spoke  wrong. 

“And  Jesus  knowing  it,”  wished  at  the 
same  time  to  instruct  them  and  to  defend 
her.  Thus,  without  waiting  to  unmask 
the  traitor,  whose  reputation  he  carefully 
screened  until  the  very  end,  he  contented 
himself  with  refuting  Judas’s  reason.  He 
“  said  to  them,”  therefore,  addressing  his 
speech  to  all  :  “Why  do  you  trouble  this 
woman?  She  hath  wrought  a  good  work 
upon  me.2  For  the  poor  you  have  always 
with  you,  and  whensoever  you  will  you 
may  do  them  good  ;  but  me  you  have  not 
always.  What  she  had  she  hath  done  ; 
for  she,  in  pouring  this  ointment  upon  my 
body,  hath  done  it  for  my  burial  ;3  she  is 
come  beforehand  to  anoint  my  body  for  the 
burial.  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  wheresoever 
this  Grospel  shall  be  preached  in  the  whole 
world,  that  also  which  she  hath  done  shall 
be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her.4  (St.  Mark 
xiv.  4-9  ;  St.  Matthew  xxvi.  10-12.) 

( 1 )  Saint  Matthew  and  Saint  Mark  speak  only 
of  anointing  the  head,  and  Saint  John  only  of  the 
feet:  Mary  performed  both ;  but  the  two  evange¬ 
lists  only  state  what  was  usually  done,  and  the 
third  what  was  peculiar  to  this  saintly  woman. 

( a )  There  are  times  when  even  the  sacred  ves¬ 
sels  must  be  sold  to  feed  the  poor.  It  is  always 
good,  and  sometimes  even  better,  to  make  one  s 
pious  gifts  subservient  to  the  honor  of  Christ  by 
the  decoration  of  his  altars.  This  opinion  is  that 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  contrary  opinion  has  Ju¬ 
das  for  its  author. 

If  it  be  true,  as  every  one  admits,  that  the  deco¬ 
rum  of  external  worship  serves  to  foster  and  to 
augment  piety,  we  must  infer  from  thence  that  to 
contribute  thereto  is  giving  spiritual  alms. 

( a )  We  read  in  Saint  John,  “  Let  her  alone,  that 
she  may  keep  it  against  the  day  of  my  burial, 
which  can  be  understood:  Do  not  be  displeased  at 

her  having  kept  this  perfume  for  my  burial;  for 

Jesus  Christ  could  not  say  that  they  should  let  her 
retain  for  a  future  purpose  what  he  then  approved 
of  her  pouring  out.  This  sense  which  we  give  to 
the  words  of  Saint  John  is  the  sense  of  the  two 
other  evangelists,  Saint  Matthew  and  Saint  Mark. 

Our  Saviour  says  that  Mary  had  kept  this  perfume 
for  his  burial,  inasmuch  as  he  was  upon  the  point  of 
dying.  He  knew  that  after  his  death  she  would 
wish  to  embalm  him,  but  that  she  should  be  pre¬ 
vented  from  doing  so  by  his  resurrection.  Now, 
he  wished  that  she  should  have  the  consolation  of 
having  rendered  this  duty  to  him  before  his  death, 
since  she  could  not  do  it  afterwards .  it  is  thus 
that  she  has  embalmed  his  body  beforehand. 

( 4 )  The  most  vaunted  exploits  of  heroes  have 
never  been  celebrated  so  highly  nor  yet  so  univer¬ 
sally  as  this  action  of  Mary.  The  glory  which  she 
reaps  from  it  upon  earth  is  but  the  shadow  of  that 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


747 


The  prophecy  is  fulfilled,  and  the  fame 
of  this  action  has .  resounded  to  the  very 
extremities  of  the  earth.  Those  who  cen¬ 
sured  it  at  first  have  been  themselves  its 
heralds.  By  consigning  it  in  after  times 
to  the  holy  books,  they  have  immortalized 
its  memory.  All  ages  have  known  and 
shall  know  it :  the  most  eloquent  tongues 
have  eulogized  and  shall  eulogize  it,  even 
until  the  end  of  time.  The  more  incon¬ 
siderable  the  thing  may  appear  in  itself, 
the  more  miraculous  is  the  accomplishment 
of  the  prophecy. 

We  have  this  proof,  which  the  Jews 
had  not.  They  had  another,  but  which  was 
much  more  striking  for  them  than  for  us,  in¬ 
asmuch  as  we  are  always  much  more  struck 
by  what  we  see  :  that  was  the  resurrection 
of  Lazarus,  which  occurred  in  a  place  and 
at  a  time  which  served  to  heighten  the 
lustre  of  this  miracle.  It  took  place,  as 
it  were,  at  the  very  gates  of  Jerusalem, 
and  at  a  time  when  the  approach  of  the 
pasch  had  attracted  to  that  great  city  an 
innumerable  multitude  of  Jews,  of  all  na¬ 
tions.  “  A  great  multitude,  therefore,  of 
the  Jews  knew  that  he  was  there  ;  and 
they  came  not  for  Jesus’  sake  only,  but 
that  they  might  see  Lazarus,  whom  he  had 
raised  from  the  dead.” 

This  sight  produced  the  effect  which 
might  be  expected,  it  brought  conviction 
to  every  mind.  Those  whose  hearts  were 
good  yielded  at  once  to  the  evidence  be¬ 
fore  them,  and  became  faithful.  Those 
whose  hearts  were  wicked  and  hardened 

which  Blie  shall  eternally  reap  in  heaven.  Thus 
shall  be  honored  whom  the  King  of  Glory  hath  a 
mind  to  honor.  (Esther  vi.) 


recognized  the  truth,  in  the  only  way  by 
which  the  wicked  do  recognize  truth  which 
is  odious  to  them,  by  increased  rage  and 
crimes.  They  decided  upon  annihilating 
evidence  which  they  could  not  contest ; 
and  having  resolved  upon  the  death  of 
Jesus,  “the  chief  priests  thought  to  kill 
Lazarus  also,  because  many  of  the  Jews, 
by  reason  of  him,  went  awajq  and  believed 
in  Jesus.”  (St.  John  xii.  9.) 

The  most  brilliant  day  of  our  Saviour’s 
mortal  life,  that  day  on  which  he  was  to 
be  publicly  acknowledged  as  the  Messias 
and  King  of  Israel,  at  last  arrived.  His 
glory  required  that  the  mass  of  the  people 
should  express  that  recognition  ;  and  if,  in 
the  end,  that  same  majority  should  repudi¬ 
ate  him  the  nation  stands  self-condemned. 
The  people  were  brought  to  this  demon¬ 
stration,  not  by  emissaries  sent  to  solicit 
their  suffrages  ;  Jesus  did  not  employ  a 
single  one  of  those  means,  all  of  which 
were  employed  against  him  :  his  virtues, 
his  doctrine,  and  still  more,  his  miracles, 
spoke  alone  in  his  favor  ;  above  all,  the 
resurrection  of  Lazarus,  a  recent  occur¬ 
rence,  actually  before  their  eyes.  Such 
were  his  credentials,  and  the  proximate 
causes  of  his  triumph.  But  let  no  one 
expect  to  find  here  the  pomp  usual  in 
princely  triumphs.  All  harmonizes  with 
the  character  of  him  who  said  of  himself 
that  he  was  meek  and  humble  of  heart. 
His  enemies  could  not  charge  that  he 
aspired  to  royalty,  for  kings  seldom  enter 
a  city  as  he  entered  Jerusalem.  Not  that 
his  equipage  was  low  or  mean  ;  it  was 
merely  simple  and  modest. 

The  sabbath  rest  obliged  Jesus  to  spend 


748  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

the  whole  day  in  Bethania.  “The  next 

He  spoke  as  a  prophet  and  commanded 

day  ”  (St.  John  xii.  12),  which  was  the 

as  a  master.  By  this  trait,  we  see  that 

first  day  of  the  week,  he  proceeded  on  his 

his  divinity  disclosed  itself  even  in  the 

journey  with  his  retinue.  “  When  they 

smallest  actions.  The  accomplishment  of 

drew  nigh  to  Jerusalem,  and  were  come  to 

the  prophecies  was  a  still  clearer  proof ; 

Bethphage,  unto  Mount  Olivet,  Jesus  sent 

“  for  all  this  was  done  that1  it  might  be 

two  of  his  disciples,  saying  to  them :  Go 

fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet,3 

ye  unto  the  village  that  is  over  against 

saying:  Tell  ye  the  daughter  of  Zion  :  be- 

you,  and  immediately  at  your  coming  in 

hold,  thy  king  cometh  to  thee,  meek,  and 

thither  you  shall  find  an  ass  tied,  and  a 

sitting  upon  an  ass,  and  a  colt,  t*he  foal  of 

colt  with  her,  upon  which  no  man  yet  hath 

her  that  is  used  to  the  yoke.  The  dis- 

sat.  Loose  him,  and  bring  him  to  me. 

ciples  went  their  way,  and  did  as  Jesus 

And  if  any  man  shall  ask  you :  Why  do 

commanded  them.  They  found  the  colt, 

you  loose  him  ?  you  shall  say  thus  unto 

as  he  had  said  unto  them,  tied  before  the 

him  :  Because  the  Lord  hath  need  of  his 

gate  without,  in  the  meeting  of  the  two 

service  ;  and  immediately  he  will  let  him 

ways,  and  they  loose  him.  As  they  were 

come  hither.”  (St.  Matthew  xxi.  1-5  ;  St. 

loosing  the  colt,  the  owners  thereof  said 

Mark  xi.  2,  3 ;  St.  Luke  xix.  31.) 

unto  them :  Why  loose  you  the  colt  ? 

( 1 )  Jesus  Christ  did  not  perform  the  act  be- 

results  from  the  aggregate,  there  are  prophecies 

cause  the  performance  thereof  had  been  foretold, 

which  prove  by  themselves,  inasmuch  as  imposition 

but  the  act  had  been  foretold  because  he  was  to 

could  never  adapt  itself  to  them.  Such  are  the 

perform  it.  What  proves  that  Christ  is  the  true 

principal  circumstances  of  our  Saviour’s  passion, 

Messias,  is  not  his  having  entered  Jerusalem  mount- 

described  as  exactly  by  the  prophets  as  by  the 

ed  upon  an  ass,  but  his  having  accomplished  the 

evangelists — his  flagellation,  his  crucifixion,  his 

prophecy  which  announced  that  the  Messias  should 

thirst  quenched  with  vinegar  and  gall,  his  clothes 

so  enter  into  Jerusalem. 

being  divided,  and  the  casting  lots  for  his  tunic ; 

The  Jews  themselves  acknowledge  that  this 

his  side  pierced ;  his  bones  being  entirely  preserved, 

prophecy  regards  the  Messias.  But  could  it  not 

whilst  they  broke  those  of  his  fellow-sufferers. 

be  said  that  a  false  Messias  might  easily  appropri- 

Christ  could  not  have  concerted  with  his  execu- 

ate  this  designation  to  himself,  and  that  conse- 

tioners  what  they  were  to  make  him  undergo. 

quently,  it  proves  nothing  in  favor  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

( 1 )  We  read  these  words  in  the  ninth  chapter 

Here  are  solutions  which  may  be  given  to  this  ob- 

of  the  prophet  Zachary :  “  Rejoice  greatly,  0  daitgh- 

jection :  1st.  Although  several  false  Messias  may 

ter  of  Sion:  shout  for  joy,  0  daughter  of  Jerusa- 

have  appeared,  still  not  one  of  them  entered  J eru- 

lem.  Behold,  thy  king  will  come  to  thee,  the  just 

salem  in  the  manner  which  had  been  foretold,  and 

and  Saviour.  He  is  poor,  and  riding  upon  an  ass, 

in  which  Christ  did.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that 

and  upon  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass.”  This  version 

this  prophecy  applies  to  Christ,  to  the  exclusion  of 

is  that  of  the  Vulgate.  Saint  Matthew  has  followed 

all  others.  It  proves,  therefore,  for  him,  and  for 

that  of  the  Septuagint:  he  has  omitted  some 

him  alone,  concludes  Saint  Chrysostom.  2d.  It  is 

words  which  make  no  difference  in  the  sense,  and 

not  each  prophecy  taken  separately,  but  the  con- 

the  mansuetus,  full  of  meekness,  instead  of  pauper, 

ourrence  of  all,  which  demonstrates  that  Christ  is 

is  taken  from  the  Septuagint.  The  two  Hebrew 

truly  the  Messias.  3d.  Besides  the  proof  which 

words  have  the  same  origin. 

OP  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


They  said  as  Jesus  had  commanded  them  : 
Because  the  Lord  hath  need  of  him  ;  and 
they  let  him  go  with  them.  They  brought 
the  ass  and  the  colt  to  Jesus,  and  laid 
their  garments  upon  them,  and  made  him 
sit  thereon.1  And  Jesus  sat  upon  it,  as  it 
is  written  :  Fear  not,  daughter  of  Sion  ; 
behold  thy  king  coineth,  sitting  on  an  ass’s 
colt.  These  things  the  disciples  did  not 
know  at  the  first;  but  when  Jesus  was 
glorified,  then  they  remembered  that  these 
things  were  written  of  him,  and  that  they 
had  done  these  things  to  him.” 

“  A  great  multitude  that  was  come  to 
the  festival-day,  when  they  had  heard 
that  Jesus  was  come  to  Jerusalem,  took 
branches  of  palm-trees,  and  went  forth  to 
meet  him,  and  cried,  Hosanna,2  blessed  be 
he  who  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
the  king  of  Israel.  As  he  went,  many 
spread  their  garments  underneath  in  the 
way  ;  others  cut  down  boughs  from  the 
trees,  and  strewed  them  in  the  way. 
When  he  was  now  coming  near  the  de¬ 
scent  of  Mount  Olivet,  the  whole  multitude 
of  his  disciples  began  with  joy  to  praise 

( 1  )  We  read  in  the  Greek :  laid  their  garments 
upon  them,  and  made  him  sit  thereon — that  is  to 
say,  upon  both  animals,  although  that  may  also 
signify  on  the  garments  with  which  they  had  cover¬ 
ed  them.  Saint  Matthew  is  the  only  one  of  the 
four  evangelists  who  speaks  of  the  ass  having  the 
colt;  which  is  the  cause  why  the  majority  of  inter¬ 
preters  believe  that  he  only  rode  upon  the  colt. 
However,  when  the  Saviour  sends  to  get  them,  he 
makes  the  two  disciples  say  that  the  Lotd  hath 
need  of  them  ;  the  disciples  spread  their  garments 
upon  both;  and,  what  is  still  more  decisive,  the 
prophet  Zachary  said,  in  formal  terms,  that  he 
comes  riding  upon  an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt  the  foal 
of  an  ass.  Thus  the  letter  seems  to  signify  clearly 


749 


Grod  with  a  loud  voice,  for  all  the  mighty 
works  they  had  seen,  saying:  Blessed  be 
the  king  who  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord.  Peace  in  heaven,  and  glory  on 
high.  And  the  multitudes  that  went  be¬ 
fore  and  that  followed  cried,  saying : 
Hosanna  to  the  Sou  of  David  :  Blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ; 
blessed  be  the  kingdom  of  our  father3 
David  that  cometh.  Hosanna  in  the  high¬ 
est.”  (St.  John  xii.  12,  13  ;  St.  Matthew 
xxi.  8,  9  ;  St.  Luke  xix.  37  ;  St.  Mark  xi. 
10.)  “The  multitude,  therefore,  gave 
testimony  which  was  with  him  when  he 
called  Lazarus  out  of  the  grave,  and  raised 
him  from  the  dead  ;  for  which  reason,  also, 
the  people  came  to  meet  him,  because  they 
heard  that  he  had  done  this  miracle.” 
(St.  John  xii.  17-19.) 

“  The  Pharisees,  therefore,  said  amongst 
themselves  :  Do  you  see  that  we  prevail 
nothing  ?  Behold,  the  whole  world  is  gone 
after  him.”  Doubtless  they  had  never  so 
earnestly  desired  to  lay  their  hands  upon 
him,  and  immolate  him  to  their  jealousy  ; 
but  they  felt  how  very  dangerous  it  would 

that,  in  point  of  fact,  he  sat  upon  both — that  is  to 
say,  that  he  made  a  part  of  the  journey  upon  the 
ass,  and  that  when  approaching  towards  Jerusalem 
he  ascended  the  colt,  upon  which  he  made  his  entry. 

( 2 )  This  Hebrew  word  signifies,  save  him,  or 
preserve  him:  it  is  sung  immediately  before  the 
canon  of  the  mass.  It  there  conveys  the  expres¬ 
sion  of  the  joy  we  feel  in  the  near  approach  of  the 
Saviour  to  our  altars,  and  is  a  fervent  profession 
of  our  faith  in  the  real  presence. 

(8)  It  is  clear,  from  these  words,  that  they  re¬ 
cognized  him  for  the  Messias.  Five  days  after, 
they  cried  out :  Away  with  him ;  but  release  to  us 
Barabbas.  As  to  him,  crucify  him.  Such  is  the 
multitude. 


750 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


] 


be  to  execute  this  project  in  the  midst  of 
that  vast  multitude,  transported  with  ad¬ 
miration  and  joy.  Wherefore,  “  some  of 
the  Pharisees  from  amongst  the  multitude 
said  to  him  :  Master,  rebuke  thy  disciples.” 
But  this  was  the  moment  wherein  he 
wished  to  be  glorified  ;  as  Jesus  informed 
them  in  this  short  answer  :  “  I  say  to  you, 
that  if  they  shall  hold  their  peace,  the 
stones  will  cry  out.”1  (St.  Luke  xix. 
39,  40.) 

If  Jesus  at  first  felt  a  sensible  joy,  it 
soon  gave  way  to  sadness.  “  When  he  drew 
near,  seeing  the  city,  he  wept  over  it.”  Je¬ 
rusalem  must  perish,  and  perish  on  account 
of  its  crimes,  which  it  was  now  going  to  con¬ 
summate.  After  having  stained  itself  with 
the  blood  of  its  Messias,  the  queen  of  cities 
was  henceforward  to  become  but  a  heap 
of  ashes.  The  foul  deed  was  to  be  per¬ 
petrated  in  a  few  days,  the  chastisement 
was  only  deferred  for  some  years  ;  both 
were  vividly  present  to  our  Saviour’s  eyes. 
With  how  deep  sorrow  did  he  then  ad¬ 
dress  to  this  unfortunate  city  these  pa¬ 
thetic  words  :  “  If  thou  also  hadst  known, 
and  that  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  that 
are  to  thy  peace  !  but  now  they  are  hid¬ 
den  from  thy  eyes  ;  for  the  days  shall 
come  upon  thee,  and  thy  enemies  shall 
cast  a  trench  about  thee,  and  compass 
thee  round,  and  straiten  thee  on  every 
side,  and  beat  thee  flat  to  the  ground,  and 
thy  children  who  are  in  thee,  and  they 

( ’  )  They  held  their  peace  five  days  after,  when 
at  the  time  of  his  passion  and  death  they  abandon¬ 
ed  him,  and  lied.  But  the  stones  then  spoke  out, 
and,  by  splitting  asunder,  they  published,  in  their 
own  language,  the  divinity  of  the  Saviour. 


shall  not  leave  in  thee  a  stone  upon  a 
stone,  because  thou  hast  not  known  the 
time  of  thy  visitation.”  (St.  Luke  xix. 
41-44.) 

“When  he  was  come  into  Jerusalem, 
the  whole  city  was  moved,  saying :  Who 
is  this  ?  And  the  people  said  :  This  is 
Jesus  the  prophet,  from  Nazareth,  of  Gfa- 
lilee.  He  went  into  the  temple,  and 
having  viewed  all  things  round  about, 
when  now  the  eventide  was  come,  he  went 
out  to  Bethania  with  the  twelve  ”  apostles. 
(St.  Matthew  xxi.  10,  11  ;  St.  Mark  xi.  11.) 

He  doubtless  passed  the  night  in  prayer 
and  fasting ;  for  “  the  next  day,  in  the 
morning,  when  they  came  out  from  Betha¬ 
nia,  he  was  hungry,  and  seeing  afar  off  a 
fig-tree  having  leaves,  he  came,  if  perhaps 
he  might  find  anything  on  it ;  and  when 
he  came  to  it,  he  found  nothing  but  leaves 
only,  for  it  was  not  the  season  of  figs. 
And  Jesus  saith  to  it  :  May  no  man  here¬ 
after  eat  fruit  of  thee 8  any  more,  forever  ; 
and  his  disciples  heard  it.  And  the}7-  came 
to  Jerusalem.  When  Jesus  was  entered 
into  the  temple,  he  began  to  cast  out  them 
that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and 
overthrew  the  tables  of  the  money  chan¬ 
gers,  and  the  chairs  of  them  that  sold 
doves.  And  he  suffered  not  that  any  man 
should  carry  a  vessel  through  the  temple  ; 
and  he  taught,  saying  to  them  :  Is  it  not 
written  :  My  house  shall  be  called  the 
house  of  prayer  to  all  nations  ?  But  }rou (*) 

( * )  This  malediction  fell  upon  the  synagogue, 
whose  whole  religion  consisted  of  ceremonies  and 
words,  figured  by  the  leaves,  whereas  it  was  sterile 
in  fruits,  which  are  the  works  of  justice  and  of 
charity. 


OP  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  751 

have  made  it  a  den  of  thieves.  Which, 

to  you,  if  you  shall  have  faith,  and  stagger 

when  the  chief  priests  and  the  scribes,” 

not,  not  only  this  of  the  fig-tree  shall  you 

who  authorized  this  abuse,  “had  heard, 

do,  but  also  if  you  shall  say  to  this  moun- 

they  sought  how  they  might  destroy  him,” 

tain,  Take  up  and  cast  thyself  into  the 

without  exposing  themselves  ;  “  for  they 

sea,  and  shall  not  stagger  in  his  heart,  but 

feared  him,  because  the  whole  multitude 

believeth  that  whatsoever  he  saith  shall  be 

was  in  admiration  at  his  doctrine.”  (St. 

done,  it  shall  be  done  unto  him.  There- 

Matt.  xxi.  18  ;  St.  Mark  xi.  12-18.) 

fore  I  say  unto  you,  all  things  whatsoever 

In  the  mean  time  “  there  came  to  him 

you  ask  when  you  pray,  believe  that  you 

the  blind,  and  the  lame,  in  the  temple  ; 

shall  receive,  and  they  shall  come  unto 

and  he  healed  them.  And  the  chief  priests 

you  ;  and  when  you  shall  stand  to  pray, 

and  scribes  seeing  the  wonderful  things 

forgive,  if  you  have  aught  against  any 

which  he  did,  and  the  children  crying  in 

man,  that  your  Father  also,  who  is  in 

the  temple,  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David, 

heaven,  may  forgive  you  your  sins.  But 

were  moved  with  indignation,  and  said  to 

if  you  will  not  forgive,  neither  will  your 

him  :  Hearest  thou  what  these  say  ?  Jesus 

Father  that  is  in  heaven  forgive  you  your 

said  to  them  :  Yea,  have  you  never  read  : 

sins.”  (St.  Mark  xi.  19-26  ;  St.  Matt.  xxi. 

Out  of  the  mouths  of  infants  and  sucklings 

20-22.) 

thou  hast  perfected  praise  ?  ”  (St.  Matt. 

“Jesus  was  teaching  daily  in  the  tern- 

xxi.  14-16.) 

pie.  And  the  chief  priests,  and  the  scribes, 

“  When  evening  was  come,  Jesus  leav- 

and  the  rulers  of  the  people  sought  to  de- 

ing  them,  went  forth  out  of  the  city  into 

stroy  him  ;  and  they  found  not  what  to  do 

Bethania,  and  remained  there.  When 

to  him  :  for  all  the  people  were  very  at- 

they  passed  by  in  the  morning,  they  saw 

tentive  to  hear  him.  Now,  there  were 

the  fig-tree  dried  up  from  the  roots  ;  the 

certain  Gentiles  among  them,  who  came 

disciples  seeing  it,  wondered,  saying  :  How 

up  to  adore  on  the  festival-day.  These 

is  it  presently  withered  away  ?  Peter,  re- 

came  to  Philip,  who  was  of  Bethsaida,  of 

membering,  said  to  him  :  Rabbi,  behold 

Galilee,  and  desired  him,  saying- :  Sir,  we 

the  fig-tree,  which  thou  didst  curse,  is 

would  see  Jesus.”  “  Philip  cometh,  and 

withered  away.”1  Jesus  did  not  then  ex- 

telleth  Andrew,”  who  was  from  the  same 

plain  this  mystery.  He  merely  recalled 

city.  Jesus  had  already  declared  that 

to  their  minds  the  instruction  which  he  had 

“he  was  sent  only  to  the  sheep  of  the 

already  given  to  them  on  faith  and  on 

house  of  Israel,  who  were  lost.”  “Again, 

prayer.  He  “  said  to  them  :  Amen,  I  say 

Andrew  and  Philip,”  not  daring  to  present 

(  i )  I  have  seen  the  wicked  highly  exalted,  and 

and  horror  of  death.  Those  who  reflect  upon  the 

lifted  up  like  the  cedai’s  of  Libanus.  And  I  passed 

judgments  of  the  Lord  say,  then,  like  Saint  Peter : 

by,  and  lo,  he  was  not,— (Ps.  xxxvi.  35,  36.)  Thus 

Behold  the  fig-tree,  which  thou  didst  curse,  is  with- 

we  see  the  fortunate  sinner  pass  in  a  moment  from 

ered  away. 

the  midst  of  glory  and  of  pleasures  into  the  shades 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


752 


Gentiles  to  him,  without  previously  ascer¬ 
taining  whether  he  chose  to  receive  them, 
went  and  “told  Jesus.”  This  small  num¬ 
ber  of  Gentiles  constituted  in  his  sight  the 
first  fruits  of  Gentilism,  which  was  soon 
to  be  followed  by  a  rich  harvest.  Hence, 
transported  with  holy  joy,  he  replied  : 
“  The  hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  man 
should  be  glorified.”  (St.  Luke  xix.  47, 
48  ;  St.  John  xii.  20-24.) 

This  hour  was  that  of  his  death,  which 
was  only  a  few  da}rs  distant.  That  death 
was  to  attract  all  the  people  of  the  earth 
to  the  knowledge  and  love  of  him.  He, 
therefore,  most  impressively  repeats  this 
truth,  and  explains  it  by  a  natural  com¬ 
parison.  “  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  you,  un¬ 
less  the  grain  of  wheat  falling  into  the 
ground  die,  itself  remaineth  alone  ;  but  if 
it  die,  itbringeth  forth  much  fruit.” 

Thus  Jesus,  descended  from  heaven  to 
the  earth,  would  have  enjoyed,  even  if  he 
had  not  suffered  death,  all  the  rights  and 
prerogatives  attached  to  the  quality  of 
Man-God.  This  precious  wheat  never  lost 
its  properties  or  its  excellence ;  but  it 
would  have  remained  unproductive  ;  and 
that  long. and  lasting  posterity,  which  was 
promised  to  him  by  the  divine  oracles,  was 
only  promised  upon  condition  that  he 
would  lay  down  his  life  for  the  expiation 
of  sin.  It  was  to  be  the  same  with  those 
who  should  believe  in  him,  and  more  espe¬ 
cially  his  first  disciples.  (Isai.  liii.  10.)  It 
is  on  that  account  that  he  proposes  it  to 
them,  by  repeating  to  them,  on  this  occa¬ 
sion,  that  maxim  which  he  had  already 
taught  them:  “He  that  loveth  his  life 
shall  lose  it,  and  he  thathateth  his  life  in 


this  world,  keepeth  it  unto  life  everlast¬ 
ing.”  (St.  John  xii.  25.) 

He  adds  two  other  motives,  proper  to 
sustain  their  courage.  One  his  own  ex¬ 
ample  and  the  reward  he  reserves  for  them. 
This  he  declares  in  the  words  :  “If  any 
man  minister  to  me,  let  him  follow  me  :  and 
where  I  am,  there  also  shall  my  minister 
be.  If  any  man  minister  to  me,  him  will 
my  Father  honor.” 

At  this  moment,  whilst  he  surveyed 
death  with  a  steady  eye,  he  suffered  ap¬ 
prehension  to  agitate  his  great  soul,  and 
give  him,  as  it  were,  a  foretaste  of  the 
agon}"  he  was  to  suffer  in  the  garden  of 
Olives.  We  see  here  words  which  express 
his  emotion,  his  prayer,  and  his  resigna¬ 
tion  :  “Now  is  my  soul  troubled;  and 
what  shall  I  say?  Father,  save  me  from 
this  hour.  But  for  this  cause  I  came  unto 
this  hour.”  Therefore  spare  me  not ;  and, 
since  thou  must  be  glorified  by  my  death, 
whatever  it  may  cost  me,  “Father,  glorify 
thy  name.” 

Jesus,  whom  we  have  already  heard 
saying  to  his  Father,  “  I  know  that  thou 
hearest  me  always,”  could  not  fail  to  be 
heard  on  this  occasion.  It  is  true  that  he 
could  not  obtain  both  these  requests  which 
are  contradictory,  one  being  for  death, 
and  the  other  that  he  might  not  die.  But 
the  latter  was  only  conditional  ;  and  it 
was  not  heard  :  the  other,  which  was  ab¬ 
solute,  was  heard,  for  at  that  instant  “a 
voice,  therefore,  came  from  heaven  :  I  have 
both  glorified  it,  and  will  glorify  it  again.” 

The  Father  had  already  glorified  his 
name  by  the  incarnation  of  his  Son  ;  he  was 
to  glorify  it  still  more  by  his  death,  and 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  753 


this  glory  was,  at  the  same  time,  the  glory 
of  the  Son  inseparably  from  that  of  the 
Father.  This  is  what  was  meant  by  that 
heavenly  voice,  whose  sound  produced 
such  a  startling  effect,  that  “  the  multitude, 
therefore,  that  stood  and  heard,  said  that 
it  thundered.”  Those  who  spoke  thus  had 
not  distinguished  the  words.  Others,  who 
had  understood  the  sense  of  them,  said  : 
“  An  angel  spoke  to  him.  Jesus  answer¬ 
ed  :  This  voice  came  not  because  of  me, 
but  for  your  sakes.” 

He  then  declares  in  what  manner  the 
Father  and  the  Son  are  about  to  be  glori¬ 
fied.  “  Now  is  the  judgment  of  the  world  :  ” 
a  judgment  not  of  justice  and  of  rigor, 
but  of  mercy  and  of  grace  ;  since  in  con¬ 
sequence,  “  now  shall  the  prince  of  this 
world  be  cast  out,”  and  the  world,  deliver¬ 
ed  from  the  oppression  of  its  tyrant,  shall 
fall  again  under  its  legitimate  king.  For 
“  I,”  he  added,  “  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  things  to  myself.  Now 
this  he  said  signifying  what  death  he 
should  die.” 

Whether  his  discourse  was  longer  and 
more  fully  developed  than  we  have  it  re¬ 
ported  (we  have  already  remarked  that 

95 


there  is  ground  for  believing  that  Saint 
John  often  gives  no  more  than  an  abridg¬ 
ment  of  our  Saviour’s  words) ;  whatever 
be  the  reason,  it  is  certain  that  his  words 
were  understood  ;  for  “  the  multitude  an¬ 
swered  him:  We  have  heard  out  of  the 
law  that  Christ  abideth  forever :  and  how 
sayest  thou,  the  Son  of  man  must  be  lifted 
up  ?  Who  is  this  Son  of  man  ?  ” 

These  people  spoke  the  truth,  but  not 
the  whole  truth.  The  death  of  Christ  is 
not  less  clearly  predicted  than  his  tem¬ 
poral  reign.  But  the  Jews,  solicitous  to 
gather  from  Scripture  everything  glorious 
to  their  Messias,  were  loath  to  notice  the 
humiliations  so  often  predicted  for  him. 
It  was  this  blindness  which  caused  their 
incredulity  and  their  reprobation.  Jesus, 
therefore,  said  to  them :  “Yet  a  little 
wThile  the  light  is  among  you.  Walk 
whilst  you  have  the  light,  that  the  dark¬ 
ness  overtake  you  not.  He  that  walketh 
in  darkness  knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth. 
Whilst  you  have  the  light,  believe  in 
the  light,  that  you  may  be  the  children 
of  light.  These  things  Jesus  spoke  ;  and 
he  went  away  and  hid  himself  from 
them.” 


754 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

IN'  CREDULITY  OF  THE  JEWS.  —  THE  TIMID  CONDEMNED  WITH  THE  INCREDULOUS.  —  FROM 
WHENCE  CAME  THE  BAPTISM  OF  JOHN.— PARABLE  OF  THE  TWO  SONS.— PARABLE  OF  THE 
VINEYARD  AND  OF  THE  WICKED  HUSBANDMEN. —PARABLE  OF  THE  MARRIAGE  FEAST.— 
PAYING  TRIBUTE.— THE  RESURRECTION.— LOVE  OF  GOD  AND  OUR  NEIGHBOR.— THE  MESSIAS 
SON,  YET  LORD  OF  DAVID. 


JRSUS  retired  every  evening  to  Betha- 
nia,  where  he  passed  the  night,  and 
returned  in  the  morning  to  Jerusalem. 
This  he  did,  lest  his  enemies  should  antici¬ 
pate  the  time  he  had  marked  out  to  be 
betrayed  into  their  hands.  He  knew  that 
they  dared  not  arrest  him  during  the  day, 
for  fear  of  raising  an  insurrection  amongst 
that  portion  of  the  people  who  were  at¬ 
tached  to  him.  The  night  was  more 
favorable  to  their  designs ;  and  it  was, 
therefore,  under  cover  of  the  darkness 
that  they  did  lay  hold  of  him. .  “  And 
whereas  he  had  done  so  many  miracles 
before  them,  they  believed  not  in  him, 
that  the  saying  of  Isaias  the  prophet  might 
be  fulfilled  :  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our 
hearing?  And  to  whom  hath  the  arm  of 
the  Lord  been  revealed  ?  Therefore  they 
could  not  believe,  because  Isaias  said 
again  :  He  hath  blinded  their  eyes,  and 
hardened  their  hearts,1  that  they  should 
not  see  with  their  eyes,  nor  understand 
with  their  heart,  and  be  converted,  and  I 
should  heal  them.  These  things  -said 
Isaias  (Chap.  VI.),  when  he  saw  his  glory, (*) 

( * )  God  does  not  either  blind  or  harden  direct¬ 
ly  ;  but  he  does  so  by  withdrawing  his  lights  and 
his  graces.  According  to  this  expression  of  the 


and  spoke  of  him.  However,  many  of  the 
chief  men  also  believed  in  him ;  but  be¬ 
cause  of  the  Pharisees,  they  did  not  con¬ 
fess  him,  that  they  might  not  be  cast  out 
of  the  sjmagogue  :  for  they  loved  the 
glory  of  men  more  than  the  glory  of 
God.” 

The  latter  had  but  too  justly  merited 
their  condemnation,  which  is  found  ex¬ 
pressed  in  these  last  words.  Their  case 
was  one  of  those  where  dissimulation  is 
equivalent  to  infidelity,  and  where  not  to 
confess  the  faith  is  to  deny  it.  We  may 
remember  what  the  Pharisees  said  when 
speaking  of  our  Saviour  :  “  Hath  any  one 
of  the  rulers  believed  in  him  ?  ”  Hence  let 
no  one  be  surprised  at  finding  here  their 
condemnation,  and  learning  that  their  eter¬ 
nal  lot  shall  be  in  “  the  pool  burning  with 
fire  and  brimstone,”  where  Saint  John 
places  “the  fearful”  along  with  the  “un¬ 
believing.”  (Apoc.  xxi.  8.) 

Yet  to  show  them  how  unreasonable  was 
this  criminal  timidity,  “  Jesus  raising  his 
voice,  cried  and  said  :  He  that  believeth 
in  me  doth  not  believe  in  me,  but  in  him 

Wise  Man  (Wis.  ii.  21),  “  their  own  malice  blinded 
them  ;  ”  and  that  of  Saint  Augustine,  “  God  doth 
not  abandon  unless  he  be  abandoned.” 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  755 

that  sent  me.”  Jesus  Christ  being  of 
the  same  nature  as  God,  to  believe  in 
him  was  believing  in  God  himself,  and  not 
merely  a  man  who  spoke  in  the  name  and 
on  the  part  of  God.  This  is  the  meaning 
of  that  short  expression  which  the  Saviour 
immediately  added  :  “  And  he  that  seeth 
me,  seeth  him  that  sent  me.” 

He  afterwards  says  :  “lam  come  a  light 
unto  the  world,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  me  may  not  remain  in  darkness  ;  ”  that 
is  to  say,  in  order  that  he  may  be  enlight¬ 
ened,  for  so  this  expression  is  commonly 
understood. 

The  remainder  of  the  discourse  regards 
the  incredulous.  “  If  any  man,”  said  Je¬ 
sus  to  them,  “  hear  my  words,  and  keep 
them  not,  I  do  not  judge  him  ;  for  I  came 
not  to  judge  the  world,  but  to  save  the 
world.  He  that  despiseth  me,  and  re- 
ceiveth  not  my  words,  hath  one  that  judg- 
eth  him.  The  word  that  I  have  spoken,1 
the  same  shall  judge  him  on  the  last  day, 
for  I  have  not  spoken  of  myself ;  but  the 
Father  who  sent  me,  he  gave  me  com¬ 
mandment  what  I  should  say,  and  what  I 
should  speak,  and  I  know  that  his  com¬ 
mandment  is  life  everlasting.  The  things, 
therefore,  that  I  speak,  even  as  the  Father 
said  unto  me,  so  do  I  speak.”  (St.  John 
xii.  37-50.) 

Still  his  enemies  sought  to  find  fault 
with  him  on  the  subject  of  his  mission. 

“  On  one  of  the  days  ”  which  elapsed  be¬ 
tween  his  entry  into  Jerusalem  and  his 
passion,  “as  he  was  teaching  the  people 
in  the  temple,  and  preaching  the  Gospel, 
the  chief  priests  and  the  scribes,  with  the 
ancients,  met  together,  and  spoke  to  him, 
saying  :  Tell  us  by  what  authority  dost 
thou  these  things  ?  or  who  is  he  that  hath 
given  thee  this  authority  ?  ”  (St.  Luke  xx. 

1,  2.) 

They  were,  therefore,  unworthy  of  an 
answer.  Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  ques¬ 
tion  which  he  put  to  them,  confounding 
them  while  it  placed  before  their  eyes 
another  proof  of  the  divinity  of  his  mis¬ 
sion.  He,  “  answering,  said  to  them  :  I 
will  also  ask  you  one  word,  which  if  you 
shall  tell  me,  I  will  also  tell  you  by  what 
authority  I  do  these  things.  The  baptism 
of  John,  whence  was  it?  From  heaven, 
or  from  men  ?  Answer  me.  But  they 
thought  within  themselves,  saying  :  If  we 
say  from  heaven,  he  will  say  to  us  :  Why, 
then,  did  you  not  believe  him  ?  But  if  we 
shall  say  from  men,  we  are  afraid  of  the 
people  ;  the  whole  people  will  stone  us, 
for  they  are  persuaded  that  John  was  a 
prophet.  [Therefore]  answering  Jesus, 
they  said  :  We  know  not  whence  it  was. 

And  Jesus  said  to  them  :  Neither  do  I  tell 
you  by  what  authority  I  do  these  things.” 

(St.  Luke  xx.  3-8  ;  St.  Matthew  xxi. 
24-26  ;  St.  Mark  xi.  30-33.) 

( 1  )  This  Word  which  shall  judge  the  unbeliev¬ 
ing  Jews  is  the  preaching  of  Christ,  inasmuch  as 
it  was  accompanied  by  miracles  which  confirmed 
its  truth.  These  miracles,  proving  as  they  do  that 
this  preaching  is  from  God,  shall  equally  prove 
that  those  who  have  rejected  it  have  resisted  God 

himself ;  such  is  the  signification  of  the  Saviour’s 
entire  discourse. 

This  same  Word  shall  also  judge  those  who  have 
had  faith,  but  who  have,  nevertheless,  sinned 
against  the  moral  precepts. 

1 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


756 


They  were  really  persuaded  that  the 
mission  of  John  was  divine;  for  the  word 
“  baptism  ”  comprises  here  the  entire  mis¬ 
sion  of  John,  designated  by  its  most  re¬ 
markable  constituent.  They  did  not, 
therefore,  any  more  than  the  people,  en¬ 
tertain  a  doubt  but  that  John  was  a 
prophet  ;  but  they  had  refused  to  listen  to 
him,  because  of  their  inordinate  pride. 
But  they  were  audacious  hypocrites,  who 
were  equally  regardless  of  God  and  of 
man,  more  wicked  than  declared  sinners, 
because  they  added  falsehood  to  malice  ; 
and  more  incorrigible,  because  whilst  set¬ 
ting  themselves  forward  as  just  men,  they 
were  very  far  from  acknowledging  that 
they  were  sinners?  Hence  Jesus  Christ 
had  but  too  much  reason  for  saying  : 

“  But  what  think  you  ?  A  certain  man 
had  two  sons  ;  and  coming  to  the  first,  he 
said  :  Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vine¬ 
yard.  He  answering,  said  :  I  will  not ; 
but  afterwards,  being  moved  with  repent¬ 
ance,  he  went.  And  coming  to  the  other, 
the  father  said  in  like  manner.  He  an¬ 
swering,  said  :  I  go,  sir  ;  and  he  went  not. 
Which  of  the  two  did  the  father’s  will? 
They  say  to  him  ;  The  first not  under¬ 
standing  as  yet  the  drift  of  the  Saviour’s 
words.  Thereupon  “  Jesus  said  to  them  : 
Amen,  I  say  to  you,  that  the  publicans 
and  the  harlots  shall  go  into  the  kingdom 
of  God  before  you.  For  John  came  to  you 
in  the  way  of  justice,  and  you  did  not  be¬ 
lieve  him  ;  but  the  publicans  and  harlots 
believed  him  ;  but  you,  seeing  it,  do  not 
even  afterwards  repent,  that  you  might 
believe  him.”  (St.  Matt.  xxi.  28-32.) 

But  not  content  with  rejecting  the  pre¬ 


cursor  of  the  Messias,  they  had  resolved 
to  make  away  with  the  Messias  himself. 
The  preceding  parable  was  meant  to  re¬ 
proach  them  with  the  first  of  these  two 
crimes  ;  the  following  is  meant  to  set  be¬ 
fore  their  eyes  all  the  horror  of  the  second 
crime,  and  the  fearful  chastisements  which 
it  must  necessarily  entail.  Directing  his 
words  to  the  whole  of  his  auditory,  “he 
began  to  speak  this  parable  :  A  certain 
householder  planted  a  vineyard.  And 
made  a  hedge  round  about  it,  and  dug  in 
it  a  press,  and  built  a  tower.  He  let  it 
out  to  husbandmen,  and  went  abroad  into 
a  strange  country  for  a  long  time.  At  the 
season  when  the  time  of  the  fruits  drew 
nigh,  he  sent  to  the  husbandmen  a  servant 
to  receive  of  the  husbandmen  of  the  fruits 
of  the  vineyard  ;  who,  having  laid  hands 
upon  him,  beat  him,  and  sent  him  away 
empty.  Again  he  sent  another  servant, 
and  they  beat  him  also,  and  stoned  him, 
and  they  wounded  him  in  the  head,  and 
treating  him  reproachfully,  sent  him  away 
empty.  And  again  he  sent  the  third,  and 
they  wounded  him  also,  and  cast  him  out, 
and  him  they  killed.  Again  he  sent  other 
servants,  more  than  the  former,  of  whom 
some  they  beat  and  others  they  killed. 
Then  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  said  :  What 
shall  I  do  ?  I  will  send  my  beloved  son  ; 
it  may  be,  when  they  see  him,  they  will 
reverence  him.  Therefore,  having  yet  one 
son,  most  dear  to  him,  he  also  sent  him  to 
them  last  of  all,  saying :  They  will  rever¬ 
ence  my  son.  But  the  husbandmen  seeing 
the  son,  they  thought  within  themselves, 
saying  one  to  the  other  :  This  is  the  heir  ; 
come,  let  us  kill  him,  that  the  inheritance 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  757 

may  be  ours.  So,  casting  him  out  of  the 
vineyard,  they  killed  him.  When,  there¬ 
fore,  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  shall  come, 
what  shall  he  do  to  these  husbandmen? 
•They  say  to  him  :  He  will  bring  these  evil 
men  to  an  evil  end,  and  will  let  out  his 
vineyard  to  other  husbandmen,  that  they 
shall  render  him  the  fruit  in  due  season.” 
(St.  Luke  xx.  9-11  ;  St.  Matt.  xxi.  33, 
34-40  ;  St.  Mark  xii.  6.) 

They  unconsciously  pronounced  their 
own  condemnation.  Jesus,  taking  up  their 
decision,  said:  “He  will  come  and  will 
destroy  those  husbandmen,  and  will  give 
the  vineyard  to  others.”  The  manner  in 
which  he  pronounced  these  words  made 
them  at  last  sensible  that  they  were  merely 
a  confirmation  of  the  sentence  which  they 
had  pronounced  against  themselves,  and 
speaking  in  the  sudden  fear  with  which 
they  were  seized,  “  God  forbid  !  they  hear¬ 
ing,  said  to  him.  But  he  looking  on  them, 
said  :  What  is  this,  then,  that  is  written  ? 
Have  you  never  read  in  the  Scriptures 
(Ps.  cxvii.) :  The  stone  which  the  builders 
rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head  ot 
the  corner  ? 1  By  the  Lord  has  this  been 
done,2  and  it  is  wonderful  in  our  eyes.”  (St. 
Mark  xii.  9  ;  St.  Luke  xx.  16,  17  ;  St. 
Matthew  xxi.  42-46.) 

It  is  well  understood,  even  if  he  had 

not  expressly  said  so,  that  he  was  the 
corner-stone  which,  blinded  by  their  ma¬ 
lice,  these  ignorant  builders  rejected. 

“  Therefore,”  he  added,  “  I  say  unto  you 
that  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
from  you,3  and  shall  be  given  to  a  nation 
yielding  the  fruits  thereof.  Whosoever 
shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken  ; 
but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  shall 
grind  him  to  powder.  When  the  chief 
priests  and  Pharisees  had  heard  his  para¬ 
bles,  they  knew  that  he  spoke  of  them, 
and  seeking  to  lay  hands  on  him,  they 
feared  the  people,  because  they  held  him 
as  a  prophet.” 

The  sequel  of  our  Saviour’s  discourse 
contains  the  history  of  what  was  to  occur 
immediately  after  his  death.  We  see  his 
Gospel  preached,  and  rejected  by  the 

Jews  ;  several  of  his  ministers  cruelly  put 
to  death  ;  the  Gentiles  throng  in  crowds 
to  form  for  Jesus  Christ  a  numerous  and 
flourishing  Church  to  repair  the  loss  of 
the  obdurate  Synagogue.  But  lest  the&e 
new-comers  might  fancy  that,  by  recogniz¬ 
ing  him  as  the  Messias,  they  had  finally 
secured  their  salvation,  he  introduced  the 
parable  of  the  nuptial  robe,  to  teach  that 
faith  alone  does  not  save,  and  that  they 
might  expect  to  be  condemned,  if  they 
did  not  preserve  their  baptismal  inno- 

( 1 )  Jesus  is  elsewhere  styled  the  foundation- 
stone.  He  is  also  termed  the  key  of  the  arch.  He 
is,  in  point  of  fact,  all  that  is  signified  by  these  dif¬ 
ferent  expressions.  Here  he  is  the  corner-stone,  be¬ 
cause  he  combines  the  two  people,  Jew  and  Gentile, 
so  that  they  are  but  one  and  the  same  people. 

( 1 )  The  heavenly  Jerusalem  shall  be  built  al¬ 
most  entirely  of  the  stones  which  are  the  refuse 

of  the  world  —  the  disciples  who  follow  their 
Master. 

( * )  Heaven  and  the  Church  are  styled  in  Scrip¬ 
ture  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  taken  in  both 
these  senses  from  the  fall  of  the  Synagogue ;  the 
Synagogue  is  no  longer  the  true  Church  which 
gives  children  to  God,  and  heaven  is  irrevocably 
closed  against  it. 

158 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


cence,  or  regain  it  by  repentance.  “Jesus 
spoke  to  them  again  in  parables,  saying  : 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  to  a  man 
being  a  king,  who  made  a  marriage  for  his 
son ;  and  he  sent  his  servants  to  call 
them  that  were  invited  to  the  marriage  ; 
and  they  would  not  come.  Again  he  sent 
other  servants,  saying:  Tell  them  that 
were  invited :  Behold,  I  have  prepared 
my  dinner  :  my  beeves  and  fatlings  are 
killed.  All  things  are  ready  :  come  ye  to 
the  wedding.  But  they  neglected,  and 
went  their  ways,  one  to  his  farm,  and  an¬ 
other  to  his  merchandise.  And  the  rest 
laid  hands  on  his  servants,  and  having 
treated  them  contumeliously,  put  them  to 
death.  When  the  king  had  heard  of  it, 
he  was  angry,  and  sending  his  armies,  he 
destroyed  those  murderers,  and  burnt 
their  city.  Then  he  saith  to  his  servants  : 
The  wedding  indeed  is  ready  ;  but  they 
that  were  invited  were  not  worthy  ;  go  ye, 
therefore,  into  the  highways,  and  as  many 
as  you  shall  find,  invite  to  the  wedding. 
His  servants  going  out  into  the  highways, 
gathered  together  all  that  they  found,  both 
bad  and  good,  and  the  wedding  was  filled 
with  guests.  The  king  went  in  to  see  the 
guests  ;  he  saw  there  a  man  who  had  not 
on  a  wedding-garment ;  and  he  saith  to 
him  :  Friend,  how  earnest  thou  in  hither,  not 
having  a  wedding-garment?  But  he  was 
silent.  Then  the  king  said  to  the  waiters  : 
Bind  his  hands  and  feet,  and  cast  him  into 
the  exterior  darkness ;  there  shall  be 
weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  For  many 
are  called,  but  few  are  chosen.”  (St.  Matt, 
xxii.  1-14.) 

“  Then  the  Pharisees,”  had  recourse  to 


artifice :  “going,”  they  “  consulted  amongst 
themselves  how  to  ensnare  him  in  his 
speech.  And  being  upon  the  watch,  they 
sent  spies,  who  should  feign  themselves 
just.”  These  emissaries  were  “  some  ok 
the  Pharisees  and  their  disciples  with  the 
Herodians.”  The}7  sought  to  ensnare  him 
in  his  speech,  “  that  they  might  deliver 
him  up  to  the  authority  and  power  of  the 
governor.” 

“  Who  coming,  say  to  him  :  Master,  we 
know  that  thou  art  a  true  speaker,  and 
carest  not  for  any  man.  For  thou  regard- 
est  not  the  person  of  men,  but  teachest  the 
way  of  God  in  truth.  Tell  us,  therefore, 
what  dost  thou  think,  is  it  lawful  to  give 
tribute  to  Caesar,  or  not  ?  ”  (St.  Matt.  xxii. 
15  ;  St.  Luke  xx.  20  ;  St.  Mark  xii.  13.) 

Whichever  way  he  answered,  the  snare 
appeared  inevitable.  If  he  authorized 
the  tribute,  he  could  no  longer  claim  to  be 
the  Messias,  who  was  to  emancipate  the 
nation.  If  he  denied  the  obligation  of 
paying  it,  they  would  then  denounce 
him  at  once  to  the  governor,  who  would 
cause  him  to  be  punished  as  a  rebel.  The 
trick  was,  therefore,  skilfully  devised.  But 
“  Jesus,  knowing  their  wickedness,  said  : 
Why  do  you  tempt  me,  ye  hypocrites? 
Show  me  the  coin  of  the  tribute.  They 
offered  him  a  penny.  Jesus  saith  to  them  : 
Whose  image  and  inscription  is  this  ?  They 
say  to  him  :  Caesar’s.  Then  he  saith  to 
them :  Render,  therefore,  to  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar’s  ;  and  to  God,  the 
things  that  are  God’s.”  (St.  Matt.  xxii. 
18-21.) 

This  reply  is  unanswerable.  For  since 
the  current  coin  of  the  country  was  stamped 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  759 

with  Cassar’s  image,  they  therefore  ac- 

also  died.  At  the  resurrection,  therefore, 

knowledged  Caesar  for  their  sovereign, 

when  they  shall  rise  again,  whose  wife  of 

and  were  consequently  bound  to  pay  him 

the  seven  shall  she  be  ?  for  all  the  seven 

tribute.  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  had 

had  her  to  wife.” 

pretended  that  the  domination  of  Caesar 

“  Jesus  answering  saith  to  them  :  Do  ye 

was  a  yoke  imposed  by  force,'  and 

not,  therefore,  err,  because  ye  know  not  the 

which  they  had  a  right  to  shake  off  at 

Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God  ?  For 

any  time  if  they  found  themseves  able, 

in  the  resurrection  they  shall  neither 

they  were  caught  in  a  snare  which  they 

marry  nor  be  married,  but  shall  be  as 

had  laid  for  our  Saviour.  They  remained, 

the  angels  of  G-od  in  heaven.1  The  chil- 

therefore,  confused  and  silent,  for  “  they 

dren  of  this  world  marry  and  are  given  in 

could  not  reprehend  his  word  before  the 

marriage  ;  but  they  that  shall  be  accounted 

people,”  nor  yet  before  the  governor : 

worthy  of  that  world,  and  of  the  resurrec- 

“and  hearing  this,  they  wondered,  and 

tion  from  the  dead,  shall  neither  be  mar- 

leaving  him  went  their  ways.”  (St.  Luke 

ried  nor  take  wives.  Neither  can  they 

xx.  26  ;  St.  Matthew  xxii.  22.) 

die  any  more,  for  they  are  equal  to  the 

Nevertheless,  though  the  Pharisees 

angels,  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being 

were  silenced,  there  were  others  who  still 

the  children  of  the  resurrection.”  (St.  Mark 

had  the  temerity  to  address  him.  Some 

xii.  29-34  ;  St.  Matt.  xxii.  38-40.) 

“  Sadducees,  who  say  there  is  no  resurrec- 

This  last  expression  contains  a  very 

tion,  came  to  him  that  day,  and  asked 

profound  meaning.  The  life  received  is 

him  :  Master,  Moses  wrote  unto  us,  If  any 

similar  to  that  of  those  who  confer  it. 

man’s  brother  die  having  a  wife,  and  he 

Mortal  and  corruptible  parents  confer  a 

leave  no  children,  his  brother  should  take 

life  mortal  and  corruptible  like  their  own. 

her  to  wife,  and  raise  up  issue  to  his 

God,  the  Immediate  author  of  the  life 

brother.  There  were,  therefore,  seven 

which  men  shall  receive  by  the  resurrec- 

brethren  ;  and  the  first  took  a  wife  and 

tion,  shall  bestow  an  incorruptible  and 

died,  leaving  no  issue.  The  second  took 

immortal  life  like  unto  his  own. 

her  to  wife,  and  he  also  died  childless. 

The  resurrection  remains  still  to  be 

The  third,  in  like  manner,  took  her  ;  and 

proved.  Jesus  proves  it  by  Scripture, 

so  on  to  the  seventh,  and  they  left  no 

because  it  was  by  Scripture  that  the  Sad- 

children,  and  died.  Last  of  all  the  woman 

ducees  had  attacked  it ;  and  as  they  re- 

( 1 )  That  is  to  say,  that  they  shall  be  pure  as 

that  these  bodies  shall  have  spiritual  qualities, 

they  are,  unless  a  person  should  prefer  to  say  that 

agility,  subtility,  incorruptibility,  but  all  this  shall 

they  shall  be  virgins  like  them :  it  is  only  in  this 

not  hinder  them  from  being  real  bodies;  and  the 

point  of  view  that  they  are  here  compared  to  an- 

perfect  purity  of  the  pleasures  will  not  in  any  way 

gels ;  for  they  shall  have  bodies,  and  the  angels 

prevent  them  from  being  truly  sensible  pleasures. 

shall  not  have  them.  The  angels  have  no  sensible 

We  have  no  knowledge  of  these  pleasures,  and  it 

pleasures,  and  they  shall  have  them.  True  it  is. 

would  be  impossible  for  us  to  imagine  them. 

... 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


760 


cognized  only  the  five  books  of  Moses,  he 
takes  from  Exodus  the  text  wherewith  he 
is  going  to  oppose  them.  He  therefore 
continues  thus:  “Concerning  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  the  dead,  have  }tou  not  read  in 
the  books  of  Moses  how  in  the  bush  God 
spoke  to  him,  saying  :  I  am  the  God  of 
Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God 
of  Jacob?  He  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,1  but  of  the  living  ;  for  all  live  to 
him.  You,  therefore,  do  greatly  err,”  he 
said  to  them  once  more.*  “And  some  of 
the  scribes  answering;  said  to  him  :  Mas¬ 
ter,  thou  hast  said  well  ;  and  the  multitudes 
hearing  it,  were  in  admiration  with  his 
doctrine,  and  after  that  they  durst  not  ask 
him  any  more  questions.”  (St.  Matt.  xxii. 
23-32  ;  St.  Mark  xii.  23-27  ;  St.  Luke  xx. 
28-40.) 

The  Pharisees  “  hearing  that  he  had 
silenced  the  Sadducees,  came  together ; 
and  one  of  them,  a  doctor  of  the  law,  that 
had  heard  them  reasoning  together,  seeing 
that  Jesus  had  answered  them  well,  asked 
him  :  Master,  which  is  the  great  command¬ 
ment,  the  first  commandment  of  all?  ”  It  is 

( 1 )  Therefore  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  exist ; 
for  God  is  not  the  God  of  nothing.  It  is  in  this 
that  the  whole  force  of  this  reasoning  seems  to  lie ; 
therefore  they  shall  one  day  rise  again.  This 
second  consequence,  which  is  what  Jesus  Christ 
had  to  prove  against  the  Sadducees,  does  not  ap¬ 
pear  so  necessarily  connected  with  the  principle  as 
the  first.  The  answer  is,  that  the  Saviour’s  rea¬ 
soning  was  peremptory  against  the  Sadducees,  who 
did  not  acknowledge  any  spiritual  substance,  and 
who  started  from  this  assumption  when  they  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  deny  the  resurrection,  because,  according 
to  them,  the  soul  no  longer  existing,  there  was  no 
longer  anything  which  could  be  united  to  the 
bodies,  whence  thy  concluded  that  the  resurrection 


added  that  he  put  this  question  “  tempting 
him.”  (St.  Matthew  xxii.  34-36  ;  St.  Mark 
xii.  28.)  “Jesus  answered  him  :  The  first 
commandment  of  all  is  :  Hear,  0  Israel  * 
the  Lord  thv  God  is  one  God  ;  and  thou 
shalt  iove  the  Lord  thy  God  with  thy 
whole  heart,  and  with  thy  whole  soul,  and 
with  thy  whole  mind,  and  with  thy  whole 
strength.  This  is  the  greatest  and  the  first 
commandment.  And  the  second  is  like  to 
this :  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.  There  is  no  other  commandment 
greater  than  these.  On  these  two  com¬ 
mandments  dependeth  the  whole  law  and 
the  prophets.  The  Scribe  said  to  him : 
Well,  Master,  thou  hast  said  in  truth  that 
there  is  one  God,  and  there  is  no  other 
besides  him  ;  that  he  should  be  loved  with 
the  whole  heart,  with  the  whole  under¬ 
standing,  with  the  whole  soul  and  with  the 
whole  strength  ;  and  to  love  one’s  neigh¬ 
bor  as  one’s  self  is  a  greater  thing  than 
all  holocausts  and  sacrifices.  Jesus,  see¬ 
ing  that  he  had  answered  wisely,  said  to 
him  :  Thou  art  not  far  from  the  kingdom 
of  God.” 

was  a  thing  impossible.  Yet,  although  speaking 
with  metaphysical  precision,  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body  do  not  appear 
to  depend  necessarily  one  upon  the  other,  still  they 
did  then  so  depend,  according  to  the  idea  adopted 
by  the  entire  world,  and  the  second  was  inferred 
from  the  first.  In  restoring  to  us  at  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  the  same  body  which  we  shall  have  had,  God 
will  not  restore  to  us  all  the  matter  which  shall 
have  constituted  a  part  of  this  body  during  the 
whole  course  of  our  life ;  this  truth,  if  we  study  it 
a  little,  will  furnish  an  answer  to  all  the  diffi¬ 
culties  which  are  raised  against  the  possibility  of 
the  resurrection. 


THE  WIDOW’S  MITE. 


McMenamy,  Hess  8c  Co.,  New  York. 

* -  - - — — — — 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  761 

After  having  satisfied  all  their  demands, 

The  Lord  said  to  my  Lord:  Sit  thou  on 

the  Saviour  wished  to  question  them  in 

my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thy  enemies 

his  turn.  “  The  Pharisees  being  gathered 

thy  footstool.  David,  therefore,  calleth 

together,  Jesus  asked  them  :  What  think 

him  Lord  ;  and  whence  is  he  then  his 

you  of  Christ  ?  Whose  Son  is  he  ?  They 

Son  ?  And  no  man  was  able  to  answer 

said  to  him  :  David’s.  Whereupon  he  an- 

him  a  word.  Neither  durst  any  man 

.  swering,  said,  teaching  in  the  temple  : 

from  that  day  forth  ask  him  any  more 

How  do  the  Scribes  say  that  Christ  is  the 

questions  ;  and  a  great  multitude  heard 

Son  of  David  ?  For  David  himself  saith, 

him  gladly.”  (St.  Matthew  xxii.  41-46  ; 

by  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  Book  of  Psalms  : 

St.  Mark  xii.  35-37  ;  St.  Luke  xx.  42.) 

CHAPTER  L. 

THE  DOCTORS  OF  THE  LAW  TO  BE  HEARD,  NOT  IMITATED.— THE  SCRIBES  AND  PHARISEES 

ARE  CURSED.— THE  WIDOW’S  MITE.— THE  RUIN  OF  THE  TEMPLE  FORETOLD.— QUESTION  AS 

TO  THE  TIME  OF  THE  RUIN  OF  JERUSALEM,  AND  OF  THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.— SIGN  OF  THE 

SON  OF  MAN.— THE  LAST  TRUMPET.— THE  ELECT  GATHERED.— NECESSITY  OF  WATCHING. 

“  r  I  "'HEN  Jesus  spoke  to  the  multitude 
X  and  to  his  disciples,  and  said  to 

their  works  they  do  for  to  be  seen  of  men. 

For  they  make  phylacteries'1  broad,  and 

them  in  his  doctrine  :  The  Scribes  and 

enlarge  their  fringes.  They  love  the  first 

the  Pharisees  have  sitten  on  the  chair  of 

places  at  feasts,  and  the  first  chairs  in  the 

Moses.  All  things,  therefore,  whatsoever 

synagogues,  and  salutations  in  the  market- 

they^  shall  say  to  you,  observe  and  do  ; 

place,  and  to  be  called  by  men,  Rabbi. 

but  according  to  their  works  do  ye  not,  for 

Who  devour  the  houses  of  widows  under 

they  say  and  do  not.  They  bind  insup- 

the  pretence  of  long  prayer.  These  shall 

portable  burdens  and  lay  them  on  men’s 

receive  greater  judgment,  but  be  not  you,” 

shoulders ;  but  with  a  finger  of  their 

added  the  Divine  Master,  then  directing 

own  they  will  not  move  them.  And  all 

his  discourse  to  the  disciples  alone,  “be 

( 1 )  “  The  phylacteries  are  made  in  order  to  pre- 

that  the  square  which  is  in  the  middle  falls  right 

serve  four  sentences  extracted  from  the  law.  These 

down  upon  the  forehead,  hanging  a  little  over  the 

sentences  were  written  upon  parchment,  and  in- 

bridge  of  the  nose ;  these  are  the  phylacteries  of 

closed  in  black  calf-skin,  in  a  little  square  form, 

the  head  :  they  also  fix  similar  ones  to  the  bend  of 

and  this  little  square  is  between  two  strings,  to 

the  left  arm.  The  Pharisees,  in  order  to  appear 

which  it  is  attached.  When  the  Jews  say  their 

persons  of  greater  worth,  affected  to  have  the  phy- 

prayers,  they  bind  their  head  with  these  strings,  so 

96 

lacteries  broader  and  larger  than  the  other  Jews." 

762  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


not  yon  called  Rabbi  ;  for  one  is  your 
master,  and  all  you  are  brethren.  And 
call  none  your  father  upon  earth  ;  for  one 
is  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  ;  neither 
be  ye  called  masters,  for  one  is  your  mas¬ 
ter,  Christ.”  (St.  Matthew  xxiii.  1-10  ;  St. 
Mark  xii.  38.) 

This  does  not  mean  to  convey  that  the 
Saviour  here  prohibits  those  titles.  But 
he  wishes  that,  whilst  we  recognize  fathers 
and  masters  upon  earth,  we  should  at  the 
same  time  elevate  our  thoughts  to  the  Fa¬ 
ther,  from  whom  comes  all  paternity  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  Hence  he  con¬ 
cludes  :  “He  that  is  greatest  among  you 
shall  be  vour  servant  ;  and  whosoever 
shall  exalt  himself  shall  be  humbled,  and 
he  that  shall  humble  himself  shall  be  ex¬ 
alted.” 

Then  returning  to  the  Pharisees  :  “Woe 
to  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  : 
because  you  shut  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
against  men.  For  you  yourselves  do  not 
enter  in,  and  those  that  are  going  in  you 
suffer  not  to  enter.  Woe  to  you,  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  ;  because  you 
devour  the  houses  of  widows,  praying 
long  prayers.  For  this  ye  shall  receive 
the  greater  judgment.  Woe  to  you, 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  ;  be¬ 
cause  you  go  round  about  the  sea  and  the 
land  to  make  one  proselyte  ;  and  when  he 
is  made,  you  make  him  the  child  of  hell 
twofold  more  than  yourselves.  Woe  to 
you,  blind  guides,  who  say  :  Whosoever 
shall  swear  by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing  ; 
but  he  that  shall  swear  by  the  gold  of  the 
temple  is  a  debtor.  Ye  foolish  and  blind  ; 
for  whether  is  it  greater,  the  gold,  or  the 


temple  which  sanctifieth  the  gold  ?  And 
whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  altar,  it  is 
nothing  ;  but  whosoever  shall  swear  by 
the  gift  upon  it,  is  a  debtor.  Ye  blind  ; 
for  whether  is  greater,  the  gift,  or  the  al¬ 
tar  that  sanctifieth  the  gift  ?  He,  there¬ 
fore,  that  sweareth  by  the  altar,  sweareth 
by  it,  and  by  all  things  that  are  upon  it  ; 
whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  temple, 
sweareth  by  it,  and  by  him  that  dwelleth 
in  it  ;  and  he  that  sweareth  by  heaven, 
sweareth  by  the  throne  of  God,  and  by 
him  that  sitteth  thereon.  Woe  to  you, 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites ;  be¬ 
cause  you  tithe  mint,  and  anise,  and  cum¬ 
min,  and  have  left  the  weightier  things  of 
the  law  ;  judgment,  and  mercy,  and  faith. 
These  things  you  ought  to  have  done,  and 
not  leave  those  undone.  Blind  guides, 
you  strain  out  a  gnat  and  swallow  a  camel.” 

“Woe  to  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites  ;  because  you  make  clean  the 
outside  of  the  cup  and  of  the  dish,  but 
within  you  are  full  of  extortion  and  un¬ 
cleanness.  Thou  blind  Pharisee,  first 
make  clean  the  inside  of  the  cup  and  of 
the  dish,  that  the  outside  may  become 
clean.  Woe  to  you,  Scribes  and  Phari¬ 
sees,  hypocrites  ;  because  you  are  like  the 
whited  sepulchres,  which  outwardly  ap¬ 
pear  to  men  beautiful,  but  within  are  full 
of  dead  men’s  bones,  and  of  all  filthiness. 
So  you  also  outwardly,  indeed,  appear  to 
men  just ;  but  within  you  are  full  of  hy¬ 
pocrisy  and  iniquity.” 

“Woe  to  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites,  who  build  the  sepulchres  of 
the  prophets,  and  adorn  the  monuments 
of  the  just,  and  say  :  If  we  had  been  in 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  763 

the  days  of  our  fathers,  we  would  not 

for  one  of  the  most  sublime  instructions 

have  been  partakers  with  them  in  the 

contained  in  the  Gospel.  “  Calling  his 

blood  of  the  prophets.  Wherefore  you 

disciples  together,  he  saith  to  them :  Amen, 

are  witnesses  against  yourselves,  that  you 

I  sa}7  to  you,  this  poor  widow  hath  cast  in 

are  the  sons  of  them  who  killed  the  proph- 

more  than  all  they  who  have  cast  into  the 

ets.  Fill  ye  up,  then,  the  measure  of 

treasury  ;  for  all  they  did  cast  in  of  their 

your  fathers.  You  serpents,  generation 

abundance,  but  she  of  her  want  cast  in  all 

of  vipers,  how  will  you  escape  the  judg- 

she  had,  even  her  whole  living.”  Men, 

ment  of  hell?  Therefore  behold,  I  send 

whose  wants  are  great,  only  value  great 

to  you  prophets,  and  wise  men,  and 

things.  God,  who  is  in  want  of  nothing, 

Scribes  ;  and  some  of  them  you  will  put 

values  only  greatness  of  heart.  In  the 

to  death,  and  crucify,  and  some  you  will 

offerings  which  we  make  to  him,  he  re- 

scourge  in  your  synagogues,  and  persecute 

gards  not  the  hand,  but  the  heart. 

them  from  city  to  city :  that  upon  you 

Our  Saviour  had  foretold  to  the  Jews 

may  come  all  the  just  blood  that  hath 

the  ruin  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  temple, 

been  shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood 

for  such  is  the  meaning  given  t?f  tl&3  ex- 

of  Abel  the  just,  even  unto  the  blood  of 

pression  :  “  Behold,  your  house  snS8>  be 

Zacharias  the  son  of  Barachias,  whom  you 

left  to  you  desolate.”  If  we  believe  the 

killed  between  the  temple  and  the  altar. 

majority  of  interpreters,  this  fearful  pre- 

Amen,  I  say  to  you,  all  these  things  shall 

diction  gave  rise  to  the  following  :  “  Jesus 

come  upon  this  generation.  0  Jerusalem, 

being  come  out  of  the  temple,  went  away  : 

Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 

and  his  disciples  came  to  show  him  the 

and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee, 

buildings  of  the  temple.”  (St.  Matthew 

how  often  would  I  have  gathered  together 

xxiv.  1.)  “  And  some  saying  of  the  tern- 

thy  children,  as  the  hen  gathereth  her 

pie  that  it  was  adorned  with  goodly  stones 

chickens  under  her  wings,  and  thou 

and  gifts,  one  of  his  disciples  saith  to  him  : 

wouldst  not.  ‘Behold,  your  house  shall 

Master,  behold  what  manner  of  stones, 

be  left  to  you  desolate  ;  for  I  say  to  you, 

and  what  buildings  are  here!  Jesus  an- 

you  shall  not  see  me  henceforth  till  you 

swering,  said  to  him  :  Seest  thou  all  these 

say  :  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 

great  buildings?  Amen,  I  say  to  you, 

name  of  the  Lord.”  (St.  Matt,  xxiii. 

these  things  which  you  see,  the  days  will 

11-39.) 

come  in  which  there  shall  not  be  left  a 

“  And  Jesus,  sitting  over  against  the 

stone  upon  a  stone  that  shall  not  be  thrown 

treasury,  beheld  how  the  people  cast 

down.”  (St.  Luke  xxi.  5,  6  ;  St.  Mark  xiii. 

money  into  the  treasury  ;  many  that  were 

1,  2  ;  St.  Matthew  xxiv.  2.) 

rich  cast  in  much  ;  there  came  a  certain 

“  And  as  he  sat  on  the  Mount  of  Olivet, 

poor  widow,  and  she  cast  in  two  mites, 

opposite  the  temple,”  the  occasion  was  fa- 

wnich  make  a  farthing.”  A  thing  so  tri- 

vorable  for  alluding  to  it.  “  The  disciples 

fling  in  appearance  furnished  the  occasion 

came  to  him  privately,  and  Peter,  and 

764  HISTORY  OB 

THE  LIFE 

James,  and  John,  and  Andrew  asked  him  : 

they  shall  deliver  you  up  to  councils,  and 

Master,  tell  us  when  shall  these  things  be, 

in  the  synagogues  you  shall  be  beaten,  and 

and  what  shall  be  the  sign  when  all  those 

you  shall  stand  before  governors  and  kings 

things  shall  begin  to  be  fulfilled  ?  what 

for  my  sake,  for  a  testimony  unto  them. 

shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the 

Lay  it  up,  therefore,  in  your  hearts,  when 

consummation  of  the  world  ?  ”  (St.  Mark 

they  shall  lead  you  and  deliver  you  up, 

xiii.  3,  4  ;  St.  Matthew  xxiv.  3  ;  St.  Luke 

not  to  meditate  before  how  you  shall  an- 

xxi.  7.) 

swer  ;  but  whatsoever  shall  be  given  ye 

This  inquiry  had  two  objects — the  de- 

in  that  hour  speak  ye.  For  I  shall  give 

struction  of  the  temple  and  the  end  of  the 

you  a  mouth  and  wisdom  which  all  your 

world,  which  was  to  be  preceded  by  the 

enemies  shall  not  be  able  to  resist  and 

coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  himself  had 

gainsay  ;  for  it  is  not  you  that  speak,  but 

so  often  foretold. 

the  Holy  Ghost.”  (St.  Luke  xxi.  9-11  ; 

“  Take  heed,  lest  any  man  seduce  you  : 

St.  Matt.  xxiv.  8  ;  St.  Luke  xxi.  12-15  ; 

for  many  will  come  in  my  name,  saying : 

St.  Mark  xiii.  9-11.) 

I  am  Christ ;  and  the  time  is  at  hand. 

“You  shall  be  betrayed  by  your  pa- 

They  will  seduce  many  ;  go  ye  not,  there- 

rents  and  brethren,  and  kinsmen  and 

fore,  after  them.”  (St.  Mark  xiii.  5,  6  ;  St. 

friends,  and  some  of  you  will  they  put  to 

Matthew  xxiv.  5  ;  St.  Luke  xxi.  8.) 

death.  And  the  brother  shall  betray  his 

“  When  you  shall  hear  of  wars  and  se- 

brother  unto  death,  and  the  father  his  son. 

ditions,  be  not  terrified.  These  things 

And  the  children  shall  rise  up  against  the 

must  first  come  to  pass,  but  the  end  is  not 

parents,  and  shall  work  their  death,  and 

yet  presently.  Then  he  said  to  them  :  Na- 

3rou  shall  be  hated  by  all  men  for  my 

tion  shall  rise  against  nation,  and  kingdom 

name’s  sake.  Then  shall  many  be  scan- 

against  kingdom.  There  shall  be  great 

dalized,  and  shall  betray  one  another,  and 

earthquakes  in  divers  places,  and  pesti- 

shall  hate  one  another.  And  many  false 

lences  and  famines,  and  terrors  from  hea- 

prophets  shall  rise,  and  shall  seduce  many, 

ven,  and  there  shall  be  great  signs.1  Now 

and  because  iniquity  hath  abounded,  the 

all  these  things  are  the  beginning  of  sor- 

charity  of  many  shall  grow  cold  ;  but  he 

rows  ;  but  before  all  these  things  they  will 

that  shall  persevere  to  the  end  he  shall  be 

lay  their  hands  on  you  ;  and  persecute 

saved.  But  a  hair  of  your  head  shall  not 

you,  delivering  you  up  to  the  synagogues 

perish.  In  your  patience  you  shall  possess 

and  into  prisons.  Look  to  yourselves,  for 

your  souls.  This  Gospel  of  the  kingdom 

( 1 )  History  attests  that  all  those  scourges  pre- 

speaks  of  three  Asiatic  cities  which  were  levelled 

ceded,  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem.  In  the  Acts  of  the 

by  an  earthquake,  and  Josephus,  of  prodigies  and 

Apostles,  chap,  xi.,  mention  is  made  of  the  famine 

heavenly  signs,  such  as  had  never  before  appeared. 

which  was  spread  over  the  entire  world  during  the 

After  the  death  of  Nero,  the  whole  Koman  empire 

time  of  the  Emperor  Claudius.  After  famine 

was  a  prey  to  the  wars  which  were  excited  by  the  dif- 

comes  plague,  says  a  Greek  proverb.  Eusebius 

ferent  princes  who  successively  disputed  the  empire. 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESU8  CHRIST.  765 

shall  be  preached  to  the  whole  world,  for  a 

Jesus  would  have  stopped  there,  if  he 

testimony  to  all  nations  ;  and  then  shall  the 

had  alluded  only  to  Jerusalem  and  the 

consummation  come.”  (St.  Luke  xxi.  16,17  ; 

Jewish  people.  Reality  succeeds  to  figures, 

St.  Mark  xiii.  12-14;  St.  Matt.  xxiv.  10.) 

and  the  wreck  of  heaven  and  of  earth 

“When  you  shall  see  Jerusalem  com- 

the  destruction  of  a  single  nation.  Jesus, 

passed  about  with  an  army,  then  know 

who  passes  imperceptibly  from  one  to  the 

that  the  desolation  thereof  is  at  hand. 

other,  begins  by  these  words,  “  Pray  that 

When,  therefore,  you  shall  see  the  abom- 

your  flight  be  not  in  the  winter,  or  on  the 

ination  of  desolation  which  was  spoken  of 

Sabbath  ;  for  in  those  days  shall  be  such 

by  Daniel  the  Prophet,  standing  in  the 

tribulations  as  were  not  from  the  beginning 

holy  place  1  (he  that  readeth  let  him  under- 

of  the  creation  which  God  created,  until 

stand),  then  they  that  are  in  Judea  let 

now,  neither  shall  be.  And  unless  the 

them  flee  to  the  mountains  ;  and  those  who 

Lord  hath  shortened  the  days,  no  flesh 

are  in  the  midst  thereof  depart  out,  and 

should  be  saved  ;  but  for  the  sake  of  the 

those  who  are  in  the  countries  not  enter 

elect,  he  hath  shortened  the  days.  Then, 

into  it.  Let  him  that  is  on  the  house-top 

if  any  man  shall  say  to  you  :  Lo,  here  is 

not  go  down  into  the  house,  nor  enter 

Christ  ;  lo,  he  is  here  :  do  not  believe. 

therein  to  take  anything  out  of  the  house  ; 

For  there  shall  arise  false  Christs  and  false 

and  he  that  is  in  the  field  let  him  not  go 

prophets,  and  they  shall  show  great  signs 

back  to  take  his  coat,  for  these  are  the 

and  wonders,  insomuch  as  to  deceive  (if 

days  of  vengeance,  that  all  things  may  be 

possible)  even  the  elect.  Take  you  heed, 

fulfilled  that  are  written.  But  wo  to  them 

therefore :  behold,  I  have  foretold  you  all 

that  are  with  child,  and  give  suck  in  those 

things.  If,  therefore,  they  shall  say  to 

days !  for  there  shall  be  great  distress  in 

you  :  Behold,  he  is  in  the  desert  ;  go  ye 

the  land,  and  wrath  upon  this  people. 

not  out :  Behold  he  is  in  the  closet ;  be- 

They  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword, 

lieve  it  not  :  for,  as  lightning  cometh  out 

and  shall  be  led  away  captive  into  all  na- 

of  the  east,  and  appeareth  even  in  the 

tions.  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down 

west,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son 

by  the  Gentiles,  till  the  times  of  the  na- 

of  man  be.2  Wheresoever  the  body  shall 

tions  be  fulfilled.” 

be,  there  shall  the  eagles  also  be  gathered 

(>)  According  to  Saint  Mark,  “where  it  ought 

them  without  being  horrified,  took  God  to  witness 

not  ’’—that  is  to  say,  in  the  temple,  as  Daniel 

that  he  was  in  no  wise  the  cause  thereof. 

said  in  the  very  words  (Dan.  ix.  27).  History 

( a )  The  second  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  shall 

- 

furnishes  us  with  nothing  to  which  this  prophecy 

be  so  visible,  that  the  fact  of  our  not  seeing  it  is 

is  more  applicable  than  what  was  perpetrated  in 

sufficient  evidence  to  assure  us  that  it  has  not  as 

the  temple  when  seized  upon  by  the  faction  who 

yet  occurred.  It  shall  resemble  those  huge  flashes 

assumed  the  name  of  Zealots.  these  monsters 

of  lightning  which,  issuing  from  the  depth  of  a 

profaned  it  by  so  many  crimes  and  abominations, 

dark  night,  dazzle  all  eyes  by  their  splendor,  and 

that  Titus,  who  could  not  listen  to  the  recital  of 

illumine  in  an  instant  an  entire  hemisphere. 

_ _ _ 

766  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

together.1  (St.  Matthew  xxiv.  20-24,  26- 

der,  and  the  leaves  are  come  forth,  and  all 

28  ;  St.  Mark  xiii.  19-23.) 

the  trees,  when  they  now  shoot  forth  their 

“  And  immediately  after  the  tribulation 

fruit,  you  know  that  summer  is  nigh  ;  so 

of  those  days,  there  shall  be  signs  in  the 

you  also,  when  you  shall  see  these  things 

sun,  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the  stars  ; 

come  to  pass,  know  that  the  kingdom  of 

and  upon  the  earth,  distress  of  nations,  by 

God  is  at  hand.  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  this 

reason  of  the  confusion  of  the  roaring  of 

generation  shall  not  pass  away  till  all 

the  sea,  and  of  the  waves  :  men  withering 

these  things  be  fulfilled.  Heaven  and 

away  for  fear,  and  expectation  of  what 

earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  word  shall 

shall  come  upon  the  whole  world.  The 

not  pass  away.”  (St.  Luke  xxi.  28-35  ;  St. 

sun  shall  be  darkened,  the  moon  shall  not 

Mark  xiii.  28.) 

give  her  light,  the  stars  shall  fall  from 

“  But  of  the  day  or  hour  no  man  know- 

heaven  ;  and  the  powers  of  heaven  shall 

eth,  neither  the  angels  in  heaven,  nor  the 

be  moved.”  (St.  Matthew  xxiv.  29  ;  St. 

Son,  but  the  Father.”  (St.  Mark  xiii.  32.) 

Luke  xxi.  25,  26.) 

There  is  a  very  close  analogy  between 

“Then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son 

the  end  of  the  world  and  the  end  of  each 

of  man  in  heaven;2  then  shall  all  tribes 

particular  man.  Let  each  one,  therefore, 

of  the  earth  mourn,3  and  they  shall  see 

apply  to  himself  what  our  Saviour  ad- 

the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of 

dresses  to  those  only  who  shall  see  the  latter 

heaven,  with  much  power  and  majesty. 

days.  “  Take  heed,  watch,  and  pray  ;  for  ye 

And  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a 

know  not  when  the  time  is.  Take  heed  to 

trumpet  and  a  great  voice  ;  and  they  shall 

yourselves,  lest  perhaps  your  hearts  be 

gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four 

overcharged  with  surfeiting  and  drunken- 

winds,  from  the  farthest  part  of  the  hea- 

ness,  and  the  cares  of  this  life,  and  that  day 

vens  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  them.”  (St. 

come  upon  you  suddenly.  For  as  a  snare 

Matt.  xxiv.  30,  31  ;  St.  Mark  xiii.  27.) 

shall  it  come  upon  all  that  sit  upon  the  face 

“But  when  these  things  begin  to  come 

of  the  earth.  Watch  ye,  therefore,  praying 

to  pass,  look  up  and  lift  up  your  heads,  be- 

at  all  times,  that  you  may  be  accounted 

cause  your  redemption  is  at  hand.  And 

worthy  to  escape  all  these  things  that  are 

he  spoke  to  them  a  similitude  :  See  the  fig- 

to  come,  and  to  stand  before  the  Son  of 

tree,  when  the  branch  thereof  is  now  ten- 

man.  As  the  days  of  Noe,  so  shall  also 

( 1 )  Several  allegorical  meanings  have  been  given 

(2)  Interpreters  have  also  entertained  different 

to  this  text.  The  most  probable  is  that  which 

opinions  as  to  this  sign  of  the  Son  of  man.'  The 

makes  it  signify  the  ardent  desire  of  pious  souls  for 

Church  fixes  the  meaning,  when  she  says:  This 

the  adorable  body  of  Jesus  Christ — whether  for  the 

sign  of  the  cross  shall  appear  in  the  heavens  when 

purpose  of  remaining  in  his  presence,  or  of  being 

the  Lord  shall  come  to  judge. 

nourished  with  his  vivifying  flesh.  The  literal 

( s )  The  Jews,  to  whom  the  cross  was  a  scandal ; 

sense  refers  to  the  lightning.  Job  had  said,  xxxix. 

the  Gentiles,  who  treated  it  as  folly. 

30:  “Wheresoever  the  carcass  shall  be,  the  eagle 

is.”  Jesus  Christ  merely  repeats  these  words. 

* 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


767 


the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.  For, 
as  in  the  days  before  the  flood,  they  were 
eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving 
in  marriage,  even  till  that  day  in  which 
Noe  entered  into  the  ark,  and  they  knew 
not  till  the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all 
away,  so  also  shall  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  man  be.”  (St.  Mark  xiii.  33  ;  St.  Luke 
xxi.  34-36  ;  St.  Matthew  xxiv.  37-39.) 

But  discrimination  shall  follow  these 
times  of  confusion.  For  “  then  two  shall 
be  in  the  field  ;  one  shall  be  taken,  and 


one  shall  be  left.  Two  women  shall  be 
grinding  at  the  mill  :  one  shall  be  taken, 
and  one  shall  be  left.  Watch  ye,  there¬ 
fore  ;  because  ye  know  not  what  hour 
your  Lord  will  come.  But  this  know  ye, 
that  if  the  good  man  of  the  house  knew 
at  what  hour  the  thief  would  come,  he 
would  certainly  watch,  and  would  not  suf¬ 
fer  his  house  to  be  broken  open.  Where¬ 
fore  be  you  also  ready,  because  at  what 
hour  you  know  not,  the  Son  of  man  will 
come.”  (St.  Matt.  xxiv.  40-44.) 


CHAPTER  LI. 

SEQUEL. _ GOOD  AND  BAD  SERVANTS. -WISE  AND  FOOLISH  VIRGINS.  TALENTS.  JUDGMENT  OF 

JESUS  CHRIST. _ CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  OUR  SAVIOUR. — JUDAS  MAKES  HIS  BARGAIN.  PASCHAL 

SUPPER.— THE  WASHING  OF  FEET.— TREASON  FORETOLD. 


NOW  the  question  is,  in  what  does 
this  vigilance  consist,  and  what  dis¬ 
positions  should  it  establish  within  us  ? 
The  Saviour  is  going  to  give  us  this  infor¬ 
mation  by  these  familiar  comparisons  : 
“Who,  thickest  thou,  is  a  faithful  and 
wise  servant,  whom  his  lord  hath  appoint¬ 
ed  over  his  family,  to  give  them  meat  in 
season?  Blessed  is  the  servant  whom, 
when  his  lord  shall  come,  he  shall  find  so 
doing !  Amen,  I  say  to  you,  he  shall 
place  him  over  all  his  goods.  But  if  that 
evil  servant  shall  say  in  his  heart  :  My 
lord  is  long  a  coming  and  shall  begin  to 
strike  his  fellow-servants,  and  shall  eat 
and  drink  with  drunkards,  the  lord  of  that 


servant  shall  come  in  a  day  that  he  hopeth 
not,  and  at  an  hour  that  he  knoweth  not ; 
and  shall  separate  him,  and  appoint  his 
portion  with  the  hypocrites.  There  shall 
be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Even 
as  a  man  who,  going  into  a  far  country, 
left  his  house,  and  gave  authority  to  his 
servants  over  every  work,  and  commanded 
the  porter  to  watch.  Watch  ye,  there¬ 
fore  ;  for  you  know  not  when  the  lord  of 
the  house  corneth,  at  even,  or  at  midnight, 
or  at  the  cock’s  crowing,  or  at  morning  : 
lest,  coming  on  a  sudden,  he  find  you 
sleeping.  And  what  I  say  to  you  I  say 
to  all :  Watch.”  (St.  Matt.  xxiv.  45-51  ; 
St.  Mark  xiii.  34-37.) 


768  HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 

But  those  who  shall  be  taken  by  sur- 

Whilst  they  went  to  buy,  the  bridegroom 

prise  shall  not  be  taken  short  on  one  ac- 

came ;  and  they  that  were  ready  went  in 

count  alone,  viz.,  for  having  utterly  neg- 

with  him  to  the  marriage,  and  the  door 

lected  to  prepare  for  the  coming  of  their 

was  shut :  at  last  came  also  the  other  vir- 

master  ;  but  also  if  they  have  begun  their 

gins,  saying  :  Lord,  Lord,  open  to  us.  But 

preparation  too  late.  In  the  same  way, 

he  answering,  said  :  Amen,- 1  say  to  you,  I 

the  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth  shall 

know  you  not.  Watch  ye,  therefore,  be- 

not  be  the  lot  of  the  bad  servant  alone ; 

cause  you  know  not  the  day  nor  the 

they  shall  also  be  the  lot  of  the  useless 

hour.” 

servant.  It  is  plain  that  these  differences 

Here  follows  the  example  of  the  useless 

give  weight  to  the  preceding  examples  ; 

servant,  which  the  Saviour,  after  having 

and  the  reader  will  not  regard  as  merely  a 

enjoined  constant  vigilance,  adds  to  the 

repetition  what  Jesus  is  going  to  say.  Let 

preceding,  continuing  his  discourse  thus : 

no  one  be  astonished  at  his  dwelling  longer 

“  Even  as  a  man  going  into  a  far  country, 

on  this  subject  than  he  has  upon  any  other. 

called  his  servants,  and  delivered  to  them 

Since  it  behooves  us  to  act  so  as  -not  to  be 

his  goods.  To  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to 

surprised  by  death,  we  are  bound,  there- 

another  two,  and  to  another  one  ;  to  every 

fore,  to  look  to  a  matter  which  is  to  decide 

one  according  to  his  proper  ability,  and 

our  eternal  salvation  ;  and  on  what  other 

immediately  he  took  his  journey.  He  that 

subject  should  the  Saviour  so  earnestly 

had  received  five  talents  went  his  way  and 

warn  us  to  be  careful  ? 

traded  with  the  same,  and  gained  other 

“  Then  shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be 

five.  And  in  like  manner,  he  that  had  re- 

like  to  ten  virgins,  who,  taking  their 

ceived  the  two  gained  other  two.  But  he 

lamps,  went  out  to  meet  the  bridegroom 

that  had  received  the  one,  going  his  way, 

and  the  bride.  Five  of  them  were  fool- 

digged  into  the  earth,  and  hid  his  lord’s 

ish,  and  five  wise.  But  the  five  foolish 

money.  After  a  long  time  the  lord  of 

having  taken  their  lamps,  did  not  take  oil 

those  servants  came,  and  reckoned  with 

with  them  ;  but  the  wise  took  oil  in  their 

them.  He  that  had  received  the  five 

vessels  with  the  lamps.  The  bridegroom 

talents,  coming,  brought  other  five  talents, 

tarrying,  they  all  slumbered  and  slept. 

saying  :  Lord,  thou  deliveredst  to  me  five 

And  at  midnight  there  was  a  cry  made : 

talents  ;  behold,  I  have  gained  other  five 

Behold,  the  bridegroom  cometh  ;  go  ye 

over  and  above.  His  lord  said  to  him  : 

forth  to  meet  him.  Then  all  those  virgins 

Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant  ; 

arose,  and  trimmed  their  lamps.  And  the 

because  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few 

foolish  said  to  the  wise  :  Give  us  of  your 

things,  I  will  set  thee  over  many  things  : 

oil,  for  our  lamps  are  gone  out.  The  wise 

enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  lord.  And 

answered :  Lest  perhaps  there  be  not 

he  also  that  had  received  the  two  talents 

enough  for  us  and  for  you,  go  ye  rather  to 

came  and  said  :  Lord,  thou  deliveredst 

them  that  sell,  and  buy  for  yourselves. 

two  talents  to  me  ;  behold,  I  have  gained 

OP  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  769 

other  two.  His  lord  said  to  him  :  Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant ;  because 
thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things, 

I  will  set  thee  over  many  things  :  enter 
thou  into  the  joyr  of  thy  lord.  But  he  that 
had  received  the  one  talent  came  and  said  : 
Lord,  I  know  that  thou  art  a  hard  man  ; 
thou  reapest  where  thou  hast  not  sown, 
and  gatherest  where  thou  hast  not  strewed  ; 
and  being  afraid,  I  went  and  hid  thy  talent 
in  the  earth.  Behold,  here  thou  hast  that 
which  was  thine.  His  lord  answering,  said 
to  him :  Wicked  and  slothful  servant,  thou 
knewest  that  I  reap  where  I  sow  not,  and 
gather  where  I  have  not  strewed.  Thou 
oughtest,  therefore,  to  have  committed  my 
money  to  the  bankers,  and  at  my  coming 

I  should  have  received  my  own  with 
usury.  Take  ye  away,  therefore,  the 
talent  from  him,  and  give  it  to  him  that 
hath  ten  talents.  For  to  every  one  that 
hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  abound  ; 
but  from  him  that  hath  not,  that  also 
which  he  seemeth  to  have  shall  be  taken 
away.  And  the  unprofitable  servant  cast 
ye  out  into  the  exterior  darkness.  There 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.” 

The  parables  are  ended,  but  uot  so  the 
judgment.  Jesus  Christ  dismisses  figures, 
and,  instead  of  a  mortal  bridegroom  or  a 
temporal  master,  he  is  going  to  exhibit  to 
us  the  immortal  King  of  ages  in  all  the 
lustre  of  his  glory,  pronouncing  sentences 
of  eternal  life  or  death.  Let  us  hearken 
to  him,  for  again  it  is  he  who  is  about  to 
speak  : 

“  And  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come 
in  his  majesty,  and  all  the  angels  with 
him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  seat  of  his 

97 

majesty.  All  nations  shall  be  gathered 
together  before  him,  and  he  shall  separate 
them  one  from  another,  as  the  shepherd 
separated  the  sheep  from  the  goats.  He 
shall  set  the  sheep  on  his  right  hand,  but 
the  goats  on  his  left  :  then  shall  the  king 
say  to  them  that  shall  be  on  his  right 
hand :  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
possess  you  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  For  I 
was  hungry,  and  you  gave  me  to  eat  ;  I 
was  thirsty,  and  you  gave  me  to  drink ;  I 
was  a  stranger,  and  you  took  me  in ; 
naked,  and  you  covered  me  ;  sick,  and 
you  visited  me  ;  I  was  in  prison,  and  you 
came  to  me.  Then  shall  the  just  answer 
him,  saying  :  Lord,  when  did  we  see  thee 
hungry,  and  fed  thee  ;  thirsty,  and  gave 
thee  drink  ?  and  when  did  we  see  thee  a 
stranger,  and  took  thee  in  ?  or  naked,  and 
covered  thee  ?  or  when  did  we  see  thee 
sick  or  in  prison,  and  came  to  thee  ?  The 
king  answering,  shall  say  to  them  :  Amen, 

I  say  to  you,  as  long  as  you  did  it  to  one 
of  these  my  least  brethren,  you  did  it 
to  me.” 

“Then  he  shall  say  to  them  also  that 
shall  be  on  his  left  hand  :  Depart  from  me, 
you  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  which  was 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels. 

For  I  was  hungry,  and  you  gave  me  not  to 
eat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  you  gave  me  not 
to  drink  ;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  you  took 
me  not  in  ;  naked,  and  you  clothed  me 
not ;  sick,  and  in  prison,  and  you  did  not 
visit  me.  Then  shall  they  also  answer 
him,  saying  :  Lord,  when  did  we  see  thee 
hungry  or  thirsty,  or  a  stranger,  or  naked, 
or  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  did  not  minister 

- - - - - - - - - - - 

770  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

to  thee  ?  Then  he  shall  answer  them : 

the  feast  was  after  two  days.  And  it  ’ 

Amen,  I  say  to  you,  as  long  as  you  did  it 

came  to  pass  when  Jesus  had  ended  all 

not  to  one  of  these  least  ones,  neither  did 

these  words,  he  said  to  his  disciples :  You 

you  do  it  to  me.  And  these  shall  go  into 

know  that  after  two  days 1  shall  be  the 

everlasting  punishment  ;  but  the  just  into 

pasch,  and  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  de- 

life  everlasting.”  (St.  Matt.  xxv.  1-46.) 

livered  up  to  be  crucified.”  We  have 

Thus  shall  be  accomplished  this  saying  of 

already  said  that  “  Then  (i.  e.,  on  Wednes- 

the  Saviour  with  respect  to  the  former  : 

day)  were  gathered  together  the  chief 

“Blessed  are  the  merciful,  for  they  shall 

priests  and  the  ancients  of  the  people  into 

obtain  mercy  !  ”  (Matt,  v.)  And  with  re- 

the  palace  of  the  high  priest,  who  was 

gard  to  the  latter,  that  other  saying  of  his 

called  Caiphas,  and  they  consulted  together 

apostle:  “  For  judgment  without  mercy” 

that  by  subtilty  they  might  apprehend 

is  reserved  “  to  him  that  hath  not  done 

Jesus,  and  put  him  to  death.  But  they 

mercv-”  (James  ii.  11.) 

feared  the  people,  [therefore]  they  said  : 

This  was  the  last  prophecy  which  Jesus 

Not  on  the  festival-day,  lest  there  should 

made  before  the  people,  and  charity  was 

be  a  tumult  among  the  people.  And 

the  last  injunction  which  he  laid  upon 

Satan  entered  into  Judas,  who  was  named 

them.  With  this  he  closed  his  public 

Iscariot,2  one  of  the  twelve,  and  he  went 

preaching  ;  and  after  having  discharged 

and  discoursed  with  the  chief  priests  and 

his  duty  as  a  teacher,  he  applied  himself 

the  magistrates  how  he  might  betray  him 

exclusively,  whilst  preparing  for  death,  to 

to  them.  He  said  to  them  :  What  will  you 

fulfil  that  of  Redeemer. 

give  me,  and  I  will  deliver  him  unto  you  ? 

“Now  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread, 

Who  hearing  it  were  glad,  and  they  ap- 

which  is  called  the  pasch,  was  at  hand  ; 

pointed  him  thirty  pieces  of  silver.3  And 

( 1 )  This  was  Tuesday,  so  the  passover  must 

of  obligation  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the  victims.  The 

have  fallen  on  Thursday;  and  then  Jesus  cele- 

circumstance  of  time  caused  this  act  to  be  also 

brated  this  feast.  But  Saint  John  says  the  pass- 

styled  the  eating  of  the  passover.  This  explana- 

over  was  not  till  Friday.  According  to  some,  the 

tion  smooths  away  every  difficulty,  and  answers 

Galileans  eat  the  passover  one  day  before  the  Jews 

every  objection.  For  although,  the  paschal  lamb 

of  Judea  proper,  and  of  Jerusalem.  According  to 

was  eaten  on  Thursday,  which  was  the  commence- 

others,  the  Jews,  after  the  captivity  of  Babylon, 

ment  of  the  fourteenth  day,  Saint  John  might 

when  the  passover  fell  upon  Thursday,  transferred 

have  said  at  that  time :  “  Before  the  festival-day  of 

it  to  the  Friday. 

the  pasch,”  because  the  festival,  properly  speaking, 

Here  is  a  third  explanation.  Jesus  Christ  and  all 

should  only  commence  on  the  next  day,  the 

the  Jews  ate  the  passover  on  the  Thursday  evening, 

fifteenth. 

which  was  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  day  of 

(a)  That  is  to  say,  that  Judas  then  gave  full 

the  moon.  The  solemnity  commenced  only  at  the 

and  entire  consent  to  the  design  which  Satan  had 

close  of  the  fourteenth,  which  coincided  with  the 

suggested  to  him  of  delivering  up  our  Saviour. 

commencement  of  the  fifteenth  (Leviticus  xxiii.). 

( 3 )  We  read  in  Exodus,  chap,  xxi.,  that  if  any 

The  law  required  them  to  offer  various  sacrifices  at 

one  wilfully  caused  the  death  of  a  slave,  he  paid 

the  immolation  of  the  paschal  lamb,  and  it  was 

thirty  shekels  of  silver. 

- 

- - - — 

- 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  771 

he  promised  ;  and  from  thenceforth  he 

twelve  apostles  with  him,  and  he  said  to 

sought  opportunity  to  betray  him,  in  the 

them  :  With  desire  I  have  desired  to  eat 

absence  of  the  multitude.”  (St.  Luke  xxii. 

this  pasch  with  you,  before  I  suffer.  For 

1-46  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  1  ;  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  1, 

I  say  to  you,  that  from  this  time  I  will 

3,  5,  15,  16.) 

not  eat  it,  till  it  be  fulfilled  in  the  kingdom 

The  remainder  of  the  day  was  spent  in 

of  God.  And  having  taken  the  chalice,  he 

waiting  for  this  opportunity.  “  And  on 

gave  thanks,  and  said  :  Take  and  divide  it 

the  first  day  of  the  Azymes,  on  which  it 

among  you.  For  I  say  to  you,  that  I  will 

was  necessary  that  the  pasch  should  be 

not  drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  till  the 

killed,  the  disciples  came  to  Jesus,  saying  : 

kingdom  of  God  come.”2  (St.  Matthew 

Whither  wilt  thou  that  we  go  and  prepare 

xxvi.  17,  18  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  7-11,  14-18  ; 

for  thee  to  eat  the  pasch?  He  sendeth 

St.  Mark  xiv.  12-17.) 

two  of  his  disciples,  Peter  aud  John,  say- 

When  the  Jews  celebrated  the  passover, 

ing  :  Go  and  prepare  for  us  the  pasch, 

the  father  of  the  family  blessed  the  first 

that  we  may  eat.  But  they  said  :  Where 

and  the  last  cup.  He  drank  of  it  the  first, 

wilt  thou  that  we  prepare?  He  said  to 

and  then  presented  it  to  all  the  guests, 

them  :  Go  ye  into  the  city  ;  there  shall 

who  drank  of  it,  each  according  to  his 

meet  you  a  man  carrying  a  pitcher  of 

rank.  One  of  the  evangelists,  who  men- 

water.  Follow  him  into  the  house  where 

tions  the  two  chalices,  gives  these  words 

he  entereth  in,  and  whithersoever  he  shall 

immediately  after  the  first,  and  speaks  of 

go  in,  say  to  the  master  of  the  house,  the 

the  second  chalice  as  the  chalice  of  the 

Master  saith  :  My  time  is  near  at  hand  ; 1 

Lord’s  blood. 

I  will  keep  the  pasch  at  thy  house  with  my 

Now  reality  is  going  to  succeed  figures, 

disciples  ;  where  is  my  refectory,  where  I 

and  to  the  eating  of  the  paschal  lamb  the 

may  eat  the  pasch  with  my  disciples  ? 

eating  of  the  flesh  of  the  Man-God  ;  a 

And  he  will  show  you  a  large  dining- 

mystery  equally  beyond  our  conceptions 

room,  furnished.  There  prepare  ye  for 

and  our  hopes.  Here  the  power  and  the 

us.  His  disciples  went  their  way,  and 

love  of  a  God  are  displayed  in  their  in- 

came  into  the  city,  and  they  found  as  he 

finity,  plainly  showing  that  he  alone  could 

had  told  them,  and  they  prepared  the 

be  the  author  of  this  mystery,  in  whom 

pasch.  And  when  evening  was  come,  he 

everything  is  infinite,  and  who  is  infinite 

cometh  with  the  twelve.  And  when  the 

in  everything.  But  a  prodigy  of  humili- 

hour  was  come,  he  sat  down,  and  the 

ation  was  to  precede  this  prodigy  of  power. 

( 1 )  Jesns  Christ  wishes  to  convey  to  him  by 

day.  It  appears  that  this  man  was  one  of  his  dis- 

these  words  that  he  desires  to  give  him  this  evidence 

ciples,  since  Jesus  Christ  makes  them  say  to  him 

of  his  affection ;  for  it  was  a  very  signal  proof 

simply:  “  The  Master  saith  to  thee.” 

thereof  to  give  his  house  the  preference,  for  the 

(s)  Heaven  and  the  Church  are  called  indis- 

purpose  of  celebrating  there  his  last  passover, 

criminately  the  kingdom  of  God.  We  should  here 

which  was  only  to  precede  his  death  by  a  single 

|  understand  the  expression  as  referring  to  heaven, 

✓ 

-  - -  -  •  -  ■  t  — » 

772  HISTORY  OP 


The  first  of  these  acts  was  the  eating 
of  the  paschal  lamb,  in  which  Jesus  Christ, 
always  a  punctual  observer  of  the  law, 
fulfilled  all  the  prescribed  formalities. 
He  ate  it,  therefore,  in  a  standing  posture  ; 
and  if  it  be  alleged  that  he  then  sat  or 
reclined,  inasmuch  as  the  Gospel  repre¬ 
sents  him  to  us  in  either  of  these  two 
positions,  that  would  be  to  confound  the 
first  repast  with  the  second.  The  latter 
was  served  up  immediately  after  the  eat¬ 
ing  of  the  paschal  lamb,  when  that  alone 
was  not  sufficient  to  appease  the  hunger  of 
all  those  who  had  partaken  of  it.  And 
this  was  the  case  here,  since  Jesus  Christ 
had  with  him  his  twelve  apostles  ;  then 
followed  the  repast  in  which  the  guests 
were  not  limited  in  the  choice  of  meats, 
with  the  exception  of  the  unleavened 
bread,  nor  were  they  bound  to  any  cere¬ 
mony.  This  repast,  the  only  one  which 
the  evangelists  properly  call  the  Supper, 
or  the  Lord’s  Supper,  was  finished,  as  they 
expressly  state,  when  our  Saviour  washed 
the  feet  of  his  disciples,  after  which  he  in¬ 
stituted  the  adorable  Eucharist. 

“  Jesus  knowing  that  his  hour  was  come, 
that  he  should  pass  out  of  this  world  to 
his  Father,  having  loved  his  own  who 
were  in  the  world,  he  loved  them  to  the 
end  ;  and  when  supper  was  done,”  as  we 
have  just  related,  “(the  devil  having  now 
put  into  the  heart  of  Judas  Iscariot,  the 
son  of  Simon,  to  betray  him),  knowing 
that  the  Father  had  given  him  all  things 
into  his  hands,  and  that  he  came  from  God, 
and  goeth  to  God :  He  riseth  from  supper, 
and  layeth  aside  his  garments,  and  having 
taken  a  towel,  he  girded  himself.”  After 


THE  LIFE 


that  he  putteth  water  into  a  basin,  and 
began  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  disciples, 
and  to  wipe  them  with  the  towel  where¬ 
with  he  was  girded.  He  cometh,  there¬ 
fore,  to  Simon  Peter.  And  Peter  saith  to 
him :  Lord,  dost  thou  wash  my  feet  ? 
Jesus  answered,  and  said  to  him  :  What  I 
do  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt 
know  hereafter.  Peter  saith  to  him  :  Thou 
shalt  never  wash  my  feet.  Jesus  answered 
him  :  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  shalt  have 
no  part  with  me.  Simon  Peter  saith  to 
him  :  Lord,  not  only  my  feet,  but  also  my 
hands  and  my  head.  Jesus  saith  to  him  : 
He  that  is  washed,  needeth  not  but  to 
wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean  wholly.  And 
you  are  clean,  but  not  all  ;  for  he  knew 
who  he  was  that  would  betray  him,  there¬ 
fore  he  said  :  You  are  not  all  clean.”  (St. 
John  xiii.  1-20.) 

“  Then,  after  he  had  washed  their  feet, 
and  taken  his  garments,  having  sat  down, 
he  said  to  them  :  Know  you  what  I  have 
done  to  you?  You  call  me  Master  and 
Lord,  and  you  say  well,  for  so  I  am.  If 
I,  then,  being  Lord  and  Master,  have 
washed  your  feet,  you  also  ought  to  wash 
one  another’s  feet ;  for  I  have  given  you 
an  example,  that  as  I  have  done  to  you, 
so  you  do  also.  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to 
you,  The  servant  is  not  greater  than  his 
lord,  neither  is  the  apostle  greater  than 
he  that  sent  him.  If  you  know  these 
things,  you  shall  be  blessed  if  you  do 
them.” 

This  happiness  was  not  to  be  enjoyed  by 
all.  Wherefore  continues  our  Saviour  : 
“  I  speak  not  of  you  all  ;  I  know  whom  I 
have  chosen,”  and  if  he  who  is  to  betray 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  773 

me  is  found  amongst  the  number,  I  have 

disciples  to  render  to  each  other  the  duties 

not  admitted  him  without  knowing  what 

of  charity.  Far  from  lowering  themselves 

he  is;  “but  that  the  Scripture  may  be 

in  the  sight  of  men  by  humbling  them- 

fulfilled  :  He  that  eateth  bread  with  me, 

selves  to  one  another,  the  honor  which 

shall  lift  up  his  heel  against  me.  At 

they  have  of  being  his  apostles  will  make 

present  I  tell  you,  before  it  come  to  pass, 

them  as  respected  as  himself:  “Amen, 

that  when  it  shall  come  to  pass  you  may 

amen,  I  say  to  you,  he  that  receiveth 

believe  that  I  am  He.” 

whomsoever  I  send,  receiveth  me  ;  and  he 

Thus  he  labored  to  excite  remorse  in 

that  receiveth  me,  receiveth  him  that 

the  heart  of  Judas,  and  he  exhorted  his 

sent  me.” 

CHAPTER  LII. 

« 

INSTITUTION  OF  THE  EUCHARIST.— JESUS  IS  TROUBLED.— WOE  TO  THE  TRAITOR.— JESUS  MAKES 

HIM  KNOWN  TO  JOHN.— WITHDRAWAL  OF  JUDAS.— DISPUTE  OF  THE  APOSTLES  UPON  PRIOR- 

ITY.—  PRESUMPTION  OF  PETER.— HIS  DENIAL  FORETOLD.— STATE  OF  WARFARE  ABOUT  TO 

COMMENCE  FOR  THE  DISCIPLES.— DISCOURSE  AFTER  THE  LAST  SUPPER.— THE  DISCIPLES  EN- 

COURAGED.— THE  FATHER  AND  THE  SON.— THE  SPIRIT  OF  TRUTH  PROMISED. 

'T'^'HE  moment  was  come  when  Jesus 

infinitely  surpass  them  in  merit  and  in 

Christ  was  at  last  to  institute  the 

value.  “  And  whilst  they  were  at  supper, 

sacrament  of  his  body  and  blood,  and  to 

Jesus  took  bread,  gave  thanks,  and  bless- 

replace  the  ancient  sacrifices  by  that 

ed,  and  broke,  and  gave  to  his  disciples, 

which,  in  its  *  unity,  should  supply  the 

and  said  :  Take  ye,  and  eat ;  this1  is  ray 

place  of  them,  all,  and,  by  its  excellence, 

body,2  which  is  given  for  you.  Do  this  for 

( 1  )  If,  as  Luther  said,  the  substance  of  bread 

is  only  the  figure  of  his  body,  he  could  not  have 

remained  in  the  Eucharist,  Jesus  Christ  could  not 

expressed  himself  more  obscurely,  since  for  so 

have  said  :  “  This  is  my  body,”  but  this  (which  is 

many  ages  the  entire  world  understood  the  phrase 

bread)  contains  my  body ;  or  my  body  is  united  to 

as  expressing  his  real  presence. 

this;  or  else,  here  is  my  body. 

Luther  frankly  avows  that  he  for  a  long  time  was 

( *  )  If  Jesus  Christ  meant  to  say  that  the 

itching  to  attack  the  dogma  of  the  real  presence ; 

Eucharist  is  not  merely  the  figure  of  his  body,  but 

but  that  he  could  not  venture  on  such  a  step,  hav- 

that  it  contains  the  reality,  he  could  not  have  ex- 

ing  before  him  those  unmistakable  words:  “This 

pressed  himself  more  clearly,  seeing  that  for  fifteen 

is  my  body.” 

centuries  the  Christian  world  understood  the  phrase 

Calvin  denied  the  real  presence,  and  took  his 

as  importing  reality  and  not  figure. 

stand  by  the  figurative  sense.  Yet  he  asserts  that, 

If  Jesus  Christ  meant  to  say  that  the  Eucharist 

although  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  really 

r 


774  HISTORY 


a  commemoration  of  me.  In  like  manner 
taking  the  chalice  also,  after  lie  had  sup¬ 
ped,  he  gave  thanks,  and  gave  to  them, 
saying  :  Drink  ye  all  of  this ;  for  this  is 
my  blood,  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
shall  be  shed  for  you  [and]  for  many  unto 
the  remission  of  sins.  And  they  all  drank 
of  it.  Amen,  I  say  to  you,”  added  the 
Saviour,  supposing  that  he  twice  made 
use  of  this  expression,  “I  say  to  you,  I 
will  not  drink  from  henceforth  of  the  fruit 
of  this  vine,  until  that  day  when  I  shall 
drink  it  new  with  you  in  the  kingdom  of 
the  Father.”  (St.  Matt.  xxvi.  26-29  ;  St. 
Luke  xxii.  19,  20  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  23.) 

According  to  Saint  Luke  (xxii.  21), 
Jesus  immediately  added  :  “  But  yet  be¬ 
hold,  the  hand  of  him  that  betrayeth  me  is 
with  me  on  the  table.”  These  words  de¬ 
cide  that  Judas  was  then  present,  and 
received  communion  with  the  other  dis¬ 
ciples.  By  profaning  that  sacrament,  the 
traitor  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  his  ini¬ 
quity. 

Jesus  felt  within  himself  a  natural 
horror  for  a  crime,  the  woeful  effects  ot 
which  he  had  already  resolved  to  undergo. 
Wherefore,  “  when  he  had  said  these 
things,  he  was  troubled  in  spirit,  and  he 
testified  and  said  :  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to 
you,  one  of  you  that  eateth  with  me  shall 
betray  me.  The  disciples,  therefore, 
looked  one  upon  another,  doubting  of 
whom  he  spoke;  and  being  very  much 
troubled,  began  every  one  to  say  :  Is  it  I, 
Lord  ?  But  he  answering,  said  :  One  of 

present,  it  is,  nevertheless,  really  and  in  substance 
received.  Thus  whilst  seeking  to  escape  from  the 
mystery,  he  falls  into  a  palpable  contradiction. 


the  twelve,  who  dippeth  with  me  his  hand 
in  the  dish.  And  the  Son  of  man,  indeed, 
goeth,  as  it  is  written  of  him  :  but  woe  to 
that  man  by  whom  the  Son  of  man  shall 
be  betrayed  !  It  were  better  for  him  if 
that  man  had  not  been  born.”  (St.  John 
xiii.  21,  22  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  18,  20,  21  ;  St 
Matthew  xxvi.  22,  23.) 

“Judas,  that  betrayed  him,”  apprehen¬ 
sive  lest  his  silence  should  excite  suspi¬ 
cion,  said  :  “  Is  it  I,  Rabbi  ?  He  saith  to 
him  :  Thou  hast  said  it.”  The  answer  was 
given  so  secretly,  that  it  was  understood 
by  Judas  alone.  “  Wherefore  they  began 
to  inquire  among  themselves  which  of  them 
it  was  that  should  do  this  thing.  Now, 
there  was  leaning  on  Jesus’s  bosom  one 
of  his  disciples,  whom  Jesus  loved.  Simon 
Peter,  therefore,  beckoned  to  him,  and 
said  to  him  :  Who  is  it  of  whom  he  speak- 
eth?  He,  therefore,  leaning  on  the  breast 
of  Jesus,  saith  to  him  :  Lord,  who  is  it? 
Jesus  answered  :  He  it  is  to  whom  I  shall 
reach  bread  dipped  ;  and  when  he  had 
dipped  the  bread,  he  gave  it  to  Judas  Is¬ 
cariot,  the  son  of  Simon.”  (St.  Matthew 
xxvi.  25  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  -23  ;  St.  John 
xiii.  13-30.) 

This  was  not  now  the  Eucharistic  bread, 
which  had  been  entirely  consumed  ;  it  was 
a  last  mark  of  love  which  his  Master  gave 
him.  Perhaps  the  act  excited  further  re¬ 
morse  in  the  heart  of  that  perfidious  man  ; 
but  Judas  stifled  it.  Hence  it  is  said  that, 
“after  the  morsel,  Satan  entered  into  him. 
Jesus  said  to  him  :  That  which  thou  dost, 
do  quickly.”  He  thus  gave  him  to  under¬ 
stand  that  he  neither  dreaded  the  betrayal 
nor  the  betrayer.  Judas  well  understood 


OP  OUR  LORD 


it,  but  “  no  man  at  the  table  knew  to 
what  purpose  he  said  this  unto  him.  For 
some  thought,  because  Judas  had  the 
purse,  that  Jesus  had  said  to  him  :  Buy 
those  things  which  we  have  need  of  for 
the  festival  day ;  or,  that  he  should  give 
something  to  the  poor.  He,  therefore, 
having  received  the  morsel,  went  out  im¬ 
mediately  ;  and  it  was  night.” 

“  When  Judas,  therefore,  was  gone  out, 
Jesus  said,”  in  a  transport  of  joy  :  “  Now 
is  the  Son  of  man  glorified,  an  1  God  is 
glorified  in  him.  If  God  be  glorified  in 
him,  God  also  will  glorify  him  in  himself, 
and  immediately  he  will  glorify  him.  And 
a  hymn  being  said,  they  went  out  into 
Mount  Olivet.”  (St.  John  xiii.  31,  32  ;  St. 
Matthew  xxvi.  30.) 

As  it  appears  on  this  occasion,  “  there 
was  also  a  strife  amongst  them,  which  of 
them  should  seem  to  be  the  greater.  And 
he  said  to  them  :  The  kings  of  the  Gentiles 
lord  it  over  them ;  and  they  that  have 
power  over  them  are  called  beneficent. 
But  you  not  so ;  but  he  that  is  the 
greater  among  you,  let  him  become  as  the 
younger,  and  he  that  is  the  leader,  as  he 
that  serveth.  For  which  is  the  greater, 
he  that  sitteth  at  table,  or  he  that  serveth  ? 
Is  not  he  that  sitteth  at  table  ?  But  I  am 
in  the  midst  of  you,  as  he  that  serveth.” 

Reminding  them  of  all  they  had  done 
for  him,  and  for  which  he  in  his  goodness 
condescended  to  give  them  credit,  although 
they  were  indebted  to  that  same  goodness 
for  being  enabled  to  do  it,  “he  said  to 
them :  You  are  they  who  have  contin¬ 
ued  with  me  in  my  temptations  ;  and  I 
dispose  to  you,  as  my  Father  hath  dis¬ 


JESUS  CHRIST.  775 


posed  to  me,  a  kingdom  ;  that  you  may 
eat  and  drink  at  my  table,  in  my  king¬ 
dom  ;  and  may  sit  upon  thrones,  judging 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.”  (St.  Luke 
xxii.  24-33.) 

Then,  softened  by  the  thought  that  he 
was  about  to  quit  them,  “  Little  children,” 
he  said  to  them,  “  yet  a  little  while  I  am 
with  you  :  you  shall  seek  me,  and  as  I  said 
to  the  Jews  :  Whither  I  go  you  cannot 
come  ;  so  I  say  to  you  now.”  Hear,  then, 
my  last  wishes  ;  for,  in  quitting  you,  “a 
new  commandment  I  give  unto  you  :  That 
you  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you, 
that  you  also  love  one  another.  By  this 
shall  all  men  know  that  you  are  my  dis¬ 
ciples,  if  you  have  love  one  for  another.” 

Nothing  seems  impossible  to  love,  and, 
therefore,  the  most  fervent  doubted  the 
words:  “Whither  I  go  you  cannot  go;” 
and  “Simon  Peter  saith  to  him;  Lord, 
whither  goest  thou?  Jesus  answered: 
Whither  I  go,  thou  canst  not  follow  me 
now  ;  but  thou  shalt  follow  hereafter.” 

He  was  to  follow  him,  indeed,  in  his 
sufferings  and  in  his  glory,  but  the  time 
for  doing  so  was  yet  far  distant.  When 
“  Peter  saith  to  him,  Lord,  why  cannot  I 
follow  thee  now  ?  I  will  lay  down  my  life 
for  thee  ;  the  Lord  said  :  Simon,  Simon, 
behold  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  you,  that 
he  may  sift  you  as  wheat  ;  but  I  have 
prayed  for  you,  that  thy  faith  fail  not ; 
and  thou  .being  once  converted,  confirm 
thy  brethren.”  (St.  John  xiii.  33-36.) 

Knowing  that  they  would  need  to  be 
thus  confirmed,  “Then  Jesus  saith  to 
them  :  All  you  shall  be  scandalized  in 
me  this  night.  For  it  is  written :  I  will 


776  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


strike  the  shepherd,  and  the  sheep  of  the 
flock  shall  be  dispersed.  But  after  I  shall 
be  risen  again,  I  will  go  before  you  into 
Galilee.”  (St.  Matt.  xxvi.  31-32.) 

Peter,  “answering  said  to  him:  Al¬ 
though  all  shall  be  scandalized  in  thee,  I 
will  never  be  scandalized  ;  I  am  ready  to 
go  with  thee,  both  into  prison  and  into 
death.  I  will  lay  down  my  life  for  thee. 
Jesus  answered  him  :  Wilt  thou  lay  down 
thy  life  for  me  ?  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to 
thee,  Peter,  the  cock  shall  not  crow  this 
day1  till  thou  thrice  deniest  that  thou 
knowest  me.  Amen,  I  say  to  thee,  to-day, 
even  in  this  night,  before  the  cock  crow 
twice,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice.”  (St. 
Matthew  xxvi.  33  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  33,  34  ; 
St.  John  xiii.  37,  38  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  30.) 
Peter,  who  thought  that  he  loved  his  Mas¬ 
ter  more  than  his  life,  although,  in  fact, 
he  loved  his  life  more  than  his  Master, 
“spoke  the  more  vehemently:  Although 
I  should  die  together  with  thee,  I  will  not 
deny  thee.  In  like  manner  also  said 
they  all.”  (St.  Mark  xiv.  31  ;  St.  Matt, 
xxvi.  35.) 

The  people,  duped  by  their  magistrates 
and  teachers,  were  to  enter  into  a  league 
with  them  against  the  Saviour  ;  and  after 
having  shown  favor  to  the  disciples,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  Master,  they  were  now  to 


( 1 )  According  to  Saint  Luke,  our  Saviour  said : 
“  The  cock  shall  not  crow  this  day  till  thou  thrice 
deniest  that  thou  knowest  me.”  According  to 
Saint  Mark,  he  said :  “  Before  the  cock  crow  twice 
thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice.”  We  have  combined 
the  two  expressions,  without  being  able  to  decide 
which  of  the  two  our  Saviour  really  used.  The 
cock  crowed  the  first  time  after  the  first  denial  of 


persecute  them  to  the  very  utmost.  This 
alarming  change  Jesus  Christ  wished  to 
set  before  their  eyes  when  he  said: 
“  When  I  sent  you  without  purse  and 
scrip  and  shoes,  did  you  want  anything  ? 
But  they  said  :  Nothing.  Then  said  he 
unto  them  :  But  now  he  that  hath  a  purse, 
let  him  take  it,  and  likewise  a  scrip  ;  and 
he  that  hath  not,  let  him  sell  his  coat,  and 
buy  a  sword.  For  I  say  to  you,  that  this 
that  is  written  must  yet  be  fulfilled  in 
me  :  And  with  the  wicked  was  he  reckon¬ 
ed.  For  the  things  concerning  me  have 
an  end.  And  they  said  :  Lord,  behold 
here  are  two  swords  ;  and  he  said  to 
them  :  It  is  enough.”  (St.  Luke  xxii. 
35-38.) 

The  sword  of  which  be  spoke  was  only 
indicative  of  that  state  of  warfare  on 
which  they  were  going  to  enter.  Peter, 
who  understood  it  literally,  provided  him¬ 
self  in  reality  with  a  sword.  Jesus  did 
not  hinder  him  from  so  doing,  because  the 
use  which  this  impetuous  disciple  was  to 
make  of  his  weapon  was  destined  to  fur¬ 
nish  our  Saviour  with  an  occasion  of  dis¬ 
playing  his  meekness  and  power  at  the 
moment  of  his  arrest. 

The  apostles  were  troubled  at  what 
they  had  just  heard.  Jesus  Christ  was 
on  the  point  of  leaving  them,  without  any 


Saint  Peter.  Two  other  denials  having  followed 
it,  the  cock  crowed  again  the  second  and  third 
time.  Thus  when  it  is  said,  The  cock  shall  not 
crow  this  day  till  thou  thrice  deniest  that  thou 
knowest  me,  means  that  the  cock  shall  not  finish 
his  nightly  crowing  until  thou  thrice  deniest  that 
thou  knowest  me. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


possibility  of  their  following  him.  One  of 
their  number  was  to  betray  him,  and  even 
their  chief  was  to  deny  him.  More  affected 
by  their  state  than  by  the  evils  with  which 
he  was  menaced,  Jesus  appears  to  forget 
himself  in  his  care  of  consoling  his  beloved 
disciples.  It  is  with  this  design  that  he  is 
going  to  address  to  them  this  admirable 
discourse,  in  which  we  may  say  that  his 
beautiful  soul  unfolds  itself  entirely  before 
their  eyes — his  wisdom  and  his  charity 
having  never  appeared  with  greater  lustre. 

“Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled”  at 
what  you  have  just  heard.  My  promises 
should  dispel  your  fears.  For,  as  “you 
believe  in  G-od,  believe  also  in  me.”  I  am 
going,  as  I  have  said  to  you,  and  I  have 
hitherto  told  Peter,  only  that  one  day  he 
shall  follow  me  whither  I  go.  Yet  this 
should  not  alarm  you  :  neither  he  nor  any 
other  could  exclude  you  from  that  happy 
abode.  “In  my  Father’s  house  there  are 
many  mansions.  If  not,  I  would  have 
told  you  that  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you,”  and  let  this  proof  of  my  love 
prevent  you  from  suspecting  that  I  could 
entertain  the  design  of  deceiving  you.  Do 
not,  therefore,  hesitate  to  believe  it,  even 
when  you  shall  see  me  no  more,  and  rest 
assured  that,  “  if  I  shall  go  and  prepare  a 
place  for  you,  I  will  come  again,  and  will 
take  you  to  myself ;  that  where  I  am,  you 
also  may  be.  And  whither  I  go  you  know, 
and  the  way  you  know.” 

“  Thomas  saith  to  him :  Lord,  we  know 
not  whither  thou  goest ;  and  how  can  we 
know  the  way  ?  Jesus  saith  to  him  :  I  am 
the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life.  No 
man  cometh  to  the  Father  but  by  me  ;  if 

98 


777 


you  had  known  me,  you  would,  without 
doubt,  have  known  my  Father  also.  From 
henceforth  you  shall  know  him,  and  you 
have  seen  him.” 

To  see  the  Son  with  this  perfect  vision, 
would  be  to  see  the  Father  as  clearly  ; 
and,  in  this  sense,  they  had  seen  the 
Father  as  well  as  the  Son,  inasmuch  as 
the  divine  nature,  which  they  had  only 
caught  a  glimpse  of  in  the  Son,  is  the  same 
in  the  Son  as  in  the  Father.  Thus  it  is 
easyT  to  perceive  both  what  they  had  and 
what  they  still  required.  In  a  little  time, 
according  to  the  promise  which  our  Sa¬ 
viour  here  makes,  they  should  require 
nothing,  because  the  Holy  Grhost  was  then 
to  descend  upon  them  with  the  fulness  of 
his  light.  Impatient  to  see  the  effect  of 
this  promise,  “Philip  saith  to  Jesus: 
Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it  is 
enough  for  us.  Jesus  saith  to  him,”  in  the 
sense  which  has  just  been  explained  :  “  So 
long  a  time  have  I  been  with  y^ou,  and 
have  you  not  known  me?  Philip,  he  that 
seeth  me  seeth  the  Father  also.  How 
sayest  thou,  Show  us  the  Father?  Do 
you  not  believe  that  I  am  in  the  Father 
and  the  Father  in  me  ?  The  words  that  I 
speak  to  you  I  speak  not  of  myrself.  But 
the  Father  that  abideth  in  me  he  doth  the 
works.  Believe  you  not  that  I  am  in  the 
Father  and  the  Father  in  me  ?  Otherwise 
believe  for  the  very  works’  sake.” 

His  works  were,  in  fact,  the  incontest¬ 
able  proof  of  the  truth  of  all  his  words. 
And,  in  giving  to  whom  he  would  the 
power  of  miracles,  did  he  not  discover  his 
divinity  still  more  clearly  than  even  by 
those  he  wrought  ?  In  this  sense  he  adds : 


778 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


“Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  you,  he  that  be- 
lieveth  in  me,  the  works  that  I  do  he  shall 
also  do  ;  and  greater  than  these  shall  he 
do,  because  I  go  to  the  Father  ;  and  what¬ 
soever  you  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my 
name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may 
be  glorified  in  the  Son.  If  you  shall  ask 
anything  in  my  name,  that  will  I  do.” 
(St.  John  xiv.  1-31.) 

He  is,  therefore,  as  powerful,  or  rather 
He  has  the  same  power,  as  the  Father, 
since  those  very  same  things  which  are 
asked  from  the  Father  may  also  be  asked 
from  him.  These  words,  while  proving  his 
omnipotence,  expressed  at  the  same  time 
the  greatness  of  his  love.  For  what  more 
affecting  evidence  could  he  give  to  them 
than  by  offering,  as  he  did,  to  accomplish 
all  their  desires  ?  A  promise  so  magnifi¬ 
cent  could  not  fail  to  excite  in  them  some 
sentiments  of  gratitude  and  love. 

Still  this  wondrous  gift  could  not  com¬ 
pensate  for  his  loss  :  it  was  necessary  for 
that  purpose  that  Jesus  should  give  them 
another  self  in  his  stead.  Having,  as  God, 
the  power  to  send  him,  he  may  also,  as 
man,  pray  for  his  coming  ;  and  he  promises 
to  do  so  when  he  says  :  “  I  will  ask  the 
Father,  aud  he  shall  give  you  another 
Paraclete,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for¬ 
ever.  The  Spirit  of  truth  whom  the  world 
cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth  him  not, 
nor  knoweth  him.  But  you  shall  know 
him,  because  he  shall  abide  with  you,  and 
shall  be  in  you.” 

Between  the  promise  and  the  accom¬ 
plishment  little  more  than  fifty  days  was 
to  elapse.  The  term,  therefore,  was  not  far 
distant,  and  their  patience  was  not  to  have 


too  long  a  trial.  However,  our  Saviour 
further  said,  announcing  to  them  the  near 
approach  of  his  resurrection  :  “  I  will  not 
leave  you  orphans  ;  I  will  come  to  you. 
Yet  a  little  while  and  the  world  seeth  me 
no  more  ;  but  you  see  me,  because  I  live 
and  you  shall  live.  In  that  day  you  shall 
know  that  I  am  in  my  Father,  and  you  in 
me,  and  I  in  you.”  But  let  us  remark  the 
condition  to  which  he  attaches  his  favors : 
“He,”  said  he,  “that  hath  my  command¬ 
ments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that 
loveth  me.  And  he  that  loveth  me  shall 
be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love 
him,  and  will  manifest  myself  to  him.” 

“Jude,  not  the  Iscariot,”  but  he  who 
was  otherwise  called  Thaddeus,  the  broth¬ 
er  of  James,  and  cousin  of  the  Lord, 
“saith  to  him  :  Lord,  how  is  it  that  thou 
wilt  manifest  thyself  to  us,  and  not  to  the 
world?”  The  reason  is,  because  they 
loved  him,  whereas  the  world  hated  him. 
For  such  is  the  sense  comprised  in  these 
words,  which  Jesus  again  repeated  :  “If 
any  one  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  word, 
and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will 
come  to  him,  and  will  make  our  abode  with 
him.  He  that  loveth  me  not  keepeth  not 
my  words.”  But  if  he  have  not  love  for 
me,  neither  hath  he  any  love  for  my 
Father,  and  he  should  no  longer  expect 
to  be  loved  either  by  Him  or  by  Me.  For 
“the  word  which  you  have  heard  is  not 
mine,  but  the  Father’s  who  sent  me.” 

All  this  contains  a  profound  meaning, 
which  the  apostles  were  not  yet  able  to 
conceive.  Jesus,  who  spoke  it,  however, 
that  it  might  be  understood,  promised  them 
that  they  should  yet  understand  it,  in  the 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


779 


following  words:  “These  things  have  I 
spoken  to  you,  abiding  with  you.  But  the 
Paraclete,  the  Holy  G-host,  whom  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  will  teach 
you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your 
mind  whatsoever  I  shall  have  said  to  you.” 

He  once  more  bids  them  farewell ; 
“  Peace  I  leave  with  you  ;  my  peace  I 
give  unto  you.”  It  is  thought  that  this 
was  the  usual  form  of  farewell  amongst 
the  Jews  ;  but  the  peace  which  he  gave 
was  much  more  genuine  and  precious  than 
that  which  they  wished  each  other.  Hence 
he  adds  :  “Not  as  the  world  giveth  do  I 
give  unto  you.” 

The  idea  of  the  separation  caused  the 
apostles  at  this  moment  a  sadness  and 


trouble  which  the  Saviour  condescended 
to  soothe  by  these  words  :  “  Let  not  your 
heart  be  troubled,  nor  let  it  be  afraid. 
You  have  heard  that  I  said  to  you,  I  go 
away,  and  I  come  unto  you.  If  you  loved 
me  you  would  indeed  be  glad,  because  I 
go  to  the  Father  ;  for  the  Father  is  greater 
than  I ;  ”  remember  ye  that  “  now  I  have 
told  you  before  it  come  to  pass,  that 
when  it  shall  come  to  pass  you  may  be¬ 
lieve.  I  will  not  now  speak  many  things 
to  you  ;  for  the  prince  of  this  world  com- 
eth,  and  in  me  he  hath  not  anything.  But 
that  the  world  may  know  that  I  love  the 
Father,  and  as  the  Father  hath  given  me 
the  commandment,  so  do  I.  Arise,  let  us 
go  hence.”  (St.  John  xiv.  1-31.) 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

CLOSE  OF  THE  DISCOURSE. — JESUS  CHRIST  IS  THE  TRUE  TOIE.-WE  ARE  TO  PERSEVERE  IN 
CHARITY. _ PERSECUTIONS  FORETOLD.-TESTIMONY  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST.-JOY  PROMISED 


AFTER  SORROW. — JESUS  PRAYS  FOR  HIMSEI 

MANY  think  that  our  Lord  was  still 
in  the  supper  chamber,  where  he 
had  eaten  the  paschal  lamb,  and  now 
went  forth  from  it.  Others  think  that 
he  did  not  leave  it  at  this  moment. 
Adhering  to  the  letter,  we  hold  that, 
immediately  after  the  supper,  they  all 
joined  in  the  canticle  of  thanksgiving,  and 
immediately  set  out,  taking  the  way  to¬ 
wards  Mount  Olivet.  We  must,  therefoie, 
infer  that  the  discourse  was  pronounced 
upon  the  way. 


AND  HIS  DISCIPLES. 

Nothing  had  greater  interest  for  them 
than  the  new  mystery  which  he  was  about 
to  disclose  to  them,  by  which  he  makes 
himself  their  head,  and  they  become  his 
members,  as  branches,  attached  to  the 
trunk,  springing  from  the  same  root,  and 
nourished  by  the  same  sap,  for  such  is  the 
comparison  which  our  Saviour  makes, 
pursuing  thus  his  discourse  : 

“  I  am  the  true  vine,  and  my  Father  is 
the  husbandman.  Every  branch  in  me 
that  beareth  not  fruit,  he  will  take  away ; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


780 


and  every  one  that  beareth  fruit,  he  will 
purge  it,  that  it  may  bring  forth  more 
fruit.  Now  you  are  clean  by  reason  of 
the  word  which  I  have  spoken  to  you. 
Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  As  the  branch 
cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  unless  it  abide 
in  the  vine,  so  neither  can  you,  unless  you 
abide  in  me.  I  am  the  vine,  you  the 
branches.  He  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I 
in  him,  the  same  beareth  much  fruit ;  for 
without  me  you  can  do  nothing.  If  any 
one  remaineth  not  in  me,  he  shall  be  cast 
forth  as  a  branch,  and  shall  wither.  They 
shall  gather  him  up,  and  cast  him  into 
the  fire,  and  he  burneth.  If  you  remain 
in  me,  and  my  words  remain  in  you, 
you  shall  ask  whatever  you  will,  and  it 
shall  be  done  to  you.  In  this  is  my 
Father  glorified,  that  you  bring  forth  very 
much  fruit,  and  become  my  disciples.” 

This  parable  could  not  have  a  more  suit¬ 
able  place  than  that  wherein  Jesus  Christ 
proposed  it.  Our  Saviour  again  repeats  to 
them  that  they  must  always  remain  united 
to  him,  by  the  observance  of  his  command¬ 
ments  :  “  As  the  Father  hath  loved  me,”  he 
said  to  them,  “  I  also  have  loved  you. 
Abide  in  my  love.  If  you  keep  my  com¬ 
mandments,  you  shall  abide  in  my  love,  as 
I  also  have  kept  my  Father’s  command¬ 
ments,  and  do  abide  in  his  love.  These 
things  I  have  spoken  to  you,  that  my  joy 
may  be  in  you,  and  your  joy  may  be 
filled  ;  this  is  my  commandment :  That 
you  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved 
you.  Greater  love  than  this  no  man  hath, 
that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends. 
You  are  my  friends  if  you  do  the  things 
that  I  command  you.  I  will  not  now  call 


you  servants,  for  the  servant  knoweth  not 
what  his  lord  doth  ;  but  I  have  called  you 
friends,  because  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  heard  from  my  Father,  I  have  made 
known  to  you.  You  have  not  chosen  me  ; 
but  I  have  chosen  you,  and  have  appointed 
you,  that  you  should  go,  and  should  bring 
forth  fruit,  and  your  fruit  should  remain  ; 
that  whatsoever  you  shall  ask  of  the  Fa¬ 
ther  in  my  name,  he  may  give  it  you. 
These  things  I  command  you,  that  you 
love  one  another.” 

Patience  is  also  necessary,  and  none 
ever  required  it  more  than  the  apostles. 
Jesus  Christ  recommends  this  virtue  to 
them  in  these  terms:  “If  the  world  hate 
you,  know  ye  that  it  hated  me  before  you. 
If  you  had  been  of  the  world,  the  world 
would  love  its  own  ;  but  because  you  are 
not  of  the  world,  but  I  have  chosen  you 
out  of  the  world,  therefore  the  world  hat- 
eth  you.  Remember  my  word  that  I  said 
to  you :  the  servant  is  not  greater  than 
his  master.  If  they  have  persecuted  me, 
they  will  also  persecute  you :  if  they  have 
kept  my  word,  they  will  keep  yours  also. 
But  all  these  things  they  will  do  to  you 
for  my  name’s  sake,  because  they  know 
not  him  that  sent  me.” 

And  this  ignorance  does  not  excuse 
them,  because  it  is  voluntary.  “If  I  had 
not  come,  and  spoken  to  them,  they  would 
not  have  sin  ;  but  now  they  have  no  ex¬ 
cuse  for  their  sin.”  They  do  not  compre¬ 
hend  the  enormity  thereof,  because  they 
think  they  hate  me  only  ;  but  “  he  that 
hateth  me,  hateth  my  Father  also.”  I  say 
again  :  “  If  I  had  not  done  among  them  the 
works  that  no  other  man  hath  done,  they 


OF  OUR  LORD 


would  not  have  sin  ;  but  now  they  have 
both  seen  and  hated  both  me  and  my 
Father.  But  that  the  word  may  be  fulfil¬ 
led  which  is  written  in  their  law  :  They 
hated  me  without  cause.” 

But  their  hatred  shall  not  prevail 
against  the  truth  which  it  made  them  dis¬ 
own  :  for  “  when  the  Paraclete  cometh, 
whom  I  will  send  yon  from  the  Father,  the 
Spirit  of  truth,  who  proceedeth  from  the 
Father,  he  shall  give  testimony  of  me  ; 
and  you  shall  give  testimony,  because 
you  are  with  me  from  the  beginning.”  (St. 
John  xv.  1-27.) 

“These  things”  which  you  shall  have  to 
suffer  with  me,  and  for  me,  “have  I  spoken 
to  you,  that  you  may  not  be  scandalized.” 
You  must,  therefore,  be  prepared  to  bear 
it.  “They  will  put  you  out  of  the  syna¬ 
gogues.  Yea,  the  hour  cometh,  that  who¬ 
soever  killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doth 
a  service  to  God.  And  these  things  will 
they  do  to  you,  because  they  have  not 
known  the  Father  nor  me.  But  these 
things  I  have  told  you,  that  when  the  hour 
shall  come,  you  may  remember  that  I  told 
you  of  them. 

“But  I  told  you  not  these  things  from 
the  beginning,1  because  I  was  with  you,” 
and  that,  supported  by  my  presence,  you 
had  no  need  of  being  cautioned  ;  besides, 


( 1 )  Jesus  Christ  had  already  foretold  more  than 
once  to  his  disciples  the  persecutions  which  they 
should  have  to  encounter.  What  he  here  tells 
them  for  the  first  time  is,  that  they  shall  be  per¬ 
secuted  and  put  to  death,  because  they  shall  be  re¬ 
garded  as  impious  and  enemies  of  God ;  which 
scornful  imputation  and  unmerited  punishment 
must,  of  course,  be  very  distressing  to  these  viitu- 


JESTTS  CHRIST.  781 


that  the  first  effects  of  this  hatred  must 
fall  upon  me  alone.  “Now  I  go  to  him 
that  sent  me,  and  none  of  you  asketh  me, 
Whither  goest  thou?”  I  know  that  this 
is  not  from  indifference.  “  But  because  I 
have  spoken  these  things  to  you,  sorrow 
hath  [so]  filled  your  heart,”  that  you  have 
not  strength  to  speak.  “  But  I  tell  you 
the  truth.”  However  advantageous  my 
presence  may  be  to  you,  “it  is  expedient 
to  you  that  I  go  ; 2  for  if  I  go  not,  the 
Paraclete  will  not  come  to  you  ;  but  if  I 
go,  I  will  send  him  to  you.  And  when  he 
is  come,  he  will  convince  the  world  of  sin, 
and  of  justice,  and  of  judgment” — that  is 
to  say  (if  we  may  venture  to  interpret  such 
mysterious  words),  when  the  Paraclete 
comes,  he  shall  convince  the  world  that  it 
is  sinful,  that  I  am  just,  or  rather,  that  I 
am  justice  itself,  and  that  on  the  day  of 
the  last  judgment,  I,  who  am  to  be  its 
judge,  because  I  am  the  conqueror  and 
the  judge  of  its  prince — I  shall  display 
before  its  eyes  the  overwhelming  contrast 
of  its  crimes  with  my  innocence,  and  of  my 
justice  with  its  iniquity.  Thus  the  world 
shall  know  at  last  what  it  is,  what  I  am. 
and  what  it  has  to  expect. 

The  Holy  Ghost  will,  therefore,  con¬ 
vince  the  world  “of  sin,”  adds  our  Sa¬ 
viour,  reverting  to  what  he  had  already 


ous  men.  It  is  to  this  latter  circumstance  that  we 
may  refer  these  words:  “I  told  you  not  these 
things  from  the  beginning.’' 

( a )  The  apostles  could  only  be  indemnified  for 
the  loss  of  a  God  by  the  comiug  of  a  God.  There¬ 
fore  the  Holy  Ghost  is  God,  says  Saint  Chrysostom, 
who  drew  this  conclusion  against  Macedonius. 


'  - - - - —  " 

782  HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 

said,  “because  they  believed  not  in  me; 

unintelligible.  The  procession  of  the  divine 

of  justice,  because  I  go  to  the  Father, 

persons  is,  therefore,  clearly  known,  and 

and  you  shall  see  me  no  longer  ;  and  of 

we  may  say  that  the  Saviour  here  com- 

judgment,  because  the  prince  of  this  world 

pletely  reveals  it. 

is  already  judged.” 1 

Consoled  in  their  sufferings  by  the  visit 

By  these  last  words  our  Saviour  entered 

and  by  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 

into  mysteries  which  were  yet  beyond  the 

disciples  shall  also  be  finally  consoled  by 

reach  of  the  disciples.  This  it  is  which 

their  re-union  with  their  beloved  Master. 

makes  him  then  say  to  them :  “  I  have  yet 

It  is  apparently  in  this  sense  that  Jesus 

many  things  to  say  to  you,  but  you  cannot 

further  said  to  them :  “  A  little  while,  and 

bear  them  now.  But,”  he  adds,  in  order 

now  you  shall  not  see  me  ;  and  again  a 

to  increase  in  them  the  desire  of  the  com- 

little  while,  and  you  shall  see  me  ;  because 

ing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  inspiring  them 

I  go  to  the  Father.” 

with  the  desire  of  being  thoroughly  in- 

The  first  of  these  two  periods  is  that 

structed  in  all  which  it  behooved  them  to 

which  was  to  elapse  before  his  ascension. 

know — “but  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth, 

The  second  period  was  from  the  ascension 

is  come,  he  will  teach  you  all  truth,  for  he 

of  our.  Saviour  till  the  death  of  the  apos- 

shall  not  speak  of  himself  ;  hut  what  things 

ties — that  day  when  he  was  to  receive 

soever  he  shall  hear  he  shall  speak,  and 

them  with  open  arms,  and  carry  up  unto 

the  things  that  are  to  come  he  shall  show 

his  very  throne  their  souls,  then  victorious 

you.  He  shall  glorify  me,  because  he 

over  hell  and  the  world.  “  Then  some  of 

shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it 

his  disciples  said  one  to  another  :  What  is 

to  you.” 

this  that  he  saith  to  us  ?  A  little  while 

It  is  true  that  all  which  he  has  comes 

and  you  shall  not  see  me ;  and  again  a 

from  the  Father  ;  but  “  all  things  whatso- 

little  while  and  you  shall  see  me  ;  and  be- 

ever  the  Father  hath  are  mine  :  therefore 

cause  I  go  to  the  Father.  They  said, 

I  said  that  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and 

therefore  :  What  is  this  that  he  saith  ? 

shall  show  it  to  you.”  (St.  John  xvi.  1-15.) 

We  know  not  what  he  speaketh.” 

These  words  are  easily  understood,  if 

“  Jesus  knew  that  they  had  a  mind  to 

the  Son  be  the  principle  of  the  Holy 

ask  him,  and  he  said  to  them  :  Of  this  do 

Ghost ;  but  if  he  were  not,  they  would  be 

you  inquire  among  your  yourselves,  be- 

(* )  The  prince  of  this  world  is  the  devil.  Dis- 

world,  his  worshipper  and  his  slave,  could  no  longer 

possessed  of  the  temples  wherein  he  was  adored ; 

avoid  being  judged  and  condemned  in  its  turn. 

reduced  to  silence  in  the  places  where  he  had  de- 

These  three  truths,  proved  by  the  apostles,  that 

livered  his  oracles,  or  to  the  forced  confession  of 

is  to  say,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  inspired  the 

Jesus  Christ’s  divinity  by  the  mouth  of  demoniacs 

preaching  of  the  apostles,  and  who  was  the  author 

from  whose  bodies  he  was  expelled — this  spirit  of 

of  their  miracles,  proved  also  those  truths  which 

darkness  was  manifestly  vanquished,  and,  conse- 

Jesus  Christ  has  just  proposed,  taken  in  the  sense 

quently,  judged  and  condemned.  Therefore  the 

that  we  have  given  to  them. 

OP  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  783 

cause  I  said  :  A  little  while  and  you  shall 

thing  in  my  name.  Ask,  and  you  shall 

not  see  me ;  and  again  a  little  while,  and 

receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full,”  by 

you  shall  see  me.  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to 

the  entire  accomplishment  of  your  desires. 

you,  that  you  shall  lament  and  weep,  but 

Jesus  at  last  terminates  this  long  in- 

the  word  shall  rejoice ;  and  you  shall  be 

struction  with  the  renewed  promise  of  a 

made  sorrowful,  but  your  sorrow  shall  be 

clearer  manifestation  of  the  divine  secrets  : 

turned  into  jo}r.” 

“These  things  said  he,  I  have  spoken  to 

Without  fixing  the  duration  of  these 

you  in  proverbs  :  the  hour  cometh  when  I 

two  periods,  Jesus  makes  them  understand 

will  no  more  speak  to  you  in  proverbs, 

that  the  time  of  his  absence  shall  be  one 

but  will  show  you  plainly  of  the  Father,” 

of  affliction  to  them,  which  affliction  shall 

either  by  myself  or  by  the  Spirit  whom  I 

be  .followed  by  joy  at  his  return.  Their 

shall  send  to  }'Ou.  “In  that  day  you 

condition  in  this  respect  is  very  different 

shall  ask  in  my  name  ;  and  I  say  not  to 

from  that  of  the  lovers  of  the  world,  who 

you  that  I  will  ask  the  Father  for  you  ;  ” 

commence  with  joy  and  end  with  sorrow. 

even  were  it  possible  that  I  did  not  so, 

As  our  Saviour  makes  manifest  by  this 

you  would  still  be  heard  ;  “  for  the  Father 

comparison,  which  should  serve  as  a  con- 

himself  loveth  you,  because  you  have 

solation  to  all  just  souls  laboring  under 

loved  me,  and  have  believed  that  I  came 

sorrow  or  affliction  :  “  A  woman,  when  she 

out  from  God.  I  came  forth  from  the 

is  in  labor,  hath  sorrow,  because  her  hour 

Father,  and  am  come  into  the  world ; 

is  come  ;  but  when  she  hath  brought  forth 

again,  I  leave  the  world,  and  I  go  to  the 

the  child,  she  remembereth  no  more  the 

Father.” 

anguish,  for  joy  that  a  man  is  born  into 

“His  disciples  say  to  him  :  Behold,  now 

the  world.  So  also  you  now,  indeed,  have 

thou  speakest  plainly,  and  speakest  no 

sorrow :  but  I  will  see  you  again,  and 

proverb.  Now  we  know  that  thou  know- 

your  heart  shall  rejoice  ;  and  your  joy  no 

est  all  things,  and  thou  needest  not  that 

man  shall  take  from  you.  And  in  that  day 

any  man  should  ask  thee  :  by  this  we  be- 

you  shall  not  ask  me  anything.” 

lieve  that  thou  comest  forth  from  God. 

Our  Saviour  is  about  to  relieve  them 

Jesus  answered  them  :  Do  you.  now  be- 

from  this  last  anxiety.  There  is  a  means 

lieve  ?  ”  I  know  that  you  do  ;  but  such  is 

of  obtaining  more  favors  in  his  absence 

still  the  feebleness  of  your  faith,  that  “be- 

than  they  obtained  while  he  dwelt  amongst 

hold  the  hour  cometh,  and  it  is  now  come, 

them.  Jesus,  who  had  already  indicated 

that  you  shall  be  scattered  every  man  to 

it,  makes  this  means  clearly  known  by 

his  own,  and  shall  leave  me  alone,  and  yet 

these  words  :  “  Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  you, 

I  am  not  alone,  because  the  Father  is  with 

if  you  ask  the  Father  anything  in  my 

me.”  And,  in  order  to  keep  before  their 

name,  he  will  give  it  to  you.”  Accus- 

eyes  the  principal  object  of  his  discourse, 

toined  to  address  your  prayers  to  me 

he  closed  with  these  words  :  “  These  things 

alone,  “hitherto  you  have  not  asked  any- 

I  have  spoken  to  you,  that  in  me  you  may 

HISTOKY  OF  THE  LIFE 


784 


have  peace,”  from  the  certainty  that  noth¬ 
ing  shall  occur,  either  to  you  or  to  me, 
which  shall  not  eventually  turn  out  to  my 
advantage  and  to  yours.  “  In  the  world 
you  shall  have  distress ;  but  have  con¬ 
fidence,  I  have  overcome  the  world.” 
(St.  John  xvi.  16-33.) 

“These  things  Jesus  spoke,  and  lifting 
up  his  eyes  to  heaven,  he  said  :  Father, 
the  hour  is  come  ;  glorify  thy  Son,  that 
thy  Son  may  glorify  thee,  as  thou  hast 
given  him  power  over  all  flesh,  that  he 
may  give  eternal  life  to  all  whom  thou 
hast  given  him.  Now  this  is  eternal  life  : 
That  they  may  know  thee  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  thou  hast 
sent.  I  have  glorified  thee  on  earth  ;  I 
have  finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest 
me  to  do  ;  and  now  glorify  thou  me,  0 
Father,  with  thyself,  with  the  glory  which 
I  had,  before  the  world  was,  with  thee.” 

After  having  prayed  for  himself,  he  is 
now  going  to  pray  for  his  disciples.  “  I 
have  manifested  thy  name  to  the  men 
whom  thou  hast  given  me  out  of  the  world. 
Thine  they  were,  and  to  me  thou  hast 
given  them  ;  and  they  have  kept  thy 
word.  Now,  they  have  known  that  all 
things  which  thou  hast  given  me  are  from 
thee  ;  because  the  words  thou  gavest  me  I 
have  given  to  them  :  they  have  received 
them,  and  have  known  in  very  deed  that 
I  came  out  from  thee,  and  they  have  be¬ 
lieved  that  thou  didst  send  me.  I  pray 
for  them  ;  I  pray  not  for  the  world,  but 
for  them  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be¬ 
cause  they  are  thine.”  He  said  this, 
speaking  as  man  ;  but  he  speaks  as  God 
when  he  adds  :  “  All  my  things  are  thine, 


and  thine  are  mine  :  I  am  glorified  in 
them.” 

“  Now  I  am  not  in  the  world,  and  these 
are  in  the  world,  and  I  come  to  thee.  Holy 
Father,  keep  them  in  thy  name,  whom 
thou  hast  given  me,  that  they  may  be  one 
as  we  also  are.  While  I  was  with  them,  I 
kept  them  in  thy  name.  Those  whom 
thou  gavest  me  have  I  kept ;  and  none  of 
them  is  lost,  but  the  son  of  perdition,  that 
the  Scripture  may  be  fulfilled.  And  now 
I  come  to  thee,  and  these  things  I  speak  in 
the  world,  that  they  may  have  my  joy 
filled  in  themselves.  I  have  given  them 
thy  word,  and  the  world  hath  hated  them, 
because  they  are  not  of  the  world,  as  I  am 
not  of  the  world.  I  do  not  ask  that  thou 
take  them  away  out  of  the  world,  but 
that  thou  preserve  them  from  evil.  They 
are  not  of  the  world,  as  I  also  am  not  of 
the  world.  Sanctify  them  in  truth.  Thy 
word  is  truth.  As  thou  hast  sent  me  into 
the  world,  I  also  have  sent  them  into  the 
world.  For  them  I  do  sanctify  myself, 
that  they  also  may  be  sanctified  in  truth. 

“  And  not  for  them  only  do  I  pray,  but 
for  those  also  who,  through  their  word, 
shall  believe  in  me  ;  that  they  also  may 
be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  in  me,  and  I  in 
thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us, 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me.  And  the  glory  which  thou  hast 
given  me,  I  have  given  to  them,  that  they 
may  be  one,  as  we  also  are  one.  I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made 
perfect  in  one  ;  and  that  the  world  may 
know  that  thou  hast  sent  me,  and  hast 
loved  them,  as  thou  hast  also  loved  me. 
Father,  I  will,  that  where  I  am,  they  also 


OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  785 

whom  thou  hast  given  me  may  be  with 

these  have  known  that  thou  hast  sent  me. 

me,  that  they  may  see  my  glory,  which 

And  I  have  made  known  thy  name  to  them, 

thou  hast  given  me  ;  because  thou  hast 

and  will  make  it  known  ;  that  the  love 

loved  me  before  the  foundation  of  the 

wherewith  thou  hast  loved  me  may  be 

world.  Just  Father,  the  world  hath  not 

in  them,  and  I  in  them.”  (St  John 

known  thee  ;  but  I  have  known  thee,  and 

xvii.  1-26.) 

CHAPTER  LIY. 

GARDEN  OF  OLIVES.— KISS  OF  JUDAS.— SOLDIERS  STRUCK  DOWN.— MALCHUS.— JESUS  IS  APPRE- 

HENDED  AND  CONDUCTED  TO  ANNAS  AND  CAIPHAS.— THE  BLOW.— FALSE  WITNESSES.— CON¬ 
FESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.— INSULTS  AND  INDIGNITIES.— ST.  PETER’S  DENIAL  AND  TEARS.— 

JESUS  AGAIN  QUESTIONED.— DESPAIR  OF  JUDAS. 

“Y  \  T HEN  Jesus  had  said  these  things,” 

V  V  having  nothing  more  to  do  in 

vanced  to  meet  him  ;  and  “  He  said 
to  his  disciples  :  Sit  you  here,  till  I  go 

this  world  but  to  suffer  and  to  die,  “  he 

yonder  and  pray  ;  pray  ”  ye  also,  “  lest  ye 

went  forth  with  his  disciples  over  the 

enter  into  temptation.  And  ”  leaving  the 

brook  Cedron.  He  went,  according  to  his 

others  behind  “he  taketh  Peter,  and 

custom,  to  the  Mount  of  Olives  ;  and  his 

James,  and  John  with  him,  and  he  began 

disciples  also  followed  him.  Then  Jesus 

to  grow  sorrowful,  and  to  be  sad.  And 

came  with  them  into  a  country  place 

he  saith  to  them  :  My  soul  is  sorrowful 

which  is  called  Gfethsemani,  where  there 

even  unto  death;1  stay  you  here,  and 

was  a  garden,  into  which  he  entered  with 

watch  with  me.  And  going  a  little  further, 

his  disciples.  And  Judas  also,  who  be- 

he  was  withdrawn  away  from  them  a 

trayed  him,  knew  the  place ;  because 

stone’s  cast ;  and  kneeling  down,  he  pray- 

Jesus  had  often  resorted  thither  together 

ed,  saying:  Father,  if  thou  wilt,  remove 

with  his  disciples.”  (St.  John  xviii.  1,  2  ; 

this  chalice  from  me.  But  yet  not  my  will, 

St.  Luke  xxii.  39  ;  St.  Matthew  xxvi.  36.) 

but  thine  be  done.  And  being  in  agony, 

Far  from  avoiding  the  traitor,  he  ad- 

he  prayed  the  longer ;  and  he  saith : 

( 1 )  It  is  very  difficult  to  reconcile  this  sorrow 

God,  by  his  omnipotence,  might  have  separated  the 

with  the  intuitive  vision  of  God.  Was  he  sorrowful 

effect  from  the  cause — that  is  to  say,  that  whilst 

without  any  mixture  of  joy,  or  did  he  experience 

preserving  the  intuitive  vision  in  our  Saviour’s 

the  two  opposite  extremes  of  joy  and  sorrow  ? 

soul,  he  might  hinder  this  vision  from  producing 

Some  interpreters  advance  the  first  proposition ; 
others,  the  second ;  neither  appears  impossible. 

99 

the  joy  which  is  the  natural  effect  thereof. 

786 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


Abba,  Father,  all  things  are  possible  to 
thee  ;  remove  the  chalice  from  me,  but  not 
what  I  will,  but  what  thou  wilt.1  And  his 
sweat  became  as  drops  of  blood  trickling 
down  upon  the  ground.”  (St.  Matt.  xxvi. 
36-39  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  33-36  ;  St.  Luke 
xxii.  40-44.) 

Then,  as  if  the  support  of  the  divinity 
Lad  been  utterly  withdrawn  from  the  hu¬ 
manity,  “  there  appeared  to  him  an  angel 
from  heaven,  strengthening  him.  And 
when  he  rose  up  from  prayer,  and  was 
♦come  to  his  disciples,  he  found  them  sleep¬ 
ing  for  sorrow.  He  said  to  Peter  :  Simon, 
sleepest  thou  ?  couldst  thou  not  watch  one 
hour  with  me  ?  Watch  ye, and  pra}r  that  ye 
enter  not  into  temptation.  The  spirit  in¬ 
deed  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak. 
Going  away  again,  he  prayed,  saying  the 
same  words  :  My  Father,  if  this  chalice 
may  not  pass  away,  but  I  must  drink  it, 
thy  will  be  done  ;  and  when  he  returned, 
he  found  them  again  asleep  ;  for  their  eyes 
were  heavy,  and  they  knew  not  what  to 
answer  him.  Leaving  them,  he  went  again, 
and  he  prayed  the  third  time,  saying  the 
self-same  words.  Then  he  cometh  to  his 
disciples,  and  saith  to  them :  Sleep  ye 
now,  and  take  your  rest.  Behold,  the 
hour  is  at  hand,  and  the  Son  of  man  shall 
be  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners. 
Rise,  let  us  go  ;  behold,  he  is  at  hand  that 
will  betray  me.”  (St.  Luke  xxii.  43-45  ; 
St.  Mark  xiv.  37-39,  40  ;  St.  Matthew 
xxvi.  40-42,  44-46.) 

(  1 )  Provided  we  have  that  entire  resignation  to 
the  will  of  God,  we  may  be  sensible  of  our  woes, 
lament  them,  ask  God  to  deliver  us  from  them, 
and,  in  the  heavy  affliction  of  nature,  seek  for 


“  As  he  spoke,  behold  a  multitude,  and 
he  that  was  called  Judas,  one  of  the 
twelve,  went  before  them  :  having  received 
a  band  of  soldiers,  and  servants  from  the 
chief  priests  and  the  Pharisees,  he  cometh 
thither  with  lanterns,  and  torches,  and 
weapons,  and  staves.  And  he  that  be¬ 
trayed  him  had  given  them  a  sign,  saying  : 
Whomsoever  I  shall  kiss,  that  is  he  :  lay 
hold  of  him,  and  lead  him  away  carefully. 
When  he  was  come,  immediately  going  up 
to  Jesus,  he  saith  :  Hail,  Rabbi,  and  he 
kissed  him.”  (St.  Matthew  xxvi.  47  ;  St. 
Luke  xxii.  47  ;  St.  John  xviii.  3  ;  St. 
Mark  xiv.  43-45.) 

The  Lamb  of  God  did  not  refuse  this 
kiss,  which  was  more  cruel  than  all  the 
insults  endured  by  him  in  his  passion  : 
“Jesus  said  to  him  :  Friend,  whereto  art 
thou  come?.  Judas,  dost  thou  betray  the 
Son  of  man  with  a  kiss  ?  ”  (St.  Matthew 
xxvi.  50  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  48.) 

Our  Saviour  was  not  yet  taken  ;  it  was 
not  fitting  that  he  should  be  captured  by 
surprise,  and  he  was  to  be  arrested  only 
because  he  chose  to  be.  “  Therefore, 
knowing  all  things  that  should  come  upon 
him,  he  went  forth  and  said  to-  them  • 
Whom  seek  ye  ?  They  answered  him': 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Jesus  saith  to  them  : 

I  am  he.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  he  had 
said  to  them  :  I  am  he  ;  they  went  back¬ 
ward,  and  fell  to  the  ground.”  He  who 
had  cast  them  down,  permitted  them  to 
rise  immediately.  “Again,  therefore,  he 

solace  in  the  company  of  virtuous  ,  friends.  All 
that  is  not  incompatible  with  patience,  nor  even 
with  the  most  perfect  patience,  since  Jesus  Christ 
has  done  it. 


*1- 


* 


♦ 


♦ 


♦ 


. 

4 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


787 


asked  them  :  Whom  seek  ye  ?  and  they 
said  :  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Jesus  answered  : 
I  have  told  you  that  I  am  he.  If, 
therefore,  you  seek  me,  let  these  go  their 
way,”  he  added,  pointing  to  his  disciples, 
“  that  the  word  might  be  fulfilled  which 
he  said  :  Of  them  whom  thou  hast  given 
me  I  have  not  lost  any  one.”  (St.  John 
xviii.  4.) 

All  that  Jesus  had  determined  to  do 
previous  to  his  apprehension  was  now 
accomplished.  He  had  made  his  enemies 
feel,  by  a  single  word,  that,  alone  and 
unarmed,  he  was  stronger  than  a  troop  of 
armed  men.  “  Then  they  came  up,  and 
held  him.” 

“They  that  were  about  him,  seeing 
what  would  follow,  said  to  him  :  Lord, 
shall  we  strike  with  the  sword  ?  Then 
Simon  Peter,  having  a  sword,  drew  it,” 
without  waiting  for  the  answer,  and  struck 
the  servant  of  the  high-priest,  “  and  cut  off 
his  right  ear.  The  name  of  the  servant 
was  Malchus.  But  Jesus  said  :  Suffer  ye 
thus  far  ;  and  when  he  had  touched  his 
ear  he  healed  him.  He  “  then  ”  said  to 
Peter  :  Put  up  thy  sword  into  thy  scab¬ 
bard  ;  for  all  that  take  the  sword  shall 
perish  with  the  sword.1  The  chalice  which 
my  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not 
drink  it  ?  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot  ask 
my  Father,  and  he  will  give  me  presently 


( 1 )  Shall  perish,  that  is  to  say  shall  deserve  to 
perish. 

(’)  The  world  has  its  hour,  and  God  his 
eternity. 

( * )  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  on  an  occasion 
when  it  was  difficult  to  retain  self-possession,  Jesus 
displays  neither  passion  nor  weakness.  He  speaks 


more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  How 
then  shall  the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that 
so  it  must  be  done  ?  ”  (St.  Matthew  xxvi. 
50,  52,  54  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  49-51  ;  St. 
John  xviii.  10,  11.) 

If  the  two  miracles  which  Jesus  Christ 
had  just  performed  were  not  sufficient  to 
disarm  the  hatred  which  pursued  him, 
they  served  at  least  to  prove  that  it  lay 
with  himself  alone  either  to  meet  or  pre¬ 
vent  them ;  he  was  in  the  midst  of 
them,  and  we  may  say  in  their  very 
hands.  Therefore  “he  said  to  the  chief 
priests,  and  magistrates  of  the  temple, 
and  the  ancients,  that  were  come  unto 
him  :  Are  you  come  out  as  it  were  against 
a  thief,  with  swords  and  staves  to  appre¬ 
hend  me  ?  I  was  daily  with  you  in  the 
temple  teaching,  and  you  did  not  lay 
hands  on  me  ;  but  this  is  your  hour,8  and 
the  power  of  darkness.3  Now'all  this  was 
done,  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets 
might  be  fulfilled  :  then  the  disciples  all 
leaving  him,  fled.  A  certain  young  man 
followed  him,  having  a  linen  cloth  cast 
about  his  naked  body  ;  and  they  laid  hold 
on  him  ;  but  he,  casting  off  the  linen  cloth, 
fled  from  them  naked.”  (St.  Luke  xxii 
52,  53  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  48,  49,  51,  52  •  St. 
Matt.  xxvi.  56.) 

“Then  the  band,  and  the  tribune,  and 
the  servants  of  the  Jews  took  Jesus  and 


to  all,  to  Judas,  to  Peter,  to  the  priests,  and  to 
their  satellites,  and  he  says  to  each  what  is  suit¬ 
able  for  them ;  he  instructs  and  gives  orders  until 
the  moment  when  he  says  to  his  enemies  words 
equivalent  to  these:  Take  me  now  ;  I  restrain  you 
no  farther.  What  strength  there  is  in  this 
moderation ! 


788  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

bound  him.  They  led  him  away  to  Annas 

“The  high-priest,  therefore,  asked  Jesus 

first ;  for  he  was  father-in-law  to  Caiphas, 

of  his  disciples  and  of  his  doctrine.  Jesus 

who  was  the  high-priest  of  that  year. 

answered  him  :  I  have  spoken  openly  to 

Now,  Caiphas  was  he  who  had  given  the 

the  world  ;  I  have  always  taught  in  the 

counsel  to  the  Jews  that  it  was  expedient 

synagogue,  and  in  the  temple  whither  all 

that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people. 

the  Jews  resort,  and  in  secret  I  have 

Annas,”  satisfied  with  this  mark  of  his 

spoken  nothing.  Why  askest  thou  me  ? 

son-in-law’s  respect,  “sent  him  bound  to 

ask  them  who  have  heard  what  I  have 

Caiphas  the  high-priest.  They  led  him  to 

spoken  unto  them.  Behold,  they  know 

Caiphas  the  high-priest,  where  the  scribes 

what  things  I  have  said.” 

and  the  ancients  were  assembled.”  (St. 

“  When  he  had  said  these  things,  one 

John  xviii.  12-14-24  ;  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  57.) 

of  the  servants  standing  by  gave  Jesus  a 

“  And  Simon  Peter,”  ashamed  of  his 

blow,  saying  :  Answerest  thou  the  high- 

flight,  and  recovered  a  little  from  his  fear, 

priest  so  ?  Jesus  answered  him  :  If  I  have 

“  followed  Jesus  afar  off,  and  so  did  an- 

spoken  evil,  give  testimony  of  the  evil  ; 

other  disciple.  That  disciple  was  known 

but  if  well,  why  strikest  thou  me  ?  ”  (St. 

to  the  high-priest,  and  went  in  with  Jesus 

John  xviii.  19-23.) 

into  the  court  of  the  high-priest.1  But 

The  judges  approved,  at  least  by  their 

Peter  stood  at  the  door  without.  The 

silence,  of  this  most  brutal  act.  Never- 

other  disciple,  therefore,  who  was  known 

theless,  what  the  Saviour  had  said  Was  so 

to  the  high-priest,  went  out,  and  spoke  to 

reasonable,  that  they  deemed  themselves 

the  portress,  and  brought  in  Peter  even 

bound  to  proceed  against  him  as  he  had 

into  the  court  of  the  high-priest.  Now, 

proposed.  Accordingly,  “  the  chief  priests 

the  servants  and  ministers  stood  at  a  fire 

and  the  whole  council  sought  false  witness 

of  coals  (because  it  was  cold),  and  warmed 

against  Jesus,  that  they  might  put  him  to 

themselves,  when  they  had  kindled  the 

death,  and  they  found  not  ”  any  who  had 

fire  in  the  midst  of  the  hall.  Going  in, 

even  the  semblance  of  truth,  “whereas 

Peter  sat  with  the  servants,  that  he  might 

many  false  witnesses  had  come  in  ”  (St. 

see  the  end,  and  warmed  himself  with 

Matthew  xxvi.  59,  60)  ;  “  for  many  bore 

them.”  (St.  John  xviii.  15,  16,  18  ;  St. 

false  witness  against  him  ”  —  manifestly 

Mark  xiv.  54 ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  55  ;  St. 

false,  “and  their  evidences  were  not 

Matthew  xxvi.  58.) 

agreeing.  Last  of  all  there  came  two 

In  the  meantime,  Jesus  had  entered  into 

false  witnesses,  and  they  said  :  We  heard 

the  hall,  where  all  his  enemies  were  as- 

him  say  :  I  am  able  to  destroy  the  temple 

sembled  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  him. 

of  God,  and  after  three  days  to  rebuild  it. 

( 1 )  It  is  generally  agreed  that  this  disciple  was 

the  son  of  a  poor  fisherman,  have  formed  an  ac- 

Saint  John;  however,  there  is  some  ground  for 

quaintance  with  the  high-priest,  who  was  the  first 

doubting  it.  How  could  a  young  man  of  Galilee, 

man  of  the  nation  ? 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


789 


I  will  destroy  this  temple  made  with  hands, 
and  within  three  days  I  will  build  another 
not  made  with  hands.  And  their  witness 
did  not  agree.  And  the  high-priest  rising 
up  in  the  midst,  asked  Jesus,  saying : 
Answerest  thou  nothing  to  the  things  that 
are  laid  to  thy  charge  by  these  men  ? 
But  Jesus  held  his  peace,  and  answered 
nothing.”  (St.  Mark  xiv.  56-61  ;  St.  Matt, 
xxvi.  60-61.) 

“Again  the  high-priest  asked  him,  and 
said  to  him :  I  adjure  thee  by  the  living 
God,  that  thou  tell  us  if  thou  be  the 
Christ  the  Son  of  the  blessed  God.” 

Then,  although  fully  aware  that  it  would 
cost  him  his  life:  “Thou  hast  said  it,” 
saith  Jesus  to  him  who  summoned  him  to 
declare  whether  he  was  the  Christ:  Yes, 
“  I  am.”  And,  addressing  himself  to  all 
present,  he  adds:  “Nevertheless,  I  say 
to  you,  hereafter  you  shall  see  the  Son  of 
man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  the  power 
of  God,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  hea¬ 
ven.”  (St.  Mark  xiv.  61,  62  ;  St.  Matthew 
xxvi.  63,  64.) 

“Then  the  high-priest,”  concealing  his 
joy  under  the  appearance  of  a  hypocritical 
sorrow,  “rent  his  garments,  saying:  He 
hath  blasphemed  ;  what  further  need  have 
we  of  witnesses  ?  Behold,  now  you  have 
heard  the  blasphemy  ;  what  think  you  ? 
They  all  answering,  said  :  He  is  guilty  of 
death.”  (St.  Matt.  xxvi.  65,  66.) 

After  this  first  examination  Jesus  was 
left  in  the  custody  of  the  servants  and 
domestics.  These  satellites  believed  it 
their  duty  to  outrage  him.  “Some  began 
to  spit  on  him.  The  men  that  held  him 
mocked  him  and  struck  him.  They  blind¬ 


folded  him,  and  smote  his  face,  saying  : 
Prophesy  unto  us,  0  Christ,  who  is  he  that 
struck  thee  :  and  blaspheming,  many  other 
things  they  said  against  him.”  (St.  Mark 
xiv.  65  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  63-65  ;  St.  Matt, 
xxvi.  68.) 

This  scene  occupied  the  rest  of  the 
night,  and  during  all  that  time  he  whom 
the  angels  adore  served  as  a  butt  for  the 
ridicule  of  this  low  rabble.  We  do  not 
read  that  he  opposed  one  single  word  to  so 
many  outrages.  If  the  evangelists  do  not 
directly  say  so,  the  prophets  assure  us  of 
it ;  and  this  miracle  of  patience  is  contra¬ 
dicted  by  no  one.  But  what  renders  the 
fact  still  more  wonderful,  and  what  we 
shall  here  remark  with  reference  to  all  the 
Saviour  endured  during  the  whole  course 
of  his  passion  is,  that  he  suffered  nothing 
which  was  not  felt  on  his  part  as  exqui¬ 
sitely  as  it  could  be  felt.  We  speak  not 
only  of  his  corporal  pains,  to  which  the 
perfect  constitution  of  his  body  rendered 
him  so  sensitive.  But  what  filled  up  his 
cup  of  sorrow,  and  was  the  most  painful  of 
all,  is,  that  while  he  was  thus  in  the  power 
of  his  cruel  enemies,  the  first  and  the 
most  favored  of  his  disciples,  the  chief  of 
his  apostles,  renounced  him. 

Peter,  after  having  entered,  “sat  with¬ 
out  in  the  court  below,  warming  himself. 
There  cometh  one  of  the  maid-servants  of 
the  high-priest,  and  when  she  had  seen 
Peter  warming  himself,  looking  on  him, 
she  saith :  Thou  also  wast  with  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  ;  but  he  denied  before  them  all, 
savins: :  Woman,  I  know  him  not :  I 
neither  know  nor  understand  what  thou 
savest.  And,”  wishing  to  avoid  a  second 


790 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


interrogation,  “he  went  forth  before  the 
court,  and  the  cock  crew.  As  he  went 
out  of  the  gate,  another  maid  saw  him,  and 
she  said  to  them  that  were  there  :  This 
man  also  was  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth ; 
and  after  a  little  while  another,  seeing 
him,  said  :  Thou  also  art  one  of  them. 
They  said,  therefore,  to  him  :  Art  not  thou 
also  one  of  his  disciples  ?  ” 

His  first  denial  was  but  a  lie  ;  to  the 
second  he  added  perjury.  “  Again  he  de¬ 
nied  with  an  oath,  saying  :  I  am  not :  I 
know  not  the  man.”  (St.  Matthew  xxvi.  69- 
72  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  66-68  ;  St.  John  xviii. 
25  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  57,  58.) 

But  Peter  still  loved  him  whom  he  re¬ 
nounced  :  he  loved  him,  I  say,  less  than 
his  life  ;  and  in  this  did  his  crime  consist ; 
but  still  he  loved  him  too  well  to  make  up 
his  mind  to  desert  him,  in  uncertainty  as 
to  his  fate.  But  “after  the  space  as  it 
were  of  one  hour,  one  of  the  servants -of 
the  high-priest,  a  kinsman  to  him  whose 
ear  Peter  cut  off,  saith  to  him  :  Did  I  not 
see  thee  in  the  garden  with  him  ?  An¬ 
other  certain  man  affirmed,  saying  :  Of  a 
truth  this  man  was  also  with  him,  for  he 
is  also  a  Gfalilean.”  The  matter  being 
thus  debated,  “  they  came  that  stood  by, 
and  said  to  Peter  :  Surely  thou  also  art 
one  of  them,  for  thou  art  also  a  Gfalilean  ; 
thy  speech  doth  discover  thee.  Again, 
therefore,  for  the  third  time,  Peter  denied. 
He  began  to  curse  and  to  swear,  saying : 
I  know  not  the  man  of  whom  you  speak. 
Immediately,  as  he  was  yet  speaking,  the 
cock  crew  again,  and  the  Lord  turning, 


( 1 )  Grave  authors  have  thought  that  this  ex¬ 


looked  on  Peter.  Peter  remembered  the 
word  that  Jesus  said  unto  him  :  Before 
the  cock  crow  twice  thou  shalt  thrice  deny 
me  ;  and  going  forth  he  wept  bitterly.” 
(St.  Luke  xxii.  59-61  ;  St.  John  xviii.  26, 
27  ;  St.  Matthew  xxvi.  73-75  ;  St.  Mark 
xiv.  70-72.) 

We  know  not  how  it  was  that  the  Sa¬ 
viour  happened  to  be  in  the  court,  where 
he  cast  upon  his  apostle  this  saving  glance. 
But,  although  it  has  been  said  that  this 
glance  of  Jesus  was  purely  spiritual,  the 
most  common  opinion  is,  that  Jesus  looked 
upon  Peter  with  the  eyes  of  the  body,  and 
this  meaning  the  text  naturally  presents. 

Whilst  Peter  bewailed  his  sin,  the  ser¬ 
vants  went  on  with  their  sacrilegious  sport, 
which  continued  all  the  rest  of  the  night, 
“  As  soon  as  it  was  day,  all  the  ancients 
of  the  people  and  the  chief  priests  and 
scribes  came  together,  and  took  counsel 
against  Jesus,  that  they  might  put  him  to 
death.”  Thus,  well  assured  of  the  answer, 
“  they  brought  him  into  their  council,  say¬ 
ing,”  with  a  false  show  of  moderation,  If 
thou  be  the  Christ,  tell  us.  He  saith  to 
them  :  If  I  shall  tell  you,  you  will  not  be¬ 
lieve  me  ;  and  if  I  shall  ask  you,”  by  what 
marks,'  according  to  the  Scriptures,  the 
Christ  is  to  be  recognized,  “you  will  not 
answer  me,  nor  let  me  go.  But  hereafter 
the  Son  of  man  shall  be  sitting  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  power  of  God.”  All  present 
understood  what  was  meant  by  this  “  sit¬ 
ting.”  For  this  reason  “  then  said  the}- 
all:  Art  thou,  then,  the  Son  of  God?1 
Who  said  :  You  say  that  I  am.”  This 


animation  and  that  of  Oaiphas  had  taken  place  at 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


791 


was  the  same  answer  which  he  had  al¬ 
ready  given  to  the  same  question.  The 
inference  was  also  the  same  :  “  What 
need  we  any  further  testimony,”  they  said 
like  Caiphas,  “  for  we  ourselves  have 
heard  it  from  his  own  mouth  ?  ”  (St.  Luke 
xxii.  66-69.) 

The  sentence  of  death  was  already  pro¬ 
nounced  ;  it  now  only  remained  to  carry 
it  into  execution,  and  in  this  they  lost  no 
time.  “  The  whole  multitude  of  them  ris¬ 
ing  up,  led  Jesus  bound,  and  delivered 
him  to  Pontius  Pilate  the  governor.” 

Then  Judas  began  to  feel  remorse.  He 
had  flattered  himself  either  that  the  ene¬ 
mies  of  Jesus  would  not  attempt  his  life, 
or  that  his  power  would  nullify  their  ef¬ 
forts.  “  Seeing  that  he  was  condemned, 
Judas,  who  betrayed  him,  repenting  him¬ 
self,  brought  back  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver 
to  the  chief  priests  and  ancients,  saying  : 
I  have  sinned  in  betraying  innocent  blood. 
What  is  that  to  us  ?”  said  these  cruel  men  : 
“  look  thou  to  it.”  This  dry  and  disdain¬ 
ful  answer  gave  the  finishing  stroke  to  his 
despair.  “Casting  down  the  pieces  of 

the  same  time,  and  on  the  same  morning.  We 
prefer  the  opinion  of  those  who  separate  the  oc¬ 
casions,  and  who  place  that  of  Caiphas  on  the 
evening  before,  putting  off  this  until  the  following 
morning.  Here  are  the  reasons  which  have  led  us 
to  believe  this  the  most  probable  opinion.  All 
agree  as  to  two  things:  1st.  That  the  interrogatory 
which  we  are  actually  reporting  took  place  in  the 
morning.  2d.  That  it  was  during  the  night  pre¬ 
ceding  that  morning  that  the  Saviour  was  outraged 


silver  in  the  temple,  he  departed,  and 
went  and  hanged  himself  with  a  halter.” 
(St.  Luke  xxiii.  1  ;  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  2-5.) 
And  the  unfortunate  wretch  “being  hang¬ 
ed,  burst  asunder  in  the  midst,  and  all  his 
bowels  gushed  out.”  (Acts  i.  18.) 

The  wicked  are  sometimes  scrupulous 
observers  of  propriety7.  These  men  “hav¬ 
ing  taken  the  pieces  of  silver,  said  :  It  is 
not  lawful  for  us  to  put  them  into  the  Cor- 
bona,  because  it  is  the  price  of  blood. 
And  after  they  had  consulted  together, 
they  bought  with  them  the  potter’s  field, 
to  be  a  burying-place  for  strangers.  For 
this  cause  that  field  was  called  Haceldama, 
that  is,  the  field  of  blood,  even  to  this 
day.”  Whence  it  has  become  the  lasting 
proof  of  their  crime  and  the  monument 
of  their  incredulity  ;  for  “  then  was  ful¬ 
filled  that  which  was  spoken  by  J eremias 
the  prophet,  saying  :  They  took  the  thirty 
pieces  of  silver,  the  price  of  him  that  was 
prized,  whom  they  prized  of  the  children 
of  Israel ;  and  they  gave  them  unto  the  . 
potter’s  field,  as  the  Lord  appointed  to 
me.”1  (St.  Matthew  xxvii.  6-10.) * (*) 

by  the  officers  and  the  servants  of  the  high-priest. 
Now  the  examination  by  Caiphas  preceded  these 
outrages. 

(*)  This  prophecy  is  not  found  in  Jeremias  ; 
but  we  read  it  in  equivalent  terms  in  Zacharias, 
chap.  xi.  Saint  Jerome  says  that  he  read  it  in  a 
Hebrew  volume  of  Jeremias,  which  was  shown  him 
by  a  Jew.  Saint  Augustine  had  seen  some  copies 
wherein  neither  Jeremias  nor  any  other  prophet 
was  found  named. 


792 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


CHAPTER  LY. 

JESUS  CONDUCTED  BEFORE  PILATE.— PILATE  INTERROGATES  HIM,  AND  SENDS  HIM  TO  HEROD. 
—HE  IS  LED  BACK  TO  PILATE.— BARABBAS.— PILATE’S  WIFE.— HE  IS  CROWNED  WITH  THORNS. 


THEN  they  led  Jesus  from  Caiplias 
to  the  governor’s  hall.”  “Their 
feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood  ;  ”  for  “  it  was 
morning.”  (St.  John  xviii.  28  ;  Ps.  xiii.  3.) 
A  scruple  stopped  them  short  at  the  gate. 
These  men,  religious  beyond  what  was 
prescribed,  “  went  not  into  the  hall,  that 
they  might  not  be  defiled,  but  that  they 
might  eat  the  pasch.  Pilate,  went  out  to 
them,  and  said  :  What  accusation  bring 
you  against  this  man  ?  They  answered  : 
If  he  were  not  a  malefactor  we  would  not 
have  delivered  him  up  to  thee.”  It  was 
hatred  which  spoke,  and  Pilate  knew  that 
very  well.  “  He  therefore  said  to  them  : 
Take  him  you,  and  judge  him  according  to 
,  your  law.  The  Jews,  therefore,  said  to 
him  :  It  is  not  lawful  for  us  to  put  any 
man  to  death.”  (St.  John  xviii.  28-31.) 

By  this  avowal  they  acknowledged  that 
the  sceptre,  in  whatever  way  it  be  under¬ 
stood,  had  at  last  passed  away  from  the 
house  of  Juda.  (G-en.  xlix.  10.)  They 
should  consequently  have  acknowledged 
that  “  he  came  who  was  to  be  sent,  the 
expectation  of  nations ;  ”  but,  blinded  by 
passion,  they  could  no  longer  see  what 
their  own  avowal  made  plain.  They  feared 
lest  the  populace  might  impute  to  them 
the  death  of  the  just  man,  and,  perhaps, 
proceed  to  violence.  If  the  Romans  exe¬ 
cuted  him,  and  the  people  did  mutiny, 


Pilate  then  had  authority  and  power  to 
quell  the  outbreak.  Such  were  their  mo¬ 
tives  whereon  they  acted.  If  Pilate, 
yielding  to  their  clamors,  finally  deter¬ 
mined  to  judge  the  Saviour,  and  to  con¬ 
demn  him  to  crucifixion,  it  was  “that  the 
word  of  Jesus  might  be  fulfilled,  which 
he  said,  signifying  what  death  he  should 
die.”  (St.  John  xviii.  32.) 

Obliged,  however,  by  the  first  refusal 
of  Pilate,  to  prove  a  crime,  the  enemies 
of  Jesus  “  began  to  accuse  him,  saying  : 
We  have  found  this  man  perverting  our 
nation,  and  forbidding  to  give  tribute  to 
Caesar,  and  saying  that  he  is  Christ  the 
king.”  (St.  Luke  xxiii.  2.) 

Of  these  three  charges,  the  first  was 
vague,  the  second  false,  and  the  third  ma¬ 
liciously  misrepresented.  “  Pilate,  there¬ 
fore,”  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  allusion  to 
royalty,  “went  into  the  hall,  and  called 
Jesus.  Jesus  stood  before  the  governor, 
and  the  governor  asked  him,  saying :  Art 
thou  the  king  of  the  Jews?  Jesus  answer¬ 
ed  :  Sayest  thou  this  thing  of  thyself,  or 
have  others  told  it  thee  of  me  ?  Pilate 
answered  :  Am  I  a  Jew  ?  Thy  own  nation 
and  the  chief  priests  have  delivered  thee 
up  to  me  ;  what  hast  thou  done  ?  ”  (St. 
John  xviii.  33-35  ;  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  11.) 

This  reply  was  an  avowal  that  he  in¬ 
terrogated  as  judge.  Our  Saviour  drew 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


793 


this  from  him,  because  he  wished  to  under¬ 
go  the  disgrace  of  a  public  condemnation. 
‘'Jesus,”  always  submissive  to  lawful 
authority,  “  answered  :  My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world.  If  my  kingdom  were 
of  this  world,  my  servants  would  certainly 
strive  that  I  should  not  be  delivered  to 
the  Jews  ;  but  now  my  kingdom  is  not 
from  hence.  Pilate  said  to  him :  Art 
thou  a  king,  then  ?  Jesus  answered  :  Thou 
sayest  that  I  am  a  king.1  For  this  was  I 
born,  and  for  this  came  I  into  the  world  ; 
that  I  should  give  testimony  to  the  truth. 
Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my 
voice.  Pilate  saith  to  him  :  What  is  truth  ? 
and  when  he  said  this  he  went  out  again 
to  the  Jews,  to  the  chief  priests,  and  to 
the  multitudes,  and  saith  to  them  :  I  find 
no  cause  in  this  man.”  (St.  John  xviii. 
33-35  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii.  4.) 

Doth  it  not  seem  that  he  should  rather 
have  announced  to  them  that  he  found  him 
guilty?  Our  Saviour  had  just  declared 
that  he  was  king,  and  this  was  the  crime 
of  which  they  accused  him.  How  could 
Pilate,  after  this  avowal,  immediately  de¬ 
clare  him  innocent?  Because,  without 
penetrating  all  the  mystery  of  his  royalty, 
he  had  discovered  that  it  was  at  least  not 
of  a  nature  to  give  offence  to  the  powers 
of  earth. 

These  accusers  continued,  and,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  custom  of  all  calumniators, 
when  they  could  prove  no  fact  they  mul¬ 
tiplied  crimes.  Jesus  did  not  oppose  a 
single  word  to  their  accusations,  “and 

( 1 )  This  royalty  is  described  in  Psalm  ii. :  “  I 
am  appointed  king  by  him  over  Sion,  his  holy 
mountain,  preaching  his  commandment.” 


when  he  was  accused  in  many  things  by 
the  chief  priests  and  the  ancients,  he  an¬ 
swered  nothing.”  (St.  Matthew  xxvii.  12  ; 
St.  Mark  xv.  3.)  It  was  not  for  Him  to 
speak  ;  it  was  the  dutj-  of  the  judge,  who 
had  only  to  say  :  It  is  not  sufficient  to  ac¬ 
cuse,  you  must  prove  ;  but  we  do  not  find 
that  he  said  so  even  once.  Pilate,  that  he 
might  not  remain  entirely  silent,  “  again 
asked  Jesus :  Dost  thou  not  hear  how 
great  testimonies  they  allege  against  thee  ? 
Answerest  thou  nothing  ?  Behold  in  how 
many  things  they  accuse  thee.  And  he 
answered  him  to  never  a  word,  so  that 
the  governor  wondered  exceedingly.”  (St. 
Mark  xv.  4  ;  St.  Matthew  xxvii.  13,  14.) 

Pilate,  having  acknowledged  the  inno¬ 
cence  of  the  accused,  had  nothing  more  to 
silence  the  accusers,  and  dismiss  them. 
This  he  did  not  do,  simply  because  he  did 
not  dare  to  do  so.  The  enemies  of  the 
Saviour,  who  were  thoroughly  conscious 
of  this,  without  producing  fresh  crimes, 
“  they  were  more  earnest,  saying :  He 
stirreth  up  the  people,  teaching  throughout 
all  Judea,  beginning  from  Gfalilee  to  this 
place.” 

“Pilate,  hearing  G-alilee,  asked  if  the 
man  were  of  Glalilee  ;  and  when  he  under¬ 
stood  that  he  was  of  Herod’s  jurisdiction, 
he  sent  him  away  to  Herod,  who  was  also 
himself  at  Jerusalem  in  those  days.”  (St. 
Luke  xxiii.  .5-10.) 

The  murderer  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist 
might  easily  become  the  murderer  of 
Jesus  ;  and  he  who  had  sacrificed  a 
prophet  to  the  resentment  of  a  woman, 
was  but  too  capable  of  immolating  another 
to  the  hatred  of  the  chief  men  of  the 


100 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


794 


nation.  The  chief  men  must  have  been 
elated  with  joy,  as  immediately  after  the 
precursor’s  death,  Herod  sought  Jesus  to 
put  him  to  death.  Admiration,  heightened 
by  curiosity,  had  now  succeeded  in  Herod’s 
mind  to  the  hatred  or  policy  which  had 
made  him  seek  our  Saviour’s  life.  “  See¬ 
ing  Jesus,  he  was  very  glad  ;  for  he  was 
desirous  of  a  long  time  to  see  him,  because 
he  had  heard  many  things  of  him,  and  he 
hoped  to  see  some  sign  wrought  by  him  ; 
and  he  questioned  him  in  many  words,  but 
Jesus  answered  him  nothing.  The  chief 
priests  and  the  scribes  stood  by  earnestly 
accusing  him.”  Jesus  made  no  reply  to 
their  accusations,  any  more  than  to  the 
questioning  of  Herod. 

He  wrought  two  miracles :  one  of  wis¬ 
dom,  by  not  satisfying  the  frivolous  curi¬ 
osity  of  this  bad  prince  ;  the  other  of 
patience,  in  not  opposing  a  single  word  to 
the  outrageous  calumnies  of  his  enemies. 
“  Herod,  with  his  army,  set  him  at  nought, 
and  mocked  him.  And  putting  on  him  a 
white  garment,  he  sent  him  back  to  Pilate  ” 
in  this  apparel,  indicative  of  a  fool,  or  a 
visionary,  or  perhaps  a  theatrical  king. 
It  was  in  order  to  free  himself  from  em¬ 
barrassment  that  the  governor  had  sent 
him.  Herod  readily  believed  that  it  was 
done  out  of  deference.  “And  Herod  and 
Pilate  were  made  friends  that  same  day  ; 
for  before  they  were  enemies  to  one  an¬ 
other.”  (St.  Luke  xxiii.  5-10.) 

Meantime  the  intention  of  the  governor 
had  not  been  carried  out ;  the  levity  aud 
heedlessness  of  Herod  left  the  matter  in 
its  original  state,  and  Pilate  in  the  same 
perplexity  as  before.  Pilate  commenced 


by  a  remonstrance  :  “  calling  together  the 
chief  priests,  the  magistrates,  and  the 
people,  he  said  to  them  :  You  have  pre¬ 
sented  unto  me  this  man,  as  one  that 
perverted  the  people,  and  behold  I  hav¬ 
ing  examined  him  before  you,  find  no 
cause  in  this  man,  in  those  things  wherein 
you  accuse  him.  No,  nor  Herod  neither, 
for  I  sent  you  to  him  ;  and  behold,  nothing 
is  done  to  him”  which  can  prove  him 
“  worthy  of  death.  I  will  chastise  him, 
therefore,  and  release  him.”  (St.  Luke 
xxiii.  13-16.) 

“  Now,  on  the  festival  day  he  was  wont 
to  release  unto  them  one  of  the  prisoners, 
whomsoever  they  demanded.”  (St.  Mark 
xv.  6.)  This  custom  had  been  added  to 
ceremonies  which  the  law  prescribed,  in 
order  to  celebrate  the  deliverance  from 
the  captivity  of  Egypt,  and  from  the  sword 
of  the  destroying  angel.  Pilate  sought  to 
turn  it  to  his  own  account.  “  He  had  then 
a  notorious  prisoner  that  was  called  Ba- 
rabbas.”  Barabbas  was  a  robber,  “  who, 
for  a  certain  sedition  made  in  the  city,  and 
for  murder,  was  cast  into  prison.  When 
the  multitude  was  come  up  ”  to  the  judg¬ 
ment  hall,  “  they  began  to  desire  that  he 
would  do  as  he  had  ever  done  unto  them. 
They,  therefore,  being  gathered  together, 
Pilate  said  :  You  have  a  custom  that  I 
should  release  one  unto  you  at  the  pasch  : 
whom  will  you  that  I  release  to  you,  Ba¬ 
rabbas,  or  Jesus,  that  is  called  Christ?” 
(St.  Matthew  xxvii.  16,  17  ;  St.  Mark  xv. 
8,  9  ;  St.  John  xviii.  39.) 

Jesus,  placed  on  a  par  with  a  well- 
known  and  universally-detested  criminal, 
ought  naturally  to  be  unanimously  prefer- 


lllg 

Ifl 

lll.^sll§§ 

I  i  |  l  l  ] 

SCOURGING  AT  THE  PILLAR 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


795 


red.  But  what  raised  Pilate’s  hopes  was, 
that  he  was  then  treating  with  the  people. 
If  he  had  only  to  deal  with  the  priests,  he 
would  not  have  had  the  same  confidence, 

“  for  he  knew  that  for  envy  they  had  de¬ 
livered  him.”  (St.  Matthew  xxvii.  18  ;  St. 
Mark  xv.  10.)  So  Pilate  said  to  them  the 
second  time:  “Will  you,  therefore,  that 
I  release  unto  you  the  king  of  the  Jews  ?  ” 
(St.  John  xviii.  39.) 

He  was  still  awaiting  the  answer,  when 
an  unforeseen  message  came.  “As  he 
was  sitting  in  the  place  of  judgment  his 
wife  sent  to  him,  saying :  Have  thou 
nothing  to  do  with  that  just  man,  for  I 
have  suffered  many  things  this  day  in  a 
dream,  because  of  him.”1  (St.  Matt,  xxvii. 
19.) 

History  does  not  inform  us  whether  this 
warning  made  any  impression  on  Pilate’s 
mind,  or  whether  he  appeared  at  first  to 
pay  any  attention  to  it.  He  may  have 
sent  word  to  his  wife  that  she  might  be 
easy  in  her  mind — that  the  measures 
which  he  had  taken  would  infalliby  save 
this  just  man.  If  so,  he  deceived  her  ; 
but  it  was  because  he  had  deceived  him¬ 
self.  “  The  chief  priests  and  ancients 
moved  the  people,  and  persuaded  them 
that  they  should  ask  Barabbas,  and  make 
Jesus  away.”  (St.  Matt,  xxvii.  20  ;  St. 
Mark  xv.  11.) 

When,  therefore,  he  had  returned  his 
wife’s  message,  “the  governor  said  to 

( 1 )  It  is  conjectured,  and  with  great  probability, 
that  the  dream  presaged  to  her  the  misfortunes 
which  Pilate  would  draw  down  upon  himself  and 
his  family,  if  he  imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood 
of  the  Just.  He  was  subsequently  disgraced,  ban- 


them  :  Whether  will  you  of  the  two  to  be 
released  unto  you  ?  The  whole  multitude 
cried  out :  Away  with  this  man,  and  re¬ 
lease  unto  us  Barabbas.”  Pilate,  aston¬ 
ished,  and  wishing  still  to  save  Jesus, 
“  again  answering,  saith  to  them  :  What 
will  you,  then,  that  I  do  to  the  king  of  the 
Jews — with  Jesus,  that  is  called  Christ  ? 
but  they  all  again  cried  out,  saying  :  Cru¬ 
cify  him  !  crucify  him  !  He  said  to  them 
the  third  time  :  Why,  what  evil  hath  this 
man  done  ?  I  find  no  cause  of  death  in 
him  :  I  will  chastise  him,  therefore,”  add¬ 
ed  he,  falling  back  on  his  first  idea,  “  and 

let  him  go.  But  they  were  instant  with 
* 

loud  voices,  requiring  that  he  might  be 
crucified  ;  and  they  cried  out  the  more, 
saying  :  “  Crucify  him  !  let  him  be  cruci¬ 
fied!  ” 

“  Pilate,  seeing  that  he  prevailed  noth¬ 
ing,  but  that  rather  a  tumult  was  made, 
taking  water,  washed  his  hands  before  the 
people,  saying  :  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood 
of  this  just  man  :  look  you  to  it ;  and  the 
whole  people  answering,  said  :  His  blood 
be  upon  us  and  upon  our  children.”  (St. 
Matthew  xxvii.  21-27  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii. 
18-23  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  12-14.) 

The  Eternal  heard  this  horrible  impre¬ 
cation,  and  ratified  it.  More  than  eighteen 
centuries  have  passed  away,  and  still  this 
blood  demands  vengeance,  and  obtains  it 
against  the  posterity  of  this  unhappy  peo¬ 
ple. 

ished,  and  perished  by  his  own  hand.  Very  ancient 
authors  give  her  the  name  of  Claudia  Procula. 
This  is  also  the  name  which  the  Greeks  give  her 
in  their  monologies,  wherein  they  have  placed  her 
in  the  rank  of  the  saints. 


796  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE  ' 

That  furious  populace  at  length  over- 

tremely  cruel,  since  Pilate  thought  that, 

came.the  governor,  and  the  result  might 

by  exhibiting  to  the  Jews  the  condition  to 

be  anticipated.  After  the  vain  ceremony 

which  it  had  reduced  our  Saviour,  he 

of  washing  his  hands,  or  rather  after  hav- 

should  at  last  succeed  in  melting  them 

ing  rendered  against  himself  a  glaring 

into  compassion. 

testimony  of  the  injustice  which  he  was 

This  torment  was  immediately  followed 

about  to  commit,  “Pilate,  being  willing  to 

by  another,  either  suggested  by  the  hatred 

satisfy  the  people,  gave  sentence  that  it 

of  the  Jews,  or  invented  by  the  brutality 

should  be  as  they  required.”  (St.  Mark 

of  the  soldiers.  The  latter  “  taking  Jesus 

xv.  15  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii.  24-25.) 

into  the  court  of  the  palace,  gathered  to- 

Consequently  “he  released  unto  them 

gether  unto  him  the  whole  band,  and 

him  who,  for  murder  and  sedition,  had 

stripping  him,  they  put  a  scarlet  cloak 

been  cast  into  prison,  whom  they  had  de- 

about  him.  And  platting  a  crown  of 

sired.” 

thorns,  they  put  it  upon  his  head,  and  a 

While  they  were  liberating  Barabbas, 

reed  in  his  right  hand.  Then  they  came 

“Pilate  took  Jesus,  and  scourged  him.” 

to  him,  and  bowing  the  knee  before  him, 

(St.  John  xix.  1.)  The  evangelists  say 

they  mocked  him,  saying  :  Hail  king  of 

nothing  more  about  this  affair,  but  the 

the  Jews  ;  and  spitting  upon  him,  they 

common  opinion  is,  that  this  flagellation 

took  the  reed  and  struck  his  head,  and 

was  carried  to  the  last  extreme  of  cruelty. 

they  gave  him  blows.”  (St.  Matt,  xxvii.  27— 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  it  was  ex- 

30  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  16-19  ;  St.  John  xix.  3.) 

CHAPTER  LYI. 

ECCE  HOMO.— PILATE’S  SECOND  INTERROGATION.— JESUS  IS  CONDEMNED.— HE  CARRIES  HIS 

CROSS.— SIMON  THE  CYRENE AN. —DAUGHTERS  OF  JERUSALEM.— JESUS  CRUCIFIED  BETWEEN 

TWO  THIEVES.— TITLE  OF  THE  CROSS.— LOTS  CAST  FOR  THE  GARMENT.— BLASPHEMIES  AND 

INSULTS.— OUR  LORD’S  WORDS  TO  HIS  MOTHER.— DARKNESS.— JESUS  EXPIRES.— PRODIGIES.— 

OUR  SAVIOUR’S  SIDE  OPENED.— BURIAL.— DESCENT  INTO  HELL. 

'  |  "HE  Jews  should  now  at  least  have 

crown  of  thorns  and  the  purple  garment, 

X  been  content.  “Pilate,  therefore, 

and  Pilate  saith  to  them :  Behold  the 

went  forth  again,  and  saith  to  them  :  Be- 

man  !  ”  The  people  became  silent :  but 

hold,  I  bring  him  forth  unto  you,  that  you 

“  when  the  chief  priests  and  the  servants 

may  know  that  I  find  no  cause  in  him. 

had  seen  him,  they  cried  out :  Crucify 

Jesus,  therefore,  came  forth,  bearing  the 

him  !  crucify  him!  Pilate  saith  to  them  : 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


797 


Take  him  you,  and  crucify  him  :  for  I  find 
no  cause  in  him.  The  Jews  answered 
him  :  We  have  a  law,  .and  according  to 
the  law  he  ought  to  die,  because  he  made 
himself  the  Son  of  God.” 

Thus,  they  substituted  for  the  state 
offence  of  which  Pilate  did  not  find  him 
guilty,  a  crime  against  religion,  which,  it 
seems,  he  must  take  on  their  testimony — 
not  being  sufficiently  conversant  with  their 

O  v 

law  to  judge  the  case  himself;  however, 
this  expression,  which  escaped  them  in  the 
heat  of  their  passion,  was  very  near  de¬ 
priving  them  of  their  victim.  “  When 
Pilate,  therefore,  had  heard  this  saying, 
he  feared  the  more,  and  he  entered  into 
the  hall  again,  and  he  said  to  Jesus  : 
Whence  art  thou?  But  Jesus  gave  him 
no  answer.  Pilate,  therefore,  said  to  him : 
Speakest  thou  not  to  me  ?  Knowest  thou 
not  that  I  have  power  to  crucify  thee,  and 
I  have  power  to  release  thee  ?  ” 

Far  from  flattering  the  governor’s  pride, 
Jesus  gave  him  a  lesson  very  proper  to 
inspire  men  in  office  with  modesty,  by  re¬ 
minding  them  from  whom  they  hold  their 
authority:  “Thou  shouldst  not  have  any 
power  against  me,  unless  it  were  given 
thee  from  above ;  therefore,”  added  the 
Saviour,  “he  that  hath  delivered  me  to 
thee  hath  the  greater  sin.” 

The  judge  who  is  weak  or  corrupt 
enough  to  be  instrumental  in  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  wicked  designs,  if  not  the  most 
wicked  of  assassins,  is  at  least  the  most 
infamous.  This  inference  came  directly 
home  to  him,  so  it  is  not  surprising  that 
“from  henceforth  Pilate  sought  to  release 
him.”  But  he  sought  in  vain.  “The 


Jews  cried  out,  saying  :  If  thou  release 
this  man,  thou  art  not  Cmsar’s  friend  ;  for 
whosoever  maketh  himself  a  king,  speak- 
eth  against  Crnsar.”  “When  Pilate  had 
heard  these  words,  he  brought  Jesus  forth, 
and  sat  down  in  the  judgment-seat,  in  the 
place  that  is  called  Lithostrotos,  and  in 
the  Hebrew  Gabbatha.  .  It  was  the  para- 
sceve  of  the  pasch,  about  the  sixth  hour, 
and  he  saith  to  the  Jews  :  Behold  your 
king.  But  they  cried  out :  Away  with 
him!  away  with  him!  crucify  him!  Shall 
I  crucify  your  king  ?  Pilate  saith  to  them.” 
(St.  John  xix.  4-7.)  Again  “The  chief 
priests  answered  :  We  have  no  king  but 
Csesar.  Then,  therefore,  he  delivered  up 
Jesus  to  their  will ;”  that  is,  “  he  deliver¬ 
ed  him  unto  them  to  be  crucified.”  (St. 
John  xix.  15—17  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii.  25  ;  St. 
Matthew  xxvii.  26.)  Behold,  then,  the 
issue  of  Pilate’s  judgment,  after  he  had  so 
many  times  declared  him  innocent.  What 
more  could  he  have  done  if  he  had  found 
him  guilty  ? 

Meanwhile  Jesus  “  delivered  himself  to 
him  that  judged  him  unjustly”  (1  St.  Peter 
ii.  23),  and,  by  his  silence,  verified  still 
further  the  prophecy  which  compared  him 
to  a  lamb,  which,  far  from  defending  itself, 
does  not  even  oppose  a  cry  to  the  knife 
that  is  going  to  slaughter  it.  (St.  John  xix. 
16,  17  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  20.)  The  soldiers 
“took  Jesus,”  and  “took  off  the  purple 
from  him  ;  they  put  his  own  garments  on 
him,  and  they  led  him  out  to  crucify  him. 
Jesus,  bearing  his  own  cross,  went  forth  to 
that  place  which  is  called  Calvary,  but  in 
Hebrew  Golgotha.” 

There  was  a  custom  amongst  the 


A 

798  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

Romans,  that  those  who  were  to  be  cruci¬ 
fied  should  themselves  carry  their  cross  to 
the  place  of  execution.  There  was,  there¬ 
fore,  nothing  extraordinary  in  this  with 
regard  to  the  Saviour.  But  Jesus,  ex¬ 
hausted  with  loss  of  blood,  soon  sank 

m 

under  the  burden.  His  excessive  weak¬ 
ness  gave  reason  to  fear  that  he  might 
escape  the  extreme  penalty,  or  at  least 
retard  the  moment  of  execution  so  earnest¬ 
ly  desired  by  his  enemies.  This  apprehen¬ 
sion  prompted  them  to  relieve  him,  when 
God  presented  to  them  the  man  chosen  to 
succor  his  Son.  “  As  they  led  Jesus  away, 
going  out,”  from  the  city,  “they  found  a 
man  of  Cyrene,  named  Simon,  the  father 
of  Alexander  and  of  Rufus,  who  passed 
by,  coming  out  of  the  country.  Him  they 
forced  to  take  up  his  cross,  and  they  laid 
the  cross  on  him,  to  carry  after  Jesus.” 
(St.  Luke  xxiii.  26  ;  St.  Matthew  xxvii. 
32  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  21.) 

Meantime,  “there  followed  Jesus  a 
great  multitude  of  people,  and  of  women, 
who  bewailed  and  lamented  him.  But, 
turning  to  them,  he  said  :  Daughters  of 
Jerusalem,  weep  not  over  me,  but  weep 
for  yourselves  and  for  your  children.  For 
behold  the  days  shall  come  wherein  they 
will  say  :  Blessed  are  the  barren  !  and  the 
wombs  that  have  not  borne,  and  the  paps 
that  have  not  given  suck !  Then  shall 
they  begin  to  say  to  the  mountains  :  Fall 

upon  us  ;  and  to  the  hills  :  Cover  us.  For, 
if  in  the  green  wood  they  do  these  things, 
what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  ?  ”  (St.  Luke 
xxiii.  27-31.) 

“There  were  also  two  other  malefactors 
led  with  him  to  be  put  to  death.”  It  was 
in  such  company  as  this  that  “  they  bring 
him  into  the  place  called  Golgotha,  which, 
being  interpreted,  is  the  place  of  Calvary.” 

(St.  Luke  xxiii.  32  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  22  ;  St. 
Matthew  xxvii.  33.) 

“  When  they  were  come  to  the  place, 
they  gave  him  wine  to  drink,  mingled  with 
myrrh  and  gall.1  And  when  he  had  tasted, 
he  would  not  drink.  It  was  the  third  hour 
they  crucified  him.2  With  him  they  cruci¬ 
fied  two  thieves ;  the  one  on  his  right 
hand,  and  the  other  on  his  left,  and  Jesus 
in  the  midst.  Thus  the  Scripture  was 
fulfilled  which  saith  :  With  the  wicked  was 
he  reputed.”  (St.  Luke  xxiii.  33  ;  St.  Mat¬ 
thew  xxvii.  34  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  25,  27,  28  ; 

St.  John  xix.  18.) 

The  Deicide  was  consummated.  Scarcely 
was  Jesus  fastened  to  the  cross,  and  it 
elevated  upon  the  mountain,  when  “he 
said,”  and  this  was  the  first  word  which 
he  pronounced,  “Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do.”  ”>(31. 

Luke  xxiii.  34.) 

We  should  not  omit  a  circumstance  of 
our  Saviour’s  passion  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  judged  worthy  of  recording.  “  Pilate 

( 1 )  St.  Matthew  mentions  the  gall,  and  St. 
Mark  the  myrrh ;  one  does  not  exclude  the  other. 
Jesus  tasted  it  in  order  to  obey,  in  order  to  suffer, 
in  order  to  expiate  our  acts  of  intemperance,  and 
in  order  to  accomplish  the  prophecies. 

( * )  St.  Mark  makes  this  statement,  while  St. 

John  says  about  the  sixth  hour.  St.  Jerome  and 
Theopliylact  thought  the  Greek  letter  for  three 
had,  by  an  error  of  copyists,  been  put  for  six.  But 
the  difficulty  has  not  been  satisfactorily  cleared. 

As  occurring  between  those  two  regular  divisions, 
it  might  be  ascribed  to  either. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


799 


wrote  a  title,  and  lie  put  it  upon  the  cross. 
The  inscription  of  his  cause  was  written 
over  ”  it  in  these  terms:  “This  is  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  the  King  of  the  Jews.  This 
title,  therefore,  many  of  the  Jews  did  read  ; 
because  the  place  where  Jesus  was  cruci¬ 
fied  was  nigh  to  the  city,  and  it  was 
written  in  Hebrew,  in  Gfreek,  and  in 
Latin.  The  chief  priests”  considered 
themselves  insulted  by  this,  as  the  chief 
men  of  the  nation,  followed  by  the  major¬ 
ity  of  the  people,  had  just  delivered  Jesus 
over  to  the  extreme  penalty.  They  “  said, 
therefore,  to  Pilate  :  Write  not,  the  king 
of  the  Jews  ;  but*that  he  said,  I  am  the 
king  of  the  Jews.”  Pilate  answered: 
“What  I  have  written,  I  have  written” 
(St.  John  xix.  21-22),  and  dismissed  them 
with  this  curt  reply. 

Whatever  his  motive  may  have  been — 
and  it  is  not  very  easy  to  ascertain — he 
executed,  without  knowing  it,  the  orders 
of  the  Most  High.  It  was  God,  who  had, 
dictated  what  the  judge  had  written,  and 
restrained  his  hand  so  that  the  inscription 
was  not  effaced.  It  was  by  means  of  the 
cross  that  the  Man-God  was  to  reign  ;  and 
by  affixing  him  to  it  they  had  placed  him, 
if  we  may  use  the  expression,  upon  the 
throne  of  his  royalty.  It  was  also  neces¬ 
sary  to  proclaim  him  king,  and  Pilate — a 
Gentile— did  this  officially,  notwithstand¬ 
ing  the  opposition  and  the  indignation  of 
the  Jewish  people. 

(*)  The  coat  or  tunic  of  the  Saviour  was  a 
figure  of  his  spouse  the  Church,  which  is  one  and 
indivisible,  because  it  always  maintains  itself  in 
one  and  the  same  faith,  and  in  one  and  the  same 

charity. 


Nothing  is  of  trifling  importance  in  so 
great  an  event.  But  there  is  another  rea¬ 
son  which  renders  the  next  act  worthy  of 
notice — the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  proph¬ 
ecies  in  a  circumstance  so  slight  and  so 
accidental  :  “  The  soldiers,  therefore, 

when  they  had  crucified  him,  took  his 
garments  [and  they  made  four  parts,  to 
every  soldier  a  part]  and  also  his  coat.1 
Now  the  coat  was  without  seam,  woven 
from  the  top  throughout.  They  said  then 
one  to  another  :  Let  us  not  cut  it  ;  but  let 
us  cast  lots  for  it,  whose  it  shall  be  ;  that 
the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled,  saying : 
They  have  parted  my  garments  among 
them,  and  upon  my  vesture  they  have  cast 
lots.  The  soldiers  indeed  did  these 
things.”  “  And  they  sat  and  watched 
him.”  (St.  John  xix.  23,  24  ;  St.  Matthew 
xxvii.  35,  36.) 

Jesus,  a  prey  to  the  most  excruciating 
pain,  was  subjected  also  to  the  worst  of  in¬ 
sults.  “They  that  passed  by  blasphemed 
him,  wagging  their  heads,  and  saying : 
Bah,  thou  that  destroyest  the  temple  of 
God,  and  in  three  days  dost  rebuild  it, 
save  thy  own  self ;  if  thou  be  the  Son  of 
God,  come  down  from  the  cross.  The 
people  stood  beholding,  and  the  rulers 
with  them  derided  him  ”  (St.  Matt,  xxvii. 
39,  40  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii.  35),  for  they  were 
not  ashamed  to  join  the  multitude.  “In 
like  manner  also,  the  chief  priests,  with 
the  scribes  and  ancients,  mocking  said : 

It  is  said  of  those  who  create  schism  in  the 
Church,  that  they  rend  the  garment  of  Jesus 
Christ;  that  is  to  say,  that  they  try  to  do  so, 
though,  they  never  can  succeed. 


X 


HISTORY  OP  THE  LIFE 


800 


He  saved  others  ;  himself  he  cannot  save. 
If  he  be  the  king  of  Israel,  let  him  now 
come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will 
believe  him.  He  trusted  in  God  :  let  him 
now  deliver  him  if  he  will  have  him  :  for 
he  said  :  I  am  the  Son  of  God.”  (St.  Matt, 
xxvii.  41  ;  Ps.  xxi.  9.) 

David  had  them  in  view  when  he  put 
these  words  into  the  mouth  of  the  impious 
oppressors  of  the  just ;  and,  without  wish¬ 
ing  or  knowing  it,  they  were  instrumental 
in  fulfilling  this  prophecy.  They  were 
also  heard  to  say:  “Let  him  also  save 
himself,  if  he  be  Christ  the  elect  of  God  ; 
let  Christ  the  king  of  Israel  come  down 
now  from  the  cross  that  we  may  see  and 
believe.  The  soldiers  also  mocked  him, 
coming  to  him,  and  offering  him  vinegar  ; 
and  saying :  If  thou  be  the  king  of  the 
Jews,  save  thyself.”  And  to  put  the  fin¬ 
ishing  stroke  to  these  outrages,  “  the  self¬ 
same  thing  the  thieves  also  that  were 
crucified  with  him  reproached  him  with.” 
(St.  Luke  xxiii.  35-37  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  32  ; 
St.  Matthew  xxvii.  44.) 

Whilst  “one  of  those  robbers  who  were 
hanged,  blasphemed  him,  saying  :  If  thou 
be  Christ,  save  thyself  and  us  ;  the  other,” 
suddenly  enlightened,  and  changed  into 
another  man,  “  answering,  rebuked  him, 
saying  :  Neither  dost  thou  fear  God  !  see¬ 
ing  thou  art  under  the  same  condemna- 


( 1 )  It  may  be  asked  wliat  this  paradise  was, 
which  could  neither  be  heaven,  for  it  was  not  open, 
nor  the  terrestrial  paradise,  which  no  longer  ex¬ 
isted.  It  appears  to  be  the  bosom  of  Abraham, 
which,  for  the  just,  entirely  purified,  was  a  place 
of  l'epose,  and  might  be  regarded  as  that  of  imper¬ 
fect  felicity.  Might  we  not  say  that  it  is  no 


tion?  And  we  indeed  justly,  for  we 
receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds  ;  but 
this  man  hath  done  no  evil.” 

The  work  of  conversion  is  far  advanced, 
when  the  sinner  confesses  his  iniquity  and 
the  justice  of  his  chastisement.  The 
knowledge  of  God’s  goodness,  and  a  lov¬ 
ing  confidence  in  his  mercies,  finish  and 
perfect  the  change.  Penetrated  with  this 
second  sentiment,  the  consequence  and 
perhaps  the  reward  of  the  first, — “  He 
said  to  Jesus  :  Lord,  remember  me  when 
thou  shalt  come  into  thy  kingdom.”  By 
this  prayer  he  confessed  that  Jesus  is  the 
king  of  the  world  to  come.  All  faith  is 
comprised  in  this  confession,  but  what 
renders  it  most  surprising  is  the  occasion 
whereon  he  rendered  to  Jesus  so  glorious  a 
testimony.  His  salvation  was  the  reward 
which  it  obtained  for  him,  and  he  received 
at  the  moment  an  assurance  thereof. 
“  Jesus  said  to  him  :  Amen,  I  say  to  thee, 

,  this  day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  para¬ 
dise.”  1  (St.  Luke  xxiii.  39-43.) 

An  object  still  more  interesting  to  Jesus 
soon  attracted  his  attention,  and  gave  him 
the  opportunity  of  fulfilling  one  of  the 
first  duties  prescribed  by  nature.  “  His 
mother,”  whom  the  most  excruciating  an¬ 
guish  ever  felt  by  mortal  could  not  deter 
from  following  him,  “and  his  mother’s 
sister,  Mary  of  Cleophas,  and  Mary  Mag- 

longer  permissible  to  doubt,  after  this  expression 
of  Jesus  Christ:  This  day  thou  shalt  be  with 
me  in  paradise ;  for  it  is  a  matter  of  faith  that 
upon  that  day  Jesus  Christ  descended  into  Limbo, 
and  he  declares  formally  that  he  and  the 
robber  shall  be  reunited  on  that  very  day  in  the 
same  place. 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


8111 


dalene,  stood  by  the  cross  of  Jesus.  When 
Jesus  therefore  had  seen  his  mother  and 
the  disciple  standing  whom  he  loved,  he 
saith  to  his  mother:  Woman,  behold  thy 
son.  After  that  he  saith  to  his  disciple  : 
Behold  thy  mother.1  And  from  that  hour 
that  disciple  took  her  to  his  own.”  2  (St. 
John  xix.  25-27.) 

“It  was  almost  the  sixth  hour;  and 
there  was  darkness3  over  all  the  earth4 
until  the  ninth  hour,  when  the  sun  was 
darkened.  At  the  ninth  hour  Jesus  cried 
out  with  loud  voice,  saying  :  Eloi,'  Eloi, 
lamma  sabacthani  ?  which  is,  being  inter¬ 
preted  :  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ?  ” 6 

This  desertion  was  undoubtedly  the 
most  grievous  of  all  his  pains.  But  his 
words  were  not  understood  ;  through  ig¬ 
norance  of  the  sacred  language  in  which 
Jesus  spoke,  “some  of  the  standers-by 


(*  * )  Had  St.  Joseph  been  alive,  there  would  have 
been  no  need  of  our  Saviour’s  commending  his 
mother  to  another.  The  virgin  mother  was  given 
in  charge  to  the  virgin  disciple.  The  holy  Fathers 
assign  also  as  a  cause  for  this  favor  the  tendei  and 
generous  attachment  of  the  disciple,  which  made 
him  follow  his  master  to  the  place  of  execu¬ 
tion. 

( 4 )  St.  John  doubtless  lodged  with  his  mother 
Salome,  and  to  her  house  he  would  naturally  con¬ 
duct  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Interpreters  say  that  St.  John  here  represented 
all  the  faithful,  and  that  in  adopting  him  Mary 
adopted  us  all.  It  is  from  this  that  Maiy  s  pane¬ 
gyrists  have  taken  occasion  to  say  that  the  Eternal 
Father,  having  chosen  her  to  be  the  mother  of  his 
only  Son,  wished  that  she  should  be  also  the 
mother  of  all  those  whom  Christ  had  made  his 
brethren. 

( ’ )  Shortly  before  Jesus  expired.  It  was  the 


hearing,  said :  Behold  he  calleth  Elias. 
(St.  Mark  xv.  35.) 

“  Afterwards,  Jesus  knowing  that  all 
things  were  now  accomplished,”  with  the 
exception  of  a  slight  circumstance  which 
his  infinite  penetration  singled  out  from 
amidst  that  crowd  of  prophecies  which  re¬ 
garded  his  person,  “that  the  Scripture 
might  be  fulfilled,”6  without  failing  in  a 
single  point,  hence  Jesus  “said  :  I  thirst. 
There  was  a  vessel  set  there  full  of  vine¬ 
gar.  Immediately  one  of  them  running, 
took  a  sponge,  filled  it  with  vinegar,  and 
putting  it  upon  a  reed  gave  him  to  drink. 
And  the  others  said  :  Let  be,  let  us  see 
whether  Elias  will  come  to  deliver  him.” 
He  who  presented  the  drink  said  with  the 
others  :  “  Stay,  let  us  see  if  Elias  come  to 
take  him  down.  Jesus,  when  he  had  taken 
the  vinegar,”  as  nothing  was  wanting  to 
his  sacrifice,  “  said  :  It  is  consummated. 


mourning  of  nature  for  the  death  of  its  au¬ 
thor. 

( * )  The  most  common  opinion  is  that  darkness 
actually  spread  over  the  whole  earth.  The  scanty 
information  gleaned  from  history  proves  that  it  ex¬ 
tended  far  beyond  Judea,  as  is  reported  by  Phlegon, 
a  pagan  author,  then  living. 

( 5 )  Psalm  xxi.  In  this  psalm  the  principal  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  the  passion  are  so  clearly  stated, 
that  it  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  striking 
prophecies.  It  is  the  human  nature  in  Jesus 
Christ  that  complains  to  the  Eternal  Father  of 
being  abandoned  by  him  without  defence  to  the 
rage  of  his  enemies,  and  left  a  prey  to  the  most 
acute  sufferings  without  any  sensible  consola¬ 
tion. 

( • )  What  was  then  accomplished  is  the  second 
part  of  this  versicle  of  Psalm  lxviii. :  They  gave 
me  gall  for  my  food,  and  in  my  thirst  they  gave 
me  vinegar  to  drink. 


802  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

And.  crying  with  a  loud  voice,1  he  said  : 

having  seen  the  earthquake  and  the  things 

Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my2 

that  were  done,  were  sore  afraid,  saying : 

spirit.  And  saying  this,  bowing  his  head, 

Indeed,  this  was  the  Son  of  God.  And 

he  gave  up  the  ghost.”  (St.  John  xix.  26- 

all  the  multitude  of  them  that  were  come 

30  ;  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  48,  49  ;  St.  Mark  xv. 

together  to  that  sight,  and  saw  the  things 

36  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii.  46.) 

that  were  done,  returned  striking  their 

Here  ended  the  power  of  evil.  The 

breasts.”  (St.  Mark  xv.  39  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii. 

divine  power,  which  had  kept  itself  con- 

47,  48  ;  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  54.) 

cealed  until  the  consummation  of  the  sac- 

Others,  who  were  still  more  afflicted, 

rifice,  burst  forth  on  the  instant.  He  had 

but  free  from  remorse,  could  not  tear  them- 

scarcely  expired,  “  and  behold  the  veil  of 

selves  away  from  so  dear  an  object.  “  All 

the  temple  was  rent  in  two  from  the  top 

his  acquaintance,  and  many  women  stood 

even  to  the  bottom  ;  the  earth  quaked  ; 

afar  off  looking  on  and  beholding  these 

the  rocks  were  rent,  and  the  graves  were 

things.  Among  whom  were  Mary  Mag- 

opened.”  This  latter  prodigy  was  pre- 

dalene,  Mary  the  mother  of  James  the  less, 

paratory  to  another  which  did  not  occur 

and  of  Joseph,  and  Salome,  the  mother  of 

until  the  third  day  after.  “  Many  bodies 

the  sons  of  Zebedee,  who  also  when  he 

of  the  saints  that  had  slept  arose,3  and 

was  in  Galilee  followed  him  and  ministered 

coming  out  of  the  tombs  after  his  resurrec- 

to  him.  Many  other  women  that  came  up 

tion,  came  into  the  holy  city,  and  appeared 

with  him  to  Jerusalem  ”  were  also  present. 

to  many.”  (St.  Matt,  xxvii.  51-53.) 

(St.  Luke  xxiii.  49  ;  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  55- 

Thus  did  insensible  creatures  testify 

56  ;  St.  Mark  xv.  40,  41.)  • 

sensibility  at  the  death  of  their  author. 

The  Jews,  in  all  that  they  had  attempted 

Their  example,  if  we  may  so  speak,  pro- 

against  the  Saviour,  had  only  been  en- 

duced  its  effect.  First  of  all,  “The  cen- 

abled  “to  do  what  thy  hand' and  thy 

turion  who  stood  over  against  him,  seeing 

counsel  decreed  to  be  done.”  (Acts  iv.  28.) 

what  was  done,  that  crying  out  in  this 

They  could  never  make  him  suffer  any- 

manner  he  had  given  up  the  ghost,  glori- 

thing  but  what  God  had  resolved  that  he 

tied  God,  saying :  Indeed  this  was  a  just 

should  suffer  ;  and  because  God  did  not 

man ;  indeed  he  was  the  Son  of  God. 

wish  that  he  should  suffer  another  kind  of 

They  that  were  with  him  watching  Jesus, 

punishment  which  they  further  destined 

( 1 )  This  cry  was  supernatural :  and  regarded  as 

( s )  All  Christians  should  die  with  these  words 

miraculous  by  those  who  heal’d  it.  The  centurion 

on  their  lips. 

....  seeing  that  crying  out  in  this  manner  he  had 

.  ( 8 )  It  is  not  decided  whether  these  saints  arose 

given  up  the  ghost,  said:  “Indeed  this  man  was 

before  Jesus  Christ  did,  or  whether  they  arose  so 

the  Son  of  God.”  Such  a  display  of  strength  in  a 

as  never  to  die  again.  The  most  common  opinion 

state  of  extreme  exhaustion  showed  well  that  Jesus 

is  that  they  arose  after  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 

died  because  he  chose,  and  at  the  moment  when 

Christ,  never  to  die  again,  and  that  they  followed 

he  chose  :  “  I  have  power  to  lay  it  (my  life)  down ; 

him  to  heaven  on  the  day  of  his  ascension. 

and  I  have  power  to  take  it  up.”  (St.  John  x.  18.) 

DESCENT  FROM  THE  CROSS, 


w 


-  * 
i 


- 


\ 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  803 

for  him,  the  idea  did  not  strike  them  until 
after  his  death.  The  law  ordained  that 
the  bodies  of  those  who  had  been  fastened 
to  a  gibbet,  should  be  taken  thence  before 
the  close  of  day.  (Deut.  xxi.  23.)  Then, 

“  because  it  was  the  parasceve  ”  (the  so¬ 
lemnity  of  which  commenced  at  sunset), 

“  that  the  bodies  might  not  remain  upon 
the  cross  on  the  sabbath-day  (for  that  was 
a  great  sabbath-da}7),  the  Jews  besought 
Pilate  that  their  legs  might  be  broken, 
and  that  they  might  be  taken  away.  The 
soldiers  therefore  came,  and  they  broke  the 
legs  of  the  first,  and  of  the  other  that  was 
crucified  with  him.  When  they  came  to 
Jesus,  and  saw  that  he  was  already  dead, 
they  did  not  break  his  legs,  but  one  of 
the  soldiers  opened  his  side  with  a  spear, 
and  immediately  there  came  out  blood 
and  water.1  And  he  that  saw  it,  gave 
testimony,  and  his  testimony  is  true.  And 
he  knoweth  that  he  saith  true,  that  you 
also  may  believe.  For  these  things  were 
done  that  the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled  : 
You  shall  not  break  a  bone  of  him.  Again, 
another  Scripture  saith  :  They  shall  look 
on  him  whom  they  pierced.”2  (St.  John 
xix.  31-37.) 

About  an  hour  after  Jesus  expired, 

“  and  when  it  was  evening,  there  came  a 

certain  rich  man  of  Arimathea,  named 
Joseph.  [He  was]  a  noble  counsellor,  a 
good  and  a  just  man,  who  also  himself  was 
a  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly,  for  fear 
of  the  Jews.  The  same  had  not  consented 
to  their  counsel  and  doings,  who  also  him¬ 
self  looked  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  This 
man  came  and  went  in  boldly  to  Pilate, 
and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus.  But  Pilate 
wondered  that  he  should  be  already  dead, 
and  sending  for  the  centurion,  he  asked 
him  if  he  were  already  dead.  When  he 
had  understood  it  of  the  centurion,  he 
gave  the  body  to  Joseph,  [who]  came  and 
took  away  the  body.  And  Nicodemus 
also  came — he  who  at  first  came  to  J esus 
by  night,  bringing  a  mixture  of  myrrh  and 
aloes,  about  a  hundreds  pounds  weight. 
Joseph,  buying  fine  linen,3  and  taking  Jesus 
down,  wrapped  him  up  in  the  fine  linen  ; — 
they  bound  the  body  in  linen  cloths  with 
the  spices,  as  the  manner  of  the  Jews  is 
to  bury.”  (St.  Matt,  xxvii.  57 ;  St.  Mark 
xv.  43-46  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii.  50-52  ;  St. 

John  xix.  38-40.) 

“  Now  there  was  in  the  place  where  he 
was  crucified,  a  garden  ;  and  in  the  garden 
a  new  sepulchre,  wherein  no  man  yet  had 
been  laid.  There  therefore,  because  of  the 
parasceve  of  the  Jews,  because  the  sepul- 

( 1 )  According  to  the  explanation  of  the  Holy 
Fathers,  baptism  was  signified  by  the  water,  and 
the  Eucharist  by  the  blood. 

( * )  They  looked  upon  him  in  the  very  place 
where  they  had  pierced  him.  They  shall  see  him 
again,  but  with  what  inexpressible  terror!  they 
shall  look  upon  him,  but  it  shall  be  upon  the  last 
day,  when  he  shall  present  to  his  murderers  the 
scars  of  his  wounds  in  testimony  ot  their  Deicide. 
St.  John,  in  the  Apocalypse,  refers  to  this  period, 

the  perfect  accomplishment  of  this  prophecy :  “  Be¬ 
hold,  he  cometh  with  the  clouds,  and  every  eye 
shall  see  him,  and  they  also  that  pierced  him.” 

(Apoc.  i.) 

( 3 )  The  sheet  was  also  of  linen.  Hence  arose 
the  custom,  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  to  lay  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  linen,  to  the  exclusion 
of  every  other  texture.  St.  Jerome  made  this  re¬ 
mark  nearly  1400  years  ago. 

804  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

chre  was  nigh  at  hand  1  he  laid  the  body 

was  yet  alive  :  After  three  days  I  will  rise 

in  his  own  new  monument  which  he  had 

again.  Command  therefore  the  sepulchre  to 

hewed  out  in  a  rock  ;  and  he  rolled  a 

be  guarded  until  the  third  day  inclusive- 

great  stone  to  the  door  of  the  monument, 

ly,  lest  his  disciples  come,  and  steal  him 

and  went  his  way.  It  was  the  day  of  the 

away,  and  say  to  the  people  :  He  is  risen 

parasceve,  and  the  Sabbath  drew  on. 

from  the  dead ;  so  the  last  error  shall  be 

There  were  there  Mary  Magdalene  and  the 

worse  than  the  first.  Pilate  said  to  them  : 

other  Mary  that  were  come  with  Jesus 

You  have  a  guard  ;  go,  guard  it  as  you 

from  Galilee,  sitting  over  against  the  se- 

know.  They  departing  made  the  sepul- 

pulchre.  They  saw  the  sepulchre,  and 

chre  sure,  sealing  the  stone  and  setting 

how  his  body  was  laid,”  for  it  was  with 

guards.”  (St.  Matt,  xxvii.  62-66.) 

this  design  that  they  “  were  following 

All  this  was  necessary  to  render  incon- 

after  ”  the  funeral  procession.  “  And,  re- 

testible  the  miracle  of  the  resurrection. 

turning,  they  prepared  spices  and  oint- 

Nevertheless,  he  whom  they  so  carefully 

ments ;  and  on  the  sabbath-day  the}^ 

guarded  was  “  free  amongst  the  dead,  being 

rested,  according  to  the  commandment.” 

put  to  death  indeed  in  the  flesh,  but  enliven- 

(St.  John  xix.  41,  42 ;  St.  Mark  xv.  46  ; 

ed  in  the  spirit  ”  (Ps.  lxxxvii.  5  ;  1  Peter  iii. 

St.  Matthew  xxvii.  60,  61  ;  St.  Luke  xxiii. 

18)  ;  and  he  whom  the  Jews  regarded  as 

54-56.) 

their  captive,  was  actually  breaking  the  fet- 

The  enemies  of  Jesus  were  not  so  scru- 

ters  of  a  whole  people.  “  Descended  into 

pulous.  These  rigid  observers  of  rest  on 

the  lower  parts  of  the  earth,  he  preached  to 

the  holy  day — who  had  so  often  impeached 

those  spirits  that  were  in  prison  ”  (Ephes. 

our  Saviour  with  the  crime  of  having  vio- 

iv.  9  ;  1  Peter  iii.  19).  It  is  thought  that 

lated  it  by  operating  miraculous  cures — 

his  holy  soul  spent  there  all  the  time  that 

now  violated  it  in  their  turn  with  the  de- 

it  was  separated  from  his  sacred  body, 

sign  of  burying  his  religion  and  its  author 

unfolding  to  the  just  the  great  mystery 

in  the  same  tomb.  “  The  next  dav,  which 

of  the  redemption  which  had  just  been 

followed  the  day  of  the  preparation,  the 

wrought,  and  announcing  to  them  their 

chief  priests  and  the  Pharisees  came  to- 

deliverance  and  their  approaching  entry 

gether  to  Pilate,  saying :  Sir,  we  have 

into  heaven.  Of  this  they  had  already  a 

remembered  that  that  seducer  said,  while  he 

foretaste  in  the  joy  which  his  presence 

( 1 )  Every  occurrence  which  appears  here  ac- 

interred  there,  in  order  that  it  might  imitate  in 

cidental,  is  arranged  by  Providence ;  for  it  was 

its  way  the  purity  of  Mary,  and  that  no  question 

requisite  that  the  sepulchre  should  he  near  to  Cal- 

might  ever  be  mooted  as  to  whether  the  man  who 

vary,  in  order  to  give  time  for  bearing  thither 

arose  from  the  dead  was  not  some  other  person  be- 

the  body  of  Jesus,  and  inclosing  it  therein,  before 

sides  Jesus.  It  was  also  necessary  that  it  should 

the  repose  of  the  sabbath  commenced.  It  was 

be  hewn  out  of  a  rock,  lest  any  suspicion  should 

also  proper  that  this  sepulchre  should  he  entirely 

arise  of  its  having  been  broken  open,  and  the  body 

new,  and  that  no  person  should  have  been  hitherto 

carried  secretly  away. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


805 


gave  them.  It  is  even  held,  and  this 
opinion  is  the  most  common  and  the 
best  authorized,  that  he  communicated  to 


them  even  then  the  clear  vision  of  G-od, 
which  constitutes  the  essential  felicity  of 
paradise. 


CHAPTER  LVII. 

THE  RESURRECTION.— THE  ANGEL  OF  THE  LORD.— THE  SOLDIERS  FRIGHTENED.— THE  STONE 
RAISED.— JOURNEY  OF  THE  WOMEN.— PETER  AND  JOHN.— APPARITION  TO  MAGDALENE.— AP¬ 
PARITION  TO  THE  OTHER  WOMEN  -RETURN  OF  THE  GUARDS  TO  JERUSALEM,  AND  THEIR 


DEPOSITION. 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  that  great 
event  which  our  Saviour’s  enemies 
had  so  dreaded,  and  for  which  his  disciples 
scarcely  dared  to  hope.  His  humiliations 
ended  with  his  mortal  life.  His  glory, 
which  shall  never  end,  commences  with 
the  immortal  life  which  he  resumes  on  the 
third  day  after  his  death  and  burial.  Cod 
has  not  chosen  to  reveal  to  us  the  precise 
moment  of  its  occurrence.  It  is  commonly 
thought  that  the  resurrection  took  place 
before  sunrise,  but  not  till  after  the  dawn. 
We  have  already  remarked  that  J esus  had 
declared  in  express  terms  that  he  should 
be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth.  That  this  prophecy 
might  be  literally  accomplished,  he  must 
still  be  there  on  the  third  day  until  a  per¬ 
son  could  say  positively  :  It  is  day.  As 
one  instant  was  sufficient  for  this,  so  the 
appearance  of  the  light  was  quite  enough. 
It  was  therefore  in  the  interval  between 
dawn  and  sunrise  that  Jesus  Christ  arose 
by  his  own  power,  leaving  on  the  floor  of 
his  sepulchre  the  linen  cloths  in  which  he 


had  been  wrapped,  so  that  they  might  be  as 
witnesses  both  of  his  death  and  his  resur¬ 
rection.  He  arose  without  noise  and  with¬ 
out  any  visible  splendor,  and  went  forth 
from  the  tomb,  even  as  he  had  come  from 
the  womb  of  his  blessed  mother.  The 
stone  was  not  displaced,  but  penetrated 
by  the  subtility  of  his  glorified  body. 
The  guards  did  not  perceive  it,  and  the 
terror  in  which  they  are  represented  at 
the  sight  of  the  Man-Cod  emerging  from 
the  tomb  is  merely  the  imagination  of 
painters.  That  which  caused  their  fear 
was  the  earthquake  and  the  apparition  of 
the  angel,  as  we  are  now  about  to  see  in 
the  recital  of  what  occurred  immediately 
after  our  Saviour’s  resurrection. 

“When  the  sabbath  was  past”  (after 
sunset),  “Mary  Magdalene,  and  Mary  the 
mother  of  James,  and  Salome,  brought 
sweet  spices,  that  coming,  they  might 
anoint  Jesus.”  (St.  Matt,  xxviii.  1  ;  St. 
Mark  xvi.  1.)  They  had  prepared  some 
the  previous  evening  ;  but,  interrupted  by 
the  sabbath-rest,  resumed  the  work  as 


* 

806  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

soon  as  lawful.  Before  they  set  out  on 

body  of  the  Lord  Jesus.”1  (St.  Luke 

their  journey,  they  had  to  wait  till  night 

xxiv.  2,  3.) 

was  passed  ;  but  not  for  full  daylight. 

We  may  infer  that  they  withdrew,  and, 

“  The  first  day  of  the  week,  when  it  was 

perhaps,  supposing  the  body  had  been  re- 

yet  dark,  they  came  very  early  in  the 

moved  to  some  neighboring  place,  they 

morning,  bringing  the  spices  which  they 

dispersed  to  seek  it.  Magdalene,  more 

had  prepared,  to  the  sepulchre,  the  sun 

impatient  than  the  others,  proceeded  im- 

being  now  risen.”  They  were  not  aware 

mediately  to  those  who  she  imagined  could 

that  the  Jews  had  set  guards.  Anticipat- 

give  her  information.  “  She  ran,  there- 

ing  no  other  obstacle,  “they  said  one  to 

fore,  and  cometh  to  Simon  Peter,  and  to 

another  :  Who  shall  roll  us  back  the  stone 

the  other  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  and 

from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  ?  For  it 

saith  to  them  :  They  have  taken  away  the 

was  very  great.”  (St.  Mark  xvi.  2  ;  St. 

Lord  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  we  know 

John  xx.  1  ;  St.  Luke  xxiv.  1.)  While  thus 

not  where  they  have  laid  him.  Peter, 

expressing  their  embarrassment,  our  Lord 

therefore,  went  out,  and  that  other  disciple, 

in  a  moment  removed  every  obstacle. 

and  they  came  to  the  sepulchre.  They 

“Behold  there  was  a  great  earthquake. 

both  did  run  together,  and  that  other  dis- 

For  an  angel  of  the  Lord  descended  from 

ciple  out-ran  Peter,  and  came  first  to  the 

heaven,  and  coming,  rolled  back  the  stone 

sepulchre,  and  when  he  stooped  down,  he 

and  sat  upon  it.  His  countenance  was  as 

saw  the  linen  cloths  lying  ;  but  yet  he 

lightning,  and  his  raiment  as  snow.  For 

went  not  in.  Then  cometh  Simon  Peter, 

fear  of  him,  the  guards  were  struck  with 

following  him,  and  went  into  the  sepulchre, 

terror  and  became  as  dead  men.”  (St. 

and  saw  the  linen  cloths  lying,  and  the 

Matt,  xxviii.  2-4.)  They  soon  recovered 

napkin  that  had  been  about  his  head,  not 

their  senses,  and  at  once  fled.  Meantime, 

lying  with  the  linen  cloths,  but  apart 

“  the  women  came  and  found  the  stone 

wrapped  up  into  one  place.  Then  that 

rolled  back  from  the  sepulchre.”  The 

other  disciple  also  went  in,  who  came  first 

angel,  who  would  have  terrified  them, 

to  the  sepulchre  ;  and  he  saw  and  believed  ; 

being  not  yet  visible  to  their  eyes,  there 

for  as  yet  they  knew  not  the  Scripture, 

seemed  nothing  to  hinder  their  pious  de- 

that  he  must  rise  again  from  the  dead.8 

signs.  But,  “going  in,  they  found  not  the 

So  the  disciples  went  awa}7  again  to  their 

( 1 )  The  visit  of  Magdalene  and  the  holy  women 

that  which  we  have  followed  is  preferable  to 

to  the  sepulchre,  and  the  coming  of  the  two  dis- 

others. 

ciples ;  the  apparitions  of  the  angels,  and  of  Christ, 

(2)  These  words,  “as  yet  they  know  not  the 

as  well  to  Magdalene  as  to  the  holy  women,  are 

Scripture,”  refers  to  the  two  disciples,  but  with 

positive  facts,  reported  by  the  sacred  writers ;  but 

some  difference.  In  regard  to  St.  Peter,  who  did 

j 

it  is  extremely  difficult  to  arrange  them  all  in  or- 

not  as  yet  believe,  it  signifies  that,  because  he  did 

1 

der.  No  system  imagined  by  the  interpreters  is  free 

not  understand  what  was  written  concerning  the 

from  some  objection.  Neither  can  we  assert  that 

resurrection  of  Christ,  he  returned  without  be- 

- 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  807 

home.  Peter,”  who  was  not  yet  thorough¬ 
ly  persuaded,  “  went  away,  wondering  in 
himself  at  that  which  was  come  to  pass.” 

Magdalene,  riveted  there  by  her  love, 
could  not  follow  them,  “  but  stood  without 
at  the  sepulchre  weeping.  Now  as  she 
was  weeping,  she  stooped  down,  and  look¬ 
ed  into  the  sepulchre,  and  she  saw  two 
angels  in  white  sitting,  one  at  the  head 
and  one  at  the  feet,  where  the  body  of 
Jesus  had  been  laid.  They  say  to  her: 
Woman,  why  weepesttliou?  She  saith  to 
them  :  Because  they  have  taken  away  my 
Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have 
laid  him.  When  she  had  said  these  words 
she  turned  herself  back,  and  saw  Jesus 
standing,  and  she  knew  not  that  it  was 
Jesus.  He  saith  to  her  :  Woman,  why 
weepest  thou?  whom  seekest  thou?  She, 
thinking  that  it  was  the  gardener,  saith  to 
him  :  Sir,  if  thou  hast  taken  him  away, 
tell  me  where  thou  hast  laid  him,  and  I 
will  take  him  away.  Jesus  saith  to  her  : 
Mary.  She  turning,  saith  to  him  :  Rab- 
boni,  that  is  to  say,  Master.”  She  instantly 
fell  at  his  feet,  to  embrace  them  ;  but  his 

stay  on  eartli  would  give  her  full  oppor¬ 
tunity.  Hence  “Jesus  saith  to  her:  Do 
not  touch  me,  for  I  have  not  yet  ascended 
to  my  Father,  but  go  to  my  brethren,1  and 
say  to  them  :  I  ascend  to  my  Father  and 
to  your  Father,  to  my  God  and  to  your 

God.”2  (St.  John  xx.  2-10;  St.  Luke 
xxiv.  12.) 

Thus  “Jesus  rising  early  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  appeared  first  to  Mary  Mag¬ 
dalene,  ont  of  whom  he  had  cast  seven 
devils.”  (St.  Mark  xvi.  9.)  He  wished, 
by  this  distinction,  to  reward  the  fervor 
and  constancy  of  her  love.  The  zeal  of 
the  other  women  had  its  recompense. 

Having  returned  to  the  sepulchre,  and  not 
finding  him  whom  they  so  eagerly  sought, 

“as  they  were  astonished  in  their  minds 
at  this,  behold  two  men  stood  by  them  in 
shining  apparel.  And  as  they  were  afraid, 
and  bowed  down  their  countenance  towards 
the  ground,  the  angel,  answering,. said  to 
the  women:  Fear  not  you;3  for  I  know 
that  you  seek  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was 
crucified.  Why  seek  you  the  living  with 
the  dead  ?  He  is  not  here,  for  he  is  risen, 

lieving.  As  to  St  John,  who  began  to  believe,  it 
means  that,  as  he  did  not  comprehend  what  was 
written,  he  then  believed  it  only  because  he  found 
the  tomb  open,  the  linen  without  the  body,  and 
the  napkin  folded  back.  Believing  solely  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  inferences  drawn  from  what  he  saw, 
was  believing  merely  on  the  testimony  of  reason, 
which  gave  him  no  other  advantage  over  St.  Peter 
than  that  of  having  a  clearer  and  more  penetrating 
mind. 

( * )  He  calls  them  brethren,  to  dissipate  any 
fear  that  their  flight,  at  his  passion,  had  diminished 
his  love  for  them.  St.  Paul  insinuates  another 
reason :  it  was  that  they  might  know  that,  far 

from  disowning  them  in  the  glorified  state  which 
followed  his  resurrection,  they  were  only  the  dearer 
to  him. 

( 2 )  He  commissions  her  to  announce  not  only 
his  resurrection  to  his  disciples,  but  he  wishes  her 
to  inform  them  further,  that  he  has  arisen  to  die 
no  more ;  that  he  has  only  a  very  short  time  to  re¬ 
main  on  earth  ;  that,  if  he  quits  them  in  order  to 
return  to  God,  he  does  not  leave  them  forever. 

( 3  )  “  Fear  not  you  ”  is  said  to  them  in  opposi¬ 
tion  to  the  soldiers.  Very  far  from  encouraging 
the  latter,  the  angel  wished  to  terrify  them ;  very 
far  from  wishing  to  alarm  the  holy  women,  he 
restores  their  confidence. 

808  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

as  is  said.  Remember  how  he  spoke  unto 

seen  by  her,  did  not  believe.”  (St.  Matt. 

you  when  he  was  yet  in  Galilee,  saying  : 

xxviii.  8,  9  ;  St.  Mark  xvi.  8-11  :  St.  Luke 

The  Son  of  man  must  be  delivered  into  the 

xxiv.  9-11 ;  St.  John  xx.  18.) 

hands  of  sinful  men,  and  be  crucified,  and 

Not  so  with  the  chief  authors  of  his 

the  third  day  rise  again.  Come  and  see 

death.  They  believed  his  resurrection  ;  but 

the  place  where  the  Lord  was  laid.  Go 

these  hardened  men  only  sought  to  con- 

quickly,  tell  ye  his  disciples  and  Peter 

ceal  the  proof,  and  to  prevent  others  from 

that  he  is  risen.1  Behold,  he  will  go  before 

believing.  God,  who  wished  to  convince, 

you  into  Gralilee.  There  you  shall  see 

because  he  wished  to  save  them,  sent  wit- 

him,2  as  he  told  you.  Lo,  I  have  foretold 

nesses  above  suspicion.  “  When  the  women 

it  to  you.  They”  then  “remembered  his 

were  departed,  behold  some  of  the  guards 

[Jesus’]  words.”  (St.  Luke  xxiv.  4-8  ;  St. 

came  into  the  city,  and  told  the  chief 

Matt,  xxviii.  5-7  ;  St.  Mark  xvi.  7.) 

priests  all  things  that  had  been  done.”  (St. 

“  They  went  out  quickly  from  the  sepul- 

Matt,  xxviii.  11-15.) 

chre  with  fear  and  great  jo_\r,  running  to 

They  had  apparently  noticed  only  the 

tell  his  disciples.  They  said  nothing,”  on 

earthquake,  the  removal  of  the  stone,  and 

the  way,  “to  any  man;  for  they  were 

the  apparition  of  the  angel.  Whether  they 

afraid.”  Whilst  they  were  hurrying  on, 

concluded  that  Christ  had  really  risen,  or 

“  behold  Jesus  met  them,  saying :  All 

whether  they  had  direct  and  positive  proof 

hail.  They  came  up,  and  took  hold  of  his 

of  the  fact,  it  is  certain  they  were  con- 

feet,  and  adored  him.  Then  Jesus  said  to 

vinced,  and  succeeded  in  convincing  the 

them :  Fear  not.  Go,  tell  my  brethren 

very  men  whose  interest  was  to  disbelieve 

that  they  go  into  Galilee ;  there  they 

it.  For  the  chief  priests,  “  being  assembled 

shall  see  me.  Going  back  from  the  sepul- 

together  with  the  ancients,  taking  counsel, 

chre,  they  told  all  these  things  to  the 

gave  a  great  sum  of  money  to  the  soldiers, 

eleven  and  to  the  rest.  It  was  Joanna, 

saying  :  Say  you,  His  disciples  came  by 

and  Mary  of  James,  and  the  other  women 

night,  and  stole  him  away  when  we  were 

that  were  with  them,  who  told  these  things 

asleep.  And  if  the  governor  shall  hear  this, 

to  the  apostles  ;  ”  but  “  these  words  seemed 

we  will  persuade  him,  and  secure  you.  So 

to  them  as  idle  tales,  and  they  did  not 

they,  taking  the  money,  did  as  they  were 

believe  them.  Mary  Magdalene  ”  has  no 

taught ;  and  this  'word  was  spread  abroad 

greater  success,  when  she  “cometh  and 

among  the  Jews  even  unto  this  day.” 

telleth  the  disciples  :  I  have  seen  the  Lord, 

The  imposition  was  so  visible,  that  at 

and  these  things  he  said  to  me.  They 

first  sight  we  would  suppose  no  one  could 

hearing  that  he  was  alive  and  had  been 

be  deceived  by  it.  For  it  is  exceedingly 

( 1 )  Peter  alone  is  distinguished  from  the 

Galilee  was  the  place  where  he  should  appear  most 

others. 

frequently,  remain  longest,  and  manifest  himself  to 

( ’ )  Although  they  were  to  see  him  at  Jerusalem, 

i  a  greater  number. 

^  I  ■  —  1  -  - — - - - 

OF  OUR  LORD 

JESUS  CHRIST.  809 

improbable  that  several  sentinels  on  guard 

dent  that  these  guards  were  not  asleep, 

should  all  fall  asleep  at  the  same  time  ; 

but  enchanted.  This  simple  reasoning  no 

but  it  is  utterly  impossible  that  such  a 

doubt  occurred  to  many  of  the  Jews,  and 

theft  as  this  could  be  carried  into  execu- 

that  notwithstanding  the  authority  of  their 

tioa  without  disturbing  them.  It  was  ne- 

chief  men,  they  knew  well  what  to  believe. 

cessary  to  displace  and  roll  away  a  huge 

However,  these  leaders,  disseminated  a  re- 

stone,  to  enter  the  sepulchre,  and  take  the 

port  devoid  of  all  probability.  To  see  its 

body  ; — and  also  that  several  men  should 

absurditv  men  would  have  to  reflect,  and 

take  part  in  the  transaction,  for  it  is  evi- 

they  knew  that  the  multitude  never  reflect. 

CHAPTER  LVIII. 

DIVERS  APPARITIONS  TO  PETER,  TO  JAMES,  TO 

THE  TWO  DISCIPLES  AT  EMMAUS,  AND  TO  THE 

ELEVEN  (FIRST  AND  SECOND.)— APPARITION 

BY  THE  SEA-SIDE.— MIRACULOUS  DRAUGHT  OF 

FISH. _ PETER  APPOINTED  PASTOR  OF  THE  WHOLE  FLOCK. — APPARITION  UPON  A  MOUNTAIN 

OF  GALILEE.— MISSION  OF  THE  APOSTLES.— FINAL  APPARITION  AT  JERUSALEM.— PROMISE  OF 

THE  HOLY  GHOST.— ASCENSION.— CONCLUSION. 

T])  Y  withdrawing  his  body  from  the 

the  former  was  inexcusable,  and  the  second 

D  hands  of  the  Jews  Christ  proved  his 

were  forced  to  be  faithful.  He  recalled 

resurrection,  and  this  proof  was  to  them  un- 

his  disciples  gradually  from  their  original 

answerable.  For,  since  it  had  been  left  in 

incredulity  to  that  immovable  faith  which 

their  hands,  they  had  either  to  show  it  the 

they  subsequently  communicated  to  the 

third  day,  or  confess  that  he  had  risen. 

world,  and  finally  sealed  with  their  blood. 

They  could  not  escape  by  bringing  wit- 

The  first  proof  which  he  gave  them  was 

nesses  to  say  they  had  been  asleep  while  he 

the  report  of  the  holy  women,  ^nd  the 

was  carried  off.  They  must  attest  this  ab- 

sight  of  the  open  sepulchre  with  the 

duction  by  a  trial,  and  punish  the  perpetra- 

winding-sheet  and  folded  napkin  ;  which 

tors.  But  this  they  durst  not  attempt,  as  it 

destroyed  all  notion  of  a  furtive  carrying 

would  only  result  in  their  disgrace.  Our  Sa- 

off.  Then  he  appeared  to  some  privately 

viour  acted  differently  to  his  disciples.  He 

— afterwards  to  the  entire  eleven  :  and 

fullv  convinced  them  of  his  resurrection 

then  he  permitted  them  to  touch  him,  and 

by  appearing  to  them,  and  delivering  him- 

ate  with  them;  lastly  “was  he  seen  by 

self  into  their  hands,  permitting  them  to 

more  than  five  hundred  brethren  at  once.” 

touch  his  sacred  body.  The  infidelity  of 

(1  Corinthians  xv.  6.)  Of  these  several 

102 

-1 

810  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 

apparitions,  some  are  merely  alluded  to 

day”  of  the  resurrection,  towards  even- 

by  the  sacred  writers,  others  are  given  in 

ing,  “  two  disciples  went  to  a  town  which 

detail.  We  give  them  as  they  do,  com- 

was  sixty  furlongs  from  Jerusalem,  named 

mencing  with  the  apparitions  to  indi- 

Emmaus,  and  they  talked  together  of  all 

viduals. 

these  things  which  had  happened.  While 

The  first  was  to  Simon  Peter.  “The 

they  talked  and  reasoned  with  one  another, 

Lord  is  risen  indeed,  and  hath  appeared 

Jesus  himself  also  drew  near  and  went 

to  Simon.”  (St.  Luke  xxiv.  34.)  We  know 

with  them.  But  their  eyes  were  held,1 

the  day,  the  very  Sunday  of  the  resurrec- 

that  thev  should  not  know  him.  He  said 
«/ 

tion  :  but  not  the  moment,  the  place,  or 

to  them  :  What  are  these  discourses  that 

circumstances.  His  penance  had  effaced 

you  hold  one  with  another  as  you  walk, 

his  crime  ;  and  far  from  being  rejected,  he 

and  are  sad?  The  one  of  them,  whose 

was  none  the  less  favored,  since  he  was 

name  was  Cleophas,®  answering,  said  to 

the  first  of  the  apostles  to  whom  our  Lord 

him  :  Art  thou  only  a  stranger  in  Jerusa- 

appeared.  God  pardons  as  God — that  is, 

lem,  and  hast  not  known  the  things  that 

perfectly.  We  profit  by  this  apparition, 

have  been  done  there  in  these  days  ?  He 

the  details  of  which  are  unknown,  when 

said  to  them  :  What  things  ?  And  they 

we  gather  from  it  so  consoling  a  truth. 

said:  Concerning  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who 

There  was  also  an  apparition  to  James 

was  a  prophet,  mighty  in  work  and  word, 

the  Less,  “  the  brother  of  the  Lord,”  of 

before  God  and  all  the  people,  and  how 

whom  he  was  a  near  relative.  “  After  that 

our  chief  priests  and  princes  delivered 

he  was  seen  by  James,”  says  St.  Paul. 

him  to  be  condemned  to  death,  and  cruci- 

(1  Cor.  xv.  7.)  This  did  not  take  place 

tied  him.  But  we  hoped  that  it  was  he 

apparently  till  several  days  after.  When 

who  should  have  redeemed  Israel ;  and 

our  Lord  conferred  this  favor  upon  James, 

now  besides  all  this,  to-day  is  the  third 

the  latter  no  longer  doubted,  since  he  must 

day  since  these  things  were  done.  Yea, 

have  seen  him  more  than  once  in  company 

and  certain  women  also  of  our  company, 

with  the  other  apostles. 

affrighted  us ;  who,  before  it  was  light 

What  follows  was  attended  by  very  re- 

were  at  the  sepulchre,  and  not  finding  his 

markable  circumstances.  “  That  same 

body,  came,  saying :  That  they  had  also 

( 1 )  St.  Mark  says :  “  He  appeared  in  another 

not  know  him,  concludes  by  further  stating:  their 

shape  to  two  of  them  walking,  as  they  were  going 

eyes  were  opened,  and  they  knew  him.  Whence 

into  the  country.”  This  may  have  occurred  in 

we  see  that  he  places  in  their  eyes  the  whole  cause 

two  different  ways — either  by  the  actual  changing 

of  the  mistake. 

of  the  features  of  his  countenance,  or  because  an 

( * )  We  are  ignorant  who  this  other  disciple 

image  different  from  his  was  represented  to  the 

was.  We  know  that  he  was  not  an  apostle, 

eyes  of  the  two  disciples.  Although  the  text  of 

since  it  is  stated  that  when  these  had  returned  to 

St.  Mark  may  appear  to  insinuate  the  first,  we 

Jerusalem,  they  found  there  the  eleven  apostles 

should  explain  it  by  St.  Luke,  who,  after  having  at 

gathered  together  with  the  exception  of  Saint 

first  said,  “  their  eyes  were  held  ”  that  they  should 

Thomas. 

OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


811 


seen  a  vision  of  angels,  wlio  say  that  lie  is 
alive.  And  some  of  our  people  went  to 
the  sepulchre,  and  found  it  so  as  the 
women  had  said,  but  him  they  found  not. 
Then  Jesus  saith  to  them  :  0  foolish  and 
slow  of  heart  to  believe  in  all  things  which 
the  prophets  have  spoken!  Ought  not 
Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things,  and 
so  to  enter  into  his  glory  ?  And  beginning 
at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  ex¬ 
pounded  to  them  in  all  the  Scriptures,  the 
things  that  were  concerning  him. 

“  They  drew  nigh  to  the  town  whither 
they  were  going  ;  and  he  made  as  though 
he  would  go  further.1  But  they  con¬ 
strained  him,  saying:  Stay  with  us,  be¬ 
cause  it  is  towards  evening,  and  the  day 
is  now  far  spent.  He  went  in  with  them  ; 
and  whilst  he  was  at  table  with  them,  he 
took  bread,  and  blessed,  and  brake,  and 
gave  to  them.2  And  their  eyes  were  opened, 
and  they  knew  him  ;  and  he  vanished  out 
of  their  sight ;  ”  leaving  on  their  minds 
the  full  and  entire  conviction  that  it  was 
he,  and  that  he  was  truly  resuscitated. * (*) 

( 1 )  He  wished  that  the  happiness  of  recognizing 
him  should  be  the  reward  of  hospitality  exercised 
towards  a  stranger.  This  gives  ground  for  think¬ 
ing  that  at  least  one  of  the  two  disciples  was  from 
the  village  of  Emmaus,  and  that  he  had  his  house 
there.  St.  Jerome  says  that  this  was  Cleophas,  and 
he  adds  that  by  celebrating  the  Eucharist  in  his 
house,  Jesus  Christ  constituted  it  a  church.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  this  Cleophas  is  he  whose  wife  or 
daughter  was  one  of  the  Maries. 

( * )  He  takes  bread,  he  blesses  it,  he  breaks  it, 
he  distributes  it ;  this  was  all  that  he  did  when, 
at  the  Last  Supper,  he  changed  the  bread  into  his 
body.  This  assemblage  of  similar  circumstances 
has  caused  the  inference  that  he  also  consecrated 
this,  and  made  it  Eucharistic  bread.  The  miracu- 


Wkereupon,  “  they  said  one  to  another : 
Was  not  our  heart  burning  within  us, 
whilst  he  spoke  in  the  way,  and  opened 
to  us  the  Scriptures?”  (St.  Luke  xxiv. 
13-32.) 

This  sacred  fire  seeks  only  to  spread. 
Thus,  “they  rose  up  the  same  hour  and 
went  back  to  Jerusalem ;  and  they  found 
the  eleven  gathered  together,  and  those 
that  were  with  them,  saying  :  The  Lord 
is  risen  indeed,  and  hath  appeared  to 
Simon.  And  they  told  what  things  were 
done  in  the  wa}T  ;  and  how  they  knew  him 
in  the  breaking  of  bread  :  neither  did  they 
believe  them  ;  ”  which  must  be  understood 
with  reference  to  some  amongst  them,  who 
had  not  even  believed  the  testimony  of 
the  chief  of  the  apostles.  (St.  Luke  xxiv. 
33-35  ;  St.  Mark  xvi.  13.) 

Truth  triumphed,  at  last,  over  incredu¬ 
lity,  and  obstinacy  was  obliged  to  yield  to 
evidence.  “  Whilst  they  were  speaking 
these  things,  when  it  was  late  that  same 
day,  the  first  of  the  week,  and  the  doors 
were  shut,8  where  the  disciples  were 

lous  effect  which  it  produced  upon  the  two  disciples 
goes  to  strengthen  this  opinion ;  indeed  it  is  that 
of  St.  Jerome,  of  St.  Augustine,  of  Theopliylactus, 
etc.  Protestants  think  the  contrary ;  for  it  would 
evidently  follow  that  Jesus  Christ  himself  gave 
communion  under  the  one  kind  of  bread  alone- 
But  they  must  own,  at  least,  that  St.  J erome,  St. 
^.ugustine,  and  the  other  ancient  writers,  who 
'Chought  that  the  bread  had  been  consecrated,  have, 
consequently,  thought  that  Jesus  Christ  himself 
gave  communion  under  the  one  kind. 

( 8 )  Jesus  Christ  entered,  the  doors  being  and 
remaining  shut,  even  as  he  had  come  forth  from 
his  mother’s  womb  and  from  the  sepulchre  before 
the  stone  was  removed,  without  hurt  or  fracture. 
The  matter  was  so  understood  by  the  entire  world 


812  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


gathered  together,  for  fear  of  the  Jews, 
Jesus  appeared  to  the  eleven  as  they  were 
at  table,  and  saith  to  them  :  Peace  be  to 
you.  It  is  I,  fear  not.  He  upbraided 
them  with  their  incredulity  and  hardness 
of  heart,  because  they  did  not  believe 
them  who  had  seen  him,  after  he  was  risen 
again.  But  they  being  troubled  and 
frightened,  supposed  that  they  saw  a 
spirit  ;  and  he  saith  to  them  :  Why  are 
you  troubled,  and  why  do  thoughts  arise 
in  your  hearts  ?  See  my  hands  and  feet ; 
it  is  I,  myself.  Handle,  and  see.  For  a 
spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  you  see 
me  to  have.  When  he  had  said  this,  he 
showed  them  his  hands  and  feet,  and  his 
side.”1  (St.  Luke  xxiv.  36-40;  St.  John 
xx.  19,  20  ;  St.  Mark  xvi.  14.) 

“  The  disciples,  therefore,  were  glad, 
when  they  saw  the  Lord.  But  while  they 

until  the  time  of  Calvin,  who  flatly  pronounced  it 
impossible,  and  not  to  be  believed,  that  he  entered 
whilst  the  doors  were  and  remained  shut.  Pene¬ 
tration  of  bodies,  the  possibility  of  which  carries 
with  it  that  of  the  real  presence,  was  a  consequence 
flowing  too  manifestly  from  this  fact.  It  was 
therefore,  necessary  to  abandon  the  ancient  explana¬ 
tion,  which  did  not  agree  with  the  new  error. 

( 1 )  It  is  not  stated  whether  or  not  they  really 
touched  him.  The  ancients  never  even  mooted  the 
question ;  in  fact,  everything  tends  to  this  belief. 
They  wished  to  assure  themselves  of  the  truth  of 
the  resurrection :  the  touch  was  the  true  means  of 
doing;  so,  and  Jesus  Christ  offered  them  this  means. 
When  St.  Thomas  said  to  them  :  “  Except  I  shall 
put  my  finger  in  the  place  of  the  nails  ....  I  will 
not  believe,”  does  he  not  seem  to  have  meant :  I 
shall  believe  it  like  you  when  I  shall  have 
touched  him  like  you  ?  The  words  in  the  First 
Epistle  of  St.  John  are  also  understood  to  refer  to 
this  touch :  “  That  which  was  from  the  begin-, 
ning,”  etc. 


yet  believed  not,2  and  wondered  for  joy, 
he  said  :  Have  you  here  anything  to  eat  ? 
They  offered  him  a  piece  of  broiled  fish 
and  a  honey-comb.  And  when  he  had 
eaten  before  them,  taking  the  remains,  he 
gave  to  them.”  (St.  John  xx.  20  ;  St.  Luke 
xxiv.  41-43.) 

“He  said  to  them  again  :  Peace  be  to 
you.”  And  as  he  was  to  communicate  to 
them  the  most  incommunicable  of  all  the 
prerogatives  of  the  divinity,  he  added  : 
“As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  I  also  send 
you.  When  he  had  said  this,  he  breath¬ 
ed  on  them,  and  he  said  to  them  :  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Grhost.  Whose  sins  you  shall 
forgive,  they  are  forgiven  them  ; 3  and 
whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are  re¬ 
tained.”  4  This  sacred  breath  was  the 
sensible  sign  of  what  was  wrought  invisi¬ 
bly  in  them,  and  justified  by  anticipation 

( J )  They  believed  to  a  certain  extent,  since  they 
were  filled  with  joy ;  but  this  belief  was  not 
exempt  from  doubt. 

( a )  The  remission  of  sins  is  attributed  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  well  as  all  the  other  effects  of  the 
divine  goodness,  because  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the 
production  of  the  will  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son,  and  that  the  object  of  the  will  is  all  good. 
The  Holy  Ghost  is  only  given  to  the  apostles,  here, 
with  reference  to  the  remission  of  sins.  Hence  it 
does  not  conflict  with  the  miraculous  gifts  prom- 
ised  to  them,  and  received  upon  the  day  of  Pente¬ 
cost. 

( 4 )  Since  the  power  of  retaining  sins  is  joined 
to  that  of  remitting  them,  those  who  are  consti¬ 
tuted  the  judges,  discriminate  which  should  be 
remitted,  and  which  retained.  This  cannot  he 
made  without  knowledge,  and  knowledge  can  only 
be  obtained  by  confession;  therefore  confession  is 
not  only  a  matter  of  precept,  but  also  of  divine 
institution. 


N  THE  WAY  TO  EMMAUS. 


* 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


813 


the  mysterious  ceremonies  his  Church 
was  to  employ. 

One  unbeliever  remained:  “Thomas, 
one  of  the  twelve,  who  is  called  Didymus, 
was  not  with  them  when  Jesus  came.  The 
other  disciples,  therefore,  said  to  him  : 
We  have  seen  the  Lord.  But  he  said  to 
them  :  Except  I  shall  see  in  his  hands  the 
print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my  finger  into 
the  place  of  the  nails,  and  put  my  hand 
into  his  side,  I  will  not  believe.” 

“  After  eight  days  again,  his  disciples 
were  within,  and  Thomas  with  them. 
Jesus  cometh,  the  doors  being  shut,  and 
stood  in  the  midst,  and  said  :  Peace  be  to 
you.  Then  he  saith  to  Thomas  :  Put  in 
thy  finger  hither,  and  see  my  hands  ;  and 
bring  hither  thy  hand  and  put  it  into  my 
side,  and  be  not  faithless,  but  believing. 
Thomas  answered  and  said  to  him  :  ”  Thou 
art  “  My  Lord  and  my  God.  Jesus  saith  to 
him  :  Because  thou  hast  seen  me,  Thomas, 
thou  hast  believed  ;  blessed  are  they  that 
have  not  seen,  and  have  believed.” 

“Many  other  signs  also  did  Jesus  in 
the  sight  of  his  disciples,  which  are  not 
written  in  this  book.  But  these  are  written 
that  you  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  :  and,  that  believ¬ 
ing,  you  may  have  life  in  his  name.”  (St. 
John  xx.  21-31.) 

What  we  now  relate  gives  instruc¬ 
tions  which  a  pious  and  attentive  reader 
may  easily  gather.  “  After  this,  Jesus 
showed  himself  again  to  the  disciples  at 
the  sea  of  Tiberias.  And  he  showed  him¬ 
self  after  this  manner.  There  were  to¬ 
g-ether  Simon  Peter,  and  Thomas  who  is 
called  Didymus,  and  Nathaniel  who  was 


of  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  the  sons  of  Zebe- 
dee,  and  two  others  of  his  disciples. 
Simon  Peter  saith  to  them  :  I  go  fishing. 
They  say  to  him  :  We  also  come  with 
thee.  And  they  went  forth,  and  entered 
into  the  ship  ;  and  that  night  they  caught 
nothing.  But  when  the  morning  was 
come,  Jesus  stood  on  the  shore  ;  yet  the 
disciples  knew  not  that  it  was  Jesus. 
Jesus  therefore  said  to  them  :  Children, 
have  you  any  meat?  They  answered  him-: 
No.  He  saith  to  them  :  Cast  the  net  on 
the  right  side  of  the  ship,  and  you  shall 
find.  They  cast,  therefore  ;  and  now  they 
were  not  able  to  draw  it,  for  the  multi¬ 
tude  of  fishes.  That  disciple,  therefore, 
whom  Jesus  loved,  said  to  Peter :  It  is 
the  Lord.  Simon  Peter,  when  he  heard 
that  it  was  the  Lord,  girt  his  coat  about 
him  (for  he  was  naked),  and  cast  himself 
into  the  sea.  But  the  other  disciples 
came  in  the  ship  (for  they  were  not  far 
from  the  land,  but  as  it  were  two  hun¬ 
dred  cubits),  dragging  the  net  with  fishes. 

“  As  soon  then  as  they  came  to  land, 
they  saw  hot  coals  lying,  and  a  fish  laid 
thereon,  and  bread.  Jesus  saith  to  them  : 
Bring  hither  of  the  fishes  which  you  have 
now  caught.  Simon  Peter  went  up,  and 
drew  the  net  to  land,  fall  of  great  fishes, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three.  And  al¬ 
though  there  were  so  many,  the  net  was 
not  broken.  Jesus  saith  to  them  :  Come, 
and  dine.  And  none  of  them  who  were 
at  meat  durst  ask  him  :  Who  art  thou  ? 
knowing  that  it  was  the  Lord.  And  Jesus 
cometh  and  taketh  bread,  and  giveth 
them,  and  fish  in  like  manner.  This  is 
now  the  third  time  that  Jesus  was  mani- 


814 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 


fested  to  liis  disciples,  after  he  was  risen 
from  the  dead.” 

Simon  Peter  was  to  learn  that  he  should 
one  day  die  for  him  whom  he  had  denied, 
and  efface  the  shame  of  his  weakness  by 
the  glory  of  a  generous  martyrdom. 
“When  therefore  they  had  dined,  Jesus 
saith  to  Simon  Peter  :  Simon,  son  of  John, 
lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?  He  saith 
to  him  :  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I 
love  thee.  He  saith  to  him  :  Feed  my 
lambs.  He  saith  to  him  again :  Simon, 
son  of  John,  lovest  thou  me  ?  He  saith  to 
him  :  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love 
thee.  He  saith  to  him  :  Feed  my  lambs. 
He  saith  to  him  the  third  time  :  Simon, 
son  of  John,  lovest  thou  me  ?  Peter  was 
grieved,  because  Jesus  had  said  to  him  the 
third  time :  Lovest  thou  me  ?  And  he 
said  to  him  :  Lord,  thou  knowest  all 
things  ;  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee. 
Jesus  said  to  him  :  Feed  my  sheep.” 

His  pain  arose  from  his  fear  that  his 
Lord  mistrusted,  not  the  sincerity,  but  the 
constancy  of  his  love.  Jesus  reassures  him  : 
“Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  thee,  when  thou 
wast  younger,  thou  didst  gird  thyself,  and 
didst  walk  where  thou  wouldst.  But  when 
thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth 
thy  hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee, 
and  lead  thee  whither  thou  wouldst  not. 
And  this  he  said,  signifying,  by  what 
death  he  should  glorify  God.  And  when 
he  had  said  this,  he  saith  to  him  :  Follow 
me.” 

This  figurative  language  excited  in  St. 

( 1 )  Teach  the  mysteries  of  faith  ;  administer 
the  sacraments ;  explain  the  precepts  of  evangelical 
morality,  is  what  Christ  deputes  those  to  perform 


Peter  a  curiosity  which  our  Lord  did  not 
satisfy.  “Peter  turning  about,  saw  that 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  following,  who 
also  leaned  on  his  breast  at  supper,  and 
said  :  Lord,  who  is  he  that  shall  betray 
thee  ?  Him  therefore  when  Peter  had 
seen,  he  saith  to  Jesus  :  Lord,  and  what 
shall  this  man  do  ?  Jesus  saith  to  him  : 
So  I  will  have  him  to  remain  till  I  come, 
what  is  it  to  thee  ?  Follow  thou  me.  This 
saying  therefore  went  abroad  among  the 
brethren,  that  that  disciple  should  not  die. 
And  Jesus  did  not  say  to  him  :  He  should 
not  die  ;  but,  So  I  will  have  him  to  remain 
till  I  come,  what  is  it  to  thee  ?  This  is 
that  disciple  who  giveth  testimony  of  these 
things,  and  hath  written  these  things  ;  and 
and  we  know  that  his  testimony  is  true.” 
(St.  John  xxi.  1-24.) 

In  the  meantime,  “  the  eleven  disciples 
went  into  Galilee,  unto  the  mountain 
where  Jesus  had  appointed  them.  And 
seeing  him  they  adored  ;  but  some  doubt¬ 
ed,”  which  we  can  scarcely  think  was  the 
case  with  the  apostles.  This  is  the  reason 
why  many  have  thought  that  there  were  a 
vast  number  of  disciples  then  with  them, 
and  that  the  apparition  was  that  where 
the  five  hundred  brethren  whom  St.  Paul 
speaks  of  were  all  gathered  together. 
“Jesus  coming,  spoke  to  them,  saying” 
these  words,  which  might  also  be  ad¬ 
dressed,  in  proportion,  to  the  second  order 
of  disciples  :  “  All  power  is  given*  to  me 
in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Going  therefore, 
teach  ye  all  nations  ; 1  baptizing  them  in 

whom  he  makes  pastors  of  his  church,  a  commis¬ 
sion  which  they  hold  from  no  other  power,  and 
which  no  other  power  has  a  right  to  take  from 


OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  815 

the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 

witnesses  of  these  things,  and,”  in  order 

and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to 

that  you  may  be  capable  of  giving  and 

observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 

maintaining  such  great  testimony,  “  I  send 

manded  you  ;  and  behold  I  am  with  you 

the  promise  of  my  Father  upon  you  ;  but 

all  days,  even  to  the  consummation  of  the 

stay  you  in  the  city,  till  you  be  endued 

world.  Go  ye  into  the  whole  world, 

with  power  from  on  high.”  (St.  Luke  xxiv. 

and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.1 

44-49.) 

He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be 

Thus  “Jesus  showed  himself  alive  after 

saved  ;2  but  he  that  believeth  not,  shall  be 

his  passion  by  many  proofs,  for  forty  days 

condemned.  These  signs  shall  follow  them 

appearing  to  them,  and  speaking  of  the 

that  believe  :  In  my  name  they  shall  cast 

kingdom  of  God.  And  eating  with  them, 

out  devils;  they  shall  speak  with  new 

he  commanded  them,  that  they  should  not 

tongues  ;  they  shall  take  up  serpents  ;  and 

depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  should  wait 

if  they  shall  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it  shall 

for  the  promise  of  the  Father,  which  you 

not  hurt  them  ;  they  shall  lay  their  hands 

have  heard,  saith  he,  by  my  mouth.  *  For 

upon  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover.” 

John  indeed  baptized  with  water,  but  you 

(St.  Matt,  xxviii.  16-20  ;  St.  Mark  xvi. 

shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  not 

15-18.) 

many  days  hence.”  (Acts  i.  3-5.) 

After  they  had  returned  from  Galilee, 

“  They,  therefore,  who  were  come  to- 

as  he  had  directed,  our  Lord  said  :  “  These 

gether,  asked  him,  saying  :  Lord,  wilt 

are  the  words  which  I  spoke  to  you  while 

thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the  kingdom 

I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must 

to  Israel  ?  ”  The  Holy  Ghost  was  soon  to 

needs  be  fulfilled  which  are  written  in  the 

free  them  entirely  from-this  dream  ;  hence, 

law  of  Moses  and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in 

without  pausing  to  contradict  it,  our  Lord 

the  Psalms  concerning  me.  Then  he 

replied  :  “It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the 

opened  their  understanding  that  they 

times  or  moments,  which  the  Father  hath 

might  understand  the  Scriptures,  and  he 

put  in  his  own  power  ;  but  you  shall  re- 

said  to  them  :  Thus  it  is  written,  and  thus 

ceive  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  coming 

it  behooved  Christ  to  suffer,  and  to  rise 

upon  you,  and  you  shall  be  witnesses  unto 

again  from  the  dead  the  third  day  ;  and 

me  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and 

that  penance  and  remission  of  sins  should 

Samaria,  and  even  to  the  uttermost  part 

be  preached  in  his  name  unto  all  nations, 

of  the  earth.”  When  he  had  said  these 

beginning  at  Jerusalem.  And  you  are 

things,  “he  led  them  out  as  far  as  Betha- 

them.  This  power  comes  to  them  from  heaven. 

( 1 )  All  nations  are  henceforward  to  constitute 

Hell  cannot  deprive  them  of  it,  nor  earth  usurp  it. 

but  one  people. 

The  Church  was  not  the  less  in  possession  of  it 

( * )  As  to  those  propositions,  wherein  salvation 

under  Diocletian,  nor  more  under  Constantine; 

is  attributed  to  faith  without  any  allusion  to 

whether  persecuted  or  protected,  it  is  always  the 

works,  or  to  works  without  any  mention  of  faith. 

same. 

see  page  496. 

81G 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 


nia,  and  lifting  up  his  hands  he  blessed 
them  ;  and  it  came  to  pass  whilst  he  bless¬ 
ed  them,  he  departed  from  them.  While 
they  looked  on  he  was  raised  up  ;  a  cloud 
received  him  out  of  their  sight,”  and  he 
“was  taken  up  into  heaven,  and  sitteth  on 
the  right  hand  of  Gfod.  While  they  were 
beholding  him  going  up  to  heaven,  behold 
two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  garments, 
who  said  :  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand 
you  looking  up  to  heaven?  This  Jesus, 
who  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven, 
shall  so  come  as  you  have  seen  him  going 
into  heaven.”  (Acts  i.  6-11  ;  St.  Luke 
xxiv.'50,  51  ;  St.  Mark  xvi.  19.) 

Thus  the  expectation  of  Jesus  Christ 
has  been  the  religion  of  all  ages.  Promised 
immediately  after  the  sin  of  Adam,  it 
riveted  the  attention  of  all  the  just  until 
his  coming.  Scarce  had  he  left  the  earth 
before  two  angels  declared  to  his  disciples 
that  he  was  one  day  to  re-appear.  The  dis¬ 
ciples  then  immediately  dispersed  through 
all  nations,  to  whom  they  announced  not 
only  that  he  had  come,  but  also  that  he 
was  to  return.  “He  shall  come,”  said 
the  prophets  commissioned  to  foretell  his 
first  appearance.  “  He  is  come,  and  he  is 
to  come  again,”  say  the  apostles  in  their 
turn,  prophets  of  his  second  advent.  The 
period  for  the  first  was  fixed,  because  it 
was  not  to  have  sufficient  lustre  to  strike 
all  eyes  at  once,  and  because,  to  be  recog¬ 


nized,  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  be 
expected.  The  time  of  the  second  advent 
is  not  foretold,  because  Christ  will  then 
manifest  himself  in  all  the  splendors  of 
the  divinity,  as  the  sun,  revealed  by  its 
own  light,  needs  not  that  the  observer  be 
warned  of  the  moment  when  it  is  to  ap¬ 
pear  on  the  horizon.  Then  shall  men  see 
the  fulfilment  of  those  prophecies  which 
represent  him  as  so  majestic  and  terrible  ; 
and  all  the  oracles  regarding  the  Messias 
shall  be  verified  to  the  letter,  both  those 
which  “foretold”  the  sufferings  that  were 
to  precede  his  glor}^,  and  those  which 
promised  “the  glories  that  should  fol¬ 
low”’  those  sufferings.  (1  Peter  i.  11.) 
The  former  described  a  Saviour  to  become 
such  only  by  humiliation  and  sorrow  ;  the 
second,  a  judge  who  shall  manifest  himself 
in  all  the  lustre  of  divine  power  and  ma¬ 
jesty.  Unhappy  those  who  have  disowned 
him  in  his  humiliations !  He  who  came 
to  be  their  Saviour,  shall  appear  to  them 
in  no  qualit}^  but  that  of  judge  and  avenger 
of  their  crimes.  Happy  those  who  have 
recognized,  revered,  imitated  him  in  the 
humble  and  suffering  state  to  which  his 
love  for  men  hath  reduced  him  !  In  their 
judge  they  shall  behold  a  Saviour,  who 
has  promised  to  share  his  throne  and 
his  eternal  bliss  with  those  who  have 
taken  part  in  his  humiliations  and  his 
sufferings. 


END. 


jJCg-4ig.-M.tfn 


THE  DEVOTIONS  OF  THE  CHTJRCH 

TO 

THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


THE  Queen  stood  on  thy  right 
hand,  in  gilded  clothing,  surrounded 
with  variety,”  says  the  Royal  Psalmist  in 
his  forty-fourth  Psalm,  addressing  Him 
who  was  to  .be  his  son,  and  yet  his  Lord, 
the  Messias  of  Israel.  This  future  honor 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  well  expressed 
by  the  words,  “surrounded  with  variety.” 
The  piety  of  the  faithful  seems  inexhausti¬ 
ble  in  the  variety  of  devotions  with  which 
it  surrounds  the  Queen  of  Heaven.  A 
devotion  springing  from  the  heart,  with 
the  holiest  and  purest  filial  affection,  ever 
finds  new  thoughts,  new  ideas  for  honoring 
its  holy  object 

But  among  all  the  devotions  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  which  have  arisen  in  the 
Church,  there  are  some  which  have  become 
so  general,  and  so  universal,  that  they 
enter  into  the  very  life  and  thoughts  of 
the  faithful.  These  are  first,  single  pray¬ 
ers  ;  second,  more  extended  forms  of  de¬ 
votion  ;  the  Rosary  or  Beads  ;  Scapulars  ; 

103 


Novenas  for  her  great  festivals,  and,  finally 
pilgrimages  to  shrines  in  her  honor. 

SINGLE  PRAYERS. 

THE  HAIL  MARY. 

Of  all  the  prayers  to  our  Blessed  Lady, 
the  most  universal  that  enters  into  the 
office  of  the  Church,  and  the  daily  prayer 
of  the  faithful,  that  is  lisped  in  infancy 
and  murmured  by  the  expiring  breath  of 
decrepit  age,  is  the  Hail  Mary.  Words 
sent  from  heaven  by  the  ministry  of  an 
angel,  to  salute  her  who  was  chosen  from 
all  eternity  in  the  divine  counsels  to  be 
the  mother  of  the  Messias,  who  was  to  re¬ 
deem  the  world.  The  Spirit  of  God  de¬ 
scended  on  earth.  Filled  with  it,  Eliza¬ 
beth,  though  distant  in  body,  seems  to 
have  witnessed  the  visit  of  the  Angel 
Gabriel  to  the  lowly  home  of  her  virgin 
cousin  at  Nazareth,  and  to  have  heard  his 
words.  As  though  they  still  echoed  in 
her  ears,  she  repeats  his  expression : 


818  THE  DEVOTIONS 


“  Blessed  art  thou  among  women,  and 
blessed  is  the  fruit  of  thy  womb.”  Filled 
with  the  same  spirit,  the  primitive  Chris¬ 
tians  united  these  words  in  a  prayer  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  inserting  her  name 
and  that  of  her  Divine  Son.  It  was  the 
prayer  of  all  lips,  and  all  hearts,  associa¬ 
ted  with  the  prayer  which  Our  Lord  him¬ 
self  taught.  A  time  came,  when  a  man 
wise  in  his  generation,  Nestorius,  patri¬ 
arch  of  Constantinople,  set  his  face  against 
the  honor  paid  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  He 
condemned  the  use  of  the  title  Mother 
of  God.  Catholic  piety  was  shocked,  and 
the  Council  of  Ephesus  condemning  the 
innovator,  added  to  the  prayer  of  the 
faithful  the  words  :  “  Holy  Mary,  Mother 
of  God,  pray  for  us  sinners,  now,  and  at 
the  hour  of  our  death.  Amen.”  And 
thus  for  centuries  the  Greeks  and  Latins 
have  said  it. 

THE  LITANY  OP  LORETTO. 

One  of  the  most  ancient  devotions  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  is  the  Litany,  which  is 
now  called  the  Litany  of  Loretto,  because 
it  is  sung  every  Saturday  with  great  so¬ 
lemnity  in  the  Church  of  Loretto,  the  mag¬ 
nificent  basilica  which  encloses  the  Santa 
Casa,  or  Holy  House  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin.  This  Litany  is  very  ancient,  and  by 
Quarti,  and  some  other  ecclesiastical 
writers,  is  referred  to  the  Apostolical 
times.  The  form  of  a  litany  appears  in 
the  Bible,  in  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
fifth  psalm,  and  in  the  canticle  of  the 
Three  Children.  The  first  supplication, 
Kyrie  eleison,  is  Greek,  and  means,  Lord 
have  mercy.  St.  Gregory  added  the 


OF  THE  CHURCH 


Christe  eleison,  and  with  the  repeated 
Kyrie  eleison,  and  the  direct  mention  of 
the  Three  Divine  Persons,  the  whole 
Blessed  Trinity,  is  thus  invoked.  Then 
the  Blessed  Virgin  is  invoked  to  pray  for 
us,  by  all  the  most  honored  and  endear¬ 
ing  titles,  of  her  Divine  Maternity  and 
Immaculate  Virginity  ;  then  by  a  series 
of  titles  suggested  by  Holy  Writ :  “  Mir¬ 
ror  of  Justice,”  “  Mystical  Rose,”  “Tow¬ 
er  of  David,”  “  House  of  Gold,”  “  Ark  of 
the  Covenant,”  “Morning  Star.”  Then 
by  titles  which  show  confidence  in  her  all- 
powerful  intercession  with  her  Sou  :  “  Ref¬ 
uge  of  Sinners,”  “  Comforter  of  the  Af¬ 
flicted,”  “  Help  of  Christians.”  Then  she 
is  invoked  as  “  Queen,”  queen  of  all  the 
choirs  of  saints  and  angels,  as  queen 
conceived  without  original  sin.  Then 
follow  appeals  to  her  Divine  Son,  “The 
Lamb  of  God,”  prayers  for  mercy,  and  a 
piayer  in  honor  of  the  Incarnation.  The 
Sovereign  Pontiffs  have  at  all  times  en¬ 
couraged  the  faithful  to  use  this  devotion, 
and  have  enriched  with  various  indul¬ 
gences,  those  who  recite  it  fervently  and 
habitually. 

THE  MEMORARE. 

The  Memorare — “  Remember,  0  most 
compassionate  Virgin  Mary,”  a  beautiful 
prayer  drawn  from  the  works  of  St.  Ber¬ 
nard,  by  a  holy  missionary  in  France. 
Father  Bernard,  better  known  as  the 
Poor  Priest,  has  become  a  favorite  through¬ 
out  the  Catholic  world  from  the  graces 
obtained  by  it.  Many  indulgences  are 
conferred  on  those  who  recite  it,  and  those 
who  say  it  daily  can  gain  a  plenary  indul- 


gence  every  month.  By  this  prayer, 
Father  Bernard  obtained  the  conversion 
of  the  most  hardened  sinners,  and  every 
year  records  instances  of  its  efficacy. 

HYMNS. 

The  hymns  of  the  Church  in  honor  of 
our  Blessed  Lady  are  many,  but  among 
them  all  three  are  especially  dear  to  the 
Catholic  heart.  The  Ave  Maria  Stella, 
a  beautiful  hymn  to  Mary  as  the  Star  of 
the  Sea,  is  in  constant  use  in  the  Church, 
and  is  one  full  of  simplicity  and  devotion. 
The  Salve  Regina,  composed  by  the  pious 
Adhemar,  Bishop  of  Puy,  legate  of  the 
Pope  during  one  of  the  Crusades,  was 
soon  taken  up  by  all  from  its  touching 
simplicity.  It  is  the  very  essence  of 
prayer.  It  was  expounded  and  explained 
in  sermons,  and  is  the  great  tribute  of  the 
Middle  Ages  to  the  Mother  of  G-od. 
When  the  clergy  led  St.  Bernard  into  the 
Cathedral  of  Spires,  they  intoned  this 
hymn.  The  holy  Doctor  chanted  it  with 
them,  and  at  its  close  full  of  the  spirit  it 
infused  sang  :  “  0  clement,  0  pious,  0 
sweet  Virgin  Mary  I  ”■ — words  that  have 
always  since  been  added.  This  hymn,  too, 
is  enriched  with  indulgences,  and  is  the 
anthem  used  by  the  Church  at  Vespers 
during  a  considerable  portion  ol  the  year. 

The  Stabat  Mater,  ascribed  to  Pope 
Innocent  III.,  and  also  to  the  Blessed  Ja- 
copone  di  Tode,  of  the  order  of  St.  Fran¬ 
cis,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  hy  inns. 
It  describes  the  Blessed  Virgin  stand¬ 
ing  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  and  is  full  of 
piety  and  compassion  for  the  sufferings  of 
our  Divine  Lord,  and  those  experienced 


by  the  heart  of  his  Blessed  Mother.  It  is 
used  on  the  feast  of  the  Seven  Dolors  in 
Lent,  and  in  the  devotions  of  the  W ay  of 
the  Cross.  The  most  celebrated  masteis 
have  composed  music  for  the  Stabat  Ma¬ 
ter,  seeking  to  give  expression  to  the  sub¬ 
lime  sentiments  it  contains. 

DEVOTIONS - THE  ANGELTJS. 

This  devotion,  so  called  from  the  first 
word  in  the  Latin  form,  was  established  at 
a  time  when  the  plague  was  ravaging  Eu¬ 
rope,  and  adopted  permanently  by  the 
order  of  St.  Francis,  St.  Bonaventure  hav¬ 
ing,  as  General,  directed  its  observance  at 
a  general  chapter  of  the  order  held  at  As- 
sissium,  in  126V.  Its  object  is  to  honor 
the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the 
womb  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  It  is  said  at 
morning,  noon,  and  night,  the  time  being 
announced  in  Catholic  countries  by  the 
ringing  of  the  Angelus,  or  Ave  Mary 
bell,  a  custom  maintained  in  convents 
even  in  this  country.  In  Catholic  coun¬ 
tries,  at  the  sound  of  the  bell,  all  stop  to 
join  in  this  pious  devotion,  suspending 
whatever  employment  they  may  have  in 
hand.  The  devotion  consists  of  three 
Hail  Marys,  each  preceded  by  a  versicle 
and  response.— The  first  is,  “The  Angels 
of  the  Lord  declared  unto  Mary.”  Re¬ 
sponse. — “  And  she  conceived  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.”  The  second  is  the  words  of  our 
Blessed  Lady. — V.  “  Behold  the  handmaid 
of  the  Lord.”  Response. — “Be  it  done  to 
me  according  to  thy  word.”  The  tliiid, 
the  words  of  St.  John.— V.  “The  Word 
was  made  flesh.”  Response— “And  dwelt 
amongst  us.” 


820  THE  DEVOTIONS 


Catholics  living  near  a  church  or  chapel 
where  the  Angelus  is  rung  should  never 
omit  so  pious  a  practice.  Even  where  this 
is  not  the  case,  they  should  accustom  them¬ 
selves  to  it.  The  morning  and  night  pray¬ 
ers  give  them  a  time  :  noon  is  always  a 
time  of  rest  from  ordinary  toil,  and  the 
few  moments  of  prayer  will  draw  down 
blessings. 

Pope  Benedict  XIII.,  by  a  brief  dated 
Sept.  14,  1724,  granted  a  plenary  indul¬ 
gence  once  a  month  on  the  usual  condi¬ 
tions  to  those  who  say  the  Angelus  three 
times  a  day,  at  the  sound  of  the  bell,  if 
rung,  and  a  partial  indulgence  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  days  for  each  recitation.  On  Satur¬ 
day  evening,  and  on  Sunday,  the  Angelus 
is  recited  standing.  In  Paschal  time  in¬ 
stead  of  the  Angelus  is  said  the  Regina 
Coeli,  standing.  During  the  Jubilee  in 
Holy  Year  other  indulgences  are  sus¬ 
pended,  but  such  is  the  peculiar  favor 
with  which  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  have 
regarded  this  devotion  to  our  Lady,  that 
the  Angelus  is  exempted. 

THE  LITTLE  OFFICE  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 

The  Little  Office  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
was  composed  on  fhe  plan  of  the  Breviary 
or  Office  recited  by  priests.  It  was  in¬ 
tended  for  those  whose  avocations  did  not 
permit  them  to  join  in  the  Office  of  the 
Church.  It  is  divided  into  Matins,  Lauds, 
Prime,  Tierce,  Sext,  None,  Vespers,  and 
Complin  ;  Matins  being  the  Office  for  early 
morning,  Prime,  Tierce,  Sext,  None,  being 
for  the  Roman  divisions  of  the  day,  begin- 
ing  at  sunrise,  that  is,  the  first,  third,  sixth, 
and  ninth  hours,  while  Vespers  and  Complin 


OF  THE  CHURCH 


closed  the  day.  In  the  Little  Office  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  Matins  opens  with  the  Hail 
Mary  and  some  versicles,  followed  by  the 
Ninety-fourth  Psalm,  as  an  invitatory  to 
sing  the  divine  praises.  Then  follows  a 
hymn.  Psalms  divided  into  three  Noc¬ 
turnes,  said  so  that  the  whole  is  recited 
twice  a  week,  are  then  said,  with  short 
lessons,  and  the  Te  Deum.  Lauds  con¬ 
tains  three  psalms,  the  Canticle  of  the 
Three  Children,  and  three  other  psalms, 
with  a  hymn,  and  the  Canticle  of  Zachary. 
Prime,  Tierce,  Sext,  and  None,  contain 
psalms  and  hymns.  Vespers,  like  that  of 
the  Church  on  Sunday,  is  composed  of 
psalms,  and  the  Canticle  of  our  Lady,  the 
Magnificat,  with  the  hymn  Ave  Maris  Stella. 
In  Complin,  the  Canticle  of  Simeon  is  re¬ 
cited.  The  Anthem  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
according  to  the  season  is  also  said.  The 
Little  Office  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  or  Primer 
of  our  Lady,  as  it  was  called  in  England 
and  Ireland,  was  the  favorite  prayer-book 
during  the  Middle  Ages.  They  were  some¬ 
times  called  Books  of  Hours,  as  contain¬ 
ing  devotions  for  the  different  canonical 
hours  of  the  day.  Many  manuscript  copies 
have  been  preserved,  and  are  now  much 
sought  as  curiosities,  those  of  the  wealthy 
having  been  beautifully  illuminated  and 
richly  bound.  The  Book  of  Hours  c : 
Anne  of  Burgundy,  Queen  of  France,  is 
the  finest  specimen  of  mediaeval  books. 

The  Little  Office  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  is  still  recited  in  many  of  the  religious 
orders  and  sodalities,  as  well  as  by  many 
devout  persons.  It  consecrates  each  day 
to  our  Lady,  and  is  highly  approved  in 
the  Church,  and  commended  to  the  faith- 


TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


821 


ful  by  indulgences  granted  by  the  Sover¬ 
eign  Pontiffs. 

Besides  this  office,  there  is  another  found 
in  many  manuals  of  prayer,  called  the 
Little  Office  of  the  Immaculate  Concep¬ 
tion,  divided  into  the  regular  hours,  each 
part  consisting  of  a  short  hymn,  a  few  ver- 
sicles,  and  a  prayer.  It  is  also  approved, 
and  is  a  favorite  devotion  with  many. 

THE  ROSARY  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 

All  the  devotions  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
yield,  however,  in  universality  to  the 
Rosarv.  This  is  the  devotion  of  kings  on 
their  thrones,  and  the  beggar  at  the  gate  ; 
the  devotion  of  the  learned  philosopher 
and  of  the  unlettered  peasant  ;  of  brave 
and  gallant  officers  on  land  and  sea,  as 
well  as  of  their  men.  From  very  early 
times,  belts  with  studs  and  strings  of  beads 
were  used  in  the  Bast  in  devotions.  They 
came  into  use  in  the  Christian  Church  also. 
Every  one  who  entered  a  monastery ,  01 
made  profession  of  living  piously,  in  early 
times,  recited  daily  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  psalms  of  David.  They  were  not  da}  s 
when  books  were  cheap,  or  easily  got,  so 
the  Psalms  were  learned  by  heart.  But 
there  were  some  too  dull,  or  too  careless, 
to  retain  them  all,  or  even  learn  the  whole 
psalter.  For  them  a  hundred  and  fifty  Our 
Fathers  were  substituted,  and  subsequent- 
ly,  for  some,  as  many  Hail  Marys.  From 
the  Saxon  word  bitten ,  to  pray,  comes  oui 
English  word  bead ,  applied  to  the  strings 
used  in  these  prayers,  and  afterwards,  to 
any  similar  string.  A  canon  of  a  council 
held  in  England,  in  816,  ordains  that  on 
the  death  of  a  bishop,  seven  belts  of  Our 


Fathers  should  be  said  by  the  clergy  every 
day  for  the  space  of  thirty  days  for  the 
repose  of  his  soul.  The  Countess  Godiva, 
at  her  death,  directed  that  the  string  of 
precious  stones  on  which  she  used  to  count 
her  prayers,  should  be  suspended  around 
the  neck  of  the  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin  in  the  church  of  Coventry. 

These  repeated  Our  Fathers  and  Hail 
Marys  were  thus  recited  on  beads,  and  in 
honor  of  Mary,  yet  they  were  not  the 
Rosary  as  we  know  it.  St.  Benedict  and 
Peter  the  Hermit  seem  to  have  made 
steps  towards  it,  but  it  took  its  actual  form 
and  name  in  a  period  of  great  trouble  in 
the  Church.  St.  Dominic  de  Guzman, 
laboring  by  permission  of  the  holy  Pope, 
Innocent  III.,  among  the  Albigenses,  saw 
his  labors  fruitless  and  ineffectual.  In 
vain  by  prayers  and  austerities  he  sought 
from  God  the  graces  they  needed  to  rise 
from  their  spiritual  darkness.  He  turned 
to  her  who  never  turns  away.  She  showed 
him  the  path  to  victory.  Simon  de  Mont- 
fort  had  tried  the  force  of  arms.  Dominic 
had  tried  controversy,  arguments,  per¬ 
suasion,  instruction.  Dropping  all  this, 
he  adapted  the  old  devotion  to  the  Hos¬ 
ieries  of  the  life  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Blessed  Mother,  dividing  the  hundred  and 
fifty  Hail  Marys  into  fifteen  decades,  or 
tens,  prefacing  each  with  an  Our  Father,  and 
closing  it  with  a  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  etc. 
The  fifteen  decades  form  three  parts  of  five 
decades  called  the  Joyful  Mysteries,  the 
Sorrowful,  and  the  Glorious.  The  Joyful 
Mysteries  were  the  Annunciation,  "V  isita- 
tion,  Birth  of  our  Lord,  His  Presentation 
in  the  Temple,  His  finding  in  the  Temple  ; 


822  THE  DEVOTIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 


the  Sorrowful,  were  His  Bloody  Sweat, 
His  Scourging,  His  Crowning  with  Thorns, 
the  Carriage  of  His  Cross,  His  Crucifix¬ 
ion  ;  the  Gflorious,  were  the  Resurrection, 
the  Ascension,  the  Descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Vir¬ 
gin,  and  her  Coronation  in  Heaven. 
Teaching  the  people  to  recite  the  Rosary, 
as  he  now  styled  it,  and  to  occupy  their 
minds  with  the  successive  Mysteries,  he 
won  all  hearts,  and  restored  thousands  to 
the  faith. 

The  Rosarjr  spread  through  Spain,  Italy, 
and  France.  England  and  Ireland,  Ger¬ 
many  and  the  North  took  it  up,  and  Chris¬ 
tendom  united  in  offering  this  Crown  to 
Mary.  From  that  day  to  this  the  Rosary 
has  never  lost  its  hold  on  the  affections  of 
the  faithful.  To  recount  the  wonders  that 
it  has  wrought,  and  will  continue  to  work 
until  the  day  of  doom,  in  heaven,  on  earth, 
and  in  purgatory,  would  require  an  in¬ 
spired  tongue,  and  the  wisdom  of  prophecy. 
The  glory  that  surrounded  it  at  its  birth 
went  on  increasing  until  it  culminated 
with  dazzling  radiance  on  the  meridian 
of  the  Mary-protected  Church,  towards  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  age.  The  battle  of  Le- 
panto,  gained  on  the  9th  of  October,  1571, 
by  the  Christian  fleet  under  the  command 
of  Don  Juan  de  Austria,  over  the  formida¬ 
ble  armament  of  the  Turks,  at  the  ver}r 
time  that  the  Sodality  of  the  Rosary  was 
moving  in  solemn  procession  through  the 
streets  of  Rome,  uttering  fervent  prayers 
to  heaven,  proclaimed  to  the  Catholic 
world  the  power  of  Mary,  and  the  moth¬ 
erly  care  that  she  exercises  over  her 
servants.  The  prayers  of  the  Confrater¬ 


nity  of  the  Rosary,  as  they  arose  from  the 
Eternal  City,  on  that  first  Sunday  of  Oc¬ 
tober,  scattered  the  dark  cloud  of  Turkish 
invasion  that  had  hung  for  centuries  low¬ 
ering  over  the  eastern  horizon  of  Europe. 

The  holy  Pope,  Saint  Pius  V.,  who  then 
occupied  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  was  in¬ 
formed  by  revelation  from  heaven  of  the 
victory  at  the  very  moment  that  it  was 
won.  In  gratitude  to.  the  divine  Mother 
and  her  Son,  he  commanded  that  a  yearly 
commemoration  should  be  i^ade  .on  the 
first  Sunday  of  October,  of  Saint  Mary  of 
Victory.  Gregory  XIII.,  his  successor, 
established  the  Festival  of  the  Rosary,  to 
be  celebrated  on  the  same  day  in  all  the 
churches  which  contained  a  chapel  or  an 
altar  dedicated  under  the  invocation  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  of  the  Rosary.  Clement 
XI.,  after  another  great  victory,  granted 
the  celebration  of  the  Festival  of  the  Ros- 
ary  to  the  Universal  Church. 

The  Confraternity  of  the  Rosary  united 
the  faithful  in  the  practice  of  this  devo¬ 
tion,  and  the  numerous  spiritual  favors 
granted  to  it  encouraged  thousands  to  join 
it.  When  that  terrible  deluge  of  iniquity 
in  the  last  century  swept  over  Europe, 
destroying  so  many  monuments  of  Catholic 
zeal,  so  many  churches,  monasteries,  con¬ 
vents,  colleges,  schools,  and  pilgrimages, 
the  piety  of  the  nations  was  chilled,  in¬ 
difference  began  to  prevail  ;  even  in  those 
parts  where  the  faith  was  maintained,  the 
growing  indifference  seemed  to  show  its 
deadly  influence.  Then,  in  our  time,  a 
new  devotion  arose  to  make  the  Rosary 
more  generally  said,  and  to  bind  the  faith¬ 
ful  more  closely  together.  Thh  was  the 


TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 


823 


Confraternity  of  the  Living  Rosary,  insti¬ 
tuted  in  France,  and  approved  by  his 
Holiness,  Pope  Gregory  XV I.,  who  grant¬ 
ed  it  the  indulgences  of  the  Confraternity 
of  the  Rosary. 

In  the  Living  Rosary  the  members  of 
the  Confraternity  are  divided  into  bands 
of  fifteen,  each  of  whom  recites  daily  one 
Our  Father  and  ten  Hail  Marys,  with  one 
Glory  be  to  the  Father,  each  meditating 
on  a  different  mystery,  assigned  to  the 
member  at  the  monthly  meeting.  In  this 
way  the  whole  Rosary  is  offered  daily  by 
each  band,  united  in  spirit  by  this  mysti¬ 
cal  bond,  and  forming  in  heart  a  Rosary 
indeed. 

All  should  endeavor  to  conceive  a  due 
esteem  for  this  holy  exercise  of  the  Ros¬ 
ary,  and  to  impress  upon  their  minds  that 
though  so  easy,  so  simple,  and  hence 
adapted  to  the  lowest  capacity,  it  is  the 
most  sublime  and  the  most  profitable  form 
of  prayer,  uniting  vocal  prayer  with  medi¬ 
tation,  and  the  highest  contemplation. 
The  prayers  that  compose  it  are  the 
most  holy  and  excellent  that  ever  were 
conceived  or  pronounced  ;  the  subject  of 
the  meditation  is  the  life,  the  sufferings, 
and  the  triumph  of  our  Divine  Redeemer, 
and  the  merits  and  glory  of  his  Blessed 
Mother. 

INDULGENCES  GRANTED  TO  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
CONFRATERNITY  OF  THE  ROSARY. 

1.  A  Plenary  Indulgence  on  the  day 
of  their  entrance  into  the  Confraternity, 
on  condition  that  after  confession  and  com¬ 
munion  in  the  church  or  chapel  of  the 
Confraternity,  they  recite  a  third  part  of 


the  Rosary  and  pray  for  the  peace  of  the 
Church. 

2.  All  members  of  the  Confraternity 
who  are  truly  penitent  for  their  sins,  and 
have  confessed  and  communicated,  and 
visit  the  altar  of  the  Rosary,  may  gain  a 
Plenary  Indulgence  on  the  following  days  : 
the  third  Sunday  of  April,  Easter,  Ascen¬ 
sion  Day,  Pentecost,  Trinity  Sunday,  Cor¬ 
pus  Christi,  Christmas,  the  festival  of  the 
patrons  of  the  Church,  the  Sunday  within 
the  Octave  of  the  Assumption,  Good  Fri¬ 
day,  and  the  Sunday  within  the  Octave  of 
the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

3.  A  Plenary  Indulgence  on  the  first 
Sunday  of  each  month  to  the  members 
who  have  confessed  and  communicated, 
and  visit  a  church  or  chapel  of  the  Con¬ 
fraternity,  or  assist  at  a  procession  when 
one  takes  place. 

4.  A  Plenary  Indulgence  on  all  feasts 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  on  the  days 
on  which  any  mystery  of  the  Rosary  is 
celebrated,  to  the  members  who  have  con¬ 
fessed  and  communicated,  and  visited  a 
church  or  altar  of  the  Confraternity. 

5.  Travellers,  persons  at  sea,  and  ser¬ 
vants  can  gain  the  Plenary  Indulgence  on 
the  first  Sunday  of  the  month  by  saying 
the  fifteen  decades  ;  others  who  are  legiti¬ 
mately  prevented  may  gain  the  same  In¬ 
dulgence,  if  they  have  the  desire  of  con¬ 
fessing  and  communicating,  by  saying  five 
decades.  They  are  also ‘dispensed  from 
visiting  the  church  or  chapel  of  the  Con¬ 
fraternity,  if  they  fulfil  the  other  condi¬ 
tions. 

6.  A  Plenary  Indulgence  at  the  hour 
of  death. 


824  THE  DEVOTIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN. 

The  fame  of  this  favor  which  had  been 

THE  SCAPULAR  OF  OUR  LADY  OF  MOUNT 

granted  by  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  Simon 

CARMEL. 

Stock,  the  General  of  the  Carmelites,  was 

Simon  Stock,  General  of  the  Order  of 

in  a  short  time  made  known  ;  monarchs 

Mount  Carmel,  was  born  in  Kent,  Eng- 

and  people  of  all  degrees  were  invested 

land,  in  1163,  and  after  a  boyhood  of  great 

with  the  Scapular  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  of 

piety,  entered  the  Order  dedicated  espe- 

Mount  Carmel. 

cially  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  whom  he 

The  number  of  the  faithful  who  desired 

was  filled  with  the  most  tender  devotion. 

to  participate  in  this  treasure  increased 

As  General  of  the  Order,  he  governed  it 

every  day.  In  the  churches  of  the  Car- 

with  zeal  and  ability.  He  was  much  af- 

melites  the  habit  was  blessed,  and  dis- 

flicted  by  the  troubles  which  at  this  time 

tributed  amongst  the  people  by  the  au- 

disturbed  the  Church. 

thority  of  the  Bishops,  and  afterwards 

The  prayers  of  the  zealous  prelate  were 

confirmed  by  several  of  the  Popes.  Simon 

so  efficacious  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  vouch- 

Stock  died  on  the  16th  of  July,  1265,  at 

safed  to  listen  to  them.  She  appeared  dur- 

Bordeaux,  in  the  one  hundredth  year  of 

ing  the  night,  clad  in  great  splendor  and  sur- 

his  age.  He  was  famed  for  his  miracles 

rounded  with  a  multitude  of  blessed  saints, 

and  for  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  is  hon- 

and  presented  to  Simon  Stock  a  Scapular  of 

ored  as  a  saint.  The  devotion  was  soon 

a  brown  color,  and  said  to  him  :  “  Receive, 

developed  throughout  all  parts  of  Chris- 

my  dearest  son,  this  Scapular  of  your  Or- 

tendom.  Many  miracles  which  were 

der,  the  sign  of  my  Confraternity,  a  privi- 

wrought  in  connection  with  it  showed  how 

lege  for  you  and  for  all  the  Carmelites. 

pleasing  it  was  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Any  person  who  breathes  his  last  with 

The  Scapular  is  given  to  those  who  are 

piety,  in  this,  shall  not  suffer  eternal  fire. 

enrolled  in  the  Confraternity  of  our  Lady 

This  is  the  sign  of  salvation,  of  safety  in 

of  Mount  Carmel,  by  a  priest  duly  author- 

dangers,  the  pledge  of  peace,  and  of  an 

ized,  and  the  name  of  the  member  must 

eternal  contract.”  She  left  the  habit  in 

be  entered  in  the  book  of  a  Confraternity, 

his  hands  and  then  disappeared.  Many 

canonically  erected. 

writers  of  note  belonging  to  the  Order, 

The  Scapular  is  of  wool,  brown  or  black, 

and  even  those  not  connected  with  it,  have 

and  should  be  made  in  two  parts,  joined 

made  mention  of  this  wondrous  vision  of 

together  by  two  strings.  It  must  be  worn 

the  Blessed  Virgin. 

on  the  person  day  and  night.  When  that 

The  holy  General,  filled  with  amaze- 

blessed  by  the  priest  at  the  reception  is 

ment  and  the  sweetest  consolation,  made 

worn  out  or  lost,  another  must  be  obtained, 

known  to  his  religious  and  to  others  the 

which  need  not  be  blessed,  for  when  the 

remarkable  favor  which  he  had  received 

first  has  been,  and  the  person  duly  in- 

from  the  Mother  of  God,  not  only  for  the 

vested,  this  is  sufficient. 

Carmelites,  but  also  for  all  Christians. 

♦ 


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BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  HEIGHTS 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


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Two  cents  a  day  is  charged  for  each  book  kept 
overtime. 


If  you  cannot  find  what  you  want,  ask  the 
Librarian  who  will  be  glad  to  help  you. 

The  borrower  is  responsible  for  books  drawn 
on  his  card  and  for  all  lines  accruing  on  the  same. 


&SS2SE& 


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